Frank Costello

The Luciano criminal family's Italian-American crime chief was named Frank Costello. Vincent Gigante and Vito Genovese's assassination order on Costello in 1957 were unsuccessful. On February 18, 1973, in New York City, Costello passed away. Costello and Luciano joined Joe "the Boss" Masseria's Sicilian crime family in 1922. While Costello, Luciano, Lansky, and Siegel engaged in bootlegging with Bronx beer magnate Dutch Schultz, Rothstein served as a mentor to them.
The Castellammarese War between Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano began in early 1931. Masseria was enticed to a meeting by Luciano on April 15, 1931, when he was killed. Masseria's family was taken over by Luciano, who had Genovese as his subordinate. After the murders of Masseria and Maranzano in 1931, Luciano rose to the position of crime family's capo. In New York, Costello installed some 25,000 slot machines in pubs, eateries, cafes, pharmacies, gas stations, and bus stops.
Although Costello denied being involved in politics, he had grown to have a voice in Tammany Hall council decisions. Due to his disrespect of the Senate, he lost his American citizenship and received an 18-month prison term. Costello continued to be referred to as "The Prime Minister of the Underworld" after he retired. In the Mafia in New York, he still had influence and authority. In Queens' East Elmhurst, a private tomb houses Costello's remains.
He had a heart attack and passed away in his Manhattan home in 1973. He is accused of ordering the bombing of Costello's mausoleum's doors in 1974, following the release from prison of his adversary Carmine Galante. The poem "Hadda Be Playing on the Jukebox" by Allen Ginsberg made reference to Elvis Costello.
== Biography ==
I'm sorry, counselor, but I'd rather blow the goddamn case. That's the kind of man frank Costello was; he was always careful to look his best and he liked to spend his time with a better class of people. During his trial, lawyers advised him to stop wearing expensive suits that cost hundreds of dollars and instead to wear more regular stuff off the rack to make himself look more relatable. For some mobsters, this meant socializing with movie stars and other high-profile members of the Hollywood community. For the castello, it meant the political arena; it has been said that no other crime boss had more judges and legislators in his back pocket. We always made sure to do them favors, raise money for their campaigns, and boost their voter turnout because, of course, they all owed him, and Costello always intended to collect at the most advantageous time. Frank Costello was born Francesco Cacciola on January 26, 1891 in the Italian province of Calabria, in a little village called Laura Poli. He was the youngest child of luigi and maria castiglia, who also had an older son and four daughters. When prospects for the family in calabria weren't looking good, luigi decided to do what many other Italians had done: in 1895, he took some of his older children and traveled to America in search of a better life, planning to send for the rest of his family once he was settled. A few months later, however, maria castiglia sold everything she owned The family resided in east harlem, which at the time was known as "little italy" because of the large number of Italian immigrants who lived there; however, it should be noted that this is not the same as little italy today.
While maria opened a store selling authentic Italian goods, Luigi worked as a laborer. Back then, the national crime syndicate was still a ways off, but there were still local crime leaders, who primarily ran the gangs in a single neighborhood. A woman by the name of Pascarella Spinelli who ran a horse stable close to the Castellos' home and primarily used it as a front for buying and selling stolen horses may have been Frank Costello's first encounter with the criminal underworld. According to an urban legend, she also permitted other criminals to bury their victims on her property, which is how the location came to be known as the murder stable. Nothing in local law suggests that young Frank ever worked for her; all that is known is that he saw a lot of the business that was conducted there. When he was just a teenager, Costello began committing crimes, first with small-time theft. He first encountered legal trouble in 1908 when he was arrested for extorting a local businessman, but the charges were later dropped. In 1912, he was again arrested, but this time, he received no serious punishment. it wasn't until 1915 that Costello's luck finally ran out, and the 24-year-old spent almost a year in prison for carrying a concealed gun from that point on, Costello rarely carried a weapon on him. Over the years, he would build a reputation as being a relatively amicable man, at least in his line of work. It is unknown if he ever actually killed anyone.
Instead, Costello preferred to achieve his goals through corruption and influence. In the late 1920s, the formation of the national crimes indicate helped to smooth over the working relationships between the multi-ethnic criminal organizations a little, but the American mafia was still in turmoil. Their biggest problems came from some of their bosses who were stuck in the old ways of doing things. Equilibrians didn't think Costello should be doing business with a sicilian like Luciano or vice versa let alone both of them working with the jewish and irish gangs Since their gang members were used as hitmen to take out the former bosses, we've already discussed the casamaresi war in detail in our buyer's mayor landscape buxy siegel videos. If you haven't seen those videos, maybe give them a watch. However, here's the cliff notes version. This was resolved in 1931 during the castel-morezi war, a crucial moment in American crime history that led to the formation of the commission. Joe Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano, two rival bosses vying to rule over all other bosses, were both betrayed by Costello Luciano and the other younger mobsters who desired a more egalitarian and modern system of governance rather than having one man in charge at all times. First, Maranzano and then Messeria were killed. A few months later, Lucky Luciano and all the other significant mobsters got together to form the Commission, a body in charge of overseeing all mafia activities nationwide and mediating disputes.
