by HairyKnuckles » Thu May 23, 2024 6:02 am
Yep, the story of Masseria´s lavish last dinner is now, as we can see in the autopsy report, a myth debunked.
Another myth is that Lucky Luciano was present at the scene and awaited the police to arrive just to tell them that he was in the bathroom, taking a leak. So he didn´t hear or see anything and had no clue what happened. Mob historians/writers/journalists love to pen this story down as fact without considering if it´s true or not. The fact is though that no newspaper articles describing the Masseria killing when it happened says that Lucky was there, talking to the police. Besides, Nicolo Gentile wrote in his memoirs that he and some other guys, were supposed to meet with Masseria that day but arrived a little too late, saw a bunch of people in front of the eating place and quickly went to the home of Lucky Luciano. Luciano explained to Vincenzo Troia and said "Don Vincenzo, tell your compare Maranzano we have killed Masseria not to serve him but for our own personal reasons." So it´s very unlikely that Luciano had been with Masseria when he was killed, awaited the police and talked to them unless he took an air flight from Coney Island to midtown, Manhattan right after being dismissed by the police.
According to the autopsy, as far as I can see, all exit wounds was on Masseria´s front side which means he was shot from behind. Considering Masseria must have known that his enemies were looking to find and kill him, he must have sat down facing the entrence of the eating place. So the shooters likely must have sneaked up on him from behind, entering through a rear entrence or maybe the kitchen entrence. Unless of course, Masseria felt comfortable having them standing right behind him when they fired the shots. The head shot must have been the final shot, the coup de grace.
Yep, the story of Masseria´s lavish last dinner is now, as we can see in the autopsy report, a myth debunked.
Another myth is that Lucky Luciano was present at the scene and awaited the police to arrive just to tell them that he was in the bathroom, taking a leak. So he didn´t hear or see anything and had no clue what happened. Mob historians/writers/journalists love to pen this story down as fact without considering if it´s true or not. The fact is though that no newspaper articles describing the Masseria killing when it happened says that Lucky was there, talking to the police. Besides, Nicolo Gentile wrote in his memoirs that he and some other guys, were supposed to meet with Masseria that day but arrived a little too late, saw a bunch of people in front of the eating place and quickly went to the home of Lucky Luciano. Luciano explained to Vincenzo Troia and said "Don Vincenzo, tell your compare Maranzano we have killed Masseria not to serve him but for our own personal reasons." So it´s very unlikely that Luciano had been with Masseria when he was killed, awaited the police and talked to them unless he took an air flight from Coney Island to midtown, Manhattan right after being dismissed by the police.
According to the autopsy, as far as I can see, all exit wounds was on Masseria´s front side which means he was shot from behind. Considering Masseria must have known that his enemies were looking to find and kill him, he must have sat down facing the entrence of the eating place. So the shooters likely must have sneaked up on him from behind, entering through a rear entrence or maybe the kitchen entrence. Unless of course, Masseria felt comfortable having them standing right behind him when they fired the shots. The head shot must have been the final shot, the coup de grace.