And somethin for the Ol'School .Part from an article written by T.L.Jones....

Every book, article or story on this king-hit in Brooklyn, ever published, will tell you:
a) it was orchestrated by Charlie,
b) he was there having lunch and playing cards with his boss, and
c) was taking an interminably long leak in the men’s room when all the action was going down, so he did not see anything. As you do.
It is interesting, however, that even though every flatfoot and detective in town knew who he was, according to the press, nobody bothered to speak to him, and he was never detained or officially interviewed after the event. It seems certain though that the cops would have contacted him as they must have known of his connection to Masseria. Any notes they kept would have made interesting reading.
Neither the New York Times or The Herald Tribune in their reports on the shooting make any mention of Luciano being present at the restaurant. Gentile claimed he went straight from the Villa Nuova to the home of Luciano in mid-town Manhattan where a meeting was held between himself, Luciano and Vincenzo Troia an associate of Salvatore Maranzano the man who headed the faction opposing Joe.
If this is true, it might confirm that Luciano was not at the restaurant when the shooting took place.
It has been reported that two men and in some reports, four men, arrived while Joe and his friends were playing cards, walked into the restaurant and shot him repeatedly. The autopsy on his body showed gunshot wounds to the back, and one in the back of the head.
It’s been posited that Joe was swinging around to give these upstarts un occhio, the traditional Italian ’evil eye’ but simply got one there for his efforts. In fact, all the kill-shots came from behind. The eye wound was an exit one.
The day after he was killed, Dr. G.W. Ruger carried out an autopsy on the body of Guiseppe Masseria.

Joe had been dressed to the nines that day:

Light gray three-piece suit by Vincent Balletta matched to a white Madras shirts by Henry and Al, New York. Black leather belt with silver buckle. His dainty size six feet in black Oxfords and blue cotton lisle socks. Underneath, cream, silk underwear.
Dressed to kill!
Two of the four back shots were through and through as was the head shot. Two of the shots to the back had smudged the coat jacket with gunpowder, indicating the shooter was only inches away. Heart, lungs and liver were torn apart. Brain was shredded. Two lead bullets were recovered, both .38 calibre. Although the autopsy does not indicate it, Joe was most certainly dead when he hit the wooden floor.
You could say they are the usual suspects Genovese,Adonis,Siegel,Coppola and others. Whether or not any of these were the two or four shooters that day is open to debate. Why Italians would hire Jews to kill the biggest Italian mobster in town is something to speculate on. Although interestingly, it was done some months later to dispose of Masseria’s opponent, Salvatore Maranzano.

Anastasia and Adonis were very likely members of another gang run by Stefano Ferrigno and Manfredi Mineo which was in support of Masseria in his war on the rest of the New York Italian-American underworld at this time. Albert was a stone killer, with a long list under his belt. Adonis was more a businessman than a hit man. Genovese was definitely another stone-killer and could well have pulled the trigger.

However, it’s highly unlikely Anastasia was one of the killers.

Samuel S. Leibowitz who became a judge in Brooklyn’s King County Court, in 1931 was a young lawyer with a reputation for being a top man in the defense’s corner. He had an office at 66 Court Street in downtown Brooklyn. At noon that day, Anastasia walked into the lawyer’s office demanding the receptionist check the time on the office clock. She did and confirmed it was correct. Anastasia asked for Leibowitz and was told he was in court until later in the day. He told the receptionist he would wait, and settled back, thereby creating for himself the perfect alibi.

It would not be the last time Albert arranged a cast-iron alibi at the time a mobster was being murdered. Twenty years later, in October 1951, he arranged to be having an X-Ray in a public hospital as Willie Moretti the infamous little New Jersey hoodlum was gunned down in another restaurant, this time in Cliffside, New Jersey.

Livorsi, Stracci and Coppola were all part of a crew of the Masseria family that operated out of East Harlem under the supervision of Ciro Terranova. His father had married the mother of Joe Morello (who had been the previous head of Masseria’s crime family,) and at forty three, was a senior member of the organization in years and experience. The three soldiers were seasoned gunmen, Coppola even carrying a nick name, ‘Trigger Mike’ as testament to his prowess with a gat, (For more on Coppola, check out Thom's earlier story here) so any of these could have qualified.