The Commission's board of directors was made up of the seven most powerful Italian crime families in the nation, including the five families from New York, the Buffalo crime family, and the Al Capone-led organization in Chicago. The luciano crime family was their largest and most powerful of all; it was run by Lucky Luciano obviously, while a man named Vito Genovese served as underboss and his dependable ally Frank Costello was his new consignee. All the others were represented in the commission by one of the seven acting as their intermediary. One of the mafia's top earners during his tenure as consigliere, Costello operated several rackets, but none was more lucrative than his operation of slot machines. At its height, he had around 25 000 machines in New York and the surrounding state; technically, they were classified as candy machines because they would dispense a mint on a losing pool. It was a good grift, but it only lasted for a few years when florella laguardia was Lucky Luciano's 1936 conviction for leading a prostitution ring and subsequent 30- to 50-year prison term was a considerably greater setback for Costello and his entire family. Lucky continued to give orders from behind bars, but his underboss, Vito Genovese, took over as acting boss for a year before being forced to flee to Italy to avoid a murder indictment. As a result, Frank Costello became the head of the Luciano crime family. This arrangement was successful for a while. Costello was involved in a variety of rackets, primarily in gambling and bookmaking operations with people like Mayor Lansky, Bugsy Siegel,
It has been rumored, though not proven, that Costello even had Jay Edgar Hoover in his pocket, which was why Hoover denied the existence of the mafia for decades. How exactly Costello accomplished this is still a juicy bit of mafia law. Hoover liked to bet on horses, though he always claimed he never put more than two dollars down on a single race, howev. The airset Normandy capsized and caught fire in February 1942 while parked at Pier 88 in New York. Operation Underworld was a shaky alliance with the mafia to keep the docks safe, limit black market theft of valuable resources, and prevent labor strikes; Luciano went along with the whole thing in exchange for early release; however, things did not go as he had planned; he got out of jail. The government feared that this could have been the result of sabotage by nazi spies or sympathizers. His cousin Willie Moretti served as his underboss while he was still the acting boss of the Luciano crime family. However, his life was about to becoming much more difficult and dangerous as he faced two new threats from both the government and the mob. Lucian and Costello usually managed to get along, but Veto Genovese, the third guy at the head of their crime family hierarchy, was a different story. As we previously mentioned, when Luciano was imprisoned, Genovese temporarily took over as the family's head before being forced to flee to Italy. During the war, Genovese befriended the fascists to make his life easier, allegedly even orchestrating a few hits in America on their behalf.
When the tide turned, Genovese switched sides, but things did not go as planned this time. He was apprehended by the US military police in 1945 saw the return of Genovese to New York for his trial, but the accusations against him were withdrawn after two witnesses were slain and the case quickly collapsed. The first episode of this new power struggle took place in December of that same year. There were many crucial issues to discuss, and since Luchado was unable to travel to America, he organized a meeting in Cuba Urbana Conference. Since Luchado was unable to return to America, this meeting was attended by a large number of influential people from the luciano crime family. Allegedly, Genovese arrived a few days early in Cuba and had a private meeting with Luciano who had become aware of his former underboss's growing ambitions at this point, Genovese was not openly feuding with Costello. This was a pivotal moment in the history of the American mafia where all the important mobsters came together to discuss the most important issues of the day last time they did this they ended the Castle Moraisi War and formed However, that is not the reason Genovese wants him out of the picture; Anastasia was the former head of Murder Inc. and is now the head of his own criminal family; in the States, he was a staunch supporter of Costello and a faithful associate of Genovese. Genevazi's second point was far less subtly stated.
Since he was unable to go back to America, he suggested that perhaps it was time for Luciano to retire and hand over control of the family to him. Unsurprisingly, Luciano did not take kindly to either suggestion. During the meeting, he reiterated his status as chairman of the commission and the de facto boss of the mafia. He also forced Genebasia and Anastasia to shake hands in front of the other mobsters to avert another Castel-M According to his later biography, Luciano had vito come to his room where he gave him a beating and broke three of his ribs, leaving him bedridden for three days. Unfortunately for Luciano, the American government discovered that he had left Italy and traveled to Cuba. He blamed Genovese for this, believing that he had tipped off the authorities. Due to tremendous pressure from the US government, Cuba eventually detained and returned Luciano to Italy, where he lived out the rest of his days under considerably closer observation. The following time he returned to the US, he did so in a coffin. Genovese wasn't the only mobster who felt that his time was up, despite the fact that Lucky Luciano was still in command, because he was in Italy. It was inevitable that other mobster would start to feel that his time was up.
Carlo Gambino, who was vying for Anastasia's position while Vito wanted what Costello wanted, was his most powerful ally. To make matters worse, in 1951 Castello also had to deal with the first significant inquiry into the American Mafia. Over 600 witnesses were called to testify, including notable members like Mayor lansky, Micky Gohan, and Tony Agardo, although the photograph of frank Costello before the committee became the most famous iconic image associated with the hearings. Officially it had a very long and boring name, but everyone referred to it as the key for the hearings after Tennessee Senator Estes Kieva. Although the investigation clearly did not put an end to the mob, it did result in several reforms and the establishment of numerous federal and state squads that dealt with organized crime. It also forced the FBI to finally acknowledge that the National Crimes Indicator existed, but overall after the hearings most of the American public got their first exposure to the mafia. Of course, people didn't have to settle for just images because most of the hearings were televised and received some of the highest ratings ever. Although he was occasionally released on bail or while pending an appeal, Costello spent the majority of the 1950s in prison. He refused to answer many questions during his testimony, and at one point walked out on the committee, declaring, "I'm not going to answer another question you just says I'm not under arrest and i'm going to walk out. " He was charged with contempt and given an 18-month sentence, followed by another five years for tax evasion. Veto Genovese saw a golden chance in Costello's imprisonment to try to retake control of the family.
He chose not to approach Costello directly because doing so would have been too bold, but instead began by talking with his allies. The first was Willie Moretti, Costello's underboss and the man in charge of a lot of the family's muscle. Moretti had advanced syphilis, which severely affected his mental faculties. He had a propensity to ramble, and Genovese convinced the other bosses that this made him a liability. As a result, he declared that Maretti's sentence was a mercy killing, even though it did not appear Maretti's death was a heavy blow for Costello, and things got worse in 1956 when another important ally joe adonis voluntarily moved back to Italy instead of serving a lengthy jail sentence in America. When Costello was released from prison, he found his position to be untenable. On October 4th, 1951, moretti was having lunch at joe's elbow room in New Jersey with four associates when an unknown gunman entered the restaurant and shot moretti repeatedly in the On May 2, 1957, as he made his way to his Manhattan apartment, Costello entered the lobby without realizing a large stranger was waiting for him behind a pillar. When he heard someone call out "This is for you, Frank," he turned around just in time to see the stranger shoot him once in the head before escaping in a black Cadillac. Frank Costello was still alive for the time being despite the bullet merely grazing his skull and leaving a minor wound, but he recognized that if it happened once, it would happen again shortly after.
