# Hearing of October 2, 1963, pp. 214–218: the "score" of the war, Maranzano's meeting on Washington Avenue ("the boss of all bosses, which is myself"), and the banquet

Canonical: https://mobfiles.org/items/mcc-1963-10-02-pp214-218-score-washington-avenue-meeting-banquet/

Valachi testified that the score was "we lost 1 and they lost from 40 to 60," described a meeting of 400 to 500 people in a hall on Washington Avenue in the Bronx where Maranzano declared himself "the boss of all bosses," named the bosses he recalled being designated there, and described a five-night banquet he understood raised $115,000. Testimony, not findings.

Printed pages 214 to 218 of Part 1 (NCJRS PDF pages 228 to 232), October 2, 1963. Asked how many were killed on each side, Valachi said: "Senator, I got the score. The score was, we lost 1 and they lost from 40 to 60." The one, he said, was "Joe Aiello" in Chicago: "They told me Al Capone got him. I only can tell you what they told me at the time." The figures are his.

**The meeting.** Valachi testified that after the peace he was notified of a meeting "around Washington Avenue in the Bronx ... a big hall," with "about 400 to 500 people." Maranzano spoke from the platform about "Masseria and his groups, that they were killing people without just," naming "Don Antonio" and "Reina." Valachi quoted him: "'Now, it is going to be different,' he said. 'We are going to have—first we have the boss of all bosses, which is myself.'" Maranzano then described the boss, underboss and caporegima, and the rule that a soldier must go through his caporegima. Valachi said he raised his hand to stay with Maranzano: "Now, I remained with Maranzano, no longer in the Gagliano group. Already I traveled two families." The record does not give the hall's street number.

**The names Valachi recalled.** Asked who the other bosses were, he said Maranzano named Angelo Caruso his underboss, and then (printed page 216): "Charley Lucky was boss, and Vito Genovese underboss. Tom Gagliano, boss and Tommy Brown underboss." For Vince Mangano he said, "I think it was Frank Scalise" as underboss. He spoke of a boss in Newark named "Joe Bonanno, but not the Joe Bonanno in Brooklyn," and said "Joe Profaci at this time was with us." When the chairman asked whether that made five families, Valachi answered, "Did I count five, Senator?" This is one witness's memory, thirty-two years later, of what he heard announced. It is not a finding, and this archive does not copy any of these roles onto a family chart.

**The banquet.** Valachi said the meeting came "about a week or two after the peace," and the banquet "right after," lasting five nights. He said its purpose was to raise money "for the original soldiers and for himself" and agreed with the chairman that it was to "acknowledge Maranzano as the boss of bosses." He said: "I understood it was $115,000. He sent out, for instance, a thousand tickets to Al Capone, and Al Capone sent $6,000. He sent a thousand tickets to Buffalo, and they also sent $6,000. Charley Lucky, himself, sent $6,000." These are his sworn answers, not findings.

Page images: [printed p. 215](/media/mcc-1963-10-02-pp214-218-score-washington-avenue-meeting-banquet.jpg) (stored above), [p. 214](/media/mcc-1963-10-02-pp214-218-score-washington-avenue-meeting-banquet-pdf-228.jpg) and [p. 217](/media/mcc-1963-10-02-pp214-218-score-washington-avenue-meeting-banquet-pdf-231.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