# Hearing of October 2, 1963, pp. 210–213: Valachi's account of the killing of Joseph Masseria, and the police record of April 15, 1931 at 2715 West 15th Street, Coney Island

Canonical: https://mobfiles.org/items/mcc-1963-10-02-pp210-213-masseria-killing-coney-island/

Valachi testified from hearsay that Masseria's own men took him to a Coney Island restaurant and killed him. Sgt. Ralph Salerno read the police record: at 3:30 p.m. on April 15, 1931, "Giuseppi Massaria, alias Joe the Boss," was shot in the back and head in a restaurant at 2715 West 15th Street by unknown persons who escaped.

Printed pages 210 to 213 of Part 1 (NCJRS PDF pages 224 to 227), October 2, 1963. Valachi testified that Masseria's friends, "Charley Luciano and Vito Genovese and Ciro Terranova," brought him to a restaurant in Coney Island, that "it took them 5 or 6 months to get him there," and that Maranzano's men did not do the killing: asked "It was Masseria's own people who killed him at that restaurant?", he answered "Right." He said: "I wasn't there, but I was told Ciro was there, Vito was there, Charley was there, a fellow named Cheech was there, and Joe Stretch was there." He repeated a story the soldiers told him, that Terranova was so shaky at the car that he was thrown off the wheel and later lost his standing. Asked the name of the restaurant, he said: "I know it if I hear it, but I have forgotten it, Senator." He said peace came "about 5 days after that."

Sergeant Ralph Salerno of the New York Police Department then read the record: "It shows at 3:30 p.m. on April 15, 1931, Giuseppi Massaria, alias Joe the Boss, ... while sitting in a restaurant at 2715 West 15th Street in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn, was shot in the back and head by unknown persons who escaped. Cause of death was six gunshot wounds of the head and body. The case is active." Asked whether the police ever got a lead, he said: "Not to the point where there was evidence that could be presented to a grand jury" (printed page 213). The record gives the street address but not the restaurant's name.

The FBI's own later accounts are different in kind. Its history page says the war "ended in 1931 when Salvatore Maranzano conspired with Masseria's top soldier, Charles 'Lucky' Luciano, to have Masseria killed" ([FBI history page](/items/fbi-history-la-cosa-nostra/)), and an older FBI overview says "The murder of faction leader Joseph Masseria brought an end to the gang warfare" ([www2.fbi.gov overview](/items/fbi-www2-italian-organized-crime-overview/)). Those are agency narratives. Valachi's account is hearsay testimony. Nobody was charged with the killing in this record. The police record also prints Masseria's last residence; it is not repeated here.

Page images: [printed p. 212](/media/mcc-1963-10-02-pp210-213-masseria-killing-coney-island.jpg) (stored above) and [p. 211](/media/mcc-1963-10-02-pp210-213-masseria-killing-coney-island-pdf-225.jpg).

## 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