Lucky Luciano

Most people recognize Lucky Luciano as the originator of organized crime. He established The Commission that supervised crime in America as well as the Five Families in New York. Instead of assuming the title himself after ousting the boss of bosses, he founded a business on the advise of Johnny Torrio. Another name for Luciano is the gangster who helped the Americans conquer Italy during World War II while guarding the ports of New York. Salvatore Lucania, better known as Charlie Lucky, was born in 1897 in Lercara Friddi, Sicily.

When he was ten years old, he moved to New York. After struggling in school, he opted to learn the streets after winning close to $250 in a dice game. For 10 cents, Luciano established a gang to defend Jewish and Irish children against Italian gangs. He shielded Meyer Lansky and Benny Siegel, two Jewish children. Those three would make up the "Big Six" of bootlegging during Prohibition, along with Louis "Lepke" Buchalter, Jacob "Gurrah" Shapiro, and Long Zwillman. Arnold Rothstein, aka The Big Bankroll, provided the funding for them. After a brief stay in Cuba, Luciano returned to Italy and continued to oversee the mob's drug trafficking into the United States. He died of a heart attack in the Naples airport on January 26, 1962.