Joe Masseria
Joe Masseria was an Italian-American Mafia boss who led a powerful New York crime family and was killed during the Castellammarese War in 1931.
Salvatore Maranzano: A Sicilian-born New York Mafia boss who defeated Joe Masseria’s faction in the Castellammarese War and was killed in 1931. His war against Masseria ended with Masseria’s murder and briefly made Maranzano New York’s dominant Mafia boss.
Castellammarese War: A 1930–1931 conflict between rival Mafia factions in New York, ending with the deaths of Joe Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano. Masseria’s killing was a turning point in this conflict.
Mafia Commission: A governing body formed by leading American Mafia families to settle disputes and coordinate shared interests. The Commission became part of the postwar order associated with the reorganization after Masseria’s era.
Masseria's murder: The killing of Mafia boss Joe Masseria in Coney Island, New York, on April 15, 1931. This assassination ended Masseria’s leadership and shifted the balance in the war.
Charles Luciano: An Italian-American organized-crime leader who helped build the Commission-era American Mafia. Luciano broke with Masseria and helped arrange his killing, accelerating the war’s end.
Mafia in the United States: A network of Italian-American organized-crime groups that developed in the United States, especially during the twentieth century. Masseria’s power belonged to the broader American Mafia’s early New York history.
Genovese crime family: A New York Mafia family, one of the city’s Five Families, named for boss Vito Genovese. The family’s lineage traces through the organization Masseria once led.
Coney Island: A peninsula and amusement district in southern Brooklyn, New York City. Masseria was killed at a Coney Island restaurant during a meeting.
Vito Genovese: An Italian-American Mafia leader who later headed the crime family now named for him. Genovese was a Masseria loyalist who survived the factional struggle and later became a major boss.
Sicilian Mafia: A network of criminal groups originating in Sicily, organized around local power and protection rackets. Sicilian migration and traditions shaped the criminal world in which Masseria rose.