Ciro Terranova
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Ciro "The Artichoke King" Terranova (1889-February 20, 1938) was a New York City gangster and one time leader of the Morello crime family.
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[edit] Early life
Born in the town of Corleone, Sicily, he and his family which consisted of his father, mother, four sisters, his brother Vincent, and step-brother Nicholas moved to New York in 1892 to meet Ciro's brother Giuseppe who had arrived six months earlier.
Due to lack of work in the New York area, Terranova and his family only stayed there for about a year. They would eventually travel to Louisiana where the father planted sugar cane as a living before moving to Bryan, Texas. While in Texas they worked as cotton pickers, but malaria struck the family after two years and they moved back to New York in 1896.
[edit] Return To New York
Ciro and Vincent went to school but still worked at their family business, a plastering store on evenings and weekends. Ciro would later work as a waiter at a restaurant owned by his step-brother Giuseppe at the rear of Prince Steet Saloon. In 1903 Giuseppe was charged with the barrel murders, but released because they lacked evidence. On a regular basis the Morello Crime Family was searched and having to deal with harassment from the cops after the trials ended in June of 1903. Such examples of this are one night when Ciro, Vincent, and his nephews Charlie and Nick Sylvester were all arrested and held overnight. Another when he was trying to find a doctor for his nephew, Charlie.
[edit] Rise to Power
When Ignazio Saietta, and his brother Giuseppe were sent to prison on counterfeiting charges, Ciro, Vincent, and Nick filled the power vacuum. They soon rose to top gangsters of East Harlem, running the Morello family. The way he earned his nickname was that he started buying artichokes at 6 dollars a crate from California then selling them back at a 30-40% profit. His reputation scared everyone into buying them, scared he would he would become violent. Then in 1906, a gambling-joint operator by the name of Joe DiMarco was questoning Ciro's power. Lieutenant, Leo Lauritano was ordered to kill DiMarco, who gave the job to Mike Fetto which then went to DiMarco's club to kill him. Fetto returned without the job finished because he couldn't identify him. The job was then given to John "Jonny Left" Esposito with Fetto as his apprentice. Espocito still couldn't find Dimarco so instead he killed another man, Charels Lombardi. Fetto however did find DiMarco and killed him.
[edit] Change in Power
After the hit Esposito was arrested and talked, giving up Ciro who was now indicted on the connection of two murders. Charges however were dropped on the grounds of testimony against him was given by co-conspirators and accomplices and that outside corroboration necessary under New York law was missing. Two weeks after the hit, but before he was arrested, Espocito was ordered to kill Charles Ubriaco and Nicholas Morello, Ciro’s half-brother, who were just with rival gang members planning out peace between them. By 1920 the Morello-Terranova-Saietta rule was being challenged by an up and coming gangster, Joe Masseria. Vincent Morello was murdered on East 116 St. and following him was a powerful ally to them, Umberto Valenti, was killed by Lucky Luciano who was at the time was a member of Masseria's gang. After Valenti's death many of Ciro's men switched sides and took orders from Masseria. Even Peter Morello would switch sides and become one of his most trusted lieutenants, even after his brother was killed. Ciro would run upper Manhattan and the Bronx for Masseria.
[edit] Castellammarese War
While the Castellammarese War was going on Joe Valachi was trying to patch up a friendship with Ciro, he even befriended his driver. Gaetano Gagliano (who later became boss of the Lucchese crime family) approached Valachi to take his side in the war shortly after their new friendship. Valachi's first assighnment was to kill the driver of Terranova. Instead he would kill Ciro's nephew Joseph Catania. At his funeral, Terranova swore revenge. Valachi claims to have killed Peter Morello his half brother, but Luciano says that Albert Anastasia and Frank Scalise killed him. Then on April 15, 1931, the night that Masseria was to be killed on what was reputed to be the start of Terranova's downfall. After Masseria was killed Terranova who drove the assailants to the hit was so upset he couldn't put the car in gear. When the word of this went out his reputation suffered.
[edit] Downfall
Dutch Schultz took over the number rackets in Harlem with Terranova as his partner, Ciro received 25% of the profits. His career would rise for a brief period with the death of Schultz and his associates. Luciano put Mike Coppola in charge putting Terranova behind once again. With his only source of income, his artichoke's wouldn't last him long. On Dec. 21, 1935 New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia appeared at the Bronx Terminal Market. He banned the sale, display, and possession of artichokes. Six men would be indicted on violation of the anti-trust laws the previous February, including Joseph Castaldo, a relative of Terranova and his successor in the artichoke business. The mayor even had the police keep Terranova out of the city. Everytime he appeared south of Westchester County he was arrested for vagrancy. He would loose his house in 1937 due to living on borrowed money. He had a paralyzing stroke on February 18, 1938, he would die two days later with his son and wife by his side at the age of 49.
[edit] In popular fiction
In the television series The Untouchables, Terranova is portrayed by Jack Weston.
