Charles "Lucky" Luciano | |
---|---|
Born |
Salvatore Lucania November 24, 1897 Lercara Friddi, Sicily, Italy |
Died | January 26, 1962 Naples, Campania, Italy |
(aged 64)
Cause of death | Heart attack |
Resting place | Saint John's Cemetery, Queens |
Occupation | Crime boss, gangster, bootlegger |
Known for | Boss of the Luciano crime family |
Criminal charge | Heading prostitution racket, heavy drug trafficking |
Criminal penalty | 10 years |
Charles "Lucky" Luciano (pronounced /luːtʃiˈɑːnoʊ/; born Salvatore Lucania November 24, 1897 – January 26, 1962) was an Italian-American mobster and Crime Boss. Luciano is considered the father of modern organized crime in the United States for the establishment of the first Commission. He was the first official boss of the modern Genovese crime family. He was, along with his associates instrumental in the development of the National Crime Syndicate in the United States.
Luciano was tried and successfully convicted for compulsory prostitution in 1936 after years of investigation by District Attorney Thomas E. Dewey. Luciano was given a thirty-year prison sentence, but was allowed to live his life freely outside the United States when he struck a deal with the government during World War II while still imprisoned.
Salvatore Lucania was born on November 24, 1897 in Lercara Friddi, Sicily. Luciano's parents, Antonio and Rosalia Lucania, had four other children: Bartolomeo (born 1890), Giuseppe (born 1898), Filippa (born 1901), and Concetta. Luciano's father worked in a sulfur mine in Sicily.
In 1907, when Luciano was nine years old, the family immigrated to the United States. They settled in New York City in the borough of Manhattan on its Lower East Side, a popular destination for Italian immigrants. At age 14, Luciano dropped out of school and started a job delivering hats, earning $7 per week. However, after winning $244 in a dice game, Luciano quit his job and went to earning money on the street. That same year, Luciano's parents sent him to the Brooklyn Truant School.