A hit was also made on his last comrade Albert Anastasia, but this one was much more successful. The writing was on the wall for Costello; his allies were dead, and Luciano could only watch what was happening helplessly from Italy; he had lost the war with Vito Genovese and it was just a matter of how he would prevail. On October 25th, the mad hatter was at the park sheraton hotel's barber shop relaxing in the barber's chair with a towel on his head when two gunmen entered and shot him ten times. Apparently, the guy who shot him was identified as enforcer and future family boss Vincent the Chin Giante, who was plainly acting under Genovese's orders. However, in court, Costello refused to name the individual, claiming that he had never met him before. Genovese took over as the family's new head after Gianto was exonerated, renaming it in his honor and giving it the nickname "don Vito. " Although in the movies this would undoubtedly be a fake out allowing costello to let his guard down before another hit takes him out permanently, that didn't happen in real life once he agreed to don vito's terms there were no more attempts on his life and ultimately genevasi did not get to enjoy his new position of power for long. Costello still had plenty of respect and influence even though he wasn't a boss any longer; after all, he was the prime minister, and all the connections and favors he had accumulated during his lifetime were still helpful to the other mafia clients who sought him out. Until his death in 1973 at the age of 82 due to a heart attack, Costello remained somehow connected to the mafia.
==== Life and Death ====
Francesco Castelia was born in Laura Polly, a small hill town in southern Italy that was founded by small-time criminals, on February 10, 1891. He was the youngest of Luigi and Maria Castelia's six children and lived here with his family. He often daydreamed about the water he drank in Italy, drinking from the wells, and hearing the church bells, and that was a part of him that was part of his makeup.
In 1895, Francesco took his mother's hand and crammed onto a passenger ship bound for New York, leaving a sister behind with relatives. He was four years old. They kept him in the big pot that they cooked in on the boat; okay, I'm sure they occasionally let him out to play, but that was essentially where he stayed.
The family moved to New York's East Harlem neighborhood, a slum teeming with recently arrived Italian immigrants. Francesco's father struggled to run a small neighborhood grocery store. The boy grew to hate his father for tolerating their filthy living conditions, and he would spend hours wandering the streets yearning to leave the family's destitution. Casella always acknowledged that what he wanted was wealth, power, and respectability, and I think you can partly
The young man dropped out of fifth grade, joined a street gang, and started robbing people as part of his new job. Francisco Castelia created many nicknames, one of which would finally stick: Frank Costello, an Irish variation of his name.
You could tell that he was a really gruff, tough child, and there wasn't much to distinguish him from other hoodlum kids—he was just another one. This man went on to become regarded as the prime minister of the underworld.
An elderly Beauty who was behind on her rent and a great candidate to collect rents for a local Don offered the fifteen-year-old something else in exchange.
She began feeding him alcohol because Costello wasn't willing to forfeit two months' pay for that, according to him. As he drank the wine, her hair grew longer and longer, and Pia took advantage of the situation.
Frank would send out a message after speaking to dices hello her hair is getting longer and so Pia and everyone would know what it means right yeah I'm not going to go near this proposition if the world came to an end. Costello lost his virginity then failed to turn in the rent money and his boss beat him up. This painful lesson served as a metaphor in Frank's future business dealings.
Several years later, when Costello was 23 years old, a friend introduced Frank to Loretta Geiger Minh Bobby, or Minh Bobby to her friends, who was an attractive brunette and Jewish. Frank, a Catholic, and Minh Bobby fell in love.
On September 23, 1914, an Episcopal minister from St. Michael's Church married the couple at the Chapel of the Angels after several months of courting. Bobby was just 15 years old at the time.
The honeymoon came to an end a few months later when Frank Costello was arrested for carrying this gun and given a year in prison by the judge. After that sobering experience, Costello resolved never to do so again and to get by in life using his intellect rather than a gun.
Costello came up with his first company plan just after World War One. It involved a punch board, a novelty item that was popular at the time.
You simply use a little needle to puncture a small piece of paper, and if you open it and it says "Sorry you lost, very bad," the person who handed you the punch bowl will have to give you the 25 cents.
In addition to making punch boards, Costello and a partner also produced Kewpie dolls. After selling these prizes for $100,000 in a year, they hid their profits and filed for bankruptcy, bilking creditors out of $14,000.
Costello studied under a master, Arnold the brain Rothstein, who taught him how to profit from numerous gambling scams.
Tammany Hall, the Democratic system that runs New York City government, protected Rothstein's gambling enterprise through his bookmaking company. Tammany Hall leaders selected who would be appointed district attorney, police precinct captain, or judge.
When Prohibition went into force on January 16, 1920, Rothstein supported Costello's and a number of other young Turks' bootlegging businesses, teaching Costello how to use money instead of threats to get what he wanted.
One was a cunning Italian from the Lower East Side of New York, and Charles Luciano, also from that neighborhood, met Jewish gangsters Meyer Lansky and Benjamin Siegel. However, one of Luciano's close allies, Vito Genovese, was distrustful of all non-Italians and disliked these Jewish coworkers.
When Vito once asked, "What are you trying to do, load us with a bunch of heaps?" in front of Siegel and Lansky, Costello intervened, "Take it easy, Don Fatone, you're nothing but a foreigner yourself," and Genovese remained silent.
To protect his liquor shipments from hijackers, Costello was the first bootlegger to use sea planes. He was also a cunning organizer who, from his headquarters on Lexington Avenue, ran his bootlegging business like a Fortune 500 company, staffing various departments like distribution, bribery, and intelligence.
Costello famously lamented, "Too bad I can't buy off the icebergs," after learning that icy weather had destroyed one of his shipments.
At the age of just 34, Costello was on the verge of becoming a multimillionaire when the law was finally enforced. The New York Times reported in December 1925 that the Coast Guard had busted a $40 million booze ring.
After the jury was deadlocked in Costello's trial two years later, in 1927, Costello allegedly replied, "I hung it."
