The Five Families of New York: How the Mafia divides the city

Frank Gioia Jr. joined the powerful Lucchese Crime Family in 1991. During a ceremony in a Queens, New York, basement, Gioia took the blood oath of omertà, or silence, about criminal activity.

The Lucchese Family is one of the notorious “five families” of the Italian-American Mafia, each with its own territory, set up to control criminal activities in New York City. Gioia became a “made man” during one of the most violent periods in the Lucchese family’s history. After his arrest in 1993, Gioia agreed to turn state’s evidence.

His cooperation led to the arrest of dozens of Mafia figures. The Lucchese Crime Family has become a part of popular culture, its activities and members serving as the basis for several books and movies.

How is the New York Mafia structured?

The New York mob is controlled by five organized crime families with specific geographic boundaries created in 1931 to stop turf wars. The families are: Bonanno, Colombo, Gambino, Genovese and Lucchese. Historically, the five families are overseen by The Commission, which includes bosses from the five families and the heads of the Buffalo and Chicago mobs. The Commission hasn’t had a formal meeting in decades but is rumored to still exist.

MAFIA IN OUR MIDST:

PART 1 - A mob soldier turned Phoenix businessman

PART 2 - Inside the life of a 'made man'

PART 3 - Who protects the public from protected witnesses?

What is the Lucchese family territory?

The family’s territory includes the boroughs of Brooklyn, the Bronx and Manhattan. It also operates in New Jersey and Florida. The family’s chief criminal enterprises include drug trafficking, labor rackets, extortion, smuggling, loan-sharking, gun running and bookmaking.

What are the family’s origins?

The family's namesake was Tommy Lucchese, who immigrated with many other Italian families to East Harlem from Italy in the early 1910s and began partnerships with some of the biggest names in the annals of organized crime.

Lucchese, known as "Three Fingers" because of an industrial accident that took his right thumb and forefinger, became friends with Charles "Lucky" Luciano. Together they formed a street gang that operated with the blessing of an East Harlem mob boss.

After brief prison stints, Lucchese went into the bootleg business with Luciano and Meyer Lansky in the 1920s.

A gang war in 1930 led Lucchese to form an allegiance with Tomasso Gagliano. The war ended with the creation of the Mafia Commission controlled by the five ruling families. Gagliano was named one of the bosses. Lucchese was his underboss.

When Gagliano died in 1951, Lucchese became boss. They led the family through five decades and made it a force to be reckoned with in the criminal underworld.

The Lucchese family ran clothing and trucking companies and owned several buildings in downtown New York City.

At its peak in the 1960s, the family-controlled unions in the clothes manufacturing, food distribution, airport, construction and newspaper industries. It controlled the Local Teamsters unions in New York and New Jersey, and family bosses worked with former Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa throughout the 1940s and ‘50s.

The family-controlled freight in and out of John F. Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark Liberty airports.

Lucchese was popular and was friends with celebrities such as Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. When Lucchese died in 1967, politicians, judges and criminals attended his funeral.

What happened in the late 1980s and early 1990s?

The family conducted most of its business peacefully and quietly until the late 1980s, when two underbosses rose to power and initiated one of the most violent eras in Mafia history. Vic Amuso and Anthony Casso ordered hits on rival gang members and anyone else they perceived to be a threat, including many Lucchese family members.

After learning they were about to be indicted, Amuso and Casso went into hiding in 1991.

Amuso ordered a hit on acting boss Alphone D’Arco in 1991, which led him to become an informant, the first major family boss to do so. His cooperation caused other members to flip and cut deals of their own. Amuso was caught by the FBI in 1991 and Casso was caught in 1993.

Amuso and Casso were sentenced to life in prison. Amuso remained boss until 2012, calling the shots from his cell.

Is the crime family active today?

In May 2017, federal authorities arrested 19 members of the Lucchese crime family, including two top bosses, captains and its consigliere, on charges of racketeering and murder. The Lucchese crime family has left fingerprints all over popular culture for the past 20 years.

How has the Lucchese family been portrayed in popular culture?

Henry Hill, former associate of the family and government informant, was portrayed by Ray Liotta in Martin Scorsese’s “Goodfellas.”

HBO’s series “The Sopranos” is loosely based on the exploits of the Lucchese and Gambino crime families.

The character Dominic Cattano in “American Gangster,” Ridley Scott’s film about former drug trafficker Frank Lucas, appeared to be a stand-in character for then-Lucchese boss Carmine Tramunti.

The Cueno family in Mario Puzo’s novel and Francis Ford Coppola’s film “The Godfather” was based on the Lucchese family.

“The French Connection,” which won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1971, is loosely based on a drug scheme financed by Tramunti.

READ MORE:

Frank Gioia Jr.'s Mafia associates and their crimes, fates

Frank Gioia Jr.: Years of crime, a new identity and allegations of fraud

What exactly happened at Toby Keith’s?