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|New York|  Joe - The Boss - Masseria

Birth: 1887 - Marsala, Sicily

Death: April 15, 1931 - New York








Joe "The Boss" Masseria was one of the most successful, loved and hated mafiosi of the 1920's. He was a long time member of the Morello gang before becoming the boss himself. During prohibition he and founding member Peter Morello made the gang one of the largest and most organized criminal gangs in America. The gang is nowadays known as the Genovese Family.

The man who could dodge bullets
According to a WWI draft card, Giuseppe Masseria was born in 1887 in Marsala, Sicily. In his early 20's he already worked for local Mafia bosses. After he murdered a man he fled to America in 1903. Once in New York he began to rob shops and extort people to make a living. A couple of years later he was brought into the 107th street gang, which was under the commando of the Morello-Terranova-Saietta alliance. The young Ciro Terranova welcomed him into his crew and offered him work and protection. Masseria was arrested in 1907 due to extortion and burglary. Thanks to Terranova, Masseria's jail sentence was suspended. By 1910 the founding members of the gang, Lupo Saietta and Giuseppe Morello, were arrested and convicted for counterfeiting charges. Both received long prison terms. The leadership was now in the hands of the Terranova brothers who tried to keep things under control, but the Brooklyn Camorra and other groups started to rebel. This evolved in a war with the Camorra and led to the murder of Nicholas Terranova. Masseria started to establish a presence in Lower Manhattan, but his plans were put on hold as he was arrested for burglary and received a 4,5 year sentence. The war between the Morello gang and the Camorra came to an end when Camorra hitman Raffaele Daniello ratted out his bosses, causing the Camorra leadership to be arrested and convicted for multiple murders.

by 1920 Giuseppe Morello was out of prison. His partner Ignazio Saietta left America and headed back to Sicily, Morello however was eager to return to the New York streets. However, another mafiosi from Brooklyn had already claimed Morello's former title of Boss of Bosses, namely Salvatore D'Aquila. D'Aquila wasn't willing to give back his position to Morello and was strongly backed by Cleveland boss Joseph Lonardo and the Brooklyn gangleader Frankie Yale. Soon D'Aquila targeted the Morello-Terranova leadership, including Masseria. D'Aquila also targeted a former Camorra member, Umberto Valenti. Umberto Valenti was a New York gangster who was originally a member of the Neapolitan Camorra of Brooklyn, who then allied himself to the Morello gang from 1917 to 1920 after the Mafia-Camorra War. To save himself Valenti allied himself with D'Aquila and agreed upon killing the Morello-Terranova leadership. One of his victims was 36 year old Vincent Terranova. Masseria immediately responded by gunning down Valenti lieutenant Silva Tagliagamba at the Manhattan Liquor Exchange. Joe the Boss was charged with the murder, but the case never went to trial (Ciro Terranova's connections within the various branches of the government were exceptional for the time).

On August 8, 1922, Joe Masseria was ambushed by Valenti gunmen on 5th St. and 2nd Ave. near his home. Masseria ducked into Heiney's Millinery where a Valenti gunman proceeded to shoot at him 4 times from a range of 10 feet while Masseria ducked and dodged while the gun was fired. The amazed shooter and store clerk cannot believe only store items and Masseria's straw hat were hit. The legend that Joe Masseria could dodge bullets was born. Joe Masseria duped Umberto Valenti into believing that he was scared for his life and wished to retire and abdicate his position as boss. A meeting was arranged on August 11, 1922 at an Italian restaurant located at 233 East 12th St. where Masseria and Valenti would eat and discuss Masseria's up-coming retirement. As Valenti was moving to the restaurant he noticed he was being followed and realized he had ran into an ambush. Valenti ran from a team of hitmen who chased him and took aim. As Valenti reached a taxi cab he was shot and killed. After Valenti was murdered it brought violence to the streets as in the following days others were killed as well. The war between D'Aquila and Masseria was halted Masseria started to receive support from several gangs all over the country, including the Torrio-Capone gang from Chicago. He was now overpowering his enemy D'Aquila, who's own members were starting to plot with Masseria, including lieutenantAl Mineo.


