World War II: Syndicate, particularly the NY branch, participated in ways: first, wonderful opportunity for black market trade in ration stamps (gas, tires); second, they were up to no good on the docks. Sabotaged movement of troops and supplies. Culminated in destruction of the SS Normandie, a French ship renamed the Lafayette, being transformed into a troop carrier. Up in flames on Feb. 11, 1942. Was it German spies? Probably not. The objective was to persuade the government they needed to ask the Syndicate to keep peace on the docks, and furthermore, that Charley Lucky was the only man capable of making peace on the docks. It was Anastasia's idea. He took it to Costello, who presented it to Lucky, who approved of it. Note that this did not go through the Commission; a local matter settled by NY bosses. Once the ship burned, Navy officials fell all over themselves trying to talk to Charley Lucky. They moved him to Great Meadow Prison, the most comfortable of the prisons, for the remainder of the war. By the way, the docks were thereafter peaceful and secure even from German invasion. (3) Luciano proved his worth a another time when the Allies got ready to invade Italy. They landed at Palermo, Sicily, and had a welcoming committee waiting to greet them Lucky sent word to his friends that they should help the Americans, and they did. Vito Genovese, who was in Italy for much of the war after he fled the US ducking a murder charge, aided matters in Italy by serving as a translator for Army Intelligence; till they figured out he was using them to rub out his opponents. 1946 Governor Dewey paroled Luciano. The terms of the parole were that he leave the country, stay in Italy, and behave himself, none of which he did. Genovese was allowed to return to the US and charges were dropped, in return for his help. The unraveling in the unity Lucky worked so hard to build up, began in the 1950s, and Genovese was most of the reason why. Two dates of importance: 1951 and 1957. In Lucky's absence, Costello and Lansky ruled with considerable authority, but in the Kefauver hearings of 1951, Costello's nervousness cost him prestige. Also in 1951, one of Costello's favorite hit men, Willie Moretti, was losing his marbles due to syphilis, and he had to be put away in a mercy killing. That was the year that Anastasia killed Vince Mangano, and one reason he was given the approval of the Commission for his act was that Costello supported him Frank was looking for muscle to replace Moretti, and he and Anastasia were long time old friends anyway. Frank was really concerned about Vito Genovese. All of these men are of the same generation this is not a case of the Young Turks taking aim at the Petes What happened next was the creation of further alliances Genovese won over Anastasia's underboss, Carlo Gambino (sort of). Then Anastasia made a big mistake by thinking he could ignore Lansky's power, a stupid mistake because Lansky had hated Genovese since the 1920s, so he was not inclined to do anything to help Genovese till Anastasia made him mad. Anastasia got it in a barber shop, Oct 25, 1957. With Anastasia out of the way, Costello had lost his muscle. Next, he was wounded in the foyer of his apartment building, but lived. He decided to retire, though, from active operations. He only stayed active long enough to get revenge on Genovese. Round 2: Genovese calls a meeting of the Commission in the upstate New York home of Joseph Barbara (received Buffalo's Businessman of the Year Award the previous year). Purpose is to have himself anointed as Boss of Bosses, and to cement his take over of the old Mangano family. Something over 60 bosses and underbosses attended. Those who attended brought the expected tribute of money for the new Boss and things were going smoothly when all of a sudden, there were law enforcement types everywhere. The local State Police became suspicious at all the black limos suddenly descending on the little village, and he followed them to the Barbara estate. He called in the ATF, and they hit pay dirt. They arrested 58 of the participants, but couldn't do much with them because they had no reason to bust up the party, no crimes were being committed. Significance was 2 fold: First, Hoover couldn't deny existence of Syndicate any longer, and he started his Top Hoodlum Program, more later. Second, within the Syndicate, it was the end of Genovese. Very likely, Lansky and Costello set up Genovese, and if the cops had not busted the party, something else would have happened. Lansky and Costello had an ally on the inside, Gambino, old underboss of the Mangano Anastasia family, who seemed to have changed sides but didn't. Now, Gambino joined L and C in a plot to deliver G to the Feds on a narcotics charge, by creating an elaborate narcotics smuggling scheme and letting a low level Puerto Rican runner deliver Genovese and 24 of his family to the Feds. In 1959, Genovese went away for 15 years, but he died in prison in 1969. Gambino, meanwhile, combined the old Luciano and Mangano families. However, now the cracks were showing up in other families: Gallo War in the Profaci family. Recall that Profaci was the one who taxed his soldiers. In 1960, rebellion broke out till 1962, when Profaci died of cancer. Profaci asked for it by promising the Gallos a share of an operation if they would rub out the current operator, which they did, but Profaci didn't pay. Mattress war followed and was going on when Profaci died. LLC took Gallo's side, Joe Bananas took Profaci's side, so it continued after Profaci's death with Joe Colombo as new head of the Profaci family; he was finally vegetabled' as Gallo put it. Colombo was a strange godfather. He had 2 ideas which didn't go over well with his friends. First, he insisted that all his men, even the soldiers, should have legitimate jobs he himself sold real estate. They didn't like that. Second, he started the Italian American Civil Rights League to protest the negative image of Italians in the press and public mind. He actually had the League picketing the FBI headquarters to protest discrimination against Italians by the feds. Too much attention. Gambino called him in for a meeting, he spit in Gambino's face. End of story was Gambino gave the order to kill Colombo to the Gallos. They shot him in 1971, but he lingered, a vegetable, till 1978. Colombo had been given the family because he had the backing of Gambino on the Commission. Joe Bananas was starting his own bid to become Boss of Bosses, the Banana Wars, which were roughly 1964 1968. Joe watched all his old friends die off, and decided that by virtue of age if nothing else, he should acquire more power. He plotted to kill off Gambino, Luccese, and several other bosses from around the state, but the plot was foiled by Colombo, who had the contract. The commission called him for a chat, but he went underground instead, perhaps kidnapped by his cousin, perhaps not. A shooting war developed while he was in hiding, within his own family, for control. He finally agreed to give up his NYC operations, and Bananas went west, to Arizona. Soon, he was branching out into areas in the west and Canada. War continued, his house was bombed, but he was allowed to retain control of his western empire, and died recently.