# Hearing of October 1, 1963, pp. 156–157: Valachi joins Gagliano's group and names "the Castellamarese war"

Canonical: https://mobfiles.org/items/mcc-1963-10-01-pp156-157-castellamarese-war-name/

Valachi testified that he was persuaded to join a group headed by Tom Gagliano that meant to "fight some big shots," and, asked about the war between Masseria and Maranzano, called it "what we call the Castellamarese war." Testimony, not a finding.

This is a passage of Joseph Valachi's testimony to the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations on October 1, 1963, at printed pages 156 and 157 of Part 1 of "Organized Crime and Illicit Traffic in Narcotics" (NCJRS PDF pages 161 and 162). The day as a whole, with the initiation ceremony at pages 181 to 184, is filed as [Valachi's testimony of October 1](/items/valachi-testimony-1963-10-01/). This page is the narrower exchange in which the war is first named.

Asked when he joined, Valachi said "about the early 1930's or the end of 1929." He testified that a man he called "the Gap" (Dominick Petrelli) asked him to join "another mob," headed by Tom Gagliano, and that Bobby Doyle convinced him at the Rainbow Gardens. He said he was told, "we are going to fight some big shots." Counsel Jerome Adlerman asked whether this was "the start of a war between two or three elements of a gang." Valachi answered: "They had to kill Tom Gagliano's boss," a boss he said was "killed without justice."

The chairman, John L. McClellan, asked whether they were "getting to the beginning of the war between two gangs of Masseria and Maranzano." Valachi answered: "We are getting to what we call the Castellamarese war." He added: "When they spoke to me the first time, I don't know anything about Castellamarese." He said he was then "only proposed," not yet a member.

The spelling "Castellamarese" is the transcript's. A few pages on, staff counsel LaVern Duffy spoke of "The Castellemerese war," which he called "another name for the war that took place during 1930, 1931" (printed page 162, part of the presentation of [Exhibit 8](/items/valachi-exhibit-8-masseria-maranzano-chart/)). Valachi was testifying about events thirty-two years earlier. These are his sworn answers, not findings, and the word "boss" is his. The page image stored here is printed page 157.

## Sources

- National Criminal Justice Reference Service, scan of the printed hearings (NCJ 119303): https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/119303NCJRS.pdf
- NCJRS catalog record (NCJ 119303): https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/organized-crime-and-illicit-traffic-narcotics-hearing-us-senate