The Five Families and How Organized Crime Became Organized - Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More

Summary

Everything Everywhere Daily: "The Five Families and How Organized Crime Became Organized"

Release Date: January 31, 2025

Host Gary Arndt delves deep into the evolution of organized crime in New York City, tracing its transformation from chaotic, fragmented gangs to the highly structured Mafia system dominated by the infamous Five Families. This episode offers a comprehensive exploration of the key events, figures, and organizational changes that shaped the American Mafia.

1. Introduction to Organized Crime in Early 20th Century

Gary Arndt sets the stage by highlighting the unorganized nature of early 20th-century Mafia activities in New York City. He states, “Organized crime wasn't always so organized. In the early 20th century in New York City, what we would call the Mafia was rather unorganized” [00:00]. During this period, multiple competing groups operated with relative anarchy, leading to violent conflicts and power struggles.

2. Origins of the New York Mafia

The roots of New York’s Mafia are traced back to Italian immigrants from regions like Sicily, Calabria, and Naples in the late 19th century. These immigrants brought with them their own criminal traditions:

Sicilian Mafia (Cosa Nostra): A secretive and hierarchical network.
Camorra and Nagrangida: Lesser-known but equally influential criminal groups.

These organizations engaged in activities such as extortion, protection rackets, gambling, and loan sharking, primarily targeting fellow Italian immigrants. By the early 1900s, neighborhoods like Little Italy, East Harlem, and Brooklyn became hotbeds for these small Mafia gangs.

3. The Black Hand Era: Chaos Before Order

Before the Mafia established a structured hierarchy, Italian gangs frequently resorted to the Black Hand—a crude method of extortion characterized by anonymous letters threatening violence unless money was paid. Gary explains, “Unlike the Mafia, which operated as a hierarchical structured criminal organization with defined leadership… the Black Hand was more chaotic and opportunistic” [01:50]. This period was marked by opportunistic crimes with little long-term planning or organization.

4. The Impact of Prohibition: A Catalyst for Organization

Prohibition (1920-1933) served as a turning point, providing organized crime groups with the perfect opportunity to expand through bootlegging. The illegal alcohol market allowed these groups to:

Accumulate significant wealth and power.
Establish extensive supply chains and distribution networks.

Gary notes, “Prohibition created a massive underground market for alcohol, allowing organized crime groups to accumulate wealth and power at an unprecedented rate” [01:50].

5. Key Figures: Masseria and Maranzano

Two dominant figures emerged during this era:

Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria: Controlled much of New York’s underworld through bootlegging, extortion, and gambling. He upheld traditional Mafia customs and demanded absolute loyalty.
Salvatore Maranzano: A Sicilian boss from Castellammare del Golfo, mentored by Don Vito Ferro. Maranzano sought to modernize the Mafia by introducing a structured hierarchy inspired by Roman military ranks.

6. The Castellammare War: A Battle for Supremacy

The conflict between Masseria and Maranzano escalated into the Castellammare War (1929-1931), driven by:

Ethnic and Regional Divisions: Masseria’s faction was a mix of Sicilians and Neapolitans, while Maranzano’s was predominantly Sicilian from Castellammare del Golfo.
Economic Rivalry: Both sought control over the lucrative bootlegging trade.

Gary describes the war as an "all out war between the two factions" with both sides engaging in ruthless assassinations, including the killings of key allies like Joseph Perino and Vito Bonventre [01:50].

7. Lucky Luciano: The Architect of Modern Mafia

Salvador "Lucky" Luciano emerges as a pivotal character in this narrative:

Early Life: Born in Sicily, immigrated to the U.S. at nine, and grew up in the crime-ridden Lower East Side of New York.
Criminal Rise: Formed his own street gang, forged alliances with Jewish and Irish gangsters like Meyer Lansky and Bugsy Siegel, and became a key player in bootlegging, prostitution, and narcotics trafficking.

A significant turning point for Luciano was his kidnapping and brutal assault in 1929, which he survived, earning the nickname "Lucky" [01:50].