Scarpato claimed he went for a long walk that afternoon and returned to find his prize guest gutted on the restaurant floor. But did he? Maybe he was the shooter. Who better to come up behind an unsuspecting customer than the maître d of the establishment?

The only really strong link to the killer though, lies with a man called Johnny ‘Silk Stocking’ Guistra who according to some sources was part of the crew of Vincenzo Mangano, a capo in the Mineo crime family, operating the family’s businesses on the South Brooklyn Piers around Red Hook. Which could have been strange seeing as how he was from Calabria and Mangano was a staunch Sicilian Mafioso and averse to working with non-Sicilians in his crew.

Other information however, implies Johnny was in fact in competition with Mangano and was part of the Masseria crime family. He was apparently involved in rackets linked into the laundry business across New York. It’s been suggested his nick-name indicated his penchant for the opposite sex on the one hand, and also that it represented his favorite tool of destruction as he had, unusually for a mobster, an aversion to blood.

His connection into the hit was an overcoat he left hanging up in the restaurant.

Seemed a strange thing to do though. Walk into a room, take off your coat, kill a man and then walk out leaving behind such incriminating evidence.

Of course if he was there at the moment so to speak, and he was caught unawares, he may well have fled the scene in panic, with obviously no thought for his coat. You’re sitting at a table, talking to your boss, sipping a coffee, when suddenly someone or ones, starts shooting holes in him. It could be cause for extreme concern.

‘I’m outa here!’

Not unlike the comment and action of Jerome Squillante, when sitting next to Albert Anastasia in that barber shop twenty-six years later in mid-town Manhattan, who also found things just a little bit too hot to hang around when two men came in and banged his boss.

Didn’t really matter to Johnny the Silk. Three weeks later he was shot numerous times in the head and chest and died in the hallway of a dingy tenement at 75 Monroe Street on the Lower East Side on May 10th. By his side lay his pearl-handed pistol. He’d been able to get it out, but tests revealed it had not been fired.

Maybe loose ends being tied together? Maybe a double-cross too many? Maybe late on a loan? Never easy to pin the donkey in these tangled tales. All we know for sure is that he or someone wearing his coat, went to that Coney Island food place that afternoon and maybe killed Senor Masseria.

It’s also possible of course that Johnny had left this coat on a previous visit and simply never got around to collecting it, and the fact that it was found had absolutely no bearing on the shooting at all.

There was an interesting by-line to his murder. On May 14th his body was waked at 11 First Place in Carroll Gardens. Two men attending the service, Vincent Gesino and Ettore Zappi were given a message at 5 PM that a man called Joe wanted to see them at 1331 Sixty-ninth Street in Brooklyn. When they got there, they were ambushed in the hallway of the building and both men were shot and seriously injured, although surviving their wounds.

heres the whole article...http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/kill-the-chinaman-1

I posted this on EVL´s blog some time ago. But the Masseria hit is the one Mafia hit I REALLY would love to know ALL the details of.

"The Masseria hit is extremely interesting to me. It has been mentioned and described so many times and in so many ways in numerous books and articles, yet we don´t seem to know what really happened that day.
But there are some clues surrounding the Masseria killing we perhaps should pay more attention to. To my knowledge, there is only a few references we can point at when discussing the hit. First of all, in his book, Joe Bonanno mentions that Lucky Luciano had a meeting with Maranzano where they seem to have come to an agreement of Masseria´s demise. So, it sounds very likely that Luciano set his boss up for execution.
But what actually happened in that restaurant, on that day, I guess, we will never know.
Nicola Gentile, who had been a player in the Sicilian Mafia for many years and had been close to Masseria, perhaps provides us with the most accurate info about the murder. Gentile wrote in his memoirs that right before Masseria was killed, a peace meeting between Masseria and Maranzano had been scheduled. Masseria had apparently offered Maranzano to step down in hopes of concluding an honorable peace. Masseria´s men (Luciano being one of them), wasn´t keen on the idea. According to Gentile, the men had secretly united and had already made the decision to kill him.
Gentile and others had been members of a special Commission, formed in the purpose of making peace between the warring Mafia leaders. This Commission was set to meet with Masseria in the restaurant that day when Masseria was murdered.

