Charles Luciano: The Richest Mafia Gangster To Ever Live | Mafia's Greatest Hits

[Music] for [Music] Charles lucky luchano the number one gangster of all time intelligent ruthless and a Visionary luchiano transformed the mafia from Waring street gangs into a highly sophisticated empire under luchano the mafia grew to be bigger than General Motors and by the time he'd finished the mob was raking in $40 billion a year lucky luchano is a quintessential America using his cunning and intelligence Rises to a position of fantastic power and wealth this is the story of the man who put the organized into organized crime one man changed the whole texture and Landscape of crime in America there's no question that Luciano invented the modern Mafia but where were the law enforcers why was nobody able to stop [Music] him on September the 10th 1931 four Hitmen Came Calling at offices Above Grand Central Station in New York City their target New York's top mafia boss Salvatore maranzano this execution was a critical moment in the meteoric rise of the biggest gangster in American history Charles lucky [Applause] luchano once in every generation comes along a dynamic criminal genius mind and the mafia in America was BL blessed that they had Lucky [Music] Luciano luchano had begun his career as a top Hitman for New York mafia Dawn jeppe Joe the Boss Masseria Masseria headed the largest Italian gang in the city and rule the streets in the early 1920s but in 1925 another boss arrived in town his name was Salvatore Marzano from the infamous Mafia town of calamari Del gulo in Sicily and he was eager to seize control of masseria's Empire when tensions mounted between the two leaders the killings began the streets of New York turned red the underworld called it the Castell War but for one man all this chaos was the opportunity he was waiting for luchano had always been against the bloodbath arguing that gunfights and bodies were bad for business and attracted too much police attention luano also despised the old ways of his Waring boss Masseria luchiano wanted to build Bridges with Jewish and Irish gangsters he believed their networks were essential to the success of the mafia's international businesses but massaria was fiercely opposed to any non-italian Partnerships people like massia hardly spoke English they couldn't communicate it was a different generation and uh lucky understood this and they didn't [Music] [Applause] after 18 months of fighting with no end in sight Marzano told luano that if Masia was eliminated he would not take revenge on his [Music] men luano shared maranzano's vision and made him an offer he would kill his boss Masseria if he could take over his gang and become an equal power with Marzano Marzano accepted the [Music] deal luchiano invited Masia to a lunchtime meeting at one of his favorite restaurants the Nova Villa tomorrow in Coney Island New York while they played cards lano's Hitman waited outside for his signal with masseria's murder luchiano signal to the underworld that the Castell maresi war was over [Music] maranzano then called hundreds of gang members from across the country to a meeting in the Bronx to announce his victory now it's going to be different he told them and spelled out his grand [Music] plan The Gangs of New York would be organized into five families to control the Burrows of the Bronx Brooklyn Manhattan queens and Staten Island each family would be headed by a boss with an under boss and under them would be left tenants and soldiers and above them all would be Marano himself and if anyone disagreed they would be killed I'm going to be Capi the Boss Of All Bosses this meant that he would be the leader of all the New York mafia [Music] operations his speech enraged luchano Marzano had backtracked on his promise of equality and now luchano was determined to strike back [Music] maranzano realized luchiano was a Potential Threat to his total dominance of the American [Music] Mafia so Marzano contracted the notorious Irish killer Vincent madg Cole to get rid of luchano Cole was aone outof Town Hitman for high and would be perfect for the [Music] job but luchano learned the details of the plan marenzana would call him into his office for a business meeting and mad dog Cole would be waiting there to kill [Music] him for luchano it was now a question of kill or be [Music] killed the problem was how to kill Marzano he was extremely well protected never without bodyguards and always traveled in a bulletproof car tax agents and accountants were frequent visitors to Marano's offices and luano realized that this was his way [Music] in on the day luchano was to have his meeting with Marano he would send his Hitmen instead all posing as taxmen as an extra touch they would be Jewish as he knew maranzano despised [Music] them luchano then contacted his childhood friend Maya Lansky to arrange the hit it is said that Lansky then rented a remote house in the Bronx for the four Killers to prepare for the [Music] hit they were forbidden to leave the house and were provided with all the provisions they required including [Music] women through the summer months of 1931 Lansky taught them how to talk walk and act like [Music] taxmen then in September the call came through Marzano told luchano to come to his office to discuss urgent [Music] business on September the 10th 1931 luchano sent the four Hitmen to maranzano's offices Above Grand Central Station in New York [Music] [Music] the gangsters entered his office and Drew their knives a weapon chosen to kill their victim in silence but Marzano would not go down without a fight he took multiple stab wounds to his body a slashed throat still alive the killers were forced to do it the noisy way nobody should die that way I've never seen anything that one of the duties of a pathologist is to determine the cause of death watch on mobile devices or the big screen all for free no subscription required download bely now with the death of Marano lano's time had come at last luchana would realize his vision to reach out across America and organize organized [Music] crime one of the first people he turned to was someone he'd known since they were both Street [Music] kids luchano started out by offering protection to Jewish school boys targeted by Irish gangs one day he squared up to a small boy on his way home [Music] if you want to keep alive Drew boy you got to pay us 5 cents weak protection money the school boy stared him in the eye and told him to go [ __ ] yourself it was Maya Lansky a young Polish immigrant and the man who luchano had turned to when he needed hitmen for Marzano's [Music] execution from day one we're talking when they in their early teens they knew each other there were thugs then but they developed this relationship where they built it into an Empire Maya lansi became lano's right-hand man and chief business executive he was tough brilliant with numbers and unusually for a mobster honest the relationship between lucky luchano and and Myer Lansky is the most important relationship in organized crime in the United States critically Lansky was able to do complex calculations in his head without committing anything to paper these are two incredibly talented and open-minded individuals who realized that if they joined forces using the American corporation as a model that they could eliminate the possibility of an individual monopolizing profits and they could share profits and distribute them evenly and therefore bring a certain stability to organized crime that had never existed [Music] [Applause] before and there was another Jewish gangster to get luchano to think big Arnold Rothstein known along Broadway as the brain the big bankroll and the fixer Rothstein was a fabulous Rich New York businessmen there were things that rosin was doing that nobody else was doing in luchiano saw the possibilities Rothstein could bring off rackets that no one else could dream of Arnold rosting was famous as the man who fixed the 1919 World Series this is a prime example of racketeering you take a normal activity like a baseball game you corrupt the the players therefore you can bet on a winning thing rothin tooted him there about how real money could be made not just in low-level predatory Street crime that there were bigger things you could fix things and sure enough bigger things were about to come along for [Applause] luchiano in 1919 the US government did an incredible thing it banned alcohol believing that it was leading to the moral destruction of the nation the ban was known as prohibition and with America wanting to drink it was a gift to organize crime gangs especially in the thirstiest cities like New York they saw a real gold mine in prohibition and what it did was it turned some of them like Luciano they had to become Executives because now they had to run organizations that either import Ed a booze or manufactured it and they had to distribute it so in that sense they had to run a real organization it wasn't just go out and mug somebody on the street you had to be smart now because you were dealing instead of thousands you were dealing with Millions so it turned these people who were really inexperienced old-fashioned Outlaws into business criminal Executives overnight luchano l and Rothstein proved to be quick Learners and soon they became very rich [Music] indeed now that wealth translates into power it translates into political power it means that you can buy political protection it means that you can buy police protection because alcohol is something everybody wants to do so they are willing to collude with gangsters what they don't understand is that once you cooperate with gangsters you've sold your soul and the gangsters understood this with New York City full of booze and cops judges and Council officials being bribed all over the place luchiano and his associates had free reign to take control of whatever they [Music] wanted they had their hand and everything because nobody would look at them nobody would even consider investigating them not the least of which waso Hoover there is nothing mysterious about the manner in which the Federal Bureau of Investigation Works a special agent must be a good