Fun Facts: The Mob

Life is mostly about the pursuit of knowledge and, therefore, the collection of fun facts. All my fun facts were harvested personally…They started as a physical book purchase from Amazon, then moved to a Kindle download where I bookmarked them by hand; at the conclusion of a book they were transcribed into a Snoopy Moleskine, and finally, they appear here for your personal wonderment.
  • Earliest Italian organized crime was known as the “Black Hand”.
  • Italian mafia organizations: The Camorra in Campania/Naples; the Cosa Nostra in Sicily; the Ndrangheta in Calabria.
  • La Cosa Nostra means “Our Thing” or “This Thing of Ours”.
  • A “made man” in the mafia is one who has full membership in La Cosa Nostra; when this happens, the tradition is to prick one’s finger, smear blood on the picture of a saint and then burn the picture in the palm of the hand.

  • The modern La Cosa Nostra began after the so-called Castellammarese War (1931), a struggle for mob power between factions controlled by Salvatore Maranzano and those controlled by Joe Masseria (who was then known as the “boss of bosses”). With the help of Lucky Luciano and Vito Genovese, Maranzano killed Masseria and the modern mob in New York was born. Maranzano would be the last boss of bosses.
  • The feds and the FBI essentially denied the existence of organized crime until one event in November 1957. This was the meeting in New Jersey, the so-called “Apalachin” meeting of the five families attended by at least sixty Sicilians. The meeting was called by Vito Genovese to, in part, determine who would succeed Albert Anastasio after his assassination and run what would become the Gambino crime family.
  • The heads of the so-called “five families” of the New York mob: Vito Genovese, Joseph (Joe Bananas) Bonanno, Carlo Gambino, Joe Profaci, Thomas Lucchese.
  • East 107th Street in Harlem was considered the unofficial home or headquarters of the mafia.
  • Charley Luciano became “Lucky” Luciano after he was hung up by his thumbs, tortured and survived.
  • Karen Gravano (Sammy The Bull’s daughter) met John Gotti for the first time at her sweet 16 party, her dad said, “Meet your uncle John” at which point Gotti handed her an envelope with ten new $100s. Sammy The Bull hid a safe in his daughter’s bedroom, in it were two gold watches and $2 million in cash, just in case.
  • John Gotti’s son was killed accidentally by a neighbor when he was 12, hit by a car while riding his mini bike. Gotti shot this neighbor guy, execution style, and put is body in an acid bath.
  • By 1930, Chicago had over 10,000 illegal bars and Capone was making $100 million a year, all in cash.
  • Jimmy Hoffa was part of the CIA/mafia plans to kill Fidel Castro in 1959. Future president Nixon had knowledge of this. The mob gave Nixon $500,000 for his campaigns in the 60s.
  • In June 1964 Joseph Valachi turn informant on La Cosa Nostra in an epic way (publishing a book called the Valachi papers) after Vito Genovese put a hit out on him. When Joe Valachi got married the heads of the five families either attended or sent money.
  • From 1900 to 1963, there were 977 unsolved mob hits in Chicago.
  • Gangster Mickey Cohen was a germ freak, he walked around with rolls of new/clean 100 dollar bills. People at the places he went knew this and always brought him change that included, old worn out dirty bills, knowing that meant he would leave it all as a tip rather than touch it.
  • Whitey Bulger killed more than 20 people between 1969 and 1984.
  • Best mob nickname? Albert Anastasio, the Lord High Executioner of Murder, Inc.

[There are some who believe JFK was killed by the mob; they cite these supporting fun facts]

  • JFK was killed in a mob conspiracy led by mafia Godfathers Carlos Marcello (Dallas) and Santo Trafficante (Tampa) and were aided by don Johnny Roselli and John Martino.
  • Carlos Marcello ran the oldest US mob family (out of New Orleans, dating back to 1860) so he didn’t need national approval to hit JFK. Marcello’s empire brought in $2 billion annually from criminal activity in Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi.
  • Marcello’s restaurant in Dallas was fronted and managed by Jack Ruby, and when he was caught stealing, Marcello made him an offer he couldn’t refuse, that is, find a cop to kill Oswald or do it yourself or your dead.
  • Johnny Roselli answered to Sam Giancana and represented the Chicago mob, handling their business in Hollywood and Vegas. The “horsehead in the bed” scene in the Godfather is the tale of the pressure Johnny exerted to get Sinatra the role in From Here to Eternity.
  • Sam Giancana, Jimmy Hoffa and Johnny Roselli were hit by the mob as part of the assassination cover up.