seized the opportunity to take their revenge against the defectors and Fontana and Fanaro were gunned down.
D’Aquila treated this episode as a skirmish, rather than a declaration of war, so he let the Morellos take the lead in the Mafia–Camorra War. This robbed them of key figures such as Nicolo Terranova, who was murdered by the Navy Street gang in 1916. However, things changed when Giuseppe Morello and ‘Lupo the Wolf’ were released in 1920. After being accorded a rapturous welcome back in East Harlem, they formed an association with Umberto ‘Rocco’ Valenti, a former Navy Street gangster who had taken over the burgeoning Little Italy in the East Village. Valenti was reputedly one of the best gunmen in New York. D’Aquila saw this alliance as a challenge to his ‘boss of bosses’ status. He called a meeting, denounced the new syndicate as a threat to the established order and sentenced those concerned to death.
Morello, Lupo and Valenti fled back to Sicily, where they got Nicola ‘Zu Cola’ Gentile to intercede for them. Gentile used his influence to get another Mafia meeting called in New York, where the death sentences were retracted. However, the settlement left Morello and Valenti at each other’s throats.
Back in New York, Prohibition had set off a vicious turf war. On 8 May 1922, Vincenzo Terranova was gunned down from a car as he stood outside an ice-cream parlour on East 116th Street. He had been a key figure in the city because he was married to Bernardina Reina, daughter of the Reina family who ran the ice racket – few people had refrigerators, so ice was delivered. Terranova’s bootlegging partner, Diamond Joe Viserti, had already been killed and then it was the turn of Vincenzo Salemi, husband of Lucia Terranova, to be murdered.
Masseria, ‘Boss of Bosses’
The rising star of the Mafia was another associate of the Morello family, Giuseppe Masseria, who was from Marsala, less than 30 miles from Castellammare. By 1920 he was considered to be subordinate only to D’Aquila. He was short, fat and slovenly, though well-dressed, and he had a reputation for ruthlessness. After several failed attempts on his life he became known as ‘the man who can dodge bullets’. On 9 August 1922 he had just walked out of his apartment on Second Avenue when he was shot at by two gunmen. After chasing him into a store they kept on shooting until they ran out of bullets, then they made their getaway on the running boards of a waiting car. The driver ploughed straight through the crowd that had formed. Masseria escaped unscathed, though there were two bullet holes in the straw hat that had remained on his head throughout the incident. Valenti was thought to have been responsible, possibly working on the orders of D’Aquila.
Realizing that he could not resume his position as New York’s effective ‘boss of bosses’, Giuseppe Morello became Masseria’s consigliere and chief strategist. Masseria and Morello then invited Valenti to a meeting at a restaurant on Twelfth Street, but when Valenti arrived he was met by three of Masseria’s gunmen. In the ensuing shoot-out, a street cleaner and an 8-year-old girl were wounded. Valenti tried to escape by jumping on to the running board of a taxi, but it is thought that he was shot down and killed by ‘Lucky’ Luciano. Joe Masseria then took over the Morello family, with Giuseppe Morello as his number two.
The Mafia then confined itself to making money out of Prohibition, which presented an easy option. Masseria still coveted the top job, so on 10 October 1928 D’Aquila was gunned down as he left his doctor’s office. D’Aquila had played the part of a self-effacing mafioso so well that his death only made page 20 of The New York Times , where he was described as a ‘cheese importer’. However, a careful observer might have been alerted by the fact that an eyewitness suddenly had an attack of amnesia.
Masseria was now ‘Joe the Boss’ and a ‘boss of
D’Aquila treated this episode as a skirmish, rather than a declaration of war, so he let the Morellos take the lead in the Mafia–Camorra War. This robbed them of key figures such as Nicolo Terranova, who was murdered by the Navy Street gang in 1916. However, things changed when Giuseppe Morello and ‘Lupo the Wolf’ were released in 1920. After being accorded a rapturous welcome back in East Harlem, they formed an association with Umberto ‘Rocco’ Valenti, a former Navy Street gangster who had taken over the burgeoning Little Italy in the East Village. Valenti was reputedly one of the best gunmen in New York. D’Aquila saw this alliance as a challenge to his ‘boss of bosses’ status. He called a meeting, denounced the new syndicate as a threat to the established order and sentenced those concerned to death.
Morello, Lupo and Valenti fled back to Sicily, where they got Nicola ‘Zu Cola’ Gentile to intercede for them. Gentile used his influence to get another Mafia meeting called in New York, where the death sentences were retracted. However, the settlement left Morello and Valenti at each other’s throats.
Back in New York, Prohibition had set off a vicious turf war. On 8 May 1922, Vincenzo Terranova was gunned down from a car as he stood outside an ice-cream parlour on East 116th Street. He had been a key figure in the city because he was married to Bernardina Reina, daughter of the Reina family who ran the ice racket – few people had refrigerators, so ice was delivered. Terranova’s bootlegging partner, Diamond Joe Viserti, had already been killed and then it was the turn of Vincenzo Salemi, husband of Lucia Terranova, to be murdered.
Masseria, ‘Boss of Bosses’
The rising star of the Mafia was another associate of the Morello family, Giuseppe Masseria, who was from Marsala, less than 30 miles from Castellammare. By 1920 he was considered to be subordinate only to D’Aquila. He was short, fat and slovenly, though well-dressed, and he had a reputation for ruthlessness. After several failed attempts on his life he became known as ‘the man who can dodge bullets’. On 9 August 1922 he had just walked out of his apartment on Second Avenue when he was shot at by two gunmen. After chasing him into a store they kept on shooting until they ran out of bullets, then they made their getaway on the running boards of a waiting car. The driver ploughed straight through the crowd that had formed. Masseria escaped unscathed, though there were two bullet holes in the straw hat that had remained on his head throughout the incident. Valenti was thought to have been responsible, possibly working on the orders of D’Aquila.
Realizing that he could not resume his position as New York’s effective ‘boss of bosses’, Giuseppe Morello became Masseria’s consigliere and chief strategist. Masseria and Morello then invited Valenti to a meeting at a restaurant on Twelfth Street, but when Valenti arrived he was met by three of Masseria’s gunmen. In the ensuing shoot-out, a street cleaner and an 8-year-old girl were wounded. Valenti tried to escape by jumping on to the running board of a taxi, but it is thought that he was shot down and killed by ‘Lucky’ Luciano. Joe Masseria then took over the Morello family, with Giuseppe Morello as his number two.
The Mafia then confined itself to making money out of Prohibition, which presented an easy option. Masseria still coveted the top job, so on 10 October 1928 D’Aquila was gunned down as he left his doctor’s office. D’Aquila had played the part of a self-effacing mafioso so well that his death only made page 20 of The New York Times , where he was described as a ‘cheese importer’. However, a careful observer might have been alerted by the fact that an eyewitness suddenly had an attack of amnesia.
Masseria was now ‘Joe the Boss’ and a ‘boss of
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