Marksman and have the courage to shoot it out with the most venomous of Public Enemies director Hoover supervising field prac J Edgar Hoover was the boss of the FBI and he was eager to make a name for himself the Federal Bureau of Investigation the Paramount law enforcement and the only national law enforcement agency that could really combat the mafia and they didn't do a thing Hoover had launched his war on crime during the early 1930s he went after bank robbers kidnappers and Killers who were terrorizing the Midwest and outraging the nation the FBI mostly went after the headline Public Enemies like John Dylan ER Pretty Boy Floyd Machine Gun Kelly taking people out with you know Hoover had essentially denied that there was a national crime syndicate he said these are local gangsters and this is the job of the local police to deal with it he didn't want to get involved with these people because they're very well connected [Music] politically realizing nobody was going to come after him luano was able to expand his vision and develop new ways for the mafia to grow a Luciano sore and could predict that by the late 20s prohibition is going to end in [Music] America if the Matthew was going to be successful luchiano had to prevent intermob Wars from ever breaking out again it was terrible for business and also threw a spotlight on him that's why I say he was something like a Bill Gates or a Warren Buffett and he had to get a different business model so towards the end of 1931 luchiano summoned the top leaders of 20 Mafia factions across the country including gangsters like Al Capone to a National Conference in Chicago luchano then did an extraordinary thing he proposed an entirely new business structure for organized crime he laid out the rules here's how we're going to operate this whole concept that had never existed before he created a whole new texture a whole new way of how criminals could operate in America organized criminals what he did was he turned turned predatory street gangs which had many internal and external Wars with each other he turned them into this one single octopus of an organization that was so different from anything else that ever existed and it took the American law enforcement almost 60 years to get a handle on it it was so terrific luchano kept with Marano's five New York families but to each family he added a consilier a skilled counselor and adviser whose task was to ensure that problems within families were resolved without the need for violence luchano then unveiled his most striking innovation without precedent In the Sicilian Mafia or amongst American gangsters Luciano he created the commission and the commission would be the board of directors if any rules for the mafia throughout the country had to be changed it would be up to the commission and if there were any territorial disputes or disputes over over rackets the commission would take care of it now the concept there was to prevent Wars it is almost precisely what the various countries around the world did when they were faced with the same problem postor War II they created the United Nations one could actually take the UN Charter and for most of it substitute the word families for state and kostra for the organization for the United Nations and commission for Security Council and the rules would be [Music] identical as proof of his good intent ions luano introduced one other startling change he would be just one amongst equals there would be no Boss Of All Bosses instead luchano introduced a more democratic form of leadership the commission would consist of a board of seven family directors five in New York and one each in both Chicago and buffalo each would have a single vote with all the decisions determined by the majority this would ensure all the leaders of the most powerful families had an equal say he was this incredible Dynamic genius who saw how the landscape and how the tapestry of the mafia had to be organized here is somebody who comes along in 1931 and envisions that if the mafia was going to Prevail and succeed it had to be a mirror image of American capitalism [Music] luchiano had come up with a business structure it would last for the next 50 years and because it worked so perfectly everything was now up for [Music] grabs but the commission was the second government of this country really was [Music] they actually controlled a lot of Industries in this country not the least of which was the restaurant business the gambling industry Las Vegas is a great example of it they had control of the Garment industry the meat industry the fish market the docks the unions lone sharing drugs and prostitution luchano said he was going to turn prostitution into an industry like the A&P which is a supermarket chain they were all powerful and they were making billions of dollars a [Music] year and what was good for the mafia was good for luchano too by 1930 standards Lucky Luciano wasn't even a multi-million anymore he was a billionaire luchiano took a suite in one of the most luxurious hotels in the world the walor aoria and checked in under the