Originally Posted by TonyBombassolo
Paul Ricca. The Genovese learned the 'front boss' move from Chicago.

Ricca will probably go down in history as the only mafia kingpin to get convicted and then released by the sitting Attorney General.



Indeed I read he married a Gigante.

Ricca was born Felice De Lucia on November 14, 1897, in Naples, Campania to Antonio and Maria Annunziata De Lucia.[1] He had four minor sisters: Emilia Beatrice, Anna Clementina, Celementina Eleonora, and Luisa Maria.[1] By age 17, he was working for organized crime in Naples (Camorra). In 1915, he stabbed Emilio Parrillo to death on Mafia orders. Ricca later claimed that he killed Parillo for breaking an engagement to his sister. In 1917, Ricca was convicted of murder, serving two years in prison.[3] After being released from prison, Ricca then killed Vincenzo Capasso, who had testified against him in the Parillo trial, by slitting his throat.

After killing Capasso, Ricca assumed the name Paul Maglio and fled to the United States by way of Cuba. On August 10, 1920, Ricca arrived in New York City.

In January 1927, Ricca married Nancy Emily Gigante, who was also from Naples, and had three children: Mary Anna, Anthony Paul, and Paul Richard.[1] He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1928, and legally changed his name to Paul De Lucia.[1]

In January 24, 1927, Ricca was arrested for carrying a concealed weapon, which was when his mugshot of him was taken. Though he got arrested a couple of times within his early years in the mob, he was never seriously convicted on any charges up until the 1940s, and before becoming a recognized figure in the Outfit in the 1930s, Ricca's record would be so clean that even his mob associates would convey some envy over his minor police record early on in his career in the Outfit.[4]

"The king is dead, long live the king!"