The Lucchese Family: A History of New York's Lucchese Mafia Family

By Andy Petepiece

The Lucchese Family is a well-researched book on the 100-plus-year history of one of New York's infamous La Cosa Nostra organizations. It begins with profiles of the Family Bosses then proceeds to an examination of the lives of some of its more powerful personalities.

Some of the important events covered include the murder of first Boss Tommy Reina and the following Castellammarese War. The role of famous Mafia turncoat Joe Valachi in these events is also explained.

There is a chapter on little-known Lucchese Boss Tommy Gagliano. He helped murder his predecessor, Boss Joe Pinzolo, then became one of the first seven Mafia Bosses to sit on the newly formed Commission in 1931. He would rule quiety until his natural death in 1951.

Tommy Lucchese took over from Gagliano and it is his name that now designates this Family. In the 1950s, Lucchese became very famous due to his involvement in politics and his socializing with the heavy hitters in New York City. This publicity made him a target for the good guys, and Lucchese would spend much of his time fending off efforts to deport him and make him talk about his mysterious life.

The famous 1986 Commission trial sent Boss Anthony Corallo to prison for one hundred years. Before he went off to "school," Corallo appointed Capo Vic Amuso as the Lucchese Family's new leader. It was a huge mistake, as the book will describe.

There were many interesting if deplorable characters in the Family beside the Bosses. For example, Capo John Dioguardi was a union power in NYC for decades. His uncle James Plumeri dominated the garment center for a similar length of time but ended up killed.

Frankie Carbo was often referred to as a boxing czar due to his hidden control of many welterweight boxers in the 1940s and 1950s. Some readers might recall famous boxer and TV personality Rocky Graciano. His connection to Carbo is outlined in the book.

The Lucchese Family has a long history of criminality in the New York area. We only touch on the known highlights but hope there will be enough interesting information within its pages to make purchasers happy.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tellwell Talent
• Release date: Mar 17, 2022
• ISBN: 9780228874386

Andy Petepiece

Andy Petepiece has researched the Mafia for more than fifty years. During that time he worked with various organizations to provide accurate information on this once mysterious body.

Book preview

The

Lucchese

Family

A History of New York’s

Lucchese Mafia Family

Andy Petepiece

The Lucchese Family

Copyright © 2022 by Andy Petepiece

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Tellwell Talent

www.tellwell.ca

ISBN

978-0-2288-7437-9 (Paperback)

978-0-2288-7438-6 (eBook)

Acknowledgements

To Patti

The Love of My Life

To David, Doug, and Bill

Three terrific brothers

To Dr. Howard Magic Stidwill

A great friend for 74 years

To the MacPhee Group

The Mutts

Jim MacPhee

Chef Ricky Kalil

Tomaso Good

Peter LeClair

Lenny Currier

Bear Lalonde

Larry Gabri

Tilton Donihee

Andre Poirier

Claude McIntosh

Note:

Not one of the above mutts bought any of my books.

To Dr. Ron Tremblay

A super friend/doctor

To Rod Grant

A class act

To Dan Poirier

The most loyal friend ever

To Brian The Cat Rouleau

Thanks for your service in Vietnam.

In sympathy to Colin and his New York Giants

To Jerry Capeci, Peter Edwards, and Gaetan Pouliot

Thanks for the support

To all my buddies from the Green Berets, the FBI, the CIA, and the RCMP. (See below)

To my psychiatrist, Dr. I M Aquack, who has been working with me for forty years, hoping I will stop making up stories about my life. I take pills for delusions of grandeur, but sometimes I forget to do so.

CAUTION

I am not a great writer, and my editing skills are less than perfect. So if these things bother you, please do not buy this book. But, on the other hand, if you are looking for thousands of details on the Lucchese Family, you are in the right place.

BOOK SUGGESTIONS

Mob Boss by my boss Jerry Capeci and Tom Robbins

The Brotherhood by Guy Lawson and William Oldham

The Good Rat by Jimmy Breslin

OTHER BOOKS BY ANDY PETEPIECE

The Commission

The Colombo Family

The Bonanno Family

I did a tremendous amount of research for The Complete Idiots Guide to the Mafia by Jerry Capeci.

For many years I have contributed research for Jerry Capeci’s terrific website, Gangland News.

Over the decades, I have periodically contributed an Ask Andy piece for Capeci’s website. Jerry tells me that his readers consistently email him complaining about my boring writing, lack of knowledge, and poor humor. But, of course, those slings do not bother me; at $800 a week, I can buy a lot of junk food.

Introduction

This book attempts to summarize the more than 100-year history of the Lucchese Family. It is impossible to include every event during this period. Hopefully, I have captured the major points and characters.