8. The Downfall of Masseria and Rise of Maranzano

Initially aligned with Masseria, Luciano became disillusioned with the old-school mentality that resisted cooperation with non-Italians and limited opportunities for younger gangsters. Seizing the opportunity to modernize, Luciano secretly sided with Maranzano. On April 15, 1931, Luciano orchestrated Masseria’s assassination at a Coney Island restaurant, effectively ending the war [01:50].

With Masseria’s demise, Maranzano assumed control but soon became paranoid and threatened Luciano. Foreseeing the danger, Luciano preemptively had Maranzano killed on September 10, 1931, using Jewish gunmen—a significant departure from Mafia tradition [01:50].

9. Establishment of the Commission: A New Order

Refusing to take the title of "boss of all bosses," Luciano introduced the Commission, a board-like structure designed to:

Prevent Internal Conflicts: Resolve disputes peacefully to avoid destructive wars.
Regulate Criminal Activities: Set rules and guidelines to ensure cooperation among families.
Approve High-Profile Murders: Require Commission approval for significant assassinations.
Manage Territories and Profits: Allocate control over cities and industries to specific families.
Facilitate National Coordination: Expand organized crime's influence across the United States.

Gary summarizes, “The Commission acted as a board of Directors, allowing Mafia families to resolve disputes, regulate criminal activities and maintain order within the underworld” [01:50].

10. The Five Families: Foundations of the Mafia

Under Maranzano’s new organizational system, the Five Families were established, each led by a boss:

Luciano Family (Genovese)
Mangano Family (Gambino)
Gagliano Family (Lucchese)
Bonanno Family
Profaci Family (Colombo)

These families formed the backbone of organized crime in New York, with structures consisting of underbosses, consiglieres, capos, and soldiers [01:50].

11. The Commission's Successes and Vulnerabilities

The Commission effectively reduced violence and increased profits by maintaining order and cooperation among families. However, it also introduced a central point that could become a liability. Gary explains, “The Commission became the weak point in the entire system” [01:50]. This vulnerability was exposed in 1957 when a major Commission meeting was raided by police, leading to numerous arrests and heightened government scrutiny.

12. Decline and Legacy of the Commission

Despite governmental pressures, the Five Families persisted, albeit in a more subdued and decentralized manner. The families became better known by the names of their subsequent bosses:

Genovese Family
Gambino Family
Lucchese Family
Bonanno Family
Colombo Family

Luciano's legacy as the father of the American Mafia is cemented by his role in ending the Castellammare War and instituting the Commission [01:50]. However, his eventual arrest, cooperation with authorities during World War II, and deportation marked the beginning of the decline of Mafia influence in mainstream American industries.

13. Conclusion: The Enduring Yet Waning Mafia

While the Mafia remains operational, its influence has significantly waned due to increased law enforcement efforts and internal strife. The Commission is no longer as potent, and the Five Families maintain a lower profile in today’s organized crime landscape. Gary underscores Luciano’s pivotal role in shaping organized crime, leaving a lasting imprint on its structure and operations [01:50].

This episode offers a nuanced understanding of how organized crime in New York evolved into the sophisticated Mafia system known today. Through detailed accounts of key events and influential figures, Gary Arndt provides listeners with a vivid portrayal of the strategies and power dynamics that underpinned one of the most notorious criminal organizations in history.

Transcript

Host (0:00)

Organized crime wasn't always so organized. In the early 20th century in New York City, what we would call the Mafia was rather unorganized. There were competing groups, and while the individual groups had some sort of organization, there was anarchy among them. From 1929 to 1931, there was a war between some of the crime organizations, and when the dust settled, all of the major Mafia groups in New York City had found a way to work together, or at least not openly feud. Learn more about New York's five families and the creation of the Commission on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

Metro Announcer (0:48)

Welcome to Nada Yada island, next on Metro's Nadiata island podcast. I almost fainted when the four new bombshells arrived. Four free Samsung Galaxy 8A 16 5G phones at Metro. No way. And finding out the fourth line is free, things got heated. That's wild. Join Metro and get four free Samsung 5G phones only at Metro plus tax. Bring four numbers and an ID and sign up for any Metro Flex plan not available Currently AT T Mobile or been with Metro in the past 180 days.

