Salvatore Maranzano: The Boss Who Crowned Himself Caesar

Salvatore Maranzano won the Castellammarese War in April 1931, crowned himself boss of all bosses, and was dead five months later, murdered in his own Park Avenue office on Lucky Luciano's orders. He was the smartest man in the room and the last boss to believe the old rules could still protect him.

The Scholar Gangster

Maranzano was unlike any other Mafia boss of his era. Born in Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily, in 1886, he was educated, well-read, and fascinated by Julius Caesar, whose biography he quoted and whose career he openly admired. While other bosses thought in terms of territory and tribute, Maranzano thought in terms of empire.

That education made him formidable and made him arrogant. He saw himself as a Roman emperor in waiting, a man who would bring order to the American underworld the way Caesar brought order to Rome. What he did not see was that the men around him had stopped believing in emperors.

Winning the War, Crowning Himself Caesar

When Joe Masseria was murdered at lunch in April 1931, Maranzano won the Castellammarese War by default. He summoned the bosses of New York to a meeting and declared himself capo di tutti capi, boss of all bosses, the title Masseria had held. He reorganized the city's rackets into five families, the structure that still defines the New York Mafia, and demanded tribute from every boss beneath him.

For a few months it worked. The war was over, the families were organized, and Maranzano sat at the top of a system he had designed. Then he started acting like the title meant something. He kept the largest share of the money, treated the other bosses like subjects, and, worst of all, began planning to murder the young men who had won the war for him: Luciano, Meyer Lansky, and Frank Costello.

September 10, 1931: The Fall

Luciano heard about the plan and moved first. On September 10, 1931, four hitmen walked into Maranzano's office at 230 Park Avenue posing as government tax agents. They disarmed his bodyguard, held him at gunpoint, and stabbed and shot Maranzano to death at his own desk. He had been boss of bosses for less than five months.

Luciano did not take the crown. Instead of declaring himself boss of bosses, the title that had just gotten Maranzano killed, he created the Commission, a council of family bosses that settled disputes without war. Maranzano's Five Families survived him. His title did not. Our full account of the Castellammarese War covers the year both old bosses died, and our profile of Lucky Luciano, the man who invented the modern Mafia, explains the system that replaced Maranzano's empire.

From the shop: Shadows of the Underworld — the book on the real history behind the mob stories.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long was Salvatore Maranzano boss of bosses? Less than five months. He declared himself capo di tutti capi in April 1931 after Masseria's murder and was killed on September 10, 1931.

Who killed Salvatore Maranzano? Lucky Luciano ordered the hit. Four gunmen posing as tax agents stabbed and shot Maranzano in his Park Avenue office.

Did Maranzano really create the Five Families? He organized New York's rackets into five family groups after winning the war. Luciano kept that structure when he replaced Maranzano's one-man rule with the Commission.