The American mafia has long been glorified in movies and pop culture, but in the Big Apple the mob’s Five Families helped shaped the city while casting a shadow over it like a Manhattan skyscraper.
— The murder of Frank Cali is the first assassination of a Gambino crime boss since “Big Paul” Castellano was gunned down outside Sparks Steakhouse in 1985.
The pair of sensational shootings highlight a storied history between the mob and New York City.
The American mafia has long been glorified in movies and pop culture, but in the Big Apple the mob’s Five Families helped shaped the city while casting a shadow over it like a Manhattan skyscraper.
Organized crime firmly established its New York roots in the 1920s during prohibition, when Italian families were aggressively waging war over territories and absolute control over their lucrative bootlegging operations.
It was a violent period, with Jewish and Irish gangs also vying for power, but it was ultimately the Italian families, known as the mafia, which prevailed.
Joe Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano were the early crime bosses who divided up New York territories and set up the infamous “family structure.” It’s said to have been Maranzano who proclaimed himself “the boss of bosses” and instituted the “code of conduct” to have all families pay tribute to him.
Maranzano was murdered within roughly six months of that order, reportedly on the orders of Charles “Lucky” Luciano.
