Giuseppe “Joe the Boss” Masseria

April 15, 1931

The man who could dodge bullets

Giuseppe Masseria had lofty ambitions. He wanted all the gangs of New York under his rule as capo di tutti capi—the Big Boss. His quest for the brass ring would plunge the city into a bloody battle that would never be forgotten and that ultimately cost him his life.

A lieutenant in the Morello Mob, Masseria challenged and defeated rival mobster Salvatore D’Aquila in the early 1920s. Though D’Aquila had tried to deal with Masseria in 1922, sending gunman Umberto Valenti to do the job, Masseria had miraculously survived all attempts made against his life. In fact, he had literally dodged Valenti’s bullets, and the only casualty in the attack was his fedora hat. After this failed assassination, Masseria was considered bullet-proof.

Masseria now took control of Morello’s old gang, with former boss Morello working under him, and leveraged his position. In 1928 D’Aquila himself was murdered, and with him pushing up the daisies, Masseria ran a healthy chunk of New York’s underworld. Others may have referred to him as “the man who could dodge bullets”, but Masseria referred to himself as the Boss of all Bosses.

In this role, Masseria put the muscle on the other mobs to fork over the tribute. But Salvatore Maranzano of the Castellammarese faction refused to pay up. In fact Maranzano had plans of his own and Masseria, with his demands for gold, was just mucking up the works. As the two vied for supremacy the bloodshed escalated. Soon New York was embroiled in what was to become one of the most significant battles within Mafia history—the Castellammarese War. It was a big one, and it changed everything.

Giuseppe ‘Joe The Boss’ Masseria

The Castellammarese War

One of the first casualties of the war was Masseria’s old and respected boss Giuseppe Morello. But a Maranzano ally—Joe Aiello—was soon to follow. In fact, the hits went rapidly back and forth between the two sides until finally the Masseria faction began to crack. Masseria’s men could see the writing on the wall and one by one they jumped ship. Masseria underling Lucky Luciano finally took the bull by the horns and decided it was time to put his boss out of his misery. Throwing his lot in with Maranzano, Luciano agreed to eliminate Masseria in return for gaining his operations and a seat at the big table within Maranzano’s gang.

On April 15, 1931, Masseria met Luciano for lunch at the Nuova Villa Tammaro restaurant on Coney Island. After the luncheon, the two broke out a deck of cards and started to play. Some time during the course of the afternoon Luciano excused himself and got up. While he was gone, several men stepped through the doorway and shot Masseria as he shuffled the deck.

With the death of Masseria, Luciano hoped that a new age would be ushered in by Maranzano, and that the old, tradition-bound ways of the Mafia would be left behind. He was mistaken in this belief, however, and he was soon to conclude that the Castellammarese War was not quite over yet.