name of Charles Ross to protect himself from rival gangsters the kind of money he was reaping in millions every week and he suddenly became a really sharp dresser had ladies on his arms all the time had a private plane he flew around to racetracks all over the country luchiana was also a bachelor and party animal he rose late wore handmade suits and shoes from England and danced the nights away with chorus girls and Nightclub singers and he operated in this kind of almost open fashion as this Suave deaner type who could roam around New York nightclubs here their pieces of everything luchiana whined and dined with politicians and rubbed shoulders with stars like Frank Sinatra and the actor of many classic gangster films George [Music] Raft lano's high life was getting him noticed elsewhere FBI agents began to work out that he was a key player in the Underworld but they had surprised ly little information on him one statement described luchano as the leading racketeer along Italian lines is very powerful and made considerable money in liquor another declared Charles luano Alias lucky is the head of the underworld in New York and an FBI memo had luchiano in a conspiracy to smuggle drugs from Europe into the United States [Music] they also had in their hands local police records which showed luchiano had been arrested 35 times for offenses ranging from traffic violations to assault and robbery with a gun but despite this evidence the FBI still decided to ignore him [Music] but there was a man determined to get luchano his name was Thomas E dwey we have made a real start on cleaning the gangsters out of New York Dewey was a fiercely ambitious lawyer who by the age of just 33 had got the top job as New York City's special prosecutor to crack down on organized crime in 2 years we have shown that our people can be protected that they can be delivered from the grip of the MK [Music] in the 1930s luchano was the face of organized crime was an Open Secret how important and how big he was and dwey was after him he realized that luchano must be making vast sums of money from his criminal Enterprises to finance his luxurious lifestyle today crime is syndicated and organized and new type of criminal exists who leaves to his hirelings and frontmen the actual offenses and rarely commits an over act [Music] himself the only way in which the major criminal can be punished is by connecting him to those various layers but Dey had a tough time finding anything he could pin on him luchana was careful with every step he took he was wary of wiretaps cautious with his telephone conversations and like his close friend Maya lansi kept no records on paper all the incriminating details were in his head then out of the blue Dewey was offered a lead that could ens snare luchano in a web of Vice crime a series of police wire TAPS in local brothel uncovered clues that an organization called the combine controlled around 300 establishments in Manhattan and Brooklyn they discovered that a top luchano enforcer named David little Davy batillo was over seeing the combine operations in January 1936 Jews investigators raided 80 brothel in the New York City area and arrested over 100 prostitutes and madams these arrested women were definitely placed between a rock and a hard place they had nowhere to go the cops started to put the women under real pressure to spill the beans on luano so many of them were addicted to heroin when they were arrested cops waited until the fourth day of the cold turkey withdrawal when they were climbing the walls in desperate to get them to agree to testify against the mob D's investigators managed to get three or four people to flip to turn and Incredibly they claimed that they had seen Luciano at meetings where he discussed what kind of percentage his family was getting from these [Music] whouses even before the trial had commenced the news papers had luchiano convicted the New York daily news headlined him the drup SAR of the oldest [Music] profession the trial began on May the 12th [Music] 1935 Dewey Reign fourth in his opening statement who iano will be shown not to have placed any of the women in houses or taken money from them instead he set up his apartment in the Walo for Storia and was the Zar of the Ring We will show that Luciano's function was to rule all other defendants were his servants do we lined up 68 Witnesses mainly hookers pimps and madams who had been promised shorter sentence immunity or probation from aiding the prosecution Dewey's main strategy was to depict the prostitutes as desperate victims of the depression exploited and terrorized by the combine's ruthless [Music] enforces the Madam who was hit over the head with the lead stick for example went on the witness stand to testify that there was blood all over the place when she was attacked by the very men who were sitting there in the defendants area one of the key Witnesses was the notorious Madam kif flow kif Flo's testimony was typical of the testimony that all of the women gave on the witness stand it was hearsay she heard Luciano was going to bring everybody together