Luchese Crime Family

The Luchese Crime Family

The Luchese Crime Family was first led by Gaetano Reina. He was in control until 1930. From 1930 to 1953, the family was led by Gaetano Gagliano. He was on the original National commission of La Cosa Nostra.

From 1953 to 1967, Gaetano "Thomas" Luchese headed the family. Luchese's main racket was the garment industry. He worked closely with Carlo Gambino and his family in this area. He headed the family during its most powerful days. One of his capos was Paul Vario, who is the basis for the character of Paul Cicero in the movie GoodFellas. Henry Hill was an associate of the Lucheses as well as Jimmy "the Gent" Burke. Luchese turned over his interests in the garment industry to Thomas Gambino, Carlo's son and Luchese's son in law. Carmine Tramunti took over the family after Luchese's death in 1967. He ruled for seven years, until his imprisonment on murder charges.

Anthony Corallo became the new don. Corallo was named "Tony Ducks" because of all the times that he ducked prosecution. He stabilized the Luchese Crime Family, and was the head for twelve years. Anthony "Tony Ducks" Corallo was incarcerated in 1986 and died in 2000. He was succeeded by Vittorio Amuso, who served until 1992, when he was convicted and given a life sentence for RICO crimes.

The first street boss during Amuso's incarceration was Alfonse "Little Al" D'Arco. D'Arco gained fame for flipping and turning government's witness.

The acting boss of the Luchese Crime Family is Joe DeFede. DeFede will have a tough job to rebuild this family, which has seen its membership drop from about 125 in the 1970's to less than 100 at the current time. The family has also been hurt by having its members rat on the family. Three prominent members of the family have done this in the 1990's. They include D'Arco, former underboss Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso, and former capo Peter "Fat Pete" Chiodo. Joe DeFede will have to keep his soldiers in line if the Luchese Crime Family is to move back into prominence. However, DeFede was recently indicted on charges of racketeering involving the garbage industry in NYC.