This is what Gentile wrote:
"Toto Lo Verde, of Chicago, that was admitted to our confidence, offered to accompany me in a car... He came to the appointment a little late. However, we started to go to the restaurant when in front of the door we saw a big crowd. We went some place else and when we turned the corner we asked what happened? They answered "They have killed Joe Masseria". Quickly we went to the home of Lucky Luciano. In the meantime [Vincenzo] Troia [who had been a member of the peace Commission] arrived and Lucky turned to him and said "Don Vincenzo, tell your compare Maranzano we have killed Masseria not to serve him but for our own personal reasons."

To me, this indicates that Masseria was lured to a "peace meeting" only to be set up for murder. It also indicates that Gentile, who had been a staunch Masseria supporter (and a member of the peace Commission), was duped into arriving a little bit too late.
One coat, who had been left behind on the murder scene, was traced by the police to a Johnny Giustra. Giustra was a well known mafioso at the time. Why he had left behind his coat is a mystery. But the most logical explanation would be that he kinda left in a hurry and was taken completely by surprise by the shooting.
And also, nothing (evidence wise) seems to suggest that Lucky Luciano had been there. Him staying and later talking to the police seems to be a myth. No newspaper clip tells about him nor is Luciano´s talking to the police mentioned in any police report or file.

One more thing. According to the authopsy, Masseria´s stomach was empty. So he didn´t have that marvelous lunch all authors seems to prefer to pen down when writing about the Masseria killing."

Maybe he was bulimic .

Or maybe he had lost his appetite that day.

So it was Masseria, not Luciano, that went to the bathroom.

I know bulimia isn't really a topic to be made fun of. I have two daughters in their 20's and God knows that body image is way too important to both of them. But every time I hear the word bulimia I think of George Costanza.

When he was dating a model (like Jason Alexander could ever get a model, right?), he was terribly concerned when he became suspicious that she might be bulimic. But not for her health. But because "I'm payin' for those meals. It's like throwing money down the toilet."

Wow, didn't know that about Masseria...bringing in another thread, this would make a great movie i think, since this is one of the key events that spawned the Five Families as we now know them. This would have the intrigue of politics, betrayal, murder...and power...wow....

Its smart of em if they did use jewish shooters had there been people demanding the shooters heads all they had to do was blame it all on the jews

They used jewish shooters on the Maranzano hit.The kosher nostra,most of em worked as hitmen at the time

Who killed Joe the Boss?

Based on the presence of Johnny Giustra I think Vincent Mangano was also involved there. He might have even been one of the shooters. We know he was rewarded with his own Family shortly after this, and Gentile said Mangano was at the Villa Tammarro. So Mangano is looking like a co conspirator. Promotions don't come for free in the world of organized crime.

Thats true

Good morning Toodoped (it is AM here in New York).

Only 2 bullets seemed to have been recovered and they were both .38s. There were four or five holes put in the guy. So we don't really know if there was one shooter unloading a 38 or more than one shooter because the other 2 or 3 bullets were missing.

Vincent Mangano wasn't promoted. Frank Scalise continued to be the boss of that crime family until Maranzano's death. That's when Scalise stepped down. Also, Giustra was a Masseria supporter and it's unknown how long his coat was left there.

He was whacked by diabetes.

Morning my frined...or should i say good evening(its 08:00 PM ova here)

As time pass by we are more and more further away from the truth on who really did the shooting on Joe The Boss

An informant who complained to the police that Gerardo Scarpato (the owner of Villa Tammaro), Augie Pisano and others, were extorting him (the informant) out of money claimed in a written letter that Pisano was there on the murder scene. But if this is the truth, or simply an attempt by the informant to get rid of Pisano, or some kind of a pay back, is hard to tell.