Later that year, Frank brought Bobby and a friend to La Polly, where he visited the sister who had stayed behind. When word of Costello's success in America spread, the town lined up to see him, but it was a very poor town, so people would approach him and his sister would translate, saying things like, "This woman has four children already and a fifth is on the way. They have no money says three."
His family was unaware that Costello was about to play a pivotal role in the creation of the American Mafia when the youngster who had disappeared in a boiling pot had reappeared as a wealthy man.
There was never anything subtle about the way a mob performed a hit; hips were meant to send messages. They were never done solely out of retaliation; they haven't done so through the casualties; it's business impersonal strictly business. Organized crime operates on one supreme commandment; no one person is about the organization's always supreme.
Frank Costello became wealthy from bootlegging by the late 1920s, and other mobsters respected him for his ability to produce money. However, it was his efforts to promote peace that helped Costello rise to the position of underworld leader.
He made his mafia diplomatic debut in 1929 at a significant mobster convention in Atlantic City.
Just three months prior, Al Capone's hitmen dressed as Chicago police officers lined up members of a rival gang and gunned them down. Costello had brought them together for a specific reason.
the St. Valentine's Day Massacre brought the mob to national headlines and sparked indignation from the public—exactly what they hoped to avoid.
It was Costello who spoke to Capone on behalf of Scarface, admonishing him to report to jail until things calm down.
Big Al responded, "Tell me when I'm supposed to laugh," but he took Costello's advice and planned his own arrest on a firearms charge.
Costello gained the moniker "Prime Minister of the Underworld" at the Atlantic City Convention thanks to his knowledge.
When he wanted to end conflict, he could act as the peacemaker by bringing enmity-filled adversaries together. When he wanted to do something, he could gather everyone together and persuade them that it was in everyone's best interests, which would enable him to accomplish great things.
When Arnold Rothstein was murdered over a poker game in November 1928, Costello inherited his political ties at Tammany Hall, and his ability to accomplish great things soon expanded to the upper world as well. Costello therefore became the link between the underworld and the upper world.
Charlie Lucky Luciano, a friend of Costello's, liked Frank's diplomatic abilities, and when Luciano established a national Crime Commission in 1931, Frank became one of Lucky's most trusted counselors.
Although Frank played a significant position in the newly organized mafia, he had his own money-making operation that he maintained distinct from gambling. Bucky also established his own crime family with Costello as a top advisor.
Every candy shop, small bar, and grocery store in the New York region now has a slot machine. Costello and a colleague installed 5,000 of them.
Slot machines and the bookie enterprise were illegal, but the Prime Minister understood how to get around that formality and took over Wall Steen's empire.
What he needed was political protection, which Tammany Hall was able to provide for him because to its dominance over judges and the police. In a word, money.
He's a curler pad, you know, guaranteed him life, liberty, and freedom. At the 1932 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, it was evident that Costello's influence extended beyond the ranks of the police.
Imagine a gangster attending a presidential convention and staying in a suite with one of New York City's most influential political figures. That is what happened when Costello and Jimmy Hinds shared a room at the Drake Hotel.
Hinds introduced Costello to presidential candidate Franklin Roosevelt as a well-known New York businessman and significant campaign contributor, saying that this was an indication of how close Costello was to the political establishment.
While Costello and Heinz were supporting Roosevelt, Lucky Luciano was campaigning for FDR's opponent Al Smith in a different hotel suite.
I never heard you complain about your salary, the prime minister said when Jimmy Hynes learned about it and complained to Costello.
That is how he controlled local officials, judges, district leaders, police chiefs, cops, and detectives, giving him access to the entire community.
Occasionally, Costello came into someone he couldn't influence.
Fiorello LaGuardia, a crusading New York mayor, waged war on Costello's slot machines in 1934, but the Branka children were unaware that they should avoid New York.
Costello had met the Louisiana kingfish during a party at Frank's Long Island Country Club. Long was drunk NUI butts in the men's room and the only urinal was being used so he let fly try to fly between the guy's legs his aim was not too good they started to beat up on him pretty good. However, Huey Long, a Louisiana senator, offered help.
When a toilet attendant called Costello, he quickly saved the senator. The two afterwards became friends, and their friendship was going to pay off for Costello.
Long's New Orleans penthouse window was where the senator and the gangster stood arm in arm, inviting Frank to bring his gambling machines down south.
Frank remarked to me, "Maybe I know something he doesn't want anyone to know," and I wrapped my arm around him, saying, "If I'm going out the window, he's going to go out with me." Hewing Long said, "You see all that out there anywhere you say anything you want, you've got your choice."
With the money from his gambling activities rolling in, the senator made sure that no one bothered Costello's illegal slot machines. Costello and Bobby then moved into a pricey Manhattan apartment building called the magnificent on Central Park West.
Bobby accepted Thelma Martin, a mistress that Frank maintained and who he housed in a Fifth Avenue apartment because the pair was unable to conceive children.
Frank believed his lover was being playful, so one day he purchased a telescope and started looking through Central Park into her apartment. After about 20 minutes, he remarked, "What am I doing?" and stopped, confessing that it was the thing he was most embarrassed of.
His voice was again another thing that made Costello feel bad.
Costello's scratchy voice was caused by a failed surgery to remove polyps from his throat, and Frank quipped, "I went with the wrong doctor." However, what he lacked in vocal range, Costello more than made up for in friendliness.
He could converse with kings without losing his common touch, precisely like in Kipling's writings. He was equally adept at a card game with four or five sages as he was with judges, legislators, and senators.
Vito Genovese, a rival inside Lucky Luciano's crime family, was very different from Frank Stile.
I was really staring at him as he turned to face me, and I swear I felt like I was about to jump out of my skin because I could tell by the look in his eyes that he could kill you without any remorse.
Genovese took over as leader after Luciana was imprisoned in 1936 for leading a prostitution ring, but a few months later, Genovese was accused of murder, and Vita fled to Italy, where he would spend the next ten years.