Amazon Advertiser (1:19)

This episode is brought to you by Amazon. Sometimes the most painful part of getting sick is the getting better part. Waiting on hold for an appointment, sitting in crowded waiting rooms, standing in line at the pharmacy. That's painful. Amazon one Medical and Amazon Pharmacy Remove those painful parts of getting better with things like 247 virtual visits and prescriptions delivered to your door thanks to Amazon Pharmacy and Amazon one Medical Healthcare just got less painful.

Host (1:50)

Before we get into the creation of the Five Families and the events that resulted in the Commission which put the organization into organized crime, it's important to understand how the Mafia in New York came to be. The roots of the New York Mob can be traced back to Italian immigrants to the United States in the late 19th century. Many immigrants, particularly those from Sicily, Calabria and Naples, brought their Mafia traditions with them. Sicilian immigrants introduced the Sicilian Mafia, AKA Costa Nostra, a secretive criminal network. Neapolitan and Calabrian immigrants brought their own criminal groups, such as the Camorra and the Nagrangida. These groups engaged in extortion, protection rackets, gambling and loan sharking, primarily preying on fellow Italian immigrants. By the early 1900s, New York's Italian communities were dominated by small Mafia gangs, particularly in neighborhoods like Little Italy, East Harlem and Brooklyn. Before the Mafia became highly structured, Italian gangs engaged in a crude form of extortion known as the Black Hand. The Black Hand was a form of extortion practiced by Italian criminals, primarily targeting fellow Italian immigrants in cities like New York. It was not an organized crime syndicate, but rather a method used by independent criminals or loosely connected gangs. Black Hand extortionists would send anonymous letters threatening violence, arson or kidnapping unless money was paid, often signing them with a black handprint to instill fear. Unlike the Mafia, which operated as a hierarchical structured criminal organization with defined leadership, codes of conduct, conduct and long term business interests, the Black Hand was more chaotic and opportunistic. The Mafia, however, particularly the emerging Sicilian American Costa Nostra, sought control over entire industries and ran extensive rackets. Whereas Black Hand criminals typically engaged in one off extortions with little organization. As the Mafia grew in power in the 1910s, it actively eliminated Black Hand operations, seeing them as unprofessional and disruptive to more profitable and sophisticated criminal enterprises. Nonetheless, many early Mafia bosses had their start in Black Hand extortion gangs. What really changed for the Mafia was Prohibition. Prohibition created a massive underground market for alcohol, allowing organized crime groups to accumulate wealth and power at an unprecedented rate. The national ban on alcohol provided an opportunity for these groups to evolve in sophisticated criminal enterprises. Beyond their origins in extortion, bootlegging became the most lucrative business and Italian mobsters quickly established supply chains, smuggling routes and distribution networks. During this period, several powerful Mafia bosses emerged, the most dominant being Giuseppe Joe the Boss Masserio, who controlled much of the New York underworld and his eventual rival, Salvatore Maranzano, a Sicilian boss from the Sicilian town of Castellamare del Golfo, Sicily. Masseria and Maranzano are two key figures in this story. Masseria was the most powerful Italian crime boss in New York at the time, running a criminal empire involving bootlegging, extortion and gambling. He followed the traditional Mafia customs and expected total loyalty from those underneath him. Maranzano came from Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily, along with many other New York mobsters. And the head of the Mafia there mentored him, Don Vito Ferro. Don Ferro sent Maranzano to New York to attempt to take control of the criminal underworld so that the Mafia factions and Castellammare del Golfo would ultimately control it. Maranzano quickly grew his criminal empire and found himself in confrontation with Masseria. By 1929, this had erupted into an all out war between the two factions which became known as the Castellammare War. The war had several different causes. The most obvious were ethnic and regional divisions. Masseria's faction consisted mostly of Sicilians and Neapolitans, while Marizano's faction was almost entirely Sicilian, particularly from the town of Castellamare del Golfo. Messeria adhered to a more rigid old school approach to Mafia leadership, while Marizano sought to introduce a structured hierarchy inspired