Maranzano rewarded Luciano for his help in arranging Masseria's assassination by putting him in charge of Masseria's.borgata. Then Maranzano made his fatal mistake: he declared himself capo di tutti capi, with Luciano and the heads of the other families reporting to him, After Luciano arranged for Maranzano's assassination, he and the other borgata chiefs became Dons of their families.
Are you sure Maranzano didn't proclaim himself the boss of bosses immediately after Masseria's killing and his fatal mistake was the the arrogance and greed he displayed from that point on?
Masseria was assassinated on April 15, 1931. Maranzano was assassinated on Sept. 10 of that year. I wasn't able to find a date for the meeting in Wappingers Fall, NY, where Maranzano declared himself
capo di tutti capi, but I have to assume it was very soon after Masseria was hit, lest the heads of other borgatas start getting ideas of independence from Maranzano. As for arrogance:and greed: the very idea of him declaring himself
capo di tutti capi over such a band of cutthroats and demanding monthly tribures was in itself supremely arrogant and greedy; plus, he had long had an unpleasant habit of bragging about his literacy in Latin and Greek, quoting Cicero in the original, and comparing himself to Julius Caesar. Two other points:
--Luciano's bosom buddy Meyer Lansky arranged both assassinations. The Masseria hit is said to have been carried out by Bugsy Siegel, Joe Adonis and Albert Anastasia. The Maranzano hit was led by Samuel (Red) Levine.
--Luciano earned the nickname "Lucky" allegedly because he survived kidnapping and torture by Maranzano's men to coerce him into betraying his boss, Masseria. I think it was because Maranzano had hired Vincent (Mad Dog) Coll, a free-lance Irish killer, to whack Luciano. Supposedly Coll was heading to Maranzano's office for his last instructions when Levine and his killlers whacked Maranzano.
