Giosue Gallucci

Giosue Gallucci
Giosue Gallucci, the King of Little Italy
Born	December 10, 1865 (1865-12-10) Naples, Italy
Died	May 21, 1915 (1915-05-22) (aged 49) New York City

Giosue Gallucci (Naples, December 10, 1865 – New York City, May 21, 1915) was an old-style crime boss of Italian Harlem in New York City affiliated with the Camorra. He dominated the area from 1910-1915 and was also known as the undisputed King of Little Italy or The Mayor of Little Italy, partly due to his political connections.^[1][2] The fight over the lucrative numbers rackets left behind by Gallucci after his killing in 1915 is known as the Mafia-Camorra War.

From Naples to New York

He was born in Naples (Italy) in 1865 to Luca Gallucci and Antonia Cavallo.^[3] In 1891 he moved from Naples to New York City, arriving on March 11, 1892, on the SS Werkendam from Rotterdam (The Netherlands).^[4] He built various businesses in East Harlem; first in Mulberry Street and later in a three story brick house with a bakery and an attached stable at 318 East 109th Street.^[5]

In April 1898, he was arrested in New York in connection with the murder of Josephine Inselma, who was portrayed as Gallucci's lover by the police.^[6] The Grand Jury dismissed the charges. At the time, the newspapers noted his previous nine convictions of theft and blackmail in Italy. According to the authorities in Naples he had left Italy in July 1886 at the age of 20.^[2][7][8]

The criminal background of his brothers Gennaro, Vincenzo and Francesco was even more impressive. Vincenzo Gallucci was described as a blackmailer who spent two terms in prison and was condemned sixteen times for assault, attempted murder and other crimes. Francesco Gallucci was condemned six times for attempted murder and theft and for assaulting policemen.^[7] His brother Vincenzo was murdered November 20, 1898, reportedly on orders from an Italian "secret society similar to the Mafia" (likely the Neapolitan Camorra).^[8]

King of Little Italy

Gallucci became the undisputed boss of Little Italy following the imprisonment of Ignazio Saietta on counterfeit charges in 1909. He owned many tenements in the area and controlled the coal and ice business, cobbler shops, the olive oil business and the lottery in the Italian neighbourhoods. He was one of the biggest moneylenders and held strict control over the numbers game in the area employing Neapolitan and Sicilian street gangs as his enforcers; nobody ran numbers without paying tribute to Gallucci.^[1][2][9]

Gallucci ran what was supposed to be the New York office of the Royal Italian Lottery, which in fact was a front for his own policy game (numbers racket) selling thousands of tickets every month throughout Harlem.^[9] He ran the lottery from the basement of his home and he had agents in many cities with Italian communities. Every month there was a “grand drawing.” There was only one prize, USD 1,000, but the one who won the prize was almost certainly robbed of the money when it was paid.^[10]

According to Salvatore Cotillo, the first Italian-born Justice of the New York Supreme Court who grew up in Italian Harlem, “to Gallucci all people were either hirelings or payers of tribute. It was a matter of concern in the neighbourhood if you were looked down upon by Gallucci.”^[9][11] Newspapers at the time wrote about him as a legitimate businessman; the personification of a successful immigrant. He was an imposing man, “a big fellow with a pleasant face and a hearty laugh.”^[12] While he paraded through Harlem swinging a loaded cane, he was always immaculately dressed in tailored suits with a magnificently waxed moustache, an expensive USD 2,000 diamond ring and USD 3,000 diamond shirt studs.^[9][12]

Political influence

He gained virtual immunity from law enforcement through mastery of New York City politics at the Democratic political machine in Tammany Hall that ruled Manhattan virtually unopposed, controlling the city’s police and bureaucracy that handed out the construction contracts and licenses.^[1] With his ability to mobilize the vote in Harlem and register immigrants, he delivered a significant amount of ballots. According the New York Herald he was “certainly the most powerful Italian politically in the city, and during campaigns was exceptionally active.” His political connections allowed for “a certain measure of immunity from police interference.”^[1][9][12]

"I have been accused of being interested in horse thieves, blackmailing, extortion from shop keepers, bomb explosions, kidnapping of children and other crimes, including murder," he allegedly told a reporter of the New York Herald who claimed to know him. "My enemies are lying. They are jealous of my prosperity. I am blamed for every criminal deed which takes place here, but it is not the truth," he told the Herald reporter. "Many of the murders down here are the results of quarrels among the blackmailers themselves. They gamble, which leads to fighting, and they dispute the division of spoils. If a leader thinks another is trying to become boss, that man is marked for death."^[13]

Killing his brother?

