Mob FilesPublic-domain archive of American organized crime

Joseph Masseria

Head of one side in the 1930–31 New York gang war, as the 1963 Senate hearings describe it. Joseph Valachi called him "the boss we were fighting" and testified, from hearsay, that his own people killed him in a Coney Island restaurant. A police record read into the same hearing dates the killing April 15, 1931, at 2715 West 15th Street.

Died
1931-04-15
Aliases
Joe the Boss, Giuseppi Massaria
Family
The "Masseria group," "the opposite mob" in the 1930–31 war, in Valachi's words (testimony, 1963)
Role
"the boss we were fighting," in Valachi's words (testimony, 1963)
Source
Organized Crime and Illicit Traffic in Narcotics, Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Hearings, Part 1 (1963)
Rights
Biography on this page is limited to what the cited federal records state.

On the record

  • 15 April 1931 — New York police record, read into the hearing by Sgt. Ralph Salerno on 2 October 1963 (printed p. 212): "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." Salerno said the police never had evidence "that could be presented to a grand jury" (printed p. 213). Police record, read aloud.
  • 1 October 1963 — Valachi testified (printed p. 166) that Joseph Profaci told him Masseria had condemned them: "All the Castellemarese were sentenced to death. ... I never found out the reason." Testimony, from hearsay.
  • 1 October 1963 — Valachi testified (printed p. 198) that near the end Masseria tried to make peace: "Yes, he offered himself to be a plain soldier. He will give up anything he had if they leave him alone. Maranzano refused." Asked who set him up, he answered "Charley, Lucky, and Vito" (printed p. 199). Testimony, from hearsay.
  • 1 October 1963 — LaVern Duffy of the subcommittee staff, presenting Exhibit 8 (printed p. 162), said "there were two main gangs fighting this war, the Joseph Masseria group made up of a number of gangs" (the OCR reads "gl'OUp"). Committee staff, describing its chart.
  • 1 October 1963 — Valachi testified (printed p. 164): "take notice when I say Masseria group, in other words, the opposite mob" (the OCR reads "grollp"). Testimony.
  • 1 October 1963 — Valachi testified (printed p. 170) of Masseria "as the boss we were fighting." Testimony.
  • 2 October 1963 — Valachi testified (printed pp. 210–211) that Masseria was taken to a restaurant in Coney Island by "His friends, Charley Luciano and Vito Genovese and Ciro Terranova," and answered "Right" when the chairman asked whether "It was Masseria's own people who killed him at that restaurant" (the OCR reads "hun"). Valachi said he was not there and was told. Testimony, from hearsay.
  • undated — The FBI's history page "La Cosa Nostra" says Masseria "sparked the so-called 'Castellammarese War' in 1928" and that the war "ended in 1931 when Salvatore Maranzano conspired with Masseria's top soldier, Charles 'Lucky' Luciano, to have Masseria killed." An older FBI overview says "The murder of faction leader Joseph Masseria brought an end to the gang warfare." FBI history essays.

The date of death and the street are those of the New York police record that Sergeant Ralph Salerno read into the 1963 hearing; the record itself is not printed. It gives the address of the restaurant, 2715 West 15th Street, but not its name, and Valachi said he had forgotten it. No opened record gives Masseria’s birth date. Valachi’s account of who set him up is what he was told. The aliases are the police record’s, as printed. The record also prints a residence, which is not repeated here.

The family line is Valachi’s name for the other side in the 1930–31 war. Duffy’s description of the “Joseph Masseria group” is the staff reading its own chart and is not used for it. The role line is Valachi’s phrase. The 1963 hearing record mixes kinds of statement. Valachi’s and Shanley’s answers are sworn testimony; counsel’s questions are not, though a witness’s “yes” makes them part of the testimony; LaVern Duffy’s description of Exhibit 8 is the committee staff reading its own chart. A chart entry never fills a role on this archive.

Records

itemOrganized Crime and Illicit Traffic in Narcotics, Part 1 (September 25 to October 9, 1963)The first printed volume of the 1963 Senate hearings: Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy's opening testimony, Joseph Valachi's public testimony, New York police witnesses, Exhibit 8 and Charts A to E.itemExhibit No. 8: "Masseria-Maranzano War and Evolution of Gang Control—1930 to Present"Staff fold-out chart presented on October 1, 1963: the 1930 to 1931 war in three key-coded groups and the lines of succession drawn from it to five 1963 bosses. Several name boxes are illegible in the scan.itemHearing 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 IslandValachi 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.itemHearing of October 1, 1963, pp. 198–199: Masseria's offer of peace, Maranzano's refusal, and the men Valachi said "set him up"Valachi testified that Masseria "offered himself to be a plain soldier" and that Maranzano refused, that Maranzano's side had grown to about 600, and that Masseria's own men set him up at a Coney Island restaurant. Testimony from hearsay; Valachi was not there.itemHearing of October 1, 1963, pp. 166–168: "All the Castellemarese were sentenced to death"; the Morello and Pinzolo killings as Valachi told themValachi testified that Masseria had condemned "all the Castellemarese" to death, that Peter Morello was killed "by the Maranzano group," and that the Maranzano and Gagliano sides then joined forces. Counsel put the dates of August 15 and September 9, 1930 from police records. Testimony, much of it hearsay.itemHearing of October 1, 1963, pp. 168–174: the watch on Steve Ferrigno's apartment at Pelham Parkway and the killing of Ferrigno and Alfred MineoValachi described renting an apartment across from Steve Ferrigno's on Pelham Parkway in the Bronx, seeing Masseria at the building, and the shooting of Ferrigno and Mineo, which he said happened while he was away. He gave the place as "750 Pelham Parkway." Testimony, not a finding.itemLa Cosa Nostra (FBI history page)The FBI's history essay on the Genovese family. It says that Valachi survived three attempts on his life in prison and testified before the Senate subcommittee on September 27, 1963.itemFBI, "Italian Organized Crime – Overview" (archived www2.fbi.gov page)An older FBI web overview, still served on the www2.fbi.gov archive host. It says the murder of "faction leader Joseph Masseria brought an end to the gang warfare," that Maranzano, "the first leader of La Cosa Nostra, was murdered within six months," and that Luciano "set up the 'Commission.'" An agency narrative, not a record of the events.itemLegal Attache, Rome, to the FBI Director, December 7, 1965: a confidential source on Charles Luciano, including the Masseria and Maranzano killings as the source recounted themA letter in Part 02 of the FBI's Luciano file reports a December 1965 interview of a source who had known Luciano in Italy. The source said Luciano "and VITO GENOVESE engineered the murder of JOE MASSERIA and later of SALVATORE MARANZANO." The Legal Attache called the source's knowledge "very limited, general in nature." What the Bureau was told, not a finding.