| Thomas Lucchese |
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Gaetano "Tommy" Lucchese (December 1, 1899 - July 13, 1967) was the boss of the Lucchese Crime Family , one of the five Mafia families ruling the New York underground. EARLY LIFE Tommy Lucchese was five-foot-two with a slight build, but any idea that this may make him less of a threat was quickly dispelled by his ruthless use of extreme violence. He was born in Palermo , Sicily, and moved to the United States some time during the first decade of the 20th century. He lost a finger following an industrial accident in 1915, which earned him the nickname "Three-Finger Brown" after a popular baseball player at the time. As a young man, he racked up a long list of arrests, including ones for homicide, but he managed to avoid conviction in every case except for a single grand larceny charge in the early 1920s. THE CASTELLAMMARESE WAR In 1930, the Castellammarese War was being fought between two rival crime bosses, Giuseppe Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano . Lucchese began the war as the right-hand man of Gaetano "Tom" Reina , the head of what would ultimately become the Lucchese crime family but which was at that time a branch of Masseria's organisation. Reina was killed in February 1930 by Vito Genovese , the future head of the Genovese crime family, and was replaced in the Masseria organisation by Joe Pinzolo . Lucchese resented Pinzolo from the outset as he had been brought in as an outsider by Masseria. Lucchese's ill will towards Pinzolo ultimately led to the former murdering the latter (though others have been suggested as suspects) - luckily for Lucchese, Masseria attributed the killing to Maranzano. Though events had not yet been fully played out, Charles "Lucky" Luciano would ultimately come out on top at the end of the Castellammarese War have played both sides superbly and ultimately had both Masseria, his own boss, and Maranzano killed. Tommy Lucchese, along with Gaetano "Tommy" Gagliano , had been convinced by Luciano to switch from the Masseria camp to Maranzano's, but without telling their current employer. Maranzano thought he now had two spies in the opposing camp - in fact, Luciano was the man who could now claim the two Tommys' loyalty. Lucchese became one of Luciano's favoured hitmen, and is alleged to have been involved in at least 30 murders. HEAD OF THE FAMILY 1953-67 When the war was finally brought to a bloody end with the murder of Maranzano on September 10, 1931, Tommy Gagliano became boss of Reina's gang, with Tommy Lucchese as his underboss. Gagliano held the top slot until his death by natural causes in 1953. Having served loyally as underboss to Gagliano for 22 years, Lucchese finally took control of the organization himself. Concentrating on the core Mafia values of making money and not getting caught, Lucchese took the family into new rackets in Manhattan's garment district and in the related trucking industry, taking control of key union officials and trade associations. REPUTATION He was popular and well-liked among his men, and known to value their welfare highly. Lucchese also enjoyed close relations with mayors and other politicians, including Mayor William O'Dwyer and Mayor Vincent Impellitteri . He ultimately became one of the most well-respected Mafia bosses of the era. DEATH Lucchese led a quiet, stable life until he developed a fatal brain tumour and died in 1967. His funeral at the Calvary Cemetery in Brooklyn was attended by over 1,000 mourners, including politicians, judges, policemen, racketeers, drug pushers, pimps and hitmen. He was succeeded as boss by Carmine Tramunti , and subsequently Antonio "Tony Ducks" Corallo . OBITUARY A New York Times obituary on July 14th, 1967, read: " 3-Finger Brown, 67, Rackets Boss, Dies. Gaetano Lucchese, the dapper little rackets boss known to the police as Thomas (Three Fingers Brown) Lucchese, died yesterday at his home in Lido Beach , L.I. His family requested that the undertakers handling the funeral arrangements not make public any details about the service." EXTERNAL LINKS |
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