I can believe that Pisano was there. He was the top lieutenant to Frankie Yale and took part in his assassination. Shortly after that he's with Masseria (clearly Masseria wanted Yale out). Pisano would have been trusted by Masseria. Then a year after Masseria's murder Scarpato was killed too. Sounds like a house cleaning to get rid of Masseria supporters: Giustra, LiConti and Scarpato all killed. Pollaccia killed by Genovese too, in 1932 (obviously with the approval of Luciano).

Something that would be interesting to know is if the shooters were there at the table with Masseria (arrived with him) or if the they bursted onto the scene, while Masseria was already there.

If I have to make a guess on who the actual shooters were, I´d say that the shooters where somebody close to Luciano or of some other faction led by somebody who shared Luciano´s vision. If I have to narrow it down even further, I wouldn´t be surprised if Charlie Gagliodotto was one of the shooters, with perhaps Dave Petillo. Those two were known to have carried out quite a few murders for Luciano back in the day.

I gotta say the hit team consisting of Genovese, Anastasia, Bugsy and Adonis seems a little far fetched. I think the traditional events of the Masseria hit are widely disputed by OC researchers and I don't exactly disagree myself.



Toodoped where do you live? We're in the same timezone.

Here is some really good input on the Masseria hit:

Onewal

The source for that scenario seems to be an interdepartmental memo within the Kings County DA's office. I don't know the nature of the memo, but my assumption is that it is intelligence gathered from an informant.

Everyone around Masseria was his supporter up until he was killed.

I can't remember reading anything about the mob, without the book mentioning how Luciano set up massiera in the restaurant, while he went to the mens room.

why that story has been so accepted I don't know, but, it has been acknowledged as fact. ive probably read it in a dozen books,
now, after reading all these posts, with research being done.

I don't think that was what went down, the way I see it Luciano most likely wasn't there, no doubt he had a hand in setting masseria up. but, he may have conspired with maranzano himself.

Greetings Binnie. Like your new avatar. You gotta find the one that expresses you best.

It's possible Luciano was never there. It's possible he was. Someone had to drive the boss to the restaurant, and it wasn't Masseria driving most likely. Luciano was known as Masseria's driver around that time.

Because everyone basically ran out of the restaurant and the owner of the restaurant was scared of being hit, which he eventually was, who was going to tell the truth?

If Luciano was at that restaurant, a great many of his contemporaries probably chose to remain silent about that. At that time period he was absolutely the most dangerous man in Cosa Nostra.

@HairyKnuckles

Who's your avatar mate?

The guy Mikey Cigars whacked out Jonny coco

The Balkans.If you are in Italy then we have the same time zone

Coppola?

Doesnt appear to be Coppola from my reckoning.

But only some of them were strong supporters who may not have fully accepted the new regime, or may have got away with certain things that the new regime did not like. That's why Giustra, LiConti, Pollaccia and Scarpato were killed AFTER Masseria.

Come on faithful, Scarpato was killed because he was a Masseria group member who got away with things that a new regime wouldn't tolerate?

The guy told cops he could be hit after the Masseria assassination and gave finger prints to help investigators identify him if he turned up a victim of homicide. He travelled abroad to try to get out of the limelight. He wasn't concerned about being caught breaking old rules by new bosses. He was afraid that Masseria's assassination would drag him in. He could have been killed by the new regime, or the old. Do we really know who really killed Scarpato?

The only thing we can say with a great degree of confidence is that what got Scarpato killed was the fact that he was a Masseria man who owned the restaurant Masseria was hit at. I doubt Scarpato would have been whacked if Luciano and Company had simply picked a different restaurant to kill Masseria in.

If Scarpato was killed for unique reasons, any of those that were "purged" after Masseria's hit could have been whacked for unique reasons, each differing ever so slightly from the other.

Based on Scarpato's behavior after the Masseria hit at his restaurant, I'd guess he didn't know about it [the hit] ahead of time, but Gentile probably did.

It´s Johnny "Coca Cola" Lardiere.