Frank Costello was chosen by Luciano to run his family from his prison cell. Frank Costello wasn't sure he was looking for the position or that he wanted it, but he was doing great without the hassles of being a boss.
Soon, Costello would be torn between his obligations to the underworld and a personal search for reputation in the upper world.
In 1941, as the head of a significant New York crime family, Frank Costello faced one of his toughest leadership challenges.
Abe Kidd Twist Rellis, a hitman who sent four mobsters to the electric chair after turning stool pigeon, had to be killed. However, because police were always watching him at the Half Moon Hotel in Coney Island, only one person had the authority to kill Rellis.
The ideal chess player who could arrange the pieces on the board to make things work out for everyone, Costello was the consummate diplomat and Machiavellian.
Except for Kidd twist, Rellis died on November 12, 1941, after falling six stories to his death, garnering the nickname "the canary who could sing but couldn't fly" for himself.
The on-duty police claimed to have been asleep at the time, but Lucky Luciano later stated that Costello had given them $50,000.
Meyer Lansky claimed it to be twice that.
Costello and Lansky helped turn Las Vegas, a dry desert hamlet, into a gambling mecca following World War Two by using their financial clout.
the pair also owned casinos in Miami and Havana, and they ventured into the oil and real estate industries. Costello even made investments in Wall Street real estate.
Being the boss of a crime family was a hardship for Costello as his commercial dealings became more and more legal.
He wasn't a manager who oversaw everything on a daily basis, he wasn't really interested in the other people because of an Oscar, and he essentially allowed the family to descend into a succession of feudal barons like before Louis XIV.
People approached him in the same way as they did in earlier French times when they went to the king to seek for a boon, but instead of a palace, he would be in the Waldorf Astoria.
Costello wore pricey custom suits and only smoked two to three packs of English oval cigarettes each day. I asked him, "Who do you think you are?" and he responded, "A sportsman."
He tried to replicate an urban gangster's lifestyle in New York by leading a life that is similar to that of Old English money from the countryside.
Costello, who liked to call himself "Mr. Regimen," had a consistent daily schedule. He typically made his own breakfast and appeared to head over to the Central Park Zoo in the morning to observe the animals being fed.
He would have lunch every day at one of the best Midtown restaurants, go to the track at the Biltmore, where they had a great steam room (he loved steam rooms), and then spend the evenings at one of his favorite restaurants. If he was feeling sentimental late at night, he might go to Monsignor, where he liked the scrolling violinists, and then it was back to Central Park West.
Frank and Bobby would unwind on weekends at their country home in affluent Sands Point, Long Island. There, Frank kept the horse and played golf at his Country Club. He also hosted lavish dinner parties where he asked guests about current events while attempting to use big words that clashed with his Street dialect.
If I saw you holding a cigarette in a particular way and I loved it, I would steal it from you, as Costello once said.
This changes when judges, police chiefs, and other government officials abort; it alters our system of government and is much more dangerous than Vito Genovese simply killing; he was very good at putting a veneer of civilization on the criminal empire, but of course, beneath the veneer was still a reality. He wasn't a killer, he was a corrupt corrupt; this is much more dangerous than Vito Genovese merely killing.
You couldn't go back to that kind of life, right? If everyone the play got with a couple of guys, Frank's guess is that it would be treated like a king I play on the arm and get treated like a drink, lunch, and everything we wanted from Frank.
When a radio called Costello that evening to pledge his unwavering support, the Manhattan district attorney's office was listening on a wiretap. At that time, Costello was arranging for a judge named Tomas Aurelio to be nominated to the Supreme Court of New York.
Castello advised Aurelio to pay attention to what he said when he said something was in the bag.
Every New Yorker realized that the political system was rigged and that nothing in the city was honest, but I doubt that they were aware of how tightly connected crime boss Frank Costello was to the puppet game of New York power even back then.
They learned that Aurelio was still voted to the Supreme Court when the incident made headlines, but Costello later grumbled, "I can't even have a parking ticket rectified with him."
Due to his infamy, Costello was shunned by several people. For example, Frank Costello's former bootlegger Joseph Kennedy, who later became ambassador to Great Britain, turned his back on him.
Costello, who was suffering from depression and insomnia in 1947, did something that very few mob figures ever did: he visited a psychotherapist.
I don't envy the psychiatrist because he really would have to tell him if you were a desire real respectability get in another area of business. He was depressed because despite all the wealth he had amassed and all the influence he had, he wasn't as respectable as he would have liked to be.
Instead, the psychologist urged Costello to broaden his social network and make friends with pleasant people. When Costello first met Santa Rama Rao, then 24 years old, at a party in Long Island, he was just starting his writing career.
When I informed several of my friends that I had made a date with this quite charming older man I had met at a house party and that his name was Frank Costello, they all expressed visceral horror and asked when we would get to see him.
At a cocktail party in Costello's honor, Raaah introduced her friends. One of them was a stockbroker who was very critical. When Frank asked him what he did for a living, he revealed that he was a stockbroker. Frank then said, "Oh, then we're in the same business; we both gamble with other people's money." From that point on, I knew the two of us would become friends.
At the Waldorf, the author of the novel and the mob boss frequently shared a meal.
I had the distinct impression that he desired a life that was different from the one he had led because he wanted to somehow atone for the mistakes his past had made.
He was probably a touch too sweet of a guy for the mob, and sooner or later someone more violent would push him aside.
When prison guards discovered the star witness dead in his cell with enough poison in him to kill eight horses the charges were withdrawn and Vito was set free in 1946 Genovese was extradited from Italy to face the murder accusation he had evaded.
He gradually started to undercut Costello's authority in order to assume control of the Luciano criminal family.
Costello attempted to demonstrate to Vito his level of influence in the affluent world in this developing power struggle.
In 1949, Genovese was given a seat of honor at an unusual event that the Prime Minister hosted. Costello had been named vice chairman of a Salvation Army fundraising dinner. The Prime Minister hosted the $100 per plate event at the Copacabana Club, which he secretly owned. Eight judges, several congressmen, and the Tammany Hall brass were on the guest list. When the press learned about the party, they had a field day.
