Joe Masseria

Joe Masseria

Giuseppe "Joe The Boss" Masseria (1879–April 15, 1931) was an early Mafia don in the United States. Masseria controlled all organized crime in New York City from 1920 until his assassination by Lucky Luciano in 1931 during the Castellammarese War.

After emigrating to the United States in 1903 to avoid murder charges in Sicily, Masseria became an enforcer for the Morello Gang in the Lower East Side of New York City. By 1920, he had assumed command of the gang through a series of assassinations.

Salvatore Maranzano was sent with several other men from Sicily in 1927 to gain control of the American Mafia for Don Vito Cascio Ferro. Maranzano gained the support of a faction and declared war on Masseria, in what became known as the Castellemmarese War.

On April 15, 1931 Joe Masseria was assassinated at the Nuova Villa Tammaro restaurant in Coney Island. Gangland legend has it that Masseria dined with Charles "Lucky" Luciano before his death. While they played cards, Luciano excused himself to the bathroom, when Vito Genovese, Frank Livorsi, and Joe Stracci rushed in and shot Joe the Boss to death.

In a footnote to Masseria's murder, Gerardo Scarpato, owner of the restaurant where Joe the Boss was killed, was murdered himself in September 1931, within days of the killing of Salvatore Maranzano.