The writings of David Critchley, Nicole Gentile, and Joe Bonanno provided much of the information from the early years. Other insights came from government agencies, court documents, a few informers, and newspaper accounts.

More detail began to emerge after the famous 1957 debacle when New York State Troopers and Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol and Tobacco came upon a National Meeting of La Cosa Nostra in Apalachin, New York. The endless hearings and inquiries produced much information on the Lucchese Family and others. As the decades passed, the floodgates opened on the once-secret society. Informers, the Freedom of Information Act, electronic surveillance, and new laws were the main reasons for this change.

Unfortunately, there are many pitfalls with material on La Cosa Nostra. FBI files sometimes contain errors due to lies or exaggerations by informers. Also, there have been instances when agents deliberately entered falsehoods to deceive various people. Even electronic surveillance transcripts may contain untruths. Not surprisingly, the bad guys often lie to each other.

Constant material comparison is imperative if you hope to get near the truth. Unfortunately, I have made many errors over my career. For example, I believed Anthony Fat Tony was the Genovese Boss when he wasn’t. The newspapers said he was the Boss, as did the FBI, and many hoods. Rudy Giuliano’s boys listed him as the Genovese Boss in their famous Commission Case from the mid-1980s. We were all wrong.

So, this book is the result of more than fifty years of researching La Cosa Nostra. I have tried to avoid errors, but some will jump out and bite me.

It might be a simple typo, a lack of knowledge, or a misinterpretation of fact. My apologies in advance for these, but hopefully, you will enjoy the endless list of details anyway.

Notes

NOTE ONE:

The proper name of the American Mafia is Cosa Nostra. I use La Cosa Nostra since that is the practice of the FBI.

NOTE TWO:

I will use the names of the five New York Mafia Families that came into public use in the 1960s to indicate their histories. This decision is not technically correct, but hopefully, it will make following the accounts easier.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Notes

Chapter One: Boss Tommy Reina

Chapter Two: Boss Joe Pinzolo

Chapter Three: Boss Tommy Gagliano

Chapter Four: Boss Tommy Lucchese

Chapter Five: Boss Carmine Mr. Gribbs Tramunti

Chapter Six: Boss Anthony Tony Ducks Corallo

Chapter Seven: Boss Vic Amuso

Chapter Eight: Boss Vic Amuso Continued

Chapter Nine: Capo Paul Vario

Chapter Ten: Capo John Dioguardi

Chapter Eleven: Consigliere Vincent Rao

Chapter Twelve: Unions

Chapter Thirteen: The New Jersey Crew

Chapter Fourteen: Frankie Carbo Boxing Czar

Chapter Fifteen: Two Lucchese Drug Dealers

Chapter Sixteen: Capo Eddie Coco

Chapter Seventeen: Underboss Salvatore Santoro

Chapter Eighteen: Capo James Plumeri

Appendix A: The History of the Lucchese Family Administration

Appendix B: Comedian Billy Crystal and Mafioso John Ormento

Appendix C: The FBI’s List of Lucchese Soldiers in 1963

Appendix D: The NYPD’s List of the Lucchese Administration Circa 1988

Appendix E: The FBI’s List of Lucchese Soldiers Circa 1988

Appendix F: NJ Commission of Investigation 1989 Report

Chapter One

Boss Tommy Reina

Gaetano Tommy Reina was the first known Boss of what we now call the Lucchese Family. The best information suggests his organization evolved from the Morello (Genovese) Family, which dominated the Mafia scene in New York in the early 1900s. When it’s Boss, Giuseppe Morello, went off to prison for counterfeiting in 1910, opportunities for ambitious underlings arose. It wasn’t long before Reina headed up his own Family and had accumulated considerable wealth and power. Below is a chronological outline of the known parts of his short life.

DOB

September 27, 1889

Sicily

DOD

February 26, 1930

NYC

Residences

107 St, Manhattan

Circa 1910

227 E 107th St, Manhattan

Circa 1913

1906

Reina immigrated to the US aboard the SS Sicilian Prince.

1910 US Census

Reina lived at 107th St in Manhattan

and listed his occupation as laborer.

1913

Hoods placed a bomb outside the home of poultry dealer Barnet Baff on Long Island. Later testimony by Antonio Cardinale revealed that he had an employee Joseph Sorro, Frank Burke, and Tony Nino plant the explosive. Eventually, the first two men admitted their participation in this event.

November 24, 1914

Two hoods gunned down poultry dealer Barnet Baff. He had become a power in the West Washington Poultry Market by various means. Several other dealers hated Baff, and some did something about it.