One socialite was reported in a newspaper article as stating, "I've never met so many judges in my life. It was a great affair."
As Costello's tremendous political influence became apparent to the press, he was dubbed America's top mystery man and appeared on the covers of Time Newsweek and Colliers.
Costello was about to be thrust into the most difficult limelight of his life—one that would reveal him to the nation at large and dash his hopes of becoming respectable.
In 1951, Frank Costello's tireless struggle to win the public's regard came to a dismal conclusion.
He had been summoned to appear before Tennessee senator Estes Kefauver's inquiry panel.
The committee was conducting an organized crime investigation in 14 cities, with New York City as its final stop. Its most infamous witness was Frank Costello, the mob's former prime minister.
"Well, I was in the only one I didn't ask you that you're the only man I'm first name now sir," the senator said. "The Senators questions went all the way back to Frank's bootlegging days you call it you you realize with me and all good citizens that there can be no qualified allegiance to the Constitution of the United States."
Due to Costello's attorney's request that TV cameramen not reveal his clients' faces, attention was drawn to the ballet and Costello.
You had picture after photo of Costello rubbing his sweaty palms together and cradling a handkerchief nervously while his voice was so terribly hoarse that it sounded like it was coming from someone else.
Let everyone consider, as I do, that the man was sinfully guilty.
Have you consistently maintained the Constitution and the laws of your state and country? I believe I have. Have you ever volunteered your services to this country's war effort? No, with all the wealth you have acquired, what have you ever done for your country to make you a good citizen?
tax payment
After two days of queries, Costello finally said he would stop responding.
and he did Costello was charged with contempt after his worst nightmare of being exposed as a mafia boss in disguise in uptown came true.
For the first time since 1915, Costello was sentenced to 18 months in prison on contempt charges. However, the government did not stop there and attempted to deport the 63-year-old Costello to Italy for falsifying his naturalization documents.
When tax evasion charges followed, his attorney, Ed Williams, allegedly informed him that while he appeared great in these well-tailored suits, he was actually claiming to be old and sick. Williams allegedly advised getting the suits made too big so that he would appear to be shriveling in them and unwell, and the man allegedly responded, "Counselor, I'd rather blow the case."
On May 14, 1956, Costello surrendered to U.S. marshals after the judge sentenced him to five years in jail and a $30,000 fine.
Just 10 months after being released on appeal, Costello's freedom would almost cost him his life. Vito Genovese, Costello's longstanding enemy, wanted Costello killed so that he could assume control of the criminal family.
Genovese was driven crazy by Johnny's anger over how everyone kept praising Frank for his ability to manage situations, earn money, and keep everything on an even keel. As a result, Genovese ordered the hit on Costello.
On May 2nd, 1957, Costello spent the evening with his wife and friends at Monsignor's Restaurant. Among them were Phil Kennedy, who headed a modeling agency, and John and Cindy Miller. John was a National Enquirer gossip journalist.
At the time, Costello's wife was expecting a kid, so he rubbed her belly for good luck. Frank later served as Cindy's second child John Jr.'s godfather.
Being fiercely patriotic, he did not want to return to prison or be transported back to Italy. Frank was quite concerned.
Around 11:00 p.m., Frank and his friend Phil Kennedy took a taxi together in what was starting to become a new part of his daily routine. Frank cut short his evening to go home and call his attorneys.
A huge man exited from a limousine as Costello's taxi approached his apartment building, ran into the lobby, and waited.
He was Vincent the chin Gigante, Vito Genovese's bodyguard and driver.
Costello staggers, blood pours from his head, and he begins to slump to the ground as Vincent, who was standing six to twelve feet away and holding a revolver in his hand, says, "This is for you Frank," and fires. Vincent feels confident that he has killed Costello.
Frank put his hand to his head and noticed blood; he later said to someone that he thought the bullet might still be inside. Phil Kennedy showed up and hailed a cab; Kennedy said Roosevelt Hospital and stepped on it; the cab driver spoke to reporters. The Fedora's brim was torn away from the hat's body and grazed Costello's side of the skull.
The following morning, while we were being driven to the nearest hospital, the caller told Frank Costello not to worry about it. I immediately recognized Frank Costello and remarked, "Aren't you Frank Costello wonderful is he so it's not to mind my mind your own business."
When the police questioned Costello after his release from the hospital, he refused to say who had fired the bullet that almost killed him. Instead, doctors treated Costello, and a detective discovered slips in his pockets that showed casino earnings at the Tropicana evidence of the mob's hold on Vegas.
I don't know who might have done it, said Costello.
You see, I have an enemy in the world, Vincent, who went into hiding but eventually turned himself in to police.
Costello did not want to go to war even though he knew that Vito Genovese was responsible for the shooting.
He really exclaimed, after being wounded in the head, "Why do I need these headaches rather than start a war and rip apart this mob, these families that I worked so hard to bind together to have diplomacy among I would rather walk out sacrifice my own authority than to tear this apart."
Even when it came to the guy who had attempted to kill him at Joe Gandhi's trial, Costello showed his mafia devotion when Frank failed to identify him, and Gigante was judged not guilty.
A-all right I'm alive I'll move out you're now the new leader, and I believe this was Costello's way of publicly resigning from Genovese as he crossed the courtroom, sticking out his hand and saying, "Thanks, Frank."
Genovese was still wary of Frank, who had left the mob, and his closest comrade, the street-smart Albert Anastasia.
Anastasia was shot and killed on October 25, 1957, at the Park Sheraton Hotel as he leaned back for his morning shave.
Back at the Majestic, Costello's lawyer saw his client sobbing alongside Anastasia's brother. Costello muttered, "This means I'm next."
Prior to that, a judge upheld Costello's tax evasion conviction, and the Prime Minister was sent back to prison to complete his sentence. Vito Genovese was ready to join them, bringing their long-running feud to prison and almost sparking a riot.
