16. The Kingpin Who Laid the Foundations of the Modern Mafia
Salvatore Maranzano (1886 – 1931) of Castellammare, Sicily, was a powerful Mafiosi who emigrated to the US and laid the foundations of the modern American mafia. He founded what became the Bonano crime family, and instigated the Castellammarese War against Joe “The Boss” Masseria for control of New York’s criminal world. Winning that war, Maranzano declared himself capo di tutti capi, or “Boss of All Bosses” – the last such occurrence in the American mafia’s history.
Maranzano had initially studied to become a priest before turning to crime. Immigrating to America soon after WWI, he started a legitimate real estate business as a front for his criminal activities, such as bootlegging, narcotics, gambling, and prostitution. Maranzano was a huge fan of Julius Caesar, whom he sought to emulate, and had a habit of lecturing his less-educated American mafia peers about the Roman dictator, earning him the nickname “Little Caesar”. It was not meant as a compliment.
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