Before the rise of the Cosa Nostra, illegal drug trafficking in New York was mainly controlled by Jewish criminal organizations. Arnold Rothstein emerged as the leading Jewish crime boss in New York in the 1920s. Historical sources describe him as the head of drug trafficking in New York at that time, before he was murdered in 1928, but they also point out that he was a powerful gangster involved in various other criminal activities, including gambling and smuggling. His death created a power vacuum in the New York criminal world, which allowed the Cosa Nostra to gradually establish itself in the drug trade

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Salvatore Joseph Battaglia, known as “Sam,” was born on November 5, 1908, in Chicago and was a high-ranking member of the Chicago Outfit mafia organization. Sam Battaglia began his criminal career at a young age, first becoming involved in street gangs and later joining a more structured criminal organization. In the 1920s, Sam Battaglia joined the “42nd Street Gang,” founded by his brother Augie. Sam Battaglia's relationship with his brothers, Paul, Augie, and Frank, was decisive in his life and criminal career. The Battaglia brothers were all involved in the Chicago underworld, albeit with different roles and destinies.

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Tony Accardo, nicknamed "Joe Batters" and "Big Tuna," is considered one of the longest-serving and most successful mob bosses in American history. His intelligence, prudence, and ruthlessness allowed him to rule the Chicago Outfit for decades, amassing a fortune and maintaining almost unchallenged power.

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His official name in the United States was Frank Ralph Nitto, but after his birth in Italy on 27 January 1886, he was registered at the registry office in Angri, in the province of Salerno, as Francesco Raffaele Nitto. Frank Nitti was a central figure in Italian-American organised crime based in Chicago.

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In the early 1940s, Nitti convinced Ricca and the rest of the Outfit's management to extort money from film studios in Los Angeles, California . Chicago gangster John "Handsome Johnny" Roselli controlled the film industry workers' union Projectors Union and threatened the studios with strikes and other union problems. To avoid labour unrest, RKO, Paramount, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and 20th Century Fox paid several hundred thousand dollars to the Outfit. However, two Chicago Mafia men, Willie Bioff and George Browne, were arrested for extortion and agreed to testify against the Outfit's management. In March 1943, Ricca, Nitti and other Mafia leaders were indicted for extortion.
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

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Paul Ricca whose real name was Felice De Lucia, of Italian descent, was born on November 14, 1897 in Naples , Campania, to Antonio and Maria Annunziata De Lucia.   He was considered an Italian-American mobster with increasing roles within the Cosa Nostra for 40 years, until he became its godfather within the Chicago mafia family, also known as de Outfit. In 1958 according to a Senate crime investigation subcommittee Ricca was called “the most important criminal in the country.”


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Joe Valachi was the first “pentito” in the history of the Italian-American mafia, he was the first to reveal the name of Cosa Nostra to the world. His collaboration can be considered a turning point for the Department of Justice led by Robert Kennedy. In October 1963 his deposition on live TV was seen by tens of millions of American television viewers. It was a media event that we can define as historic for the activity of the federal government in the fight against organized crime. For the first time, during television broadcasts the American public heard a mafioso talk about commissions and godfathers.

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Joe Valachi was the first “pentito” in the history of the Italian-American mafia, he was the first to reveal the name of Cosa Nostra to the world. His collaboration can be considered a turning point for the Department of Justice led by Robert Kennedy. In October 1963 his deposition on live TV was seen by tens of millions of American television viewers. It was a media event that we can define as historic for the activity of the federal government in the fight against organized crime. For the first time, during television broadcasts the American public heard a mafioso talk about commissions and godfathers.

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Between 1963 and 1965, chaired by Democratic Senator John McClellan, the Senate Federal Government of the United States of America established the Senatorial Subcommittee, whose investigations constituted an important turning point in the US government's fight against organized crime. The first hearing was held on September 27, 1963, at the United States Senate, around 10:00 am. The commission was desired by Robert Kennedy. He initially served as consultant to the McClellan Commission, and then as Attorney General. Robert Kennedy, John's younger brother, considered the Mafia an organization that contaminated all the economic and political nodes of the United States.

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Carlos Marcello is much less well known to the public than infamous gangsters like Al Capone, Lucky Luciano, or John Gotti. Yet he wielded far more power than anyone else, and for far longer. He was the undisputed boss of the New Orleans mob.

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Carlos Marcello is much less well known to the public than infamous gangsters like Al Capone, Lucky Luciano, or John Gotti. Yet he wielded far more power than anyone else, and for far longer. He was the undisputed boss of the New Orleans mob.

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Trafficante always wanted to make it big in the Cuban casinos and in 1946 sent his son, Santo Jr., to Havana to run the Mafia casinos. However, even in Cuba, Lansky was the ringleader, maintaining influence at the highest levels of the government, so much so that Trafficante was never more than a junior partner on the island.

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In the Pittsburgh Mafia family, until 1956, the leader of the Mafia family was Frank Amato. He ran it until he was struck by a kidney disease and was forced to resign and become the underboss. His place was taken by Sebastian LaRocca known as "John" LaRocca. It is said that there were family relations between Franck Amato and La Rocca.

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In the city of Pittsburgh, Italian criminals were divided into two factions: the "Sicilians" and the "Neapolitans". The territory within the city was also divided as Sicilian Mafia clans controlled the north and south sides, while Neapolitan Camorra clans controlled the east end.

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Santo Sorge was a powerful Sicilian mafioso residing in the United States. His exact role was never very clear to investigators. For scholars he was one of the great 'unknowns' of the Sicilian and American mafia. He was one of the Sicilian mafia bosses at the top of his time. His opinion was sought and listened to even in important decisions that affected the American mafia. He shuttled between Italy and the United States

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After the summit held in 1956 at the Hotel delle Palme in Palermo, another important meeting took place in 1957. This was the one that will be remembered as the Apalachin summit in the state of New York. It was a milestone in the history of crime in America. Apalachin is an urban aggregate of the United States of America, located in the state of New York, in the county of Tioga.

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THE SUMMIR AT THE HOTEL DELLE PALME -PALERMO

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Joe Profaci, born Giuseppe Profaci, is considered the first mafia boss of the Colombo mafia family of New York. Giuseppe Profaci was born in Villabate in the province of Palermo on October 2, 1897. He soon became a man of honor of the local clan. Joe Profaci entered the United States in New York clandestinely in 1921 with Vincent Mangano. The two were childhood friends, both took refuge in America to escape the regime and the repression wanted by Mussolini in the twenties against the mafia in Sicily. Profaci had already served a year in prison in Italy for theft. In 1927, he assumed American citizenship. Joe Profaci had six children with his wife Ninfa. One of his granddaughters, in 1956, married Salvatore Vincent Bill Bonanno, son of Joseph Bonanno, while his two daughters married one the son of William Tocco and the other the son of Joseph Zerilli, mafia bosses of Detroit.

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From 1964 to about 1969, the last major war was fought in which a major Mafia crime family attempted to gain a position of supremacy over other organized crime families in America. If the plan had been successful, the attackers could have truly changed the course of the criminal world as Lucky Luciano had done. This new conflict of the 1960s was initiated by an elderly boss, namely, Joseph Bonanno, head of the relatively small but efficient New York Mafia family of the same name, also known by the nickname "Bananas", hence the name of the Mafia conflict, namely BANANA’S WAR.

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