When Vito Genovese joined Frank Costello as a fellow prisoner in the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary in 1959 after serving a year for cocaine trafficking, their intense rivalry threatened to turn into a full-scale prison war. Vito Genovese had been found guilty and given a 15-year sentence.
In keeping with precedent, the Prime Minister had hidden his actual feelings for Genovese in order to play the diplomat. Costello set up a meeting in prison with Genovese and they negotiated a ceasefire.
He claimed that Genovese was the son of T, who remarked, "Try to put me down, you better put me down."
Genovese would pass away in prison ten years later, but Castello's sentence ended on June 30, 1961, and he still had to attend a hearing for deportation.
After all, the US Supreme Court had overturned the deportation order against Costello, so he wouldn't have to return to Italy.
The Prime Minister adopted a new moniker and idolized Uncle Frank as Costello resumed holding court at the Waldorf, where new mafia figures like Charlie the Blade Terrine would seek his assistance.
He was essentially living in the final years of the sportsman's life because the police were aware of his inactivity, knowledge that he had amassed wealth and hidden it, and that he didn't really need to work.
Frank enjoyed his time at his Long Island house where he raised roses that he participated in neighborhood competitions. As always, Castella preferred to mingle with non-mob members, such as actor Anthony Quinn.
Frank's key characteristic is that I don't believe he wanted to tell me about how, one day, I was writing the back and there was a head and the gardener, which he didn't want to discuss because he wanted to discover new frontiers and new vistas.
On the basis of Costello's criminal past, novelist Peter Moss approached Frank to write a biography of him in New York, where he continued to be a star and a living legend.
I remarked, "He wants to leave footprints in the sand of time like that," and added, "I think this is very significant. I believe I get the biggest advance anyone who has gotten firm on the fiction book, and I did he never asked for."
After a year and a half of discussions, Costello finally agreed to write his biography with Moss, but just ten days later, on February 18, 1973, the author received bad news. Costello and Moss met 11 times, the first seven times in Moss's apartment. When he left the apartment, I was walking down stairs in the dorm when he said, "There's the real Godfather."
When Charlie the Blade Terrine called, he simply stated that he was driving after the home.
At the age of 82, Frank Costello, the prime minister of the underworld, passed away from a heart attack. He had come to realize that despite being alive with all of its duties and difficulties, he had earned a decent night's sleep.
According to Costello's final wishes, his funeral was a small gathering with about 50 mourners, the majority of whom had no connection to the Mafia.
After a brief prayer by a priest, his wife Bobby and her brother paid their respects at St. Michael's Cemetery in Queens, where he was laid to rest.
A year after his passing, an explosion rocked his mausoleum, and Costello made news even from his tomb.
Carmine Galante, a gangster who had recently served time for drug offenses and was ready to assume control of the Bonanno criminal family, was responsible for the blast.
This was Glenn T's way of spitting in the face of the old ways, which rejected dealing in drugs and insisted there was a set of rules. Frank Costello was the very embodiment of the old bosses, and he was the emblem of the old ways.
However, as time went on, the mob was subject to more policing and internal conflict.
I don't believe there will ever be another sitting boss who can meet with judges and political bosses and have the kind of unrestrained power that was something that happened under Frank Costello in New York for just one age. His tenure as boss would come to be considered as a golden period.
You always hear how smart people are and how they could have been really successful if they had only taken a different path. He is the only important player in the mob that I have ever met.
In so many words, he once declared, "I'm about earning wealth, power, and influence, and I'm engaged in removing wealth, power, and influence from those who already have it. By his lights, gangland was the only way he could do this, and by his lights he see.
== Why Frank Costello is Famous ==
Frank Costello, a strong mobster who overcame many mafia conflicts, official investigation, and an assassination attempt, was in charge of the formidable, Lucky Luciano-founded National Commission of Mafia Bosses.
Costello, who was born Francesco Castiglia in Italy, immigrated to the US in 1895 and settled in Manhattan. As a young man in Lower Manhattan, Costello participated in the Five Points Gang. From 1908 to 1918, he was arrested at least four times for assault, robbery, and weapon possession. He was married in 1918 and pledged never to carry a pistol once more. For almost 40 years, he would avoid being locked up once more.
In order to profit from the illicit sale of alcohol during Prohibition, Costello collaborated with a "who's who" of early organized crime figures. Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, Vito Genovese, Tommy Lucchese, Meyer Lansky, Arnold Rothstein, Bill Dwyer, Dutch Schultz, and, most significantly, Lucky Luciano were some of his collaborators. In 1922, Costello and Luciano joined Joe "The Boss" Masseria's bootlegging and rackets organization. However, because of his involvement with Irish gangs who traffic in rum, such as Dwyer's, Costello decided to change his name to one with a more Irish pronunciation.
In 1926, Dwyer and Costello were charged with bringing alcohol onto the docks in New York City, but Costello's case was withdrawn in 1927 due to a hung jury. However, Dwyer was found guilty of paying off a U.S. Costello replaced his friend's New York-based bootlegging operations with those of a Coast Guard official. With other Dwyer lieutenants, that action sparked conflict that finally turned into a war. Although the war cost Costello several of his economic ventures, his power as a mobster grew nonetheless. By 1928, Costello had forged a pivotal partnership with Chicago's Johnny Torrio, Luciano, Lansky, and Siegel.
Salvatore Maranzano, a rival Sicilian, and the authoritarian Masseria fought for control of the prostitution, gambling, and liquor rackets in New York City in 1929. Maranzano won the brutal Castallammarese War, which Costello and Luciano played both sides of. However, Maranzano would go on to unilaterally designate himself Boss of All Bosses, and as a result, with the aid of gunmen supplied by Luciano, would be shot dead before the end of 1931. As "head of the board" of the Five Families known as "the Commission," Luciano assumed leadership of New York's most powerful criminal family, with Vito Genovese serving as his powerful "underboss" and Costello serving as his influential "consigliere," or senior advisor.
