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CHAPTER 14: COLD WAR WARRIOR
Luciano in Palermo and his possible Cold War involvement is noted by A. E. Watkins of the British Consulate, Palermo, in a report dated July 5, 1947, now in the British National Archives: FO 371/67786. For Luciano’s arrival in Italy, see “Luciano Reaches Naples,” New York Times, March 1, 1946. For Tresca murder see “Carlo Tresca Assassinated on Fifth Avenue,” New York Herald Tribune, January 12, 1943; for claim that Luciano knew the identities of Tresca’s murderers and was willing to trade this information, see Herlands investigation interview with Anthony J. Marsloe, July 20, 1954.
For an account of Genovese’s black market activities in Italy, see FBI File No: 58-7146. For British criticism of Poletti, see telegram from “Resident Minister, Algiers, to Foreign Office,” January 16, 1944, and Lord Rennell’s comments on Macmillan’s telegram, both in British National Archives: FO 371/43918. An August 27, 1944, report from Captain J. Kane, Allied provincial public safety officer in Viterbo, trying to identify Vito Genovese with another bad character comes from the collection of Poletti’s papers and letters lodged at the Herbert H. Lehman Suite and Papers, Columbia University Rare Book and Manuscript Library (AMG file, S9).
Not everyone, however, has bad words to say about Poletti. Lawrence L. Miller, a major in the U.S. Fifth Army AMG from 1943–47, worked directly for Poletti and said, “Charlie Poletti was a very good lawyer and a very smart man. He did have great connections and political friends in New York State and they gave him positions of great responsibility. I can’t believe he would ever do anything illegal.” Thanks to his son, Robert Miller, for this quote.
References to Nick Gentile and an American colonel occur in memorandum on “Sicilian Separatist Disturbances” by special agents Gabriel B. Celetta and Saverio Forte for U.S. Army Counterintelligence Corps (CIC) Naples Detachment, January 29, 1946, British NA: WO 204/12619. CIA Cold War strategy comments come from The Current Situation in Italy, Central Intelligence Agency, October 10, 1947. Link between CIA and Corsican Mob mentioned in Scheim, D. E., The Mafia Killed President Kennedy, London: W. H. Allen, 1988. Death of Giuliano reported in “Sicilian Bandit Shot Dead” London Times, July 6, 1950. See also April 1949 issue of Esquire magazine that links Luciano with Giuliano, “Lucky and the Angel.” For more detail and extensive documentation on all the subjects covered in this chapter, see Newark, Mafia Allies.
CHAPTER 15: NARCOTICS OVERLORD
For a good overview of the world situation in illicit drug trafficking, see “Traffic in Narcotics,” London Times, November 15, 1947, and “World Traffic in Drugs,” London Times, September 19, 1951. For British embassy comments on illicit traffic in narcotics, January 15, 1954, and “Remarks of the Honorable Harry J. Anslinger, United States Representative on the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, Eighth Session,” April 15, 1953, see British National Archives: FO 371/112506. See New York Daily Mirror “Link Luciano to $300,000 Dope Seizure,” January 1948. Luciano “banana” quote from “City Boy” Time, July 25, 1949. Newark-Luciano heroin connection appears in FBI report on Zwillman dated June 7, 1950. Collace reference in FBI monograph on the Mafia, July 1958, Section II. Gentile quotes from previously citied source. Lansky account of meeting Luciano in Rome, Kefauver Committee hearings, February 14, 1951 (part 7-K609).
International Criminal Police Commission Reports from 1952 and 1956 listing major narcotics arrests in Italy contained in British National Archives: MEPO 3/2954. Correspondence and reports regarding alleged drug smuggling based in Allied administered Trieste, including criticisms from Venezia Giulia Police Force, in British National Archives: FO/371/112506. For a short profile of Charlie Siragusa, see “One-man Narcotics Squad” by Andrew Tully in J. D. Lewis, (editor), Crusade Against Crime II, London: T. V. Boardman, 1965. Giuseppe Dosi memorandum to Anslinger quoted in K. Meyer, and T. Parssinen, Webs of Smoke, Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 1998. Many anecdotes relating to Luciano in Naples come from a five-page letter written by Siragusa to Anslinger in January 5, 1954, reporting information coming from two undercover FBN agents who had befriended Luciano in Naples, see NARA, RG 170, DEA Files, entry 71A-3555. Quotes from Giannini letters to FBN come from F. Sondern, Brotherhood of Evil: The Mafia, London: Victor Gollancz, 1959. See also H. J. Anslinger, and W. Oursler, The Murderers, London: Arthur Barker, Ltd., 1962.
Rago/Scibilia story and related anecdotes come from an FBI summary of a three-part article appearing in L’Europeo, January 11, January 18, and January 25, 1959, entitled “The Secret Life of Lucky Luciano”; this article is probably the source for the similar stories later told in The Last Testament of Lucky Luciano. The Antonio Calderone slap anecdote is told in P. Arlacchi, Gli uomini del disonore—vita del grande pentito Antonio Calderone, Milan: Arnoldo Mondadori, 1992; see also S. Lupo, Storia della mafia, Rome: Donzelli Editore, 1993; although it is a little suspicious that this incident is recalled twenty years after it appears in the Francesco Rosi movie. Valachi, Lansky, and Bonanno quotes from previously cited sources. Monzelli quotes from D. Hanna, Vito Genovese, New York: Belmont Tower Books, 1974.