The Castellammarese War
About 1925 a man entered America who would change the life of Masseria forever. This man was Salvatore Maranzano, a respected mafiosi hailing from Castellammare Del Golfo. Maranzano went to live in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where he joined forces with Nicolo Schiro. Schiro and Maranzano were already associates back in Sicily as Maranzano was a part of the Bonanno and Magaddino Families. Salvatore Maranzano set up bootlegging, gambling, loansharking, theft and hijacking operations that eventually came into conflict with the interests of Joe Masseria. Joe Masseria, being boss of the first recognized Mafia organization in New York, felt the Brooklyn Castellammarese and their many associates could form a threat. Masseria demanded that every Family had to pay him tributes. Nicolo Schiro was said to have paid Masseria to avoid trouble, but later disappeared, making Vito Bonventre or Salvatore Maranzano the new leader (Whom exactly succeeded Schiro still isn't clear). After both organization turned violent towards eachother by hijacking trucks or by destroying illegal breweries a war was inevitable. Masseria also grew suspicious towards his New York allies and to suppress this rebellion Masseria ordered the killing of Gaetano Reina, believing Reina was plotting against him. The war would eventualy become known as the Castellammarese War.

At that time behind the boss's back (Masseria may have been aware but chose not to deal with it), Luciano established relationships with various gang leaders inside of and outside of the Mafia society across the United States. He participated in the Seven Group, a bootlegging cooperative, and planned with Frank Costello for the illicit enterprises the underworld might enter into once Prohibition ended. Luciano maintained contact with Jewish mobsters and childhood companions Meyer Lansky and Benjamin Siegel and established a relationship with Dutch Shultz. But after a while Masseria began to see Luciano as a threat. One day Luciano was forced into a car at gunpoint and was beaten, stabbed and left for dead on the beach. Luciano found out through Meyer Lansky that it was Masseria that ordered the hit. So Luciano teamed up with Salvatore Maranzano to betray Joe Masseria.

Masseria named old Morello-Lupo mob boss Giuseppe (Peter) Morello as boss of bosses. Masseria had hoped to convince the underworld once again that he was ready for retirement. No one bought it this time. Morello was assassinated. Shortly thereafter, Maranzano had Al Mineo killed. On April 15, 1931 Luciano arranged a sitdown with his old boss Joe Masseria at Nuova Villa Tammaro, a restaurant in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn. When Luciano excused himself from the table to the toilet, 4 hitters came into the restaurant and killed Masseria. The killers were Bugsy Siegel, Vito Genovese, Joe Adonis and Albert Anastasia. Ciro Terranova drove the car.
Maranzano was now the boss of bosses, but not for long as Lucky Luciano ordered the murder on Maranzano only 6 months later.



Important allies of Joe Masseria during the war
- Charles Luciano, he would end the war by setting up the murder of Masseria and Maranzano;
- Vito Genovese, gunman and future leader of the Masseria Family;
- Al Capone, Chicago boss.
- Carlo Gambino, the future leader of the D-Aquila/Mangano Family;
- Albert Anastasia, future leader of the D-Aquila/Mangano Family and Murder, Inc.;
- Gaetano Gagliano, but he switched sides to Maranzano during the war
- Thomas Lucchese, he also switched sides together with Gagliano
- Peter Morello, the founder of the Morello/Masseria Family and war victim;
- Al Mineo, early boss of the D-Aquila/Mangano Family and war victim;
- Gaetano Reina, who'm Masseria had killed
- Frank Costello, rather Luciano loyalist (like most others);
- Anthony "Augie Pisano" Carfano, gunman and former Frankie Yale member.
- Joe Adonis, former Frankie Yale member.
- Joseph Catania, top captain to Masseria.
- Chester LaMare, West-Side Detroit boss.

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