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See Also

See Also in
Notorious Lives

Joe Adonis

Albert Anastasia

Frank Costello

Carlo Gambino

Vito Genovese

Lucky Luciano

Salvatore Maranzano

Bugsy Siegel.

Great Lives from History: Notorious Lives

Joe Masseria

by David R. Champion

Italian-born New York Mafia boss

Cause of notoriety: Masseria emigrated to the United States and seized control of the New York Morello gang. He later clashed with another Italian-born boss, Salvatore Maranzano, in the infamous Castellammarese War.

Active: 1902-1931

Locale: New York, New York

Early Life

Like that of many Mafia figures, the birth date of Joe Masseria (mas-suhr-REE-uh) is not exactly known, and little more is known about his early years. He was born in Palermo, Italy, and emigrated to the United States in 1902, reportedly to escape a murder charge.

Gangster Career

Upon arrival in the United States, Masseria went to work for the Morello gang, which was the first major Mafia crime family in New York. Masseria attempted to take over the leadership of the organization by force in 1913. Masseria had taken control of the gang by 1920 after many of his opponents were either murdered or imprisoned. He overcame a challenge to his power and an assassination attempt from Morello loyalists and teamed up with the “Young Turks,” a group of young gangsters that included Charles “Lucky” Luciano, Joe Adonis, Frank Costello, Carlo Gambino, Albert Anastasia, and Peter “the Clutching Hand” Morello. Masseria was eventually arrested for burglary and extortion but did not serve jail time on the charges.

Masseria was five feet, two inches tall, a stocky man with a cold temperament. He did not like Jews and disliked the younger gangsters’ collaborating with Jewish criminals. He ruled with a heavy hand and took more than his share of tribute from his men. The Young Turks were therefore not terribly loyal to their boss but stayed with Masseria even when he faced a new threat in 1927 from Salvatore Maranzano, a powerful leader of immigrants from Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily.

Maranzano was considered to be an advance man for Sicilian leader Don Vito Ferro, but when Ferro was imprisoned by Benito Mussolini’s fascists in Italy, Maranzano decided to become the American “boss of bosses,” putting him on a direct collision course with Masseria. This conflict became known as the Castellammarese War, a bloody, drawn-out clash between the two factions between 1930 and 1931. However, Masseria’s gangsters disliked both Maranzano and Masseria and wanted to operate without their Old World constraints. On April 15, 1931, Luciano took his boss out to a Coney Island restaurant, where four men shot and killed Masseria. The shooters were reportedly Bugsy Siegel, Adonis, Anastasia, and Vito Genovese. With Masseria’s death, the Castellammarese War was over, but Maranzano’s victory was short-lived: After proclaiming himself to be Boss of Bosses, Maranzano himself was murdered in September, 1931.

Impact

The end of the Castellammarese War and the deaths of old-country “Mustache Pete” bosses such as Masseria and Maranzano effectively marked the beginning of the American Mafia as a distinct entity from the Italian-Sicilian organization. The Young Turks wanted to make profits, work with other ethnic groups, and expand their wealth. They perceived the old-country bosses as unreasonably stifling and demanding, allowing their prejudices and rules to interfere with making money. The Young Turks who turned out both Masseria and Maranzano emerged as among the most influential gangsters in the history of the American Mafia and symbolize many of the cultural differences between the American Mafia and the Italian-Sicilian cosa nostra.

Further Reading

1 

Raab, Selwyn. Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America’s Most Powerful Mafia Empires. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2005. Recounts the history of the New York crime families, focusing on major figures and events.

2 

Reppetto, Thomas. American Mafia: A History of Its Rise to Power. New York: Henry Holt, 2004. Covers the historical foundations of the American Mafia organizations, starting in 1890 in New Orleans and proceeding to modern-day events.

3 

Talese, Gay. Honor Thy Father. New York: World, 1971. Biographical sketch of Joe Bonanno’s reign from the Castallammarese War until the infamous Banana Wars.

Citation Types

MLA 9th
Champion, David R. "Joe Masseria." Great Lives from History: Notorious Lives, edited by Carl L. Bankston III, Salem Press, 2007. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=GLN_1400.
APA 7th
Champion, D. R. (2007). Joe Masseria. In C. L. Bankston III (Ed.), Great Lives from History: Notorious Lives. Salem Press. online.salempress.com.
CMOS 17th
Champion, David R. "Joe Masseria." Edited by Carl L. Bankston III. Great Lives from History: Notorious Lives. Hackensack: Salem Press, 2007. Accessed September 17, 2026. online.salempress.com.