Secret Societies: Inside the World's Most Notorious Organizations (28 page)

Paul (Big Paulie) Castellano at the height of his powers and notoriety.

GENOVESE
: Another New York family dating back to the 1920s, the Genovese gang was originally associated with Charles (Lucky) Luciano and Frank Costello. More than 50 years before John Gotti smirked and strutted across the newspaper pages and tv news like an escapee from a Saks Fifth Avenue window display, Frank Costello set the mark for class, or as much class as a Cosa Nostra boss can display.

Costello, possessed of political smarts and a talent for strategic planning, acquired the title “Prime Minister” among gang leaders, a man who preferred smooth talk and bribes over revolvers and shotguns, although he often resorted to the latter when necessary. For several years mayors, governors, judges and police officers throughout the northeast United States smiled at the sight or even the mention of Frank Costello because both tended to be accompanied by an envelope of cash. Costello was the original dapper don, sporting thousand-dollar tailored suits, custom-made shoes, perfect manicures and a bullet-proof haircut. Appearances were everything to Frank. Facing charges of tax evasion, Costello was advised by his lawyer not to appear in court dressed so elegantly because it appeared to be alienating the working-class jury. “Start wearing cheap suits, old shoes, a lousy tie,” the lawyer said. “You'll do better with the jury.”

Big Paulie Castellano in a New York gutter, murdered on the orders of John Gotti.

Frank Costello chose good grooming over beating the rap.

Frank disagreed. “I'd rather lose the goddamn case,” he replied.

And he did. While serving his time, Costello tried managing the family from behind bars but Vito Genovese, the family's ruthless namesake, had other ideas. Genovese wanted to replace Costello at the top and he followed the most widely employed method of succession. While walking down a New York street soon after being released from prison, Costello heard someone shout, “This is for you, Frank!” At the sound of his name, Costello turned his head, and the bullet from the talkative hitman's gun merely grazed his scalp.

Frank could take a hint. Recovering in hospital, Costello spread the word that he was retiring from the family business and he handed leadership over to Albert Anastasia who, lacking both Luciano's and Costello's good fortune, was gunned down in October 1957 while lying back in a barber's chair awaiting a shave. Genovese assumed leadership and gave his name to the family, but he had little time to enjoy the notoriety; within a few years he received a fifteen-year sentence for racketeering and died of cancer in a federal penitentiary. The current boss is Dominick (Quiet Dom) Cirillo, a man out of the Gambino mould who has made this family the most powerful and cohesive group in New York.

As for Frank Costello, he spent the last few years of his life socializing among New York's elite, hosting parties in his Manhattan apartment and his Long Island estate. His guest list included some of the most famous society and political figures
of their time, including fbi boss J. Edgar Hoover, whose closet homosexuality and preference for cross-dressing Costello exploited for his own gain. When the Cosa Nostra “Prime Minister” died in his sleep in 1973, his most prominent legacy perhaps was the raspy voice borrowed directly from Costello's manner of speaking, adapted by Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone in
The Godfather
.

LUCHESE
: Gaetano (Thomas) Luchese was active in New York's garment industry during his tenure from 1953 to 1967. Among his capos was a man named Paul Vario, the model for the character Paul Cicero in the movie
Goodfellas
. The family has been weakened in recent years with the turning of three key members—Alfonse (Little Al) D'Arco, underboss Anthony (Gas Pipe) Casso and Peter (Fat Pete) Chiodo—into government witnesses.

As Cosa Nostra's public profile grew in the minds of the public, an aura of glamour rose around the gangsters, fueled by celebrity associations. Frank Sinatra was often seen in the company of Cosa Nostra bosses throughout his career as were many of his cronies, including Dean Martin, Al Martino, George Raft and, supposedly, Bing Crosby and Jimmy Durante. Sinatra's heritage—his paternal grandparents were Sicilian—lent at least a blood linkage. The singer vehemently denied any association with crime families, but a famous photograph showing Sinatra arm-in-arm with crime bosses Carlo Gambino and Paul Castellano, and hit-man Jimmy Fratianno, suggests they were all close buddies. Whether the singer was attracted to the gangsters or the gangsters to the Sicilian-rooted singer remains debatable.

Despite his objections, Frank Sinatra was linked with Mafia bosses such as his buddies Paul Castellano (
far left
) and Carlo Gambino (
third from right
).

Much of the glamour and intrigue that outsiders associate with Cosa Nostra flowed from
omerta
, the code of honor sealed in a secret induction ceremony that pressed the sanctity of the code upon new members. The secrecy was broken, along with other mystiques of the group, in 1990 when the fbi recorded an induction ritual admitting Robert (Bobby Dee) Deluca into Boston's Patriarca family. Gathered in a small Bedford, Massachusetts, house, the head of the family began by stating loudly, in a Sicilian dialect, “
In onore della Famiglia, la Famiglia e abbraccio”
(In honor of the Family, the Family is open).

