Editing Lucky Luciano (section)

==Reorganizing Cosa Nostra and the Commission==
With the death of Maranzano, Luciano became the dominant crime boss in the U.S. He had reached the pinnacle of the underworld, setting policies and directing activities along with the other Mafia bosses. His own crime family controlled lucrative criminal rackets in New York City such as illegal gambling, extortion, [[bookmaking]], [[loansharking]], and [[drug trafficking]]. He became very influential in [[labor union]] activities and controlled the [[Manhattan Waterfront Greenway|Manhattan Waterfront]], [[waste management|garbage hauling]], [[construction]], [[Garment District, Manhattan|Garment District]] businesses, and trucking. Although there would have been few objections had Luciano declared himself ''capo di tutti capi'', he chose to abolish the title, believing the position created trouble between the families and made himself a target for another ambitious challenger.<ref name="capital" /> Instead, Luciano chose to quietly maintain control by forging unofficial alliances with other bosses; at the same time, Luciano did not discard all of Maranzano's changes as he believed that the ceremony of becoming a "[[made man]]" in a crime family was a Sicilian anachronism. Genovese ultimately persuaded Luciano to keep the ceremony, arguing that young people needed rituals to promote obedience to the family. Luciano remained committed to ''[[omertà]]'', the oath of silence, to protect the families from legal prosecution. In addition, he kept Maranzano's structure of five crime families in New York.<ref name="five families book" />

Luciano elevated his most trusted Italian associates to high-level positions in what was now the Luciano crime family. Genovese became [[underboss]] and Costello ''[[consigliere]]''. Adonis, [[Michael "Trigger Mike" Coppola]], [[Anthony Strollo]], [[Willie Moretti]] and [[Anthony Carfano]] all served as ''[[caporegime]]s''. Because Lansky and Siegel were non-Italians, neither man could hold official positions within any Mafia family; however, Lansky was a top advisor to Luciano and Siegel a trusted associate. Later in 1931, Luciano called a meeting in [[Chicago]] with various bosses, where he proposed a [[The Commission (American Mafia)|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=February 22, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200413102922/https://www.nytimes.com/1986/11/20/nyregion/the-commission-s-origins.html|archive-date=April 13, 2020|url-status=live}}</ref> Designed to settle all disputes and decide which families controlled which territories, the Commission has been called Luciano's greatest innovation.<ref name="five families book" /> His goals with the Commission were to quietly maintain his own power over all the families, and to prevent future [[gang war]]s; the bosses approved the idea of the Commission.<ref name="Capeci guide">[[Jerry Capeci|Capeci, Jerry]]. ''The complete idiot's guide to the Mafia'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=GhfExAeLSBAC&q=commission&pg=PA43 "The Mafia's Commission" (pp. 31–46)]</ref>

The Commission was originally composed of representatives of the five families of New York, the [[Buffalo crime family]] and the [[Chicago Outfit]]; later, the crime families of [[Philadelphia crime family|Philadelphia]] and [[Detroit crime family|Detroit]] were added, with smaller families being formally represented by a Commission family.<ref name="Capeci guide" /> The Commission also provided representation for Jewish criminal organizations in New York.<ref name="Russo">[[Gus Russo|Russo, Gus]]. ''The Outfit: The Role of Chicago's Underworld in the Shaping of Modern America'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=GnCn1u-zHbQC&q=lepke+murder+inc&pg=PA221 pp. 32–33, 41 221]</ref> The group's first test came in 1935, when it ordered [[Dutch Schultz]] to drop his plans to murder Special Prosecutor [[Thomas E. Dewey]]. Luciano argued that such an assassination would precipitate a massive law enforcement crackdown; the national crime syndicate had enacted a hard and fast rule stating that law enforcement and prosecutors were not to be harmed. An enraged Schultz said he would kill Dewey anyway and walked out of the meeting.<ref name="sch">{{cite web|last=Gribben|first=Mark|title=Murder, Inc.: Dutch gets his|url=http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/gangsters_outlaws/gang/inc/6.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081009100849/http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/gangsters_outlaws/gang/inc/6.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 9, 2008|publisher=Crime Library|access-date=September 2, 2013}}</ref> Later, Anastasia approached Luciano with information that Schultz had asked him to stake out Dewey's apartment building on [[Fifth Avenue]]. Upon hearing the news, the Commission held a discreet meeting to discuss the matter. After six hours of deliberations, the Commission ordered [[Lepke Buchalter]] to eliminate Schultz.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Last Testament of Lucky Luciano: The Mafia Story in His Own Words|first=Martin & Richard Hammer|last=Gosch|publisher=Enigma Books|year= 2013|isbn=978-1936274581|pages=223–224}}</ref><ref>Newark, p. 81</ref> On October 23, 1935, before he could kill Dewey, Schultz was shot in a tavern in [[Newark, New Jersey]], and succumbed to his injuries the following day.<ref name="schultz murder article">{{cite news|title=Schultz is shot, one aide killed, and 3 wounded|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1935/10/24/101514743.pdf|access-date=September 2, 2013|newspaper=The New York Times|date=October 24, 1935}}{{subscription required}}</ref><ref name="schultz murder">{{cite news|title=Schultz's Murder Laid to Lepke Aide|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1941/03/28/85275904.pdf|access-date=June 24, 2012|newspaper=The New York Times|date=March 28, 1941}}</ref>