Today we will tell the story of the Costolomar War, during which two legendary personalities who stood at the origins of the Mafia in the USA, Joe Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano, clashed.
And you will also find out who really won this war.
Salvatore Maranzano is one of the most influential names in organized crime that flourished in America in the early 1930s.
He is the leader of the Kostolomars, who were originally from his hometown of Vitalia.
He became famous for his stubborn confrontation with the head of the entire Italian Mafia of America, Joe Masseria, who decided to have sole control of all the huge organized crime in the United States.
The Italian Mafioso emigrated in 1925, settling in Brooklyn. Legally, he was considered a real estate worker, but in reality he was engaged in bootlegging.
During Prohibition in the United States, the entire Mafia was centered around smuggling and the underground trade in alcohol.
During the late 1920s and early 30s, the Italian-American Mafia boomed.
During this period in the history of America, Salvatore Maranzano enjoyed great authority in the community of Costolomars, who were located in all major cities of the states.
Immediately after arriving from Sicily, he managed to occupy a prominent place among the mafiosi of those times.
His group controlled not only the smuggling of alcoholic beverages, but also gambling establishments, as well as the sale of cigarettes.
After arriving in the United States, Maranzano very quickly infiltrated the Italian mafiosi and soon separated from his don Vito Cassio.
First of all, he received impressive support from local people from his native Kostolomar.
Among the other gang members, he was the most educated, he knew how to speak beautifully, so he was valued by other gang leaders.
Subsequently, Salvatore Maranzano became the boss of the Mafia. He became close to other members of the Italian family.
Such prominent mafiosi as Joseph Banana and Joseph Profaci teamed up with him.
The main business of all organized crime in America in those years was built on the smuggling and sale of alcohol and cigarettes.
Goods were delivered from Canada and Mexico and imported on ships at night in the harbor.
Naturally, there was strong competition between the groups for the sales market.
There were frequent clashes between members of different gangs and shootouts with the police.
Maranzana began to engage in drug trafficking and pimping. Taking Joseph Banana as his deputy.
In the early 20s, two authorities were considered to be the bosses of the Costelamarans in New York, the State Duma Miladu and Stefan Magadino.
However, as a result of constant conflicts with police and other gangs, they were forced to change their location, moving to Detroit and Buffalo.
At this time, Joe Masseria began the struggle to establish full power. He decided to unite the entire mafia of New York, and then all of America, in his hands.
And he simply eliminated those who did not want to obey him. It was a period of bloody conflicts.
Salvatore Maranzano had his own opinion on this matter. He was a very strong personality and could not allow the power of any other boss, although many famous mafiosi supported the initiative of Joe Masseria.
Al Capone, Lucky Luciana, Alphard Mineo, Joe Adonis, Vito Genovese and others were brought under his leadership.
The Castellamarese War was a bloody conflict for control of the Italian-American Mafia between supporters of Joe Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano.
The war was called that because Maranzano was from Castellammare Del Golfo. The Costalomara faction won, and Maranzano declared himself capotitutecapi.
Which means the boss of all bosses, becoming the undisputed leader of the mafia.
However, he was soon killed by a gang of young gangsters led by Lucky Luciano.
Which established a new power-sharing body, a commission that consisted of five mafia families, of equal strength to prevent such wars in the future.
Mafia operations in the United States in the 1920s were controlled by Joe Masseria.
Whose family consisted mainly of bandits from Sicily, the Calabrian and Companian regions of southern Italy.
Sicilian mafioso Vitu Kashevo Pero decided to bet on control over the activities of the Mafia in the United States.
From his base in Castellammare Del Golfo, he sent Salvatore Maranzano to seize control. Externally, the Castellamarese War was fought between the forces of Masseria and Maranzano.
In reality it was a conflict of generations, a war between the old Sicilian mafia, known as the mustachioed pitas, for their long mustaches.
And the younger generation of Italians, those who were born in the USA or moved to the country as children.
The latter knew better English, were more flexible in the criminal business, and willingly partnered with non-Italians if it had benefits.
Tensions between the two families were evident as early as 1928, when one side often stole truckloads of alcohol from the other, the production of which was illegal and prohibition-era.
However, the composition of both families was constantly changing, many gangsters switched sides during the war and killed their former allies. It is difficult to say when the war actually began.
In February 1930, Masseria allegedly ordered the murder of Gaspar Milazzo. Head of the Detroit branch of the Sicilian Union.
