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The Lucchese crime family is one of the "Five Families" that controls organized crime activities in New York City, USA, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia. The organization also has a strong faction in New Jersey, called the Jersey Crew. History of the Lucchese crime family The two TommysWith the creation of the Five Families as the pillars on which the strength of the American Mafia was based, the new head of the branch previously led by Gaetano "Tom" Reina and then "Fat Joe" Pinzolo, was Gaetano "Tommy" Gagliano , with Gaetano "Tommy" Lucchese as his underboss. The pair led the family into profitable areas of the trucking and clothing industries, and looked after their men in a way that other mob bosses would have done well to replicate. When Gagliano died in 1953, Lucchese, who had been loyal to his boss from beginning to end, took over as boss, and carried on the traditions Gagliano had established, making the family which now bore his name one of the most profitable in New York. Lucchese further developed the family's interests by controlling Teamsters unions, workers' co-operatives and trade associations, and racketeering at the new Idlewild Airport. He also developed close relationships with politicians and members of the judiciary, which aided the family on numerous occasions. All this while keeping the low profile for which he became lauded in Mafia circles. Lucchese spent 44 years in the mafia without receiving a single criminal conviction. Toward the end of his life, Lucchese suffered various health problems and his heart finally gave up July 13, 1967. The man who took over at the head of the family was Carmine "Gribbs" Tramunti. At the time, Tramunti was almost 70 years old and himself suffering from ill health, but with boss-in-waiting Anthony "Tony Ducks" Corallo in prison, Tramunti was chosen as caretaker boss while Corallo served out his sentence. Tramunti faced a number of criminal charges during his time at the head of the family and was eventually convicted of financing a large heroin smuggling operation. This also included the arrests and convictions of Vincent Papa and Anthony Loria Sr. in the infamous French Connection. This scheme was responsible for distributing millions of dollars in heroin up and down the East Coast during the early seventies, which in turn led to a major NYPD corruption scheme. The scope and depth of this scheme is still not known, but officials suspect it involved a corrupt NYPD officer/officers who allowed access to the NYPD property/evidence storage room, where hundreds of kilograms of heroin lay seized from the now-infamous French Connection bust, and then replaced the missing heroin with white baking flour. The substitution was only discovered when officers noticed insects eating all the bags of "heroin". By that point an estimated street value of approximately $70 million worth of "smack" had already been taken. The racket was brought to light and arrests were made. Certain plotters received jail sentences, including Papa. (Papa was later assassinated in the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia; several conflicting reasons why have been suggested). These were the times of Serpico and the DEA's Knapp Commission. Corallo took over upon Tramunti's incarceration in 1974. Tony Ducks & the JaguarAfter the incarceration of Carmine "Gribbs" Tramunti in 1974, the Lucchese crime family received a powerful capo by the name of Anthony "Tony Ducks" Corallo from the Queens faction as their new leader. Corallo, nicknamed "Tony Ducks" from a reputation of 'ducking' criminal convictions, was a boss squarely in the Tommy Lucchese mold. He was heavily involved in union control and worked closely with Jimmy Hoffa, the international president of the Teamsters Union, during the 1940s and 1950s. Corallo, who had close ties to the Painters and Decorators Union, the Conduit Workers Union, and the United Textile Workers, put Salvatore "Tom Mix" Santoro as the Underboss and supervisor of all labor and construction racketeering operations in New York, and Christopher "Christie Tick" Furnari as the reputed Consigliere. The family prospered under Corallo's leadership, particularly in the trafficking of narcotics, as well as union racketeering and major illegal gambling operations. As Corallo never discussed business during sitdowns, fearing US government were monitering the conversatiions, he bought a new Jaguar, which had a phone in it, and reportedly drove around New York City while on the phone discussing business, mostly with Santoro and Furnari. Salvatore "Sal" Avellino and Aniello "Neil" Migliore swifted as Corallo's chaffeurs during the late 1970s and 1980s. Corallo, a huge fan of the New Jersey faction of the family, reputedly inducted and promoted Anthony "Tumac" Accetturo and Michael "Mad Dog" Taccetta into the