Who Was Tommy Gagliano? The Mafia's Mystery First Boss Of The Lucchese Crime Family
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The truly very powerful people usually act behind the scenes to direct and manipulate events without the public ever really knowing who they are. In the criminal underworld, Gaetano Gagliano was like that. If you had to judge the success of a mafia boss based on his ability to avoid public recognition and law enforcement scrutiny then Gagliano was the biggest winner in La Cosa Nostra.
Very little is known about his life, with the overwhelming majority being about before he became the head of one of New York’s Five Families and turned it into a power house. He is mentioned in only one newspaper account during his life time and it made no mention about his ties to organized crime. Instead, the headline was ‘Four Bronx Men Draw Tax Evasion Penalties’ and it appeared at the bottom of page ten in the New York Times.
We know from immigration records that he was born on May 29, 1883 in Corleone, Sicily and in 1905 he immigrated to the United States. He would go on to adopt the English name of Tommy after settling down in New York. He married Josephine Pomilla but it’s unknown if they had children. In the 1925 New York State census recorded that there were not any children living with them. His occupation was listed as a building contractor and both he and his wife became naturalized citizens that year.
He was part of many legitimate businesses but they were all tied together by one thing, his involvement with Tom Reina’s family after Reina split away from the Morellos and became independent with the Bronx as his territory. By 1930 Gagliano became the underboss for the family. Another powerful member of this group was Tommy Luchhesse.
Gagliano used his power as a mobster to influence his legitimate business dealings. For example, in 1928 he organized The Plasters’ Information Bureau. Local contractors were invited to be part of the bureau for a fee and if they declined to join then they would later be paid a visit by some strong men looking to rough them up.
In 1929, the Reina Family’s independence was called into question by Joe ‘The Boss’ Masseria as he sought to conquer and consolidate the entire Italian American underworld with himself at the top. This prompted Reina to consider allying with Salvatore Maranzano. When Masseria heard of this he ordered Reina to be murdered. It’s speculated that Vito Genovese was the gunman that took his life on February 26, 1930.
Masseria passed underboss Gagliano over and installed outsider Fat Joe Pinzolo to be the family’s new boss. This enraged the membership but Gagliano decided that it would be best to accept this for now and bide his time. Not much is known about Fat joe except that he seemed to be universally disliked by many. Here is what Luciano said of the man:
"As big a sh*t as Masseria was, he didn't hold a candle to Pinzolo. That guy was fatter, uglier and dirtier than Masseria was on the worst day when the old bastard didn't take a bath, which was most of the time."
In the summer of 1930, the Castellammarse War broke out. On September 5, fat Joe’s body was found in an office at 1487 Broadway in a suite that was being leased by Tommy Lucchesse. Luchesse was arrested for the murder but the charges were dropped due to a lack of evidence. Gagliano then seized command of the family and they switched alligence from Masseria to Maranzano.
According to Mafia turncoat, Joe Valacchi, Gagliano and his allies knew how to earn money and they supplied most of the funds for Maranzano to carry out his war in addition to the manpower they provided. Following Maranzano’s victory, Gagliano was recognized as the official head of the Reina family and it was renamed in his honor.
Gagliano, and his new underboss Lucchesse, were involved in Lucky Luciano’s conspiracy to murder Maranzano in September 1931. Following that event, the Commission was formed and Gagliano received a seat on the mafia’s board of directors.
1932 appears to be the last year where there is definitive information about him. In May of that year, he was sentenced to 15 months in the Atlanta Penitentiary for tax evasion. During this time Al Capone was also staying there as a guest of the government.
Joe Valacchi claimed that Gagliano attended his wedding that July before he reported to prison. His wife Carmela was one of Tom Reina’s daughters. Aside from two photos of Gagliano, we also have a physical description that Valachi gave of the man. "He is a big tall guy, a little bald. He looked like a businessman…"
After his release from prison, he dropped off the radar. Joe Bonanno mentioned him in his autobiography but after the events of the Castellamarese War, he is only referred to as a fellow father of a family who had conservative views. Bonanno mentioned that Gagliano was on the commission until 1953 when Lucchese took his place. Gagliano’s exact date of death is disputed but it is believed to have been in 1951.