by ancient Roman military ranks. However, the biggest reason came down to money. Both men wanted to control the highly lucrative bootlegging trade in New York City. The war began as both sides assassinated each other's associates, bootleggers and enforcers. Messeria ordered a hit on a key Maranzano ally, Gaetano Reynia, who controlled the ice distribution business in the Bronx. This move escalated the tensions. The fighting became increasingly violent with both sides using hitmen to carry out assassinations. Several prominent mobsters were killed, including Joseph Perino, a Masseria ally, and Vito Bonventre, a Manzaro ally. Now enter into the picture the man who is perhaps the most important character in this entire story, Salvador Lucky Luciano. Luciano was born in sicily and in 1906, at the age of nine, his family emigrated to the United States, settling in New York's Lower east side, a rough crime ridden neighborhood where many Italian immigrants lived in poverty. As a teenager, Luciano quickly became involved in criminal activities, forming his own street gang. Unlike many Italian immigrants who only associated with their own kind, Luciano built connections with Jewish and Irish gangsters, including Meyer Lansky and Bugsy Siegel. In his late teens and early 20s, Luciano worked for Joe Masseria and became involved in prostitution, narcotics trafficking and bootlegging during Prohibition. By the mid-1920s, Luciano was a rising star in the Mafia, making millions from bootlegging while maintaining strong alliances alliances with non Italian criminals, including the likes of Lansky and Siegel. In 1929, he was kidnapped, beaten and stabbed multiple times before being dumped on Staten Island. Miraculously, he survived, earning him the nickname Lucky. When the Castellammare war broke out, Luciano initially sided with Masseria, but became frustrated with the old school Mustache Pete mentality which resisted working with non Italians and limited opportunities for younger gangsters. Mustache Pete was a name given to old school mobsters from Sicily. Seeing an opportunity to modernize the Mafia, Luciano secretly aligned with Maranzano. On April 15, 1931, he set up Masseria's assassination at a Coney island restaurant where hitman allegedly including Bugsy Siegel and Albert Anastasia gunned down Masseria. While Luciano excused himself to the restroom. In exchange for the execution of Masseria, Luciano would get his business and and be the number two guy under Maranzano. With Masseria dead, the war was now over and Maranzano found himself at the top of Italian organized crime in New York City. One of the first things that Maranzano did was to create a new organizational system which he based on Roman military hierarchy. He created five families, with each family to be headed by a boss. The first five bosses were Lucky Luciano, Vincent Mangano, Tommy Gagliano, Joe Bonanno, and Maranzano himself. Each family would then have, underneath the boss, an underboss, a consigliere, several capos and many soldiers. At a meeting in upstate New York, Maranzano declared himself to be capo di tudi capi, or boss of all bosses. While these changes to the structure and organization of the Mafia were well received, Maranzano was fundamentally paranoid. He soon turned against Luciano, plotting to eliminate him and his allies. Word of the pending assassination made its way to Luciano before Maranzano could act. Luciano struck first. On September 10, 1931, Luciano ordered Maranzano's assassination inside his office. The hit was carried out by Jewish gunmen, a move that broke Mafia tradition. Maranzano had been the top boss for less than six months, and now the guy on top was Lucky Luciano. Maranzano had been dubbed Little Caesar because of his obsession with Roman history. If Maranzano was Caesar, then in a very real sense, Luciano became Augustus. Luciano did not take the title boss of Bosses for himself, as he knew it would only draw the ire of the other bosses. Instead, he created a new system called the Commission. Instead of a single supreme leader, the Commission acted as a board of Directors, allowing Mafia families to resolve disputes, regulate criminal activities and maintain order within the underworld. The Commission consisted of the heads of the five families established by Maranzano, as well as the head of the Chicago mob, who was Al Capone at the time, and also the head of the Buffalo, New York Mobile. Every member of the Commission would have a single vote and no boss would have total control. The Commission had several purposes. The first was preventing internal conflicts. By resolving disputes between Mafia families peacefully. It reduced unnecessary wars. The second was regulating criminal activities. The Commission set rules and guidelines