Boss of Bosses (Don)

by ezzar amier

Salvatore Maranzano

      Don Salvatore Maranzano was now the most powerful Mafioso in New York. Two weeks after Masseria's murder, Maranzano called together several hundred Mafiosi to a banquet hall at an undisclosed location in Upstate New York. Maranzano confirmed and anointed the bosses of the crime families who had survived the war who is Charles "Lucky" Luciano, Tommy Gagliano, Joe Profaci, Vincent Mangano, and himself. He also created an additional position for himself, that of "boss of bosses." This came as a surprise to the assembled Mafiosi, since Maranzano had previously claimed he'd wanted to be a bos of boss rule.

       Then, Luciano arranged for Bugsy Siegel, Samuel "Red" Levine, and two other gangsters to go to Maranzano's offices on September 10, 1931, posing as accountants or tax men. Once inside his 9th floor office, in the New York Central Building, they disarmed Maranzano's guards. The four assassins then shot and stabbed Maranzano to death. As they fled down the stairs, they met Vincent mad Dog Coll on his way upstairs for his appointment with Maranzano. They warned him that there had been a raid, and Coll fled, too.

       Following Maranzano's death, Luciano abolished the position of "capo di tutti capi." Maranzano's underboss, Joseph Bonanno, took over most of Maranzano's rackets, which evolved into the Bonanno crime family. Although Bonanno denied knowing about Luciano's plans to kill Maranzano, it is very unlikely that Bonanno would have been left alive if he still backed his former boss.

The Commission

       The Commission is the governing body of the American Mafia, in charge by Charles lucky Luciano formed in 1931. The Commission replaced the “capo the tuti” "Boss of all Bosses" title with a ruling committee consisting of the New York Five Families bosses and the boss of the Chicago Outfit and Buffalo family. The last known Commission meeting held with all the bosses was in November 1985.