Cosa Nostra News

Charles (Lucky) Luciano was born Salvatore Lucania, today, Nov. 24, in 1897 in Lercara Friddi, Sicily. American Mafia founding father. He's considered the father of organized crime in the United States . Historians in recent years have worked to put the iconic mob boss into proper perspective, as his personal impact on America's Cosa Nostra had been appreciably exaggerated for the greater part of the 20th century. The bogus Last Testament of Lucky Luciano , by Martin Gosch and Richard Hammer, certainly didn't help matters. ( As unbelievable as it sounds, some of today's foremost organized crime writers still reference it .) Consequently, we compiled this "updated" Luciano sketch. It's certainly not comprehensive, but it's substantial enough. Christian Cipollini, an award-winning author and comic book creator, has written two books about Luciano, Lucky Luciano: Mysterious Tales of a Gangland Legend and LUCKY (with Evgeny Frantsev as...

Christian Cipollini, the award-winning author of three true-crime books, has broken new ground with his latest effort, which revisits a somewhat familiar topic: Salvatore Lucania -- that's Charlie "Lucky" Luciano to you. Cipollini is a standout in the Mafia-based true-crime genre. In addition to authoring three books --  Lucky Luciano: Mysterious Tales of a Gangland Legend ,  Murder Inc.  and  Diary of a Motor City Hit Man  -- he's appeared on several high-profile television shows, including the Biography Channel's  Gangsters: America's Most Evil  and the History Channel's  United Stuff of America  (in addition to also serving as a consultant/producer for National Geographic's critically acclaimed series,  DRUGS, INC. ) The "lab," where Christian writes, muses, maybe smokes a cigar.... Most recently, he appeared at the Las Vegas Mob Museum to discuss the Mafia's pre-WWII hit squad known as Murder Incorporated (the topic of...

FDR had to beat the mob at its own game to carry 1932. After a dramatic Republican National Convention in Cleveland which saw Donald Trump finally become the party’s official nominee, Hillary Clinton will this week accept the formal nomination of the Democratic Party. U.S. national conventions have always been big business opportunities. As one long-time ally of the Bush family reportedly said , “For people who operate in and around government, you can’t not be here.” Although some of the usual donors to the Republican National Convention, like Ford and UPS, stayed home this year , the host committee was able to raise nearly US$60 million from American businesses. Yet historically the “people who operate in and around government” are not only legitimate businesses but also, sometimes, less-than-legitimate ones. Take the 1932 Democratic National Convention. As I explain in my book about the hidden power of organized crime, from which this article is adapted, the nom...

Al "Scarface" Capone was the most un-Mafia-like boss in the  Mafia.  Alphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone (Jan. 17, 1899 – Jan. 25, 1947) is still the most popular of the American Gangsters , according to David Brooks, the proprietor of American Gangsters , a website that sells fans a range of products featuring images of famous mobsters in American history. This is based on an analysis of what Brooks sells through his website. And the general public is still primarily interested in Capone , the most popular mobster in America, and probably has been since the Roaring Twenties, as Brooks told us in a recent interview . True aficionados of the Mafia, however, are more interested in Lucky Luciano , Brooks noted.