The truly very powerful people usually act behind the scenes to direct and manipulate events without the public ever really knowing who they are. In the criminal underworld, Gaetano Gagliano was like that. If you had to judge the success of a mafia boss based on his ability to avoid public recognition and law enforcement scrutiny then Gagliano was the biggest winner in La Cosa Nostra.
Very little is known about his life, with the overwhelming majority being about before he became the head of one of New York’s Five Families and turned it into a power house. He is mentioned in only one newspaper account during his life time and it made no mention about his ties to organized crime. Instead, the headline was ‘Four Bronx Men Draw Tax Evasion Penalties’ and it appeared at the bottom of page ten in the New York Times.
We know from immigration records that he was born on May 29, 1883 in Corleone, Sicily and in 1905 he immigrated to the United States. He would go on to adopt the English name of Tommy after settling down in New York. He married Josephine Pomilla but it’s unknown if they had children. In the 1925 New York State census recorded that there were not any children living with them. His occupation was listed as a building contractor and both he and his wife became naturalized citizens that year.
He was part of many legitimate businesses but they were all tied together by one thing, his involvement with Tom Reina’s family after Reina split away from the Morellos and became independent with the Bronx as his territory. By 1930 Gagliano became the underboss for the family. Another powerful member of this group was Tommy Luchhesse.
Gagliano used his power as a mobster to influence his legitimate business dealings. For example, in 1928 he organized The Plasters’ Information Bureau. Local contractors were invited to be part of the bureau for a fee and if they declined to join then they would later be paid a visit by some strong men looking to rough them up.
In 1929, the Reina Family’s independence was called into question by Joe ‘The Boss’ Masseria as he sought to conquer and consolidate the entire Italian American underworld with himself at the top. This prompted Reina to consider allying with Salvatore Maranzano. When Masseria heard of this he ordered Reina to be murdered. It’s speculated that Vito Genovese was the gunman that took his life on February 26, 1930.
Masseria passed underboss Gagliano over and installed outsider Fat Joe Pinzolo to be the family’s new boss. This enraged the membership but Gagliano decided that it would be best to accept this for now and bide his time. Not much is known about Fat joe except that he seemed to be universally disliked by many. Here is what Luciano said of the man:
"As big a sh*t as Masseria was, he didn't hold a candle to Pinzolo. That guy was fatter, uglier and dirtier than Masseria was on the worst day when the old bastard didn't take a bath, which was most of the time."
In the summer of 1930, the Castellammarse War broke out. On September 5, fat Joe’s body was found in an office at 1487 Broadway in a suite that was being leased by Tommy Lucchesse. Luchesse was arrested for the murder but the charges were dropped due to a lack of evidence. Gagliano then seized command of the family and they switched alligence from Masseria to Maranzano.
According to Mafia turncoat, Joe Valacchi, Gagliano and his allies knew how to earn money and they supplied most of the funds for Maranzano to carry out his war in addition to the manpower they provided. Following Maranzano’s victory, Gagliano was recognized as the official head of the Reina family and it was renamed in his honor.
Gagliano, and his new underboss Lucchesse, were involved in Lucky Luciano’s conspiracy to murder Maranzano in September 1931. Following that event, the Commission was formed and Gagliano received a seat on the mafia’s board of directors.
1932 appears to be the last year where there is definitive information about him. In May of that year, he was sentenced to 15 months in the Atlanta Penitentiary for tax evasion. During this time Al Capone was also staying there as a guest of the government.
Joe Valacchi claimed that Gagliano attended his wedding that July before he reported to prison. His wife Carmela was one of Tom Reina’s daughters. Aside from two photos of Gagliano, we also have a physical description that Valachi gave of the man. "He is a big tall guy, a little bald. He looked like a businessman…"
After his release from prison, he dropped off the radar. Joe Bonanno mentioned him in his autobiography but after the events of the Castellamarese War, he is only referred to as a fellow father of a family who had conservative views. Bonanno mentioned that Gagliano was on the commission until 1953 when Lucchese took his place. Gagliano’s exact date of death is disputed but it is believed to have been in 1951.
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