Joe Masseria
April 15, 1931: The Castellammarese War, a battle for control of American organized crime, comes to an end.
It began on October 10, 1928, between the forces of Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano, for whose hometown in Sicily, Castellammare del Golfo, the conflict was named.
Masseria, the biggest crime boss of the time, was invited to Nuova Villa Tammaro, a restaurant in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn, by one of his lieutenants, Charles "Lucky" Luciano. Luciano excused himself to use the bathroom.
In came 4 men: Albert Anastasia, Vito Genovese, Joseph "Joe Adonis" Doto and Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel. They left the building alive. So did Luciano. Masseria did not. He was 45 years old. Siegel drove the getaway car.
There was one more act to play: Maranzano's side won, but he paid the price. He got nervous over Luciano's rise, and was determined to kill him. But Luciano was tipped off, and had Maranzano killed on September 10, 1931. Maranzano's organization was taken over by Joseph Bonanno, and became known as the Bonnano family.
Luciano took over Masseria's "family." When he was deported in 1942, Genovese succeeded him, and the family still bears the Genovese name. Adonis became one of Genovese's most trusted lieutenants. Siegel moved out to Los Angeles, then "invented Las Vegas," before his actions led to his being removed from the scene in 1947.
It was shortly after the Castellammarese War ended that Luciano founded the Commission, the closest thing that American organized crime has to a governing body. It was founded with the purpose of mediating disputes peacefully, to avoid such turf wars in the future. After all, unlike in real life, within the Mob, war is not good for business. The Commission allowed crime in New York City to be run by what became known as the Five Families: Bonnano, Colombo, Gambino, Genovese and Lucchese. (That's in alphabetical order. It seemed the most respectful way to list them.)
Anastasia rose to become Il capo di tutti capi – the Boss of All Bosses, a distinction that Luciano wanted to use the Commission to avoid coming into being, but, by this point, he was alive, but out of the picture. Anastasia founded what became known as the Gambino family. For the most part, there was peace in American organized crime, until Anastasia went for a haircut in 1957, and never came back.
These "families" were severely weakened by federal prosecution in the 1980s and '90s, and none is run today by a namesake.
In the 1972 film The Godfather, there were numerous uses of the term "Five Families," and they were named Corleone, Tattaglia, Barzini, Cuneo and Stracci, although how much any of them corresponds to any of the real ones is debatable. Vito Corleone has been compared to both Vito Genovese and Carlo Gambino in terms of manner and style. The 1969 novel on which the film is based, by Mario Puzo, makes reference to "The Olive Oil War" of the early 1930s, in which Corleone rose to become the boss of all bosses, a title he loses later in the book. In an agreement made with... certain men... Puzo, who also wrote the screenplay, and director Francis Ford Coppola agreed to not use the words "Mafia" or "Mob" in the film, although they were used in the sequels.
The Banner Smoked Fish Company now occupies the site of the Masseria hit, at 2715 West 15th Street.
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April 15, 1931 was a Wednesday. Football was out of season. The NBA hadn't yet been founded. The Stanley Cup had been won the night before, by the Montreal Canadiens over the Chicago Black Hawks. But all 16 teams in what would later be called Major League Baseball were in action:
* The New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox, 8-7 at Yankee Stadium. Despite blowing a lead for starting pitcher Hank Johnson, Roy Sherid was named the winning pitcher. Lou Gehrig hit a 3-run home run, and Babe Ruth won it in the bottom of the 9th with, uncharacteristically for him, a sacrifice fly.
* The New York Giants lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, 10-7 at Baker Bowl in Philadelphia. The Phils scored 8 runs in the bottom of the 2nd, knocking Hal Schumacher out of the box. Bill Terry and Mel Ott each went 1-for-5 with 2 RBIs for the Giants, but it was far from enough. Hall-of-Famer Chuck Klein was 1 of 3 Phils to hit home runs.
* The Brooklyn Robins lost to the Boston Braves, 9-3 at Braves Field in Boston. This would be the last season for Brooklyn with Wilbert Robinson managing. For 1932, they dropped the name they took in his honor, and went back to the name they'd last used in 1913: The Brooklyn Dodgers.
* The Washington Senators beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 7-1 at Griffith Stadium in Washington.
* The Chicago White Sox beat the Cleveland Indians, 7-6 at League Park in Cleveland. Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. Johnny Watwood led off the top of the 10th inning with a walk, and was doubled home by Bennie Tate to win it for the Pale Hose.
* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Cincinnati Reds, 4-0 at Redland Field in Cincinnati. (It was renamed Crosley Field in 1934.) Burleigh Grimes, the last pitcher legally allowed to throw a spitball, used it to pitch a 7-hit shutout.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-5 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Rogers Hornsby hit a home run for the Cubs.
* And the St. Louis Browns beat the Detroit Tigers, 6-4 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis.
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