organization and put them in charge of the Jersey Crew, which reportedly controlled most of the loansharking and illegal gambling operations in Newark, New Jersey at the time. But as Corallo maintained a strong leadership of the Lucchese Family , he FBI had managed to plant a bug in Corallo's car in the early 1980s, where he conducted most of his businesses over the car's phone, and he was duly overheard talking at great length about mob affairs, all from illegal gambling and labor racketeering, to drug trafficking and murder. Corallo was arrested and put on trial along with all the heads of the Five Families at the time. This trial became legendary as the Mafia Commission Trial, and saw Corallo to be convicted on numerous charges and sent to prison, where he would spend the rest of his life (he died in 2000). Corallo's second choice as successor was, after the disappearing of acting boss Anthony "Buddy" Luongo in 1986, Vittorio "Vic" Amuso. The iron fists of Amuso and CassoThe period that followed was one of the most turbulent the Lucchese family had ever seen, given the relative calm under previous bosses. Vittorio "Vic" Amuso and his fierce Underboss, Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso, seized control of the Lucchese family in 1986, and promoted a powerful and notorious regime at the top. Both Amuso and Casso were heavily involved in labor racketeering, extortion, drug trafficking and especially murder activities, as they were recognized as strong rivals of Gambino crime family boss John Gotti during the mid 1980s, but strong allies of Genovese crime family boss Vincent "Chin" Gigante, who together conspired to murder Gotti, and on April 13, 1986, a car-bomb meant for Gotti , instead killed his Underboss Frank DeCicco. The assassination-plot was in retaliation for the unathourized murder of former Gambino boss Paul Castellano . This, however, sparked a long and confusing tension between these three crime families, as there was reported multiple deaths on all sides of the families. Later, during the late 1980s, Amuso questioned the share of profit he received from the Jersey Crew and reportedly demanded 50% of the crew's total profit, however, New Jersey faction leaders Anthony "Tumac" Accetturo and Michael "Mad Dog" Taccetta refused, and Amuso gave the order to "Whack Jersey", meaning that the entire New Jersey faction should be eliminated. Summoned to a meeting with Amuso in Brooklyn, New York, nobody showed up in fear of being massacered. Taccetta and Accetturo were later put on trial in 1990, as both Amuso and Casso were implicated in a case involving the fitting of thousands of windows in New York at over-inflated prices, and the pair went into hiding of that same year, ruling the family from afar and ordering the execution of anyone they deemed troublesome, either they were considered rivals or potential informants. What followed next was a series of botched hits, which led some members of the family turning informants to save their own lives. The planned executions went as high as Alphonse "Little Al" D'Arco, the acting boss while Amuso was in hiding, who had little choice but to turn himself over to the authorities to spare him and his family from Amuso and Casso and their increasingly erratic demands. Amuso also ordered the slaying of captain Peter "Fat Pete" Chiodo, who along with Casso was in charge of the Windows Case operation, but as he was shot 12 times and survived, he also turned state's evidence, providing the entire windows operation that eventually controlled $150 million in window replacements, sold in New York City. As Amuso also sanctioned the hit on Anthony "Tumac" Accetturo, who was on trial in 1990, he also cooperated with the government. On July 29, 1991, the FBI captured Amuso in Pennsylvania, and two years later Casso was caught in New Jersey. Amuso had resisted all attempts by the police to turn on the mob, but Casso wasted little time in doing so. Unfortunately for Casso, his testimony proved so inconsistent that he was ultimately accused of having gone back on his deal to help the authorities and refused leniency in sentencing for his various crimes. Amuso was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1991, as well as Casso in 1994, who had been a fugitive for over four years, and reportedly conspired with reputed Consigliere Frank Lastorino and Brooklyn faction leaders George Zappola, Frank "Bones" Papagni and Frank Gioia, Jr. into murdering Steven "Wonderboy" Crea, Amuso's Underboss of The Bronx, as well as Gambino crime family acting boss John "Junior" Gotti , son of the imprisoned John Gotti , along with members of the Genovese crime family once again. But due to massive indictments, none of the plots were comitted. Acting bossesJoseph "Little Joe" DeFede was chosen as the acting boss of the Lucchese family, though Amuso continued to pull the strings from behind