like a chain of supermarkets she heard this and she heard that the idea that he would discuss in the presence of prostitute even a Madam the kind of mundane business stuff just didn't work it looked like a fix they got these um witnesses to really exaggerate or to invent testimony at this stage in the trial with doubt being cast Over the evidence everything seemed to be going in lano's favor but then luchano made a big mistake against his lawyer's advice he insisted on taking to the witness stand to deny all [Music] charges D demeanor while interviewing lucky Luciana while Luciana was under oath on the witness stand was very brilliant he got him to show his underworld side a side that wasn't very funny to most people wasn't very swave or sophisticated to others for 4 hours Dewey pummeled him with questions about his life his previous convictions his taxes his association with other gangsters and proved that he was lying in answer after answer he was really uh lacerated by dy's question I'm asking you do you tell the truth when you are under oath I'm telling the truth now you don't want to answer that question do you I didn't say I told the truth all the time but now I'm telling the truth Dewey's Onslaught and now reduced luchano to a perspiring squirming wreck far from being an honest businessman he was revealed as a tax evader you have not paid a dime to the state government get is that right that's right and that is because the federal state prosecutes big gangsters and the state does not buy income tax isn't that so I don't know dwey even brought out information very embarrassing to Luciano that he had once when he was a young man had been an Informer in a Narcotics investigation so it made his whole reputation look a little tainted here was this top top guy turned out that once he had been a rat to save his skin in the end jwi sum to the jury described lano's testimony as a shocking disgusting display of sanctimonious perjury at the end of which I am sure not one of you had a doubt that before you stood not a gambler not a bookmaker but the greatest gangster in America and Yi managed to persuade the jwy to the end [Applause] luchana was convicted on 62 counts of compulsory prostitution Justice mcook gave the sentence I am not here to reproach you but since there is no excuse for your conduct nor for your Rehabilitation to administer adequate sentence I hereby pronounce a sentence to serve from 30 to 50 years the sentence probably did not fit the crime but it was an instrument on the part of dwey and the prosecutor's office to try to rid New York of the elements of organized crime that were the most threatening Dewey was a crime busting hero and it was the start of his meteoric career he became the governor of New York in 1942 and twice ran for presidency once the alliance between criminals and politicians is smashed racketeering will come to a prompt end in his memories of the case luchano wrote I still get mad at a Dewey's crap more than anything else that little [ __ ] with a mustache comes right out and admits he got me for everything else but what he charged me with he knew I didn't have a [ __ ] thing to do with prostitution not with none of them broads but dwey was such a goddamn racketeer himself in a legal way that he crawled up my back with a frame and stabbed [Music] me luchano tried to fight back he appealed against his sentence and he ordered for the prostitutes who testified against him to be rounded up so they could now say they had lied in court they met up with the Mobsters All Is Forgiven kind of mentality and rected to heroin almost immediately once they were re adddictedtomacintosh [Music] but despite his efforts lano's appeal failed luchiana was sent to the isolated maximum security Clinton penitentiary in damura near the Canadian border nicknamed Siberia it was 500 M away and a far cry from the luxurious trappings of his Manhattan life what a cown from a suite at the Waldorf Towers to a cell when they told me I was going to damura I wasn't sure I could make it it meant moving out of the Waldorf Towers into a sewer the worst part of it was we didn't have any connections up there and that meant I was in for a rough time I was willing to put up a million dooll Bond and I told them that a soon as I heard that I was going to damura but once they had me they wasn't going to let me go but anyone who thought luchiana was finished was mistaken his foresight in setting up the commission now showed itself when he was sentenced the family didn't dissolve the organization continued to function and this is again the wisdom of Lucky Luciano that even though he the originator is the first boss to be convicted he proves his point it functions well although luchano remained the boss Frank Castello a highly regarded and well-known figure in New York's underworld took took over the day-to-day running of his Empire and Costello continued to bring in millions of dollars and increased the family's fortunes while his boss planned his next move and luchano didn't have to wait [Music] long when America entered the Second World War war