“lucky” luciano

The crime lord known to America as “Lucky” Luciano was born Salvatore Lucania in Sicily, Italy, in 1897. His family emigrated to the United States when Salvatore was very young, settling in a largely Italian neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City. While his father was ambitious and wanted his children to succeed in the “land of opportunity”, it was the world of crime that drew in young Salvatore, who got involved in local street gangs before graduating to serious organized crime.

Under the tutelage of Jewish gangster Arnold Rothstein, Salvatore became a very successful criminal during the Prohibition era, when alcoholic beverages were banned across the United States from 1920 to 1933. Prohibition simply drove the massive demand for alcohol into the hands of criminals, leading to a bonanza for smugglers, moonshiners, the Mafia, and other criminal organizations.

He came to be known as “Lucky” Luciano. Rising through the ranks of one of the main Italian crime families in New York, by assassinations and cunning Luciano eventually gained control of organized crime all across North America. He reorganized the Mafia, making it more like a federated business than a group of waring gangs, expanding its activities into legal fields such as Las Vegas gambling.

He was imprisoned in 1936, but continued to run the Mafia from prison. He then struck a deal with the US Government during the Second World War. In exchange for a reduced sentence, he aided the war effort: on the New York Docks (which the Mob controlled), his foot soldiers watched out for potential German and Italian infiltration and sabotage; and Luciano used his Sicilian connections to provide intelligence during the Allied invasion of Italy, with Sicilian mafiosi passing on information about German positions on the island.

recommended reading

Luciano gave an account of his life to Hollywood writer Martin Gosch, who turned it into a book. Though Luciano’s account should be taken with a good deal of salt, it is nonetheless an interesting insight into the life and times of America’s most important Mafia boss: The Last Testament of Lucky Luciano: The Mafia Story in His Own Words

Attribution for music used in this episode:

Assassinations Podcast Theme Music (Intro, Outro, and Transitions) written and performed by Graeme Ronald