May 12, 1942: Lucky Luciano is moved to Great Meadow Correctional Facility in Fort Ann, outside Glens Falls, New York. It is part of a deal with the State of New York and the U.S. Navy: Better conditions for Luciano's prison sentence, and Luciano's assistance in the effort to win World War II.
Born on November 24, 1897 in Lercara Friddi, Sicily, Italy, as Salvatore Lucania, Charles Luciano grew up on Manhattan's Lower East Side, and fell in with the Five Points Gang. He rose up the ladder of American crime until, in 1931, he emerged victorious in the Castellamarese War, and founded The Commission, which oversaw organized crime in America. The founder of what is now known as the Genovese crime family, he was called "Lucky" for all the assassination attempts, and all the convictions, he avoided.
In 1936, he was convicted on prostitution charges, but continued to run his criminal empire from prison. In 1942, the 1st full year of U.S. participation in World War II, the Office of Naval Intelligence was concerned about German and Italian agents entering the U.S. through the New York waterfront. They also worried about sabotage in these facilities.
Knowing that the Mafia controlled the waterfront, the Navy contacted Meyer Lansky, the country's top Jewish gangster, a man with a record of running anti-Nazi violence in New York, and a close friend of Luciano's, about a deal with Luciano. To facilitate negotiations, Luciano was transferred to Great Meadow, which was much closer to New York City than his previous prison, in Dannemora, New York, which was nearly on the Canadian border.
A deal was struck: In exchange for a commutation of his sentence, Luciano promised the complete assistance of his organization in providing intelligence to the Navy. Albert Anastasia, a Luciano ally who controlled the docks, allegedly promised no dockworker strikes during The War. In preparation for the 1943 allied invasion of Sicily, Luciano allegedly provided the U.S. military with contacts in the original Mafia in Sicily. Luciano was moved still closer to New York, to Sing Sing Prison in Ossining.
On January 3, 1946, as a presumed reward for his alleged wartime cooperation, Governor Thomas E. Dewey, who had been the District Attorney who put him away, reluctantly commuted Luciano's pandering sentence, on condition that he not resist deportation to Italy. On February 2, 1946, two federal immigration agents transported Luciano from Sing Sing prison to Ellis Island in New York Harbor, for deportation proceedings.
On February 9, the night before his departure, Luciano shared a spaghetti dinner on his freighter with Anastasia and five other guests. On February 10, Luciano's ship sailed from Brooklyn Harbor for Italy. On February 28, after a 17-day voyage, Luciano's ship arrived in Naples. On arrival, Luciano told reporters he would probably reside in Sicily.
Anastasia became known as "the boss of all bosses," but in 1957, Vito Genovese and Carlo Gambino had him assassinated, cutting down Luciano's man in America. Still, in Italy, Luciano engineered a setup of Genovese on drug charges, but Luciano died of a heart attack on January 26, 1962, ending his influence over American crime.
Among the actors who have played Luciano: Robert Carricart on The Untouchables in 1959, and Telly Savalas on The Witness in 1960, both while Luciano was still alive; Gian Maria Volonte in Lucky Luciano in 1973, Vic Tayback in Lepke in 1975, Michael Nouri in The Gangster Chronicles in 1981, Joe Dallesandro in The Cotton Club in 1984; Christian Slater in Mobsters, Bill Graham in Bugsy, Stanley Tucci in Billy Bathgate and Robert David in White Hot: The Mysterious Murder of Thelma Todd, all in 1991; Andy Garcia in Hoodlum in 1997, Anthony LaPaglia in Lansky in 1999, and Vincent Piazza on Boardwalk Empire in 2010.
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May 12, 1942 was a Tuesday. These baseball games were played:
* The New York Giants beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 7-3 at the Polo Grounds. Mel Ott, now also the Giants' manager, went 2-for-3 with 2 walks and 2 RBIs.
* The Brooklyn Dodgers lost to the Cincinnati Reds, 5-1 at Ebbets Field.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the Boston Braves, 9-8 at Braves Field in Boston.
* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 3-2 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. Stan Musial was a rookie, and did not play.
* The only game played in the American League that day was the Philadelphia Athletics' 5-4 win over the St. Louis Browns at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis.
* The New York Yankees and the Cleveland Indians were rained out at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on June 21. The Indians won the opener, 3-2. Otto Denning singled Les Fleming home to win the game in the bottom of the 9th inning. Alfred "Chubby" Dean -- no relation to Jay "Dizzy" and his brother Paul "Daffy" -- outpitched Red Ruffing. The Yankees won the nightcap, 4-0. Hank Borowy pitched a 5-hit shutout. Over the 2 games, Joe DiMaggio went 1-for-7.
* The Detroit Tigers and the Washington Senators were rained out at Briggs Stadium (later Tiger Stadium) in Detroit, and also made it up on June 21. The Tigers won the 1st game, 4-1. The Senators won the 2nd game, 3-2. Virgil Trucks walked Bruce Campbell (no relation to the later Evil Dead actor of the same name) with the bases loaded, to force Ellis Clary home with the winning run, in the top of the 10th.
* And the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago White Sox were rained out at Comiskey Park in Chicago. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on September 13. The Red Sox swept, 6-1 and 5-0. Tex Hughson pitched a 7-hit shutout in the 2nd game. Over the 2 games, Ted Williams went 2-for-5 with a home run, 3 walks, and 2 RBIs.
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