Eventually, several versions of the plot emerged, with one involving Tommy Reina. Turncoat Giuseppe Arichiello told the police that saloon-keeper Ippolitto Greco forced him to participate in the action. He said that he and Tommy Reina shot Baff, with Reina receiving $700. Arichiello named some other participants, their roles, and payments. To the turncoat, the two leading players were Greco and Antonio Cardinale.

It appeared that Reina was in trouble, but things changed when Arichiello testified at his own trial. Not only did he deny any involvement in the killing, but he also testified that he did not recognize Reina when police brought him into the courtroom. The jury convicted Arichiello of first-degree murder. However, in September 1917, an appeal court granted Arichiello a new trial. He made a deal, and the judge handed out a suspended sentence for manslaughter.

Frank Ferrara was another hood arrested in the Baff case. He gave three statements to authorities, but the one to the DA is the most important to this work. Ferrara said he drove a group of men to the sight of the Baff slaying and that Reina shot the victim. However, at his trial, Ferrara recanted and said the police beat him and gave him Reina’s name. In the end, the jury convicted Ferrara, and the judge sentenced him to death.

In July 1917, Ferrara became a state witness hoping to save himself. He confirmed his earlier story that the police gave him the names of Reina and another man. Now the killers were Charles Dragna and Ben Tita Rizzotta.

After the recantations of two witnesses, the authorities had nothing against Reina. Therefore, it is impossible to know whether he did play a role in the Baff hit.

Note:

Thanks to the author and superb Mafia historian Dave Critchley, we know Charles Dragna was Jack Dragna, the future Boss of the LA Family. Police arrested Dragna on the Baff case in 1917, but authorities dismissed the charge two years later.

Note 2:

Around 1914, Jack Dragna and Tommy Reina both worked at the Columbus Wet Wash Laundry at 339 E 107th St in Manhattan.

July 5, 1917

Reina registered for the draft.

1924

A judge sentenced future Lucchese Soldier and boxing czar Frank Carbo to 20 months in prison for killing taxi driver Al Weber in a Bronx poolroom.

ORIGINS OF THE LUCCHESE FAMILY

It is unfortunate, but I have been unable to find any primary evidence as to the beginning of the Reina Family that the FBI labeled the Lucchese Family in the 1960s. However, some historians have speculated that Reina used his connections to the Morello Family (Genovese Family) to form a crew that grew into his organization. Some relationships that support this theory include:

Joseph Morello was a stockholder in the United Lathing Company, with future Lucchese Family Boss Tommy Gagliano.

Long-time Lucchese Underboss Stefano LaSalle lived in the same apartment building as Joe Morello. He also worked at a laundry with Tommy Reina, and both operated in the Morello milieu.

October 10, 1928

A protracted rivalry between Sal D’Aquila, Boss of the Gambino Family, and Joe Masseria, Boss of the Genovese Family, came to a head on this date. At the corner of 13th St and Avenue A, three gunmen blasted D’Aquila with nine shots ending the long-time Boss of Boss’ reign. Masseria was on top but wanted more.

The spheres of influence of Masseria and Reina were close. This fact was a potential problem. Long after the D’Aquila murder, Joe Bonanno wrote, Reina had to be careful not to offend him (Masseria) and generally toed the Masseria line.

Ice Wars

A 1925 study indicated that New York used 4,000,000 tons of ice each year. Ice-making plants produced 98% of the product that 7,000 dealers sold. The competition was fierce, leading to violence of varying levels.

Smaller dealers complained to authorities that the big companies formed cartels to control the price and competition. In 1927 Referee Edgar F Hazelton held hearings about allegations that the Metropolitan Retail Ice and Coal Dealers Union Inc. dominated the market by illegal means.

Tomaso Reina, the Boss of the Lucchese Family, prospered in the ice trade in the Bronx. Newspaper accounts after his death related stories that he had amassed $1,000,000 over the last few years and had eight trucks. In addition, Reina had enough money for a 16 room house, three automobiles, a wife’s and nine kids’ expenses, not to mention a mistress.

Success like this would provoke jealousy and envy.

February 26, 1930

A shooter blasted Reina with shotgun slugs just as he was to enter his car parked in front of 3181 Rochambeau Ave in the Bronx. The killer and his accomplice escaped quickly. A passing taxi took Reina and his girlfriend Mary Ellis to Morrisania Hospital, where he died. In his clothes, officials found a .32 pistol and $804 in cash. A police search of his vehicle discovered a hidden compartment behind the front seats that contained a loaded .22 rifle and 100 bullets.

