Charles Ubriaco

The Mafia–Camorra War was a gang war in New York City that lasted from 1915-1917. On one side was the originally Sicilian Morello crime family of Manhattan, on the other side were gangs originally from Naples and the surrounding Campania region, based in Navy Street in Brooklyn and Coney Island referred to as the Camorra. The fight over the control of the New York rackets started after the killing of Giosue Gallucci, the undisputed King of Little Italy, and his son on May 17, 1915. The trials that followed in 1918 completely smashed the Camorra gangs, the protection that they enjoyed was demolished from the testimonies of their own men. It was the end of the Camorra in New York and the rise in power of American-based Sicilian Mafia groups.

The Morello gang, formerly run by Giuseppe Morello until 1909, then run by his half-brothers, the Terronovas, Vincenzo, Ciro and Nicola. Vincenzo and Nicola occasionally used their older, half-brother's name, Morello even though they were legally Terranovas. They controlled Harlem and most of northern Manhattan. Morello and his allies were part of the traditional Sicilian Mafia.

The Camorra organization, run by Andrea Ricci, was a powerful underworld force in Brooklyn. Unlike the Mafia, the Camorra drew its recruits from immigrants from the Naples region of Italy. The Camorra organization's close allies included the Navy Street and Coney Island gangs of Brooklyn, both of which were Neapolitan in origin. Leopoldo Lauritano and Allesandro Vollero headed the Navy Street Gang, and Pelligrino Morano was boss of the Coney Island Gang.

Before this conflict started, relations between the two sides were relatively amicable; in fact, each year the Morellos would attend a 'smoker' held by Camorra boss Ricci in Brooklyn. However, things were soon to change.

As with many gang conflicts, the Mafia-Camorra war started due to greed - in this case, the Morello ambition was to control gambling in Manhattan. The Morello's first target was the Del Gaudio brothers, who controlled gambling operations in East Harlem. The Morellos killed Nicolo Del Gaudio and cowed his brother Gaetano.

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