Editing Salvatore Maranzano (section)

== Life and career ==

=== Early years ===
Salvatore Maranzano was the youngest of 12 children born to Domenico Maranzano and Antonina Pisciotta. Five of his siblings lived to adulthood: Mariano, Angelo, Nicolo, Giuseppe, and Angela. As a youngster, Maranzano had wanted to become a [[priest]] and even studied to become one, but later became associated with [[Sicilian Mafia|the Mafia]] in his homeland.<ref>Critchley, p. 144</ref> Maranzano had a very commanding presence and was greatly respected by his underworld peers. He had a fascination with [[Julius Caesar]] and the [[Roman Empire]], and enjoyed talking to his less-educated American Mafia counterparts about these subjects.<ref>Raab, pp. 26-27</ref> Because of this, he was nicknamed "Little Caesar" by his underworld peers.

Maranzano was married to Elisabetta Minore, sister of Salvatore Minore, an influent mafia boss in the city of [[Trapani]] and capo of the [[Minore Mafia clan]].<ref name=critchley>David Critchley, ''The Origin of Organized Crime in America: The New York City Mafia, 1891–1931; page 144''</ref>

Maranzano emigrated from Sicily to the United States in the 1920s, settling in [[Brooklyn]].<ref name=fivefamilies>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5nAt6N8iQnYC&q=maranzano|title=Five Families|year=2005|author=Selwyn Raab|publisher=Thomas Dunne Books|isbn=978-1-4299-0798-9}}</ref> The Sicilian ''mafioso'' [[Don (honorific)|Don]] [[Vito Cascio Ferro|Vito Ferro]] decided to make a bid for control of Mafia operations in the United States. From his base in Castellammare del Golfo, Maranzano was sent to seize control.<ref>{{cite book|last=Sifakis|first=Carl|title=The Mafia Encyclopedia|year=2005|publisher=Checkmark Books|location=New York|isbn=978-0-8160-5695-8|page=[https://archive.org/details/mafiaencyclopedi00sifa_0/page/56 56]|url=https://archive.org/details/mafiaencyclopedi00sifa_0/page/56}}</ref> While building a legitimate business as a [[real estate broker]], Maranzano also maintained a growing [[Rum-running|bootlegging]] business, using the real estate company as a front for his illegal operations. He soon became involved in [[prostitution]] and the illegal smuggling of [[narcotics]]; he also took a liking to a young [[Joseph Bonanno]] and became his mentor.<ref name=fivefamilies/>

=== Castellammarese War ===
To protect the criminal empire that Maranzano had built up, he declared war on his rival [[Joe Masseria]], the [[Capo dei capi|boss of all bosses]], in 1930, starting the [[Castellammarese War]].<ref name=fivefamilies/> In early 1931, [[Lucky Luciano]] decided to eliminate his boss, Masseria. In a secret deal with Maranzano, Luciano agreed to engineer Masseria's death in return for receiving Masseria's [[racket (crime)|racket]]s and becoming Maranzano's second-in-command.<ref name=fivefamilies/> On April 15, Luciano invited Masseria and two other associates to lunch in a [[Coney Island]] restaurant. After finishing their meal, the mobsters decided to play cards. At that point, according to mob legend, Luciano went to the bathroom. Four gunmen – [[Vito Genovese]], [[Albert Anastasia]], [[Joe Adonis]] and [[Bugsy Siegel|Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel]] – then walked into the dining room and shot and killed Masseria.<ref name=MafEnc /> With Maranzano's blessing, Luciano took over Masseria's gang and became Maranzano's lieutenant.<ref name=fivefamilies/>

