This confuses me, some tell me A "Tom Gagliano" was first Don of the family, others say it was some guy named "Gaetano Lucchesse" who was their first Don, and others tell me that his successor was A "Geatano Gagliano", but others say his name was "Tom Luchhesse". Come someone please clear this up, because this has confused me.

Gaetano is the Italian name for Tom. Gaetano Gagliano was the original boss and Lucchese was his underboss.


Don Cardi

The first recorded head of what became the Lucchese family was Tom Reina, who was murdered by Masseria during the Castellemmarese War. Gagliano succeeded him and joined forces with Maranzano. After Maranzano's victory, he was officially anointed head of that faction. I say "faction" because, after Maranzano's victory, he formed five "regimes," each headed by a caporegime, reporting to him as capo di tutti capi. The five regimes became independent families after Charlie Luciano arranged Maranzano's assassination and gave up the idea of having a capo di tutti capi.

For some reason, I always seem to feel that being a "real independant" boss of a family did not start, at least in new York, until Masseria and Maranzano were taken down and Luciano "organized" the 5 families.

So although Reina was actually the first boss in that family, and there were others who were so called bosses of their families, they ALL were still under a Boss of Bosses and therfore, in my opinion, were really not bosses of a family.

Once the two Mustache Petes, who were fighting for the Capo Di Tutti Capi status, were both removed, then, in my opinion, did the real status of being a true boss of a family start.

It's true that in his own way Luciano did become the Capo Di Tutti Capi, but in my opinion it was structured more like a corpration and each boss had more of an independance and more of a say of how they ran their own families without really having to answer to a boss of bosses like Maranzano or Masseria.

So that is why when I answered Luciano Fanucci's question, in my mind Gaetano was the first boss of what became known as the Lucchese family.

I've never considered anyone in New York a boss of a family while Maranzano and Masseria were still around.


Don Cardi

Thanks DC and Turnbull, and I apologise for my bad spelling of the word "Luchesse"

Lucchese

Well, you're not wrong, DC. As far as I can tell from reading all the early Mafia stuff, there never was an "official" capo di tutti capi until Masseria and Maranzano started fighting for the title during the Castellemmarese War. Some accounts say that Don Vito Cascio Ferro "formed" the Five Families when he had an extended visit to America ca. 1908, but he returned to Sicily and did not "serve" as capo di tutti capi in America.

As far as I can tell, the pre-Castellemmarese War Mafia families were (for want of a better phrase) Sicilian fraternal and village organizations transplanted to America. Certainly they were involved in rackets in their neighborhoods, but, with few exceptions, they didn't project power on a much wider scale. Charlie Luciano's genius was in resisting the temptation to declare himself capo di tutti capi--recognizing realistically (the man was nothing if not a thoroughly modern American businessman) that they'd go their own way. By "rewarding" them with sovereignty over their own organizations, he was simply recognizing a fact of life--but he got credit and respect for it.