The police speculated that the killing was due to a cut-rate war among wholesale ice dealers. Ice likely had something to do with the murder, but Genovese Family Boss Joe Masseria wanted to place someone more cooperative on the Lucchese throne. Reina loyalists believed this theory.

Reporter Stanford Jarrel of the Daily News provided a colorful account of the Reina hit and its immediate aftermath. He described the $100 a month apartment occupied by Reina’s girlfriend as a Love nest, located at 1521 Sheridon Ave in the Bronx. Maria Ennis was a gorgeously attractive blonde who looked on in terror as the shooting took place. She accompanied her mortally wounded lover to the hospital.

Maria Ellis and Mrs. Angelina Reina found themselves in the Bathgate Ave Police Station an hour later. When Mrs. Reina saw her rival, she charged like a tigress with venom in her heart. ‘You were not satisfied with one man. You had to take mine away from me and my children.’

Perhaps unnecessarily because it was apparent, Jarrel added that Reina was a man who seems to toy with women’s affections in a careless manner.

Comment:

It must have been lousy enough for Reina’s nine children to lose him but to see his dirty laundry splashed across the papers couldn’t have helped.

1930

With the support of Boss Joe Masseria (Genovese Family), Joe Pinzolo took the Lucchese Family throne. Unfortunately, we have no primary evidence of whether there was a vote or Masseria openly ordered Pinzolo’s ascension.

Chapter Two

Boss Joe Pinzolo

Joe Pinzolo was the second Boss of what we now call the Lucchese Family. From what little primary evidence exists, it appears that he was imposed on the Lucchese group by powerful Genovese Boss Joe Masseria. Unfortunately, we are stuck with that theory because what we know about his reign comes from the victor’s side of a conflict. We learned from Joe Valachi that only a handful of Lucchese members secretly rebelled against Pinzolo. In any case, what follows below is a chronological list of what little we know of this character.

DOB

January 9, 1887

Palermo, Sicily

DOD

September 9, 1930

NYC

Descriptions

Joe Valachi’s description

Ugly grease ball

Fat belly

Flowing handlebar mustache

A distinct odor of garlic

August 1906

Pinzola arrived in the USA.

July 1908

Police were investigating a series of blackmail attempts against apartment owner Francisco Spinelli. They caught a young Girolamo Pinzolo attempting to light a stick of dynamite to destroy the building at 314 E 11th St in Manhattan. In his pocket, the officers found a blackmail note. Pinzolo was toast.

The young hood quickly gave up his superior, Giuseppe Constabile but refused to testify against him. A judge sent Pinzolo up the river for two years and eight months to five years.

October 1922

Police arrested Pinzolo for violating the Sullivan law. (The carrying of a gun).

1930

Dominick, The Gap Petrilli, brought gangster Joe Valachi to Pinzolo at the Boss’ request. Immediately Valachi was put off by Pinzolo’s appearance and manner. Furthermore, he was insulted when Pinzolo asked him to bring some girls from the Rainbow Room. Valachi complained to Petrilli, who quietly told him that Pinzolo didn’t have long to live.

Note:

When shooters killed Boss Tom Reina, a handful of his supporters vowed revenge. Tom Lucchese, Petrilli, Steve Runnelli, and a few others were in that group. They had to keep their plotting secret for their safety but needed new men for support. So the Reina loyalists brought Valachi and a few other independent gangsters into the fold.

June 1930 approximately

Tommy Lucchese rented offices in suite 1007 at the Brokaw Building at 1487 Broadway. Pinzolo ran his California Dry Fruit Importers from this 10th-floor location.

September 9, 1930

Girolamo Bobby Doyle Santucci gunned down Pinzolo in his office around 4 PM. Santucci told Valachi, I caught him alone in the office. A shocked cleaning lady discovered the body at 10 PM. Pinzolo had been shot two times in the back, another two in the chest, and the fifth slug in his side. A .32 semi-automatic pistol lay on the floor beside the late Boss with six slugs gone. Cops found $1,600 in his pocket but not much else.

The police visited Mrs. Carmela Pinzolo at 8516 2nd Ave in Brooklyn. She explained that her husband had left in the morning for parts unknown. However, the widow did add that Pinzolo ran a dry fruit importing business. She thought the dead man’s description fit her husband and agreed to come in and try to identify him.

Police brought Lucchese in for questioning, but nothing came of that investigation.

The members of the Pinzolo Family (Lucchese Family) held a meeting to attempt to discover who killed their second Boss within a year. Gagliano, Lucchese, and the other plotters attended the meeting to avoid suspicion.

They acted innocent just like John Gotti and his fellow plotters did when the Gambino Family held a gathering after the murder of Boss Paul Castellano