FBI
lurkers heard Deluca instructed to repeat an oath spoken by the boss: “I, Robert Deluca, want to enter this organization to protect my family and to protect my friends. I swear not to divulge this secret and to obey, with love and
omerta
.”

Next, each of the eight men pricked their index finger and dropped their blood onto a holy card bearing an image of the Patriarca family saint. The card was set afire, and as it burned Deluca repeated the second oath: “As burns this saint, so will burn my soul. I enter alive into this organization and leave it dead.”

The allure of a secret society, the macho posturing of its leaders, and the immense wealth at the fingertips of its most successful members attracted women to the Cosa Nostra men almost from the beginning. Of course, the reverse was true as well: many ambitious young Italian men wanted to join because Cosa Nostra members had no trouble attracting good-looking women. Any woman who associates herself with Cosa Nostra quickly learns that the lessons imprinted on Sicilian society by Muslims 1000 years earlier remain embedded in the attitudes of Cosa Nostra men. To them, women fulfill one of two available roles: angel or whore, wife or mistress.

Wives of Cosa Nostra men enjoy attractive benefits at a price. The benefits include the prospect that her man will rise
high enough in the ranks to generate an impressive flow of income, permitting her and her family to enjoy the perks of wealth—a large home, expensive clothes, luxury cars and first-class vacations. Another perk is respect from her husband and his cohorts. The family remains a powerful unifying force among Sicilians and especially among Cosa Nostra members. You don't embarrass your wife, and you don't abuse her either. Exceptions exist, but any Cosa Nostra man known to beat his wife or act disdainful of her loses a measure of respect.

The price paid by the wives is substantial and acknowledged. Male promiscuity within the group is considered a sign of manliness, and the sexuality of any “wise guy” who is without a mistress or two may be suspect. Wives are expected to understand and accept this, just as they understand that they are to maintain a level of decorum. Any woman who swears risks being labeled a
puttana,
a prostitute, and cheating on a husband who happens to be a “made” man is a capital crime.

To avoid embarrassing their wives, Cosa Nostra men set Friday nights aside for their girlfriends; Saturday nights are for wives. The arrangement is strictly observed, avoiding the possibility of a Cosa Nostra man and his spouse encountering an acquaintance with a woman to whom he is not married. In other situations, the tradition becomes flexible—more than one Cosa Nostra wise guy has taken both his wife and mistress on a luxury cruise, the spouse staying with him in a suite and the mistress closeted in a lower stateroom.

Sex and murder collide in the Mafia environment with unique consequences. Vito Genovese reportedly had a man killed because Vito wanted the victim's wife for himself. The murder was excused by Genovese's confreres because a man of passion knows that rules and honor cannot always control his heart's desire. And while a Cosa Nostra man's excessive heterosexual activity elevates his status, the smallest degree of homosexual interest can be lethal regardless of his standing within the organization, as the fate of John (Johnny Boy) D'Amato proved.

D'Amato was head of the DeCavalcante family, the largest in New Jersey and reputed to be the basis of the popular
Sopranos
television series. He had also been a confidante of the notorious John Gotti, a relationship that might have protected him in other times and other circumstances. With his girlfriend Kelly, D'Amato began frequenting clubs where men and women swapped partners and engaged in group sex. At more than one of these events, D'Amato's girlfriend witnessed him performing oral sex on other men, and she tearfully confessed it to one of D'Amato's wise-guy friends. When the friend reported the incident to Mafia heavyweight Vincent (Vinnie Ocean) Palermo, the mob boss ordered D'Amato's murder. The motive was clear. “Nobody's gonna respect us if we have a gay homosexual boss sitting down discussing business,” D'Amato's killer testified in court.

A millennium of secrecy and ruthless activity may appear to ensure the Mafia's survival in Italy, where its future seems assured despite periodic claims by that country's law enforcement groups that they have “broken” the society. In the U.S., however, the future of Cosa Nostra is not nearly as certain. Unlike Italian Mafia, the American Cosa Nostra faces wider competition from rivals often more ruthless than themselves, including Colombian drug lords, Vietnamese street gangs and Russian mobsters.

Even more critical to Cosa Nostra's survival, respect for the long-standing code of
omerta
is breaking down just when the society needs it most, a situation best demonstrated with a comparison between the actions of the two Mafia members we met earlier: Louis (Lepke) Buchalter and Joseph (Big Joey) Massino.

Buchalter rose through the ranks during the Mafia's glory days of the 1920s and 30s as a muscle-man in New York's garment district, where he became notorious for his callous, violent ways. Any manufacturer or shopkeeper who failed to pay his allotted protection money was not merely warned or risked having his legs broken. He was simply killed, usually on the site of his business. Buchalter's standard
modus operandi
after each killing was to ransack the premises and torch the business, burning the evidence.