Bonanno’s Palermo Mafia conference is described in Sterling, C., Octopus: The Long Reach of the International Sicilian Mafia, New York: WW Norton & Co., 1990; see also P. Arlacchi, Addio Cosa Nostra: La vita di Tommaso Buscetta, Milan: Rizzoli, 1994. But Sterling gives too much weight to Buscetta’s claim that Luciano set up the conference and quotes too frequently from Hammer and Gosch.
CHAPTER 16: GENOVESE’S GAME
Kefauver quotes come from E. Kefauver, Crime in America, London: Victor Gollancz, 1952. Costello quotes from Wolf. Torriani quotes from Hanna. Bugsy Siegel hit on Goering and Goebbels story comes from D. Jennings, We Only Kill Each Other, New York, 1968, but the ultimate source is the Countess di Frasso talking to Hollywood mogul Jack Warner. Valachi, Bonanno, Stacher, and Lansky quotes from previously cited sources. See “Anastasia Slain in a Hotel Here,” New York Times, October 26, 1957, and “Apalachin Story Still Unresolved Mystery,” New York Times, December 22, 1957.
CHAPTER 17: LUCKY IN LOVE
Lissoni quotes from Scaduto and Time article, cited previously. Dorothy Kilgallen’s Broadway column and Seattle office memorandum both in FBI files on Luciano, along with Times Union clipping, “White Slavery Foe in Italy names Luciano,” March 19, 1956. Naples court ruling reported in “Lucky Luciano Wins Freedom Ruling in Court,” Washington Post, March 21, 1958. On December 14, 1952, the American Weekly carried an interview with Luciano by Llewellyn Miller in which she talked to the mobster in the Turistico Hotel in Naples. WMCA radio series on Luciano broadcast on March 23 and 30, 1959. For Vizzini meetings with Luciano and quotes, see S. Vizzini, O. Fraley, and M. Smith, Vizzini: The Secret Lives of America’s Most Successful Undercover Agent, London: Futura, 1974. Several anecdotes relating to Luciano and Lissoni in Naples come from Siragusa letter to Anslinger, January 5, 1954, cited elsewhere.
For Colleen Lanza anecdote see R. Strait, Star Babies, New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1979; see also G. C. Kohn, Encyclopedia of American Scandal, New York: Facts on File, 1989. Scarface quote from B. Hecht, A Child of the Century, New York: New American Library, 1955. FBI analysis of The Luciano Story dated March 7, 1955. Glassman quotes come from Scaduto and it should be noted that he is very anti-Gosch. For Gosch version see introduction to The Last Testament of Lucky Luciano. Jack Anderson’s Washington Post article “The Last Days of Lucky Luciano” seems to be very much the source for the final conspiracy described by Gosch and Hammer in The Last Testament of Lucky Luciano; they merely give it a twist by saying that it is all part of Genovese’s vendetta against him.
CHAPTER 18: DEATH IN NAPLES
Numerous contemporary newspaper reports on the death of Luciano include “Luciano Dies at 65; was facing arrest,” New York Times, January 27, 1962, “‘Lucky’ Luciano Drops Dead,” London Times, January 27, 1962, “Luciano Dies as Police Close In,” New York Herald Tribune, January 27, 1962, “Luciano’s Violent Life Spills Over into Rites
” New York Daily News, January 30, 1962, “Luciano Is Buried in Queens Vault,” New York Times, February 8, 1962.
There are different versions as to what Luciano’s last words were. In the New York Times report of January 28, Gosch said Luciano said nothing, but in The Last Testament of Lucky Luciano, he has him gasping, “Marty …” Scaduto has Gosch asking him “Do you feel ill?” and Luciano says, “Yeah” before collapsing. Jack Anderson has him saying, “Martin, Martin, Martin.”
FBI memorandum addressed to Hoover denying veracity of more sensational Italian stories after Luciano’s death, dated February 12, 1962; “Lucky Luciano worked for the FBI,” Telesera, February 5, 1962. FBI memorandum about death of Luciano dated February 19, 1962. FBI memorandum on Gosch’s Spanish article, dated March 8, 1962. “War Against One-Armed Bandits in Italy,” London Times, January 22, 1965; “113 Mafia Suspects Stand Trial” London Times, October 24, 1966. Conclusion that Luciano as master criminal was overstated occurs in FBI memorandum dated September 17, 1965. FBI review of The Last Testament of Lucky Luciano dated October 2, 1974. See also N. Gage, “Questions Are Raised on Lucky Luciano Book,” New York Times, December 17, 1974. “Film Bio of Lucky Luciano in the Works,” mafia-news.com, July 6, 2007, and “Hollywood Eyes Luciano Tale,” New York Post, August 12, 2007.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
UNPUBLISHED SOURCES
For precise archival references see Notes.
NEW YORK, NY
New York City Department of Records
Luciano closed-case files
Thomas E. Dewey Archive in the University of Rochester Library Herlands Report of 1954
Herbert H. Lehman Suite and Papers, Columbia University Rare Book and Manuscript Library
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WASHINGTON, D.C.
U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation
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COLLEGE PARK, MD
U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
RG 38—Records of Office of Chief of Naval Operations
RG 59—Records of the Department of State
RG 165—Records of the War Department
RG 170—Records of the Drug Enforcement Administration
RG 226—Records of the Office of Strategic Services Modern Military Records
LONDON, UK
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HO—Records of the Home Office
WO—Records of War Office and Armed Forces
FO—Records of the Foreign Office
CAB—Records of the Cabinet Office
PREM—Records of the Prime Minister’s Office
PALERMO, SICILY
Biblioteca Centrale della Regione Siciliana
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