Masseria was reportedly humiliated by Milazzo’s refusal to support him in the Sicilian Union dispute involving the Chicago syndicate and Al Capone.
However, according to most sources, the first salvo was fired by Materia.
On February 26, he ordered the murder of ally Gaetano Reina, whose daughter Carmella married Joe Valachi two years later.
Masseria ordered the then-young Vito Genovese to kill Reina, which the latter did by shooting the victim at point-blank range with a pump-action shotgun.
With this move, Masseria intended to protect his secret allies, Tommy Gagliano, Tommy Lucchese and Dominic Petrili.
However, this betrayal backfired on him, as the Reina family transferred forces to support Maranzano and the conflict reached an acute stage.
When the parties stopped taking human victims into account and stopped at practically nothing.
On August 15, 1930, Maranzano’s supporters assassinated Masseria’s chief gunman, Giuseppe Morello, in his office in East Harlem.
At the same time, a random visitor, Giuseppe Parianu, was killed. Two weeks later, Masseria received another blow.
After Rein’s murder, Masseria placed Joseph Pinzolo in charge of the rackets.
However, on September 9, the Reina family shot and killed Pinzolo in the Time Square office that Lucchese rented.
After these two murders, the Reina Family officially joined forces with the Bonanno Family.
Masseria soon struck back. On October 23, 1930, Joe Aiello, president of the Chicago Sicilian Union, was assassinated in Chicago.
At the time, it was generally believed that Capone, as an ally of Maranzano, killed Aiello as part of a power struggle in Chicago.
However, Luciana later admitted that this Masseria ordered the assassination of Aiello, and it was carried out by his ally Alfred Freddi.
After the murder of Aiello, the situation changed in favor of the Costolomar faction.
On November 5, 1930, Alfred Freddy and one of the key members of the Masseria gang, Steve Ferrigno, were killed.
Then the members of the Masseria Gang, believing that there was a clear preponderance of power in favor of their boss’s rival, began to run over to Maranzano. Essentially the old one to save their lives.
On February 3, 1931, another important member of the Masseria team, Joseph Catania, was wounded and died two days later.
Given the deteriorating situation, Masseria’s allies, Luciana and Genovese, began negotiations with Maranzano, leader of the Costolomarzes.
They agreed to give Masseria if Maranzano stopped the war.
On April 15, Masseria was killed while having lunch at a restaurant in Kona Elland.
The role of the killer was played by Anastasi, Genovese, Joe Adonis and Bugsy Seagal.
Ciro Terranova was supposed to drive the car when leaving the crime scene, but he was so nervous that he couldn’t even put it in gear, so Seagal had to push out his seat and get behind the wheel himself.
With the death of Masseria the war ended. The winners, at least on paper, were Maranzano and the Costolomar faction.
Having seen firsthand the rampant violence that led to the situation in the criminal circles of America, Maranzano made a number of important reforms to avoid similar wars in the future.
Many of these changes are still in effect. Apart from New York, the major northeastern and midwestern cities now had one family each.
In New York, five families were organized due to the large scale of crime.
The bosses of the five families in Lac Lucianu, now the Genovese family, Joe Profaci, now the Colombo family. Tommy Galliano is now the Lucchese family, Joe Banana is now the Banana family and Vincent Bandana is now the Gambino family.
However, everyone was obliged to be faithful and respectful towards Maranzano.
Profaci and Banana’s teams were divided among New York families and ceased to exist as separate families.
Maranzano established a separate post for himself; he appointed himself Capoditutecapa, which translated meant boss of all bosses.
According to the new rules, every crime family must be led by a boss, assisted by an underboss.
The consigliere’s third-ranking position was held a little later. Families were divided into brigades led by Caporegime and staffed by soldiers.
Often the soldiers were helped by comrades who were not yet mafiosi. The tailors could not have been Italians, such as Meir Lansky or Ben Sigol.
Maranzano’s position as Capoditutecape was short-lived. On September 10, 1931, a team of assassins arrived at his Manhattan office.
The Kellers, wanting to do everything quietly, tried to kill Maranzano with cold steel.
However, he resisted so fiercely that the killers were forced to shoot him. Among the liquidators were SamilyWine and BowWineber.
According to information received later, the killer team was formed by Meira Milansky.
In the end, both families of the old formation lost the war. The real winners were the younger and more ruthless generation of bandits, led by Luciano.
With their rise to power, organized crime was ready to reach a truly national level and become multi-ethnic.