in 1942 he found that his country needed him the war in the Atlantic was going badly for the [Music] allies and the US government was concerned that crucial East Coast docks were under serious threat it's the Key Stone to the war effort on the East Coast one ship a friendship the Normandy caught on fire and sank spk by the settlement torch swept through the proud ship thousands of workmen SL for their lives as firemen from all parts of New York and neighboring cities fought the fire around the the prevailing opinion is that it was accidental but the US Navy and a lot of other government officials believed it could have been [Music] sabotage Naval intelligence desperate to prevent further attacks and German SP from infiltrating the docks sought the help of the Mobsters who controled the waterfronts but if they were going to get the help of the Dockers they had to get the mafia's permission first luchiano was so powerful that they the Mafia bosses would not consent they these are not Patriots they're not stepping up to to to the government and say and yes sir and saluting they're saying we have to get approval from the boss our boss our boss is not the president of the United States our boss is lucky luchano and he's in prison to win lano's support the first thing the US government did was move luchano from the harsh conditions of damura to a prison known as The Country Club of the penal system Grand Meadow close to New York here luchano began negotiations with the authorities and his men and sure enough Luciano acts like he's a patriot now even though he was still an Italian Citizen and never naturalized American citizen and he sends out the word for Lansky and other cers Peace On the Waterfront Not only would there be no sabotage there would be no work stoppages things were going to run smoothly it's the word from the boss what an example a man in prison has so much power that he could control the essential Harbor in New York City if you need any testimonial to his power that's it luano then asked for a pardon he had delivered his side of the bargain and now wanted Freedom guess who's the governor of New York at that time no other person but Thomas E dwey in an extraordinary irony Dewey the man who put him away for 30 to 50 years granted luchano executive clemency in 1946 on the condition that he was deported to Italy that he would never be allowed back in the US dy's resentment was clear upon the entry of the United States into the war lano's aid was sought by the armed services in inducing others to provide information concerning possible enemy attack it appears that he cooperated in such an effort although the actual value of the information produced is not clear luchano had served just 10 years of his 50 years sentence when he left American Shores on February the 10th 1946 Bound for Sicily but within months luchiana was traveling from Italy to Havana Cuba and and was back in business a week-long meeting was held at the hotel National where luchano Maya Lansky Frank Costello and other high-ranking mafia members discussed the heroin trade he was involved in numerous narcotics deals because Italy at that time was really becoming important in the transfer of Narcotics not just to the US but worldwide heroin was becoming a big a big money maker for the mafia [Music] in 1957 in palmo Sicily luchano was reported to be overseeing meetings with more than 30 Sicilian and American Mafia leaders to create the world's largest heroin exporting rackets 5 years later in 1962 luchano was targeted for arrest as an alleged member of ring that smuggled $150 Million worth of heroin into the United [Music] States but before the authorities could get him luchano died of a heart attack in Italy he was 65 a guy who could demand respect Luciana was the power to be he ran the show willing to resort to violence if he had to and the system worked I mean the guy was good Charles lucky lano's Reign had been a remarkable one he transformed the mafia from the Waring street gangs into a highly sophisticated empire under luchano the mafia grew to be bigger than General Motors and by the time he' finished the mob was raking in $40 billion a year and while there had been run-ins with the local law enforcement agencies the FBI hadn't even known it existed and if anyone likes to think of luchano as a criminal genius they should not forget that he had many people killed condemned many others to drug addiction and prostitution and left a terrible wake of misery and suffering behind him [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Real Crime

Views: 292,388

Keywords: American Gangster, American Mobsters, Cold Tapes Podcast, Crime History, Crime Investigation Podcasts, Crime Syndicate Origins, Criminal Enterprise, Criminal Investigation, Criminal Minds Podcasts, Gangster Wars, History of the Mafia, Mafia Chronicles, Mafia Leader, Mob Boss, Mob Influence, Mob Secrets, Organized Crime History, Outlaw Chronicles, Real Crime, Ruthless Gangster, Underworld Empire

Id: 5MU36hyu3wk

Length: 49min 30sec (2970 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 21 2024