By Peter G. Jimenea
When one sings for his life
Modern criminals today cannot claim distinction from gangsters of the past like the Sicilian Mafia, the Cocaine Cowboys of Latin America, the French Connection of Augusto Ricord, the Marielitos of Cuba and the like.
Looking back to the era of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) chief J. Edgar Hoover, he angrily denied there is a crime syndicate in the US known as Mafia But Robert “Bobby” Kennedy, then the Attorney-General, strongly disagrees with him.
Bobby even warned that the Justice Department will go after the big boys of the organized crime as strongly as the Inland Revenue has done. Later, a jailed mob Joe Valachi, has sent an emissary to the Justice Department that he will tell all he knows about the Mafia.
Hoover jumped at the opportunity to agree with his boss without eating all his words. The underworld knew that the FBI chief is being cuddled by the Mafia. Valachi on the other hand, fears that Mafia Boss Vito Genovese wanted him killed in prison thus, sings like a canary.
He says real mobsters call this group “Cosa Nostra,” a term used by Mafiosi in Sicily to distinguish their own particular “families.” Valachi added that Hoover has been aware of this and is closely watching their activities.
Valachi’s confession has helped those investigating the operation of the crime bosses more vividly than what they all wanted to know about. He gave them a detailed insight into the world of the Mafia, naming 137 individual members of the organization.
He also described the breakdown of the New York “families” and their quasi-Masonic rituals of initiation. He stirred up the envy and the deadly killings of rivals that “Lucky” Luciano and allies have done to gain control of organized crime in New York.
Valachi realized it when he sings his song to the Justice Department. He knows that in the mess he’s in, he has no recourse to Court of law for legal settlement of illegal differences. Death is the most logical solution to all judicial problems.
Lucky Luciano whose real name is Salvatore Luciano, joined the mob as a boy under the direction of fellow Sicilian Johnny Torrio. While still a kid, he became friendly with Meyer Lansky a Jewish mob controlling the illegal production of liquor in New York.
His name “Lucky” came after he survived from being “taken for a ride,” returned home with badly cut face after abductors has seized him. Later, he eliminated Mustache Pete, whose desire for supremacy kept the Sicilian Mafia in gang wars for years.
Luciano also became the first prominent victim of FBI agent Tom Dewey’s crime busting campaign. Two arrested street-smarts testified that their large portion of earnings from illegal trade goes to Luciano. He was meted a long sentence in jail.
During the war, he negotiated with the government from his cell supplying vital information to the US prior their allied landing in Sicily. The deal has reinstated the Mafia, whose power in Sicily was destroyed by Italy’s Mussolini.
Luciano’s supreme importance in the formation of modern syndicate crime was credited to his close-ties with Lansky, which sets aside the Sicilian good views of a crime family affair. Luciano is a full-bloodied Sicilian Mafioso but Lansky is a Jew.
He was right by proving his long-stay with Lansky in underworld business as the remorseless and fearless “Lucky” Luciano. The two has raked financial successes more highly than any of their ethnic rivals with hollow prestige.
The secret of a long alliance by a Sicilian Mafioso with a Jewish mob tells of one thing, they happily enjoyed their similarities but greatly respect the differences. They believed that even in underworld business - cooperation is as important as competition!
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