His elder brother Gennaro Gallucci (born 1857) was shot dead on November 14, 1909, in the back room of the family bakery.^[14] His activities as a collector of protection payments had caught the attention of authorities earlier, and he had to leave New York City for a while. Gennaro had arrived in New York in December 1908 from Italy escaping prison after serving 23 years of his life sentence for murdering two men. He lived in East 109th Street with his brother Giosue and sister-in-law Assunta.^[3]

When he returned in the late summer of 1909, New York Police captured him on September 20, 1909, carrying concealed weapons. Immigration officials began efforts to deport him to Italy.^[3][15] However, the courts were unaware of his full criminal background and released him with a suspended sentence. The police believed the killing two months later may have been connected to Gennaro’s black mailing activities. The bakery of the Galluccis had been attacked only a few months before when bullets smashed through the window. Some informants claimed that Giosue Gallucci had been responsible for the killing of his brother in letters that were sent to the police.^[3]

However, Gallucci blamed Aniello Prisco, nicknamed "Zopo the Gimp", a notorious lame and feared gangster from Harlem for the death of his brother. For two years there were frequent clashes and men being killed occasionally.^[16] Being a bodyguard for Gallucci was an unsafe way to make a living as ten of them discovered.^[1][12]

Fighting over underworld control

Despite his power and political clout, Gallucci was not immune of Black Hand extortion. He frequently received Black Hand threats and was often shot at. He “had been wounded many times.”^[1] In 1911, the gang of Neapolitan "black handers" run by Prisco gunned down several members of Gallucci’s entourage because he refused to make "protection" payments. On December 15, 1912, he retaliated when Prisco was lured in a trap in Gallucci’s bakery shop and shot by Gallucci’s nephew and body guard John Russomano.^[17][18]

In July 1913, Gallucci was among the over 40 arrests made around Mulberry Bend and upper Harlem to suppress illegal gambling known as the policy game.^[2][19] The police described him as “the leader of the Italian criminals in Harlem” and that “his consent was necessary before anything out of the way could be done in Harlem’s Little Italy.” Speculation about the reason behind the arrests was that it could have been an attempt to smash Gallucci’s vice ring. He was well known for being involved with prostitution rackets and was also known as the King of the White Slavers in the press.^[2]

He was charged for carrying a concealed weapon, a transgression of the Sullivan Law, but was released on a USD 10,000 bail. The case failed to reach court, a fact that many attributed to his political connections.^[2][12]

Assassination

Gallucci's prestige began to wither as the gang war with the remains of Prisco's old outfit lingered on and he was scrambling to maintain control. Only a week before he was killed, Gallucci had decided to not employ bodyguards anymore when the latest in a row was shot and killed. Gallucci foresaw his execution, saying “I know they will get me.”^[1][12] Rival lotteries were springing up right under his nose. He and his 18-year old son Luca were shot on May 17, 1915, in a coffee shop Gallucci had recently purchased for his son on East 109th Street in Italian Harlem (New York City). He was shot through the stomach and neck.^[20] Fifteen men, mostly friends of Gallucci, were in the coffee shop and some returned fire. The shooters escaped.^[2]

His son died the next day in Bellevue Hospital.^[21] His son's funeral was accompanied by 800 carriages, 22 carriages were for flowers alone.^[2][8] Giosue Gallucci refused to talk to the police, saying he would settle the case himself, but died three days later in the Bellevue Hospital on May 21, of a bullet wound in the abdomen.^[21] The alleged killers were Gallucci's former bodyguards Joe 'Chuck' Nazzarro and Tony Romano, with the help of Andrea Ricci, of the Navy Street gang, a Camorra crew from Brooklyn.^[2] The money for the hit was provided by Coney Island Camorra boss Pellegrino Morano.^[22]

Burial and legacy

His burial was closely guarded by police who feared further gang fights. Several thousand people filed through Gallucci’s apartment to view the remains.^[23] Some 10,000 persons blocked East 109th street to witness the last journey of the boss. A rumour went around that the widow of Gallucci was targeted for assassination.^[12] The 150 carriages that were expected for the burial procession were reduced to 54 because of fear for hostile demonstrations. The procession was preceded by a 23 strong musical band. The funeral service was held in the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel at 113th Street and First Avenue. He was buried in Calvary Cemetery.^[23]

At the time of his death he held USD 350,000 in real estate and was considered to be a millionaire, according to the New York Herald.^[1][12] In reality Gallucci only left USD 3,402 and the property at 318 East 109 Street, which was subsequently rented out.^[22] The lucrative numbers rackets left behind by Gallucci were now free for the taking, and they soon passed over to the Sicilian Morello gang. The subsequent fight over those rackets with Camorra gangs from Brooklyn is known as the Mafia-Camorra War, which eventually would elevate Vincenzo and Ciro Terranova to boss status in the Harlem underworld.^[2]

References

• Critchley, David (2009). The Origin of Organized Crime in America: The New York City Mafia, 1891-1931, New York: Routledge, ISBN 0-415-99030-0
• Dash, Mike (2009). The First Family: Terror, Extortion, Revenge, Murder, and the Birth of the American Mafia, New York: Random House, ISBN 978-1-4000-6722-0
• Ferber, Nat Joseph (1938). A New American. From the Life Story of Salvatore A. Cotillo, Supreme Court Justice, State of New York, New York: Farrar & Rinehart
• Nelli, Humbert S. (1981). The Business of Crime. Italians and Syndicate Crime in the United States, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press ISBN 0-226-57132-7 (Originally published in 1976)

External links

• La Cosa Nostra Datebase: Giosue Gallucci