bars throughout the mid 1990s. DeFede, who supervised the powerful Garment District racket, reportedly earned more than $40,000 to $60,000 a month, and when placing Steven "Wonderboy" Crea in charge of the family's labor and construction racketeering operations, the Lucchese family earned something between $300,000 and $500,000 every year. But as US law enforcement kept pressuring the organized crime actvities in New York, DeFede was arrested and indicted on nine counts of racketeering in 1998, and pled guilty to the charges. He was sentenced to five years in prison. Angry at his guilty plea, Amuso became uncertain of DeFede's loyalty, and promoted Steven "Wonderboy" Crea as new acting boss of the Lucchese family. Crea, a powerful Bronx faction leader, raised the family's profit enormously, which convinced Amuso that DeFede had been skimming of the profit, and decided to put out a contract on his life in late 1999, but on on September 6, 2000, Crea and seven other Lucchese members were arrested and jailed on extortion charges, mostly to the supervising of the construction sites with various capos Dominic "Crazy Dom" Truscello and Joseph "Joey Flowers" Tangorra. Crea was eventually convicted in 2001 and sentenced to 5 years in prison. To complete a fairly hapless trio of acting bosses, the fierce Consigliere of Queens, Louis "Lou Bagels" Daidone, who had been a prominent member of the Lucchese family since the 1980s, seized control of the family upon Crea's conviction in 2001, and kept running the family. However, with the releasement of Joseph "Little Joe" DeFede, who Amuso had ordered to be killed earlier, DeFede turned state's evidence while fearing for his life, which was enough to convict Daidone of murder and conspiracy. This was also the result of the testimony from Alphonse D'Arco in September 2004. Mafia copsIn April 2006, it was revealed that two respected New York City police detectives were also working as hired hitmen and informants for Anthony Casso during the 1980s and early 1990s before they both retired from law enforcement. The were determined to be Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa, who had spent much of their combined 44 years with the NYPD committing murders and leaking confidential information to the Lucchese crime family. They participated in eight murders between 1986 and 1990, and over a period of six years were paid $375,000 by Casso in bribes and as payments for murder 'contracts'. It is proven that Casso used Caracappa and Eppolito to put preasure on the Gambino crime family by murdering several of their members, because Casso, along with the imprisoned Vittorio "Vic" Amuso and Genovese crime family boss Vincent "Chin" Gigante, wanted their rival John Gotti out of the way. Caracappa and Eppolito are now seen as two of the most important reasons for why the 'tension' between the three families during the late 1980s and early 1990s, continued so long. Among their contracts was putting James Hydell into the trunk of a car and handing him over to Casso for torture. Hydell's body has never been found. They also shot Bruno Facciolo, who was found in Brooklyn in the trunk of a car with a canary in his mouth. After having been pulled over for a routine traffic check, Gambino crime family captain Edward "Eddie" Lino was killed on a freeway in his Mercedes-Benz. In 2006, Eppolito and Caracappa were convicted of murdering James Hydell, Nicholas Guido, John "Otto" Heidel, John Doe, Anthony DiLapi, Bruno Facciolo, Edward Lino and Bartholomew Boriello on the orders of Casso and the Lucchese crime family. That year, they were reportedly sentenced to life imprisonment. Current position and leadershipVittorio "Vic" Amuso, 73, remains the official boss of the Lucchese crime family despite serving a life sentence. It is unclear how much influence he has over the family from his prison cell. In the last few years, a three man ruling panel, Joseph "Joey Dee" DiNapoli, 71, Aniello "Neil" Migliore, 73, and Matthew Madonna, 72, has been running the family. All three are long time capos in the family, but Migliore is believed to have the final say on things. Migliore has been a major player in the family for more than 30 years and is said to have huge respect on the street. Recently though, former acting boss Steven Crea was released from jail after serving a five year prison sentence. Still, under parole restrictions, it remains to be seen what role Crea will play for the Lucchese crime family in the future. In the last few years, after suffering greatly from turncoats, federal prosecution, and internal conflicts due to bad leadership, the Lucchese family has avoided further dramatic federal indictments. Arguably, recognized Underboss Migliore and his crew have managed to bring some stability to the Lucchese family. Bosses of the Lucchese crime family
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