Who Was Lupo the Wolf? The Black Hand's King in New York
Mobsters DailyIgnazio Lupo, called Lupo the Wolf, was the Black Hand extortion king of early 1900s New York — and, by marriage, brother-in-law to Giuseppe Morello, America's first Mafia boss. Between them, the two Sicilians built the template every American crime family followed.
The Murder Stable and the Black Hand
Lupo's empire ran on the Black Hand method: anonymous letters demanding money from Italian immigrants, signed with a black handprint, enforced with bombs and knives. Police linked his East Harlem stable — remembered as the "Murder Stable" — to dozens of killings of men who had refused to pay. His marriage to Salvatrice Morello fused his operation to the family of Giuseppe Morello, the Clutch Hand, and his reign overlapped the first bosses like Salvatore "Toto" D'Aquila.
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America's first great Mafia trial
In 1910 Lupo and Morello were convicted together in a landmark counterfeiting case — the family had been flooding the country with fake bills printed upstate — and Lupo drew 30 years in federal prison. It was the first time the American public watched a Mafia organisation dismantled in a courtroom. Released in 1920, Lupo returned to a New York that had moved on: Prohibition belonged to younger men. He lived quietly in Brooklyn and died in 1947, a founding father of American organised crime whom the country had largely forgotten.
Frequently asked questions
Why was Ignazio Lupo called the Wolf? Lupo is the Italian word for wolf; the name was both his surname and his reputation among the immigrants he preyed on.
How was Lupo related to Giuseppe Morello? He married Morello's half-sister Salvatrice, making the Black Hand operation and the Morello family one enterprise.
How long was Lupo in prison? Sentenced to 30 years in 1910 for counterfeiting, he was released in 1920 after his sentence was commuted.
Keep reading: The Castellammarese War, explained · Who was Joe Profaci? · Lucky Luciano and the modern Mafia
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