Originally posted by Don Marco:
Luciano reportedly ensured that there were no labor troubles on the docks of New York that would hinder the war effort. He is also said to have called on his friends in Sicily to gather information of German troop movement, and to harass the Germans. evidence confirming his cooperation came out after the war. The mafia in Sicily wanted the Germans out so they could return to making money. In exchange, Govenor Dewey commuted his sentence after the war on the condition that he be deported to Italy. He was deported in 1946.
This was really a very amusing story, showing how the perception of power is as good as its exercise:
After Pearl Harbor, the US War Department seized the French liner Normandie in the Port of NY and engaged workmen to turn it into a troop carrying ship. A workman with a torch got careless and accidentally set fire to a bunch of burlap sacks on deck. The ship burned and capsized at its dock. The Navy's commander of the Port of NY thought it was the work of "Nazi saboteurs" among dock workers of Italian and German descent. This bit of bigotry and paranoia was picked up by Joseph (Socks) Lanza, Mob boss of the docks, and reported to Meyer Lansky. Lansky contacted Murray Gurfein, who was Special Prosecutor Dewey's second-in-command. Result: they worked out a deal that Don Marco reported: Luciano would be moved from the very tough Dannemora Prison in upstate NY to the more "comfortable" Great Meadow Prison in return for using his "influence" to assure that there'd be no more "sabotage" and "labor problems" on the docks. As part of the deal, Luciano was paroled inj '46 and exiled to Italy. Frank Costello took over his position and Luciano's power faded steadily.