In an agreement with Governor Huey Long and New Orleans crime lord Carlos Marcello, Costello assisted the Luciano family in Louisiana in expanding their operations to include slot machines (the Louisiana contingent got 10 percent of the take). Together with Lansky, Costello invested in illegal gambling in Florida and Cuba, and he began standardizing the processes used by bookmakers nationwide, not just in New York. Once Prohibition ended in 1933, expanding gambling operations on a national and international scale was a wise decision.
In 1936, Luciano was found guilty of prostitution and given a lengthy prison term. Genovese assumed leadership, but he was arrested a year later on murder charges from three years prior and fled to Italy, leaving Costello in charge of Luciano's former organization. While expanding lawful businesses like sizable poultry and meatpacking operations, he continued the prostitution and gambling rackets. He steered clear of drug importation, which Genovese, a powerful Mafia leader in Italy, had favored as a lucrative industry.
Genovese had made friends with the son-in-law of dictator Benito Mussolini and joined forces with the fascist leadership in Italy (to whom he allegedly provided cocaine). Genovese is said to have instructed a Bonanno crime family enforcer to kill an Italian anti-fascist publisher in New York City during World War II as a favor for Mussolini. Genovese changed sides and joined the Allied occupation government in 1943, when the Allies defeated fascist Italy. He was nonetheless charged with the 1934 murder, and in 1945 he was sent back to New York to stand trial.
Two of the three government witnesses were killed during the trial, which led to the prosecution's demise. When Genovese was freed in 1946, he started working right away to take back control of the family that Costello now controlled.
Costello received a summons in 1951 to testify before the Kefauver Committee. Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee and his fellow senators agreed that Costello could testify before the committee with only his hands being televised. However, as Costello dodged some questions and refused to respond to others, he twitched his palms nervously, likely adding to the drama of his television testimony. Eventually, Costello left the hearings.
The 1950s were a difficult decade for Costello due to this setback and others, and he was publicly shamed when news broke that he had seen a psychiatrist. Willie Moretti, Costello's deputy, also gave testimony at the Kefauver hearings and provided data about the Mob's penetration of lawful corporations. Moretti was later murdered in 1951 by more organized crime figures.
Costello was found guilty of contempt in 1952 for leaving the Senate hearing. On that charge, he was sentenced to 14 months in prison. In 1954, Costello was found guilty of tax evasion and sentenced to five years in prison. Before the conviction was reversed on appeal, he served for a number of years.
Genovese was discreetly planning his coup against Costello throughout this period. Hitman Vincent "The Chin" Gigante shot Costello in the head in May 1957 at Genovese's command. Fortunately for Costello, the injury was minor. However, it was near enough for Costello, who stepped down as leader and gave Genovese control of the Luciano family. The Genovese crime family, which was started by Luciano and developed by Costello, is now well-known.
Despite having his citizenship taken away from him in 1961, Costello continued to run and profit from gambling operations across the country, including some in Las Vegas. He also continued to reside in New York. He was revered by Mob capos who looked to him for guidance because he was a respected Mafia boss. He kept up his friendships with Lansky and Luciano, who passed away in Italy in 1962. Natural causes led to Costello's death in 1973.
== Shot to Death ==
On January 26, 1891, Francesco Castiglia was born in Consenza, Italy. When he was 4 years old, his family relocated to East Harlem in New York City. Francesco finally rose to the position of boss of the Italian gang from Harlem known as the 104th Street. He started out carrying out small-scale burglaries, assaults, and robberies before quickly building a reputation as a criminal.
He officially changed his name to Frank Costello in 1916. From 1908 to 1917, Costello was detained several times. After being released from prison in 1917, Lauretta Giegerman, a childhood acquaintance, and he fell in love and wed in 1918. He started working for Ciro Terranova, an extremely prominent East Harlem capo for the Morello criminal family, not long after getting married.
During his employment with the Morello gang, Costello first met Lucky Luciano, with whom he quickly forged a close friendship. Together with Meyer Lansky, Bugsy Siegel, Vito Genovese, and Gaetano Lucchese, they formed a partnership. The New York-based national crime syndicate would have its origins in this collaboration. The group got started with narcotics, gambling, extortion, robbery, and theft before focusing on bootlegging during the Prohibition era. Arnold Rothstein provided the money for their smuggling in the 1920s.
Frank Costello quickly assisted the criminal organization by making friends with many Tammany Hall politicians. The syndicate was able to obtain favors from judges, police officers, politicians, district attorneys, and city officials thanks to these connections. The two syndicate members quickly engaged in a power war over control of the local administration. The syndicate was split as a result of the conflict between the Masseria and Maranzano families. Costello, Lansky, Luciano, and Siegel made the decision to assassinate the heads of both families in order to put an end to the conflict and carry on with their business.
Lucky Luciano handed up control to Vito Genovese in 1936 after being found guilty of running a prostitution ring and given a minimum 30-year prison term. Vito Genovese was accused of murder in 1937 and was forced to flee to Naples, Italy, so Luciano appointed Costello as the family's acting boss.
Genovese believed he would succeed to the position of head of the Luciano family once he had returned to the US and had been cleared of all charges. When Costello wouldn't give up, the two started a protracted cycle of violence and loathing.
During the Kefauver hearings, when all mafiosos were summoned to appear before the grand jury, the majority pled the Fifth Amendment; Costello did not. Costello contended that he had filed his taxes on time and that his business was legitimate. In 1952, he fled the proceedings but was later detained and accused with contempt of the Senate. After serving 18 months, he was found guilty of tax evasion in 1954 and given a five-year prison term.
Costello was released from prison on appeal after serving three years. Vito Genovese moved against Costello without delay. Genovese hired Vincent Gigante, a shooter, to kill Costello. Costello miraculously survived and ultimately made peace with the Genovese. As part of a peace agreement between the two, Genovese permitted Costello to carry on with his illegal gambling enterprises in Louisiana and Florida. Costello quickly left the mob but continued to be active in it. Frank Costello, who soon acquired the moniker "The Prime Minister of the Underworld," passed away in a Manhattan hospital from a heart attack in 1973, at the age of 82.
== See Also ==
* Vito Genovese
* Albert Anastasia