for how families operated, ensuring cooperation instead of competition. The third was approving murders. Any high profile assassination, such as a boss or high ranking member, required Commission approval. The fourth was managing territories and profits. The Commission determined which families controlled certain cities and industries. Finally, the Commission allowed for national coordination. It allowed organized crime to expand beyond New York City, maintaining its influence and control across the entire United States. The goal of all of these reforms was to avoid another Castellammare war, as mob wars were very bad for business. The Commission didn't meet frequently. In fact, the original agreement was that they would meet only once every five years. Or if there was a need to resolve an important issue. One of the issues that they would adjudicate would be who would take over a family after a boss died or retired. The Commission approved their successor to prevent power struggles. They also served as a sort of Supreme Court, being the last word on any disagreements or disputes between families so they wouldn't break out in violence. The Commission system developed by Lucky Luciano worked quite well at reducing violence and improving profits for all of the families involved. However, the Commission itself became the weak point in the entire system. While the Commission didn't meet that often, when they did, it became a potential single point of failure for the entire Mafia. This exact scenario happened in 1957 when the Commission held a major meeting in Appalachian New York attended by over 60 top mafia bosses. The meeting was raided by police, leading to multiple arrests and exposing the Mafia structure to the FBI, which under J. Edgar Hoover, had previously denied the Mafia's existence. The Appalachian raid led to increased government surveillance and legal pressure on the Mafia for years. Nonetheless, the Commission and the five family system survived. Now, if you know even a bit about the New York Mafia, you probably didn't recognize the names I gave as the first bosses of the families. That's because most of the families became known by other bosses who came after them. In particular, the modern names of the families were named after who the bosses were. During the 1963 McClellan hearings in the United States Senate, Joseph Bonanno's family remained the Bonanno family. Lucky Luciano's family became known as the Genovese family, named after Vito Genovese. Vincent Magano's family became known as the Gambino family, named after Carlo Gambino. Tommy Galeano's family became known as the Lucchese family, named after Tommy Lucchese. And Joseph Profaki's family became known as the Colombo family, named after Joseph Colombo. As for Lucky Luciano, despite his power, Luciano's empire drew the attention of law enforcement. In 1936, Special Prosecutor Thomas Dewey launched an investigation into Luciano's prostitution operations. Luciano was arrested, tried and convicted of running brothels. In June 1936, he was sentenced to 30 to 50 years in prison, marking the biggest blow to organized crime at that time. However, the US government struck a deal with Luciano during World War II to help protect the New York docks. And in 1946, as a reward for his assistance, the now Governor of New York State, Thomas Dewey, commuted his sentence and Luciano was deported to Italy. Permanently barred from returning to the United States, Luciano suffered a fatal heart attack on January 26, 1962 at the age of 64 after meeting with a film producer who wanted to make a film based on his life story. Although the Mafia still exists, the Commission is no longer as powerful as it once was. Several high profile bosses were imprisoned, murdered or turned informant and the Mafia's influence over industries like labor unions and casinos has significantly declined. However, the Five Families of New York still operate, albeit in a much more low profile and decentralized manner. Lucky Luciano is considered to be the father of the American Mafia for his role in resolving the Castellammare War and for taking the steps to actually put some organization into organized crime. The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Benji Long and Cameron Keever. I want to give a big shout out to everyone who supports the show over on Patreon, including the show's producers. Your support helps me put out a show every single day and also Patreon is currently the only place where Everything Everywhere Daily merchandise is available to the top tier of supporters. If you'd like to talk to other listeners of the show and members of the Completionist Club, you can join the Everything Everywhere Daily Facebook group or Discord server. Links to Everything are in the show. Notes.