=== Boss of all bosses ===
With Masseria gone, Maranzano reorganized the Italian American gangs in New York City into the [[Five Families]], headed by Luciano, [[Joe Profaci]], [[Tommy Gagliano]], [[Vincent Mangano]], and himself.<ref name=fivefamilies/> Each family would have a [[crime boss|boss]], [[underboss]], [[caporegime|capos]], [[soldato|soldiers]], and associates. The families ("[[Made man|made men]]") would be composed of only full-blooded Italian American members, while associates could come from any background.<ref name="A Chronicle of Bloodletting">{{cite news|title=A Chronicle of Bloodletting|url=http://www.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,902999-1,00.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130204191146/http://www.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,902999-1,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 4, 2013|access-date=31 October 2012|newspaper=[[Time Magazine]]|date=July 12, 1971}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Dash|first=Mike|title=The First Family: Terror, Extortion, Revenge, Murder, and the Birth of the American Mafia|year=2010|publisher=Ballantine Books|location=New York|isbn=978-0-345-52357-0|pages=384–386}}</ref><ref name=fivefamilies/> However, Maranzano called a meeting of crime bosses in [[Wappingers Falls, New York]], and declared himself ''[[capo dei capi]]'' ("boss of all bosses").<ref name=fivefamilies/> Maranzano also whittled down the rival families' rackets in favor of his own. Luciano appeared to accept these changes, but was merely biding his time before removing Maranzano.<ref name=MafEnc /> Although Maranzano was slightly more forward-thinking than Masseria, Luciano had come to believe that Maranzano was even greedier and more hidebound than Masseria had been.<ref name=fivefamilies/><ref name="ff28">Raab, pp. 28-29</ref><ref name="MafEnc">{{cite book |title=The Mafia Encyclopedia |url=https://archive.org/details/mafiaencyclopedi00sifa |url-access=registration |last=Sifakis |first=Carl |year=1987 |publisher=Facts on File |location=[[New York City]] |isbn=978-0-8160-1856-7 }}</ref>

Maranzano's scheming, his arrogant treatment of his subordinates and his fondness for comparing his organization to the Roman Empire (he attempted to model the organization after Caesar's military [[command hierarchy|chain of command]]) did not sit well with Luciano and his ambitious friends, such as [[Vito Genovese]], [[Frank Costello]] and others.<ref name="ff28"/> Despite his advocacy for modern methods of organization, including crews of soldiers doing the bulk of a family's illegal work under the supervision of a ''[[caporegime]]'', at heart Maranzano was a "[[Mustache Pete]]" — an old-school mafioso too steeped in Old World ways. He was opposed to Luciano's partnership with Jewish gangsters such as [[Meyer Lansky]] and [[Bugsy Siegel|Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel]]. Luciano and his colleagues had intended all along to bide their time before getting rid of Maranzano.<ref name="MafEnc"/>

=== Death ===
By September 1931, Maranzano realized Luciano was a threat, and hired [[Mad Dog Coll]], an Irish gangster, to kill him. However, [[Tommy Lucchese]] alerted Luciano that he was marked for death.<ref>Maas, p. 80</ref> On September 10, Maranzano ordered Luciano and Genovese to come to his office at the New York Central Building (now the [[Helmsley Building]]), at 230 Park Avenue in [[Manhattan]]. Convinced that Maranzano planned to murder them, Luciano decided to act first. He sent to Maranzano's office four Jewish gangsters whose faces were unknown to Maranzano's people. They had been secured with the aid of Lansky, Siegel and Gambino.<ref name="Dec. 7, 1998">"Lucky Luciano: Criminal Mastermind," ''Time'', [http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,989779,00.html Dec. 7, 1998]</ref> Disguised as government agents, two of the gangsters disarmed Maranzano's bodyguards. The other two, aided by Lucchese, who was there to point Maranzano out, stabbed the boss multiple times before shooting him.<ref name=saga>"The Genovese Family," ''Crime Library'', [http://www.crimelibrary.com/gangsters_outlaws/family_epics/genovese1/2.html ''Crime Library''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071214043547/http://www.crimelibrary.com/gangsters_outlaws/family_epics/genovese1/2.html |date=December 14, 2007 }}</ref> This assassination was the first of what would later be called the "Night of the [[Sicilian Vespers]]".<ref name=saga/> Although there would have been few objections had Luciano declared himself ''capo di tutti capi'', he abolished the title, believing the position created trouble among the families and would make himself a target for another ambitious challenger.<ref name=capital>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ivN7BAAAQBAJ&q=lucky+luciano+church+prison+the+Victoria%2C+the+ship+of+Ferdinand+Magella&pg=PA51|title=Capital of the World: A Portrait of New York City in the Roaring Twenties|author=David Wallace|year=2012|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-0-7627-6819-6}}</ref> Luciano subsequently created [[The Commission (mafia)|The Commission]] to serve as the governing body for organized crime.<ref name=origins>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/11/20/nyregion/the-commission-s-origins.html|title=The Commission's Origins|date=1986|work=The New York Times|access-date=22 February 2017}}</ref> Maranzano is buried in [[St. John Cemetery, Queens, New York|Saint John Cemetery]], [[Queens]], New York, near Luciano's grave.<ref>{{cite news |last=Torbatnejad |first=Mehrnoosh |title=Cemetery has a mob of mafiosi |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/queens/cemetery-mob-mafiosi-article-1.312368 |access-date=2013-01-07 |newspaper=New York Daily News |date=2008-02-26}}</ref>