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The United Nations of crime grew and prospered. They bought boats
for picking up loads of bootleg scotch and trucks to haul it in. Lansky and Siegel ran
profitable gambling houses and Luciano, much to the chagrin of Costello and Lansky, became
an important bordello owner. The quartet and their hangers-on hit the pawnbrokers and
moneylenders in the ghettos and the insurance salesmen who collected nickel and dime
premiums proved to be easy targets for the toughs.
"We had so much dough coming in that it was hard to keep track of
it," Luciano said. "Even a good counter like Lansky got a little confused once
in a while."
The group looked for ways to put their money to work for them. They
bought into established bookmaking operations, the first step in what would become a
nationwide gambling syndicate. Lansky made them create what he called the "Buy-Money
Bank" with a nest-egg of $5,000 which was paid out by Costello to politicians and
policemen who agreed to look the other way when the gang came into their wards. The
Buy-Money Bank was sort of an investment plan that paid off big for the men. Costello
started small, buying the pols and cops and ward heelers in areas where the group was
buying up bookies. The politicians in turn used the money to insure election victories.
By this time the Italians and Jews of the Luciano and Bugs and Meyer
mobs had attracted the attention of not only Rothstein, but of Maranzano and Masseria. As
a powerful Italian, Luciano was drawn into the battle between the two old-timers despite
his reservations. As a Jew, Lansky could only sit back and watch the battle and try to
help his Sicilian friend. Later, once the forces of Masseria had been vanquished and
Maranzano adopted the mantle of capo di tutti capo, Lansky and Siegel would step in, and
working closely with Charlie Luciano, (who emerged from the two-year Castellamarese War
with the appellation "Lucky") would bring true "organization" to
organized crime.
In the Castellamarese War, Maranzano and Masseria attacked each other
ruthlessly in an effort to unite all of the Italian underworld under one boss. Joe The
Boss Masseria managed to woo Charlie to his side, only to see Lucky betray him to
Maranzano when the balance of power shifted in favor of Salvatore. In return for betraying
Masseria and helping in his murder, Luciano was rewarded with a lieutenant’s position
in Maranzano’s new underworld order. But Lucky had no intention of staying number two
for long. Shortly after Maranzano became boss of bosses, Bugsy Siegel and Bo Weinberg,
Dutch Schultz’s number two man, burst into Maranzano’s Unione Siciliano
office and shot him dead.
Lansky and Luciano called a summit of the major underworld leaders in
New York. Taking an idea from Johnnie Torrio, who gave Al Capone his start in Chicago,
they proposed a loose-knit Syndicate of gangs. They stressed that this was not a
unification under one boss and no one would have to surrender any power to any other boss.
The Syndicate, Lansky and Luciano said, would serve as a cooperative venture to halt the
tit-for-tat bloodshed that had claimed so many lives in the past few years. The Syndicate
would be a crime cartel, Lansky said.
With Maranzano out of the way, Lucky and Meyer took their show on the
road and went from city to city selling the idea of the Syndicate. It was clear that this
was a new day for the underworld. Lucky, who because of his extroverted personality took
most of the spotlight, refused to accept the sealed envelopes filled with money that was
the Mafia tradition.
"The old Mafia traditions are fine for Sicily," he told the
mobsters. "But we are in America. The idea of putting a crown on my head is kid
stuff. It’s time we grew up. We’ll all work for each other, but each is running
his own outfit."
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