Lucky Luciano Vs. The Camorra

Anybody got any info on the story of Luciano being slapped in the face by a Cammorista at a race track in Argano? The name of the Cammoristi is mentioned, but I forget. I just now read a little about this while looking up Pupetta Maresca.

I believe that incident happened in the fall of 1950. It was one of the Chiofano brothers. Giovanni and Lorenzo were in prison at the time, and Paolo was hiding in Australia. I believe it was Umberto who slapped Luciano, he was not made (Giovanni and Paolo were) and was killed soon after.

It was supposedly originally attributed to Pasquale Simonetti from what I'm reading. The sources I'm looking at say that factually, it was Francesco Pirozzi who slapped him, and he was a Camorristi under boss, Alfredo Maisto. I don't see any mention of Luciano having anyone killed or any Camorra member dying for slapping him. And what do you mean by not being made? From my understanding the Camorra doesn't really refer to themselves as "made". They have an initiation ceremony, but they differ between clans supposedly.


A article by Puparo credits the slap to a Vittorio Nappi. And says that later Nappi was assaulted by Simonetti not long after he slapped Luciano, but doesn't clarify if he assaulted him because of the slap to Luciano or something else. A newspaper clipping from the time has Luciano going to police in Naples and telling them he was slapped at a racetrack.



There's a link on Google of an excerpt from the book, History Of The Mafia, and the passage says Luciano was slapped without consequence, by a small-time gangster, businessman and mediator who had no connection to the Sicilian Mafia.


Anyway, not one of these sources tell of anyone being killed for slapping Luciano. It did happen in the year of 1950 though supposedly. But the offender differs in all of the sources I just mentioned, expect for Wikipedia, which in more than one entry, the slap is attributed to Pirozzi. But out of all the different sources, none of them mention anyone having been killed for the slap. Perhaps we'll never know the truth behind this, but combined with other stories of Luciano in Italy, and the known fact of him meeting with Outfit members, and NY gangsters whom he later had issues with in relation to the drug market, it seems his power and reach really waned. At least it was nothing compared to that of which he possessed in the States.

Puparo is one source but not the only one nor entirely accurate. FBN has an entry to that incident, weather they had an agent over there or were actually communicating with the Italian government, hard to say, but the Italians have a similar entry about the incident, and both say it was a Chiofano who did it. They even have Luciano going to the police and writing a statement, with a witness! And who was this witness? Francesco Pirozzi!

At the end Simonetti was an old time guappo and for sure slapped Luciano for gain respect for slapped the yankee big boss.

I have yet to come across any source which mentions the Chiofano's, whomever they are. Any links?


Actually never mind that, noticed on the other forum you have a tendency to make things up which differs from every other source available.

If that really happened, and Luciano reacted this way, I can only imagine that he wanted to create an alibi for when underworld vengeance was exacted upon the assaulter.

Other than creating an alibi, there is no other reason for Luciano to go to police about a slap....if he in fact did this and it wasn't a story completely cooked up and planted by law enforcement to defame him.

The slap may never have happened. Newspapers get their information from police oftentimes. Maybe in Italy back then it worked the same way.

A big clue is that the "witness" to the slapping supposedly brought to the police by Luciano...was the slapper. So something is not right with that story. If the only witness to something is someone untrustworthy or with a motive to lie, then the whole story is on a weak premise. Pirozzi as a rival underboss of the Camorra would have plenty of motive to spread a false story, through the police, and then through the media, about him slapping Luciano and Luciano running to the police.

I don't believe it.

SinatraClub,
I point you to June 5, 1951 Interrogation of Stefano "Steve Cement" Zollo by Inspector Pasquale Cinquegrana, transcribed by officer Francesco Gennaro in Naples.

Yep.

Dude, why do you lie to us and waste our time? Is there some pathological need to deceive us? What is your major malfunction?

That's the thing, there isn't one source which says Pirozzi accompanied Luciano to the police station or acted as a witness. Giacomo made it up. There's literally a whole thread on The Black Hand Forum of him consistently lying, by involving lesser known names, with dates and places, with completely fictional ones, which has now been pointed out in this thread. I'm very interested in finding out if this slap occurred or not, and there are multiple sources which say it did, but they attribute the slap to at least three different Camorristi, and Giacomo Vacari is not helping at all. These forums are for research, not for some douchebag to come along and interrupt a geniune thirst for knowledge with his frugazy stories. And other than the slap situation, there are numerous reports of Luciano losing favor after spending so many years in Italy, whether its with his former drug partners or his used to be allies in New York. I admire Luciano for what he did as much as the next guy, but I don't think it's that far fetched that he may have been assaulted and due to his lack of influence with The Camorra and the Sicilian Mafia itself, that nothing came of it. But I don't know for sure and I'm trying to learn about this situation.


I should've known something was up with Giacomo after he claimed the Buffalo Family had a crew and operations in Canada. When they barely still "operate" in Buffalo, today.