Frank Costello murders

[TallGuy19]

Frank Costello wasn't known for being a particularly violent boss, but was he directly involved in any murders as an associate/soldier and which murders did he sanction while serving as boss of the Luciano family?

[Antiliar]

Bugsy Siegel for one

[Ivan]

I've seen him listed as a shooter in the Masseria hit, but I'm pretty skeptical of that claim.

[DPG]

Bugsy Siegel for one

Please go into more detail. Are you saying he was involved in Bugsy’s murder because he was the boss? So he had to give the ok for it to happen?

[Snakes]

I believe he means that Bugsy was most closely affiliated with the Genovese so Costello would have possibly had to give an ok on his killing.

[bert]

Bugsy Siegel for one

I thought no one was ever sure who was behind it or why he was killed.

[Manhattan_]

Thought it was Lucky who signed off on Ben Siegel ?

[Camo]

Didn't Frank have some personal stake in one of Bugsy's casinos/hotels? So the assumption is he had something to do with it.

Why would Luciano care about Siegel by 1947? And if he did how would he have the deciding say from Sicily?

[Camo]

Didn't Frank have some personal stake in one of Bugsy's casinos/hotels? So the assumption is he had something to do with it.

Why would Luciano care about Siegel by 1947? And if he did how would he have the deciding say from Sicily?

Supposedly the decision was came to during Luciano’s stay in Cuba when all the high ranking mobsters and Francis Albert came to visit him, that’s the most repeated narrative atleast. Bill Bonnano, in his last book, said the decision was came to during a commission meeting that took place in a book off the coast of Florida IIRC. Been years since I read his last book. Personally I feel his death had to be something more personal.

Been a fan of your posts but you should read this back to yourself and ask if it sounds as ridiculous as i find it.

[DPG]

Wow I edited it I may have been a lil high earlier today

Didn't Frank have some personal stake in one of Bugsy's casinos/hotels? So the assumption is he had something to do with it.

Why would Luciano care about Siegel by 1947? And if he did how would he have the deciding say from Sicily?

Supposedly the decision was made during Luciano’s stay in Cuba when all the high ranking mobsters and Francis Albert came to visit him, that’s the most repeated narrative atleast. Bill Bonnano, in his last book, said the decision was made during a commission meeting that took place in a boat off the coast of Florida IIRC. Been years since I read his last book. Personally I feel his death had to be something more personal.

[Antiliar]

The big meeting with Lucky Luciano in Havana has been seriously exaggerated. He was no longer the official boss at that point, but still highly respected. Bill Bonanno's account IN THIS CASE (he isn't always accurate) makes the most sense. Costello signed off on it and withdrew his protection, which gave the okay to the man who most wanted to eliminate Siegel: Jack Dragna. So in Siegel's case it was indirect. Costello also permitted a hit, maybe an "open hit" as is usually claimed, on Willie Moretti.

[Angelo Santino]

The big meeting with Lucky Luciano in Havana has been seriously exaggerated. He was no longer the official boss at that point, but still highly respected. Bill Bonanno's account IN THIS CASE (he isn't always accurate) makes the most sense. Costello signed off on it and withdrew his protection, which gave the okay to the man who most wanted to eliminate Siegel: Jack Dragna. So in Siegel's case it was indirect. Costello also permitted a hit, maybe an "open hit" as is usually claimed, on Willie Moretti.

What information do we have pertaining to Costello as a boss in matters regarding his own family. Very little is known about him in that regard. We have the perspective from Joe Bonanno and Valachi didn't appear to have a close relationship with him being in Tony Bender's Genovese aligned crew. We've largely been left with the impression that he was a hands-off boss who, aside from a few close allies, let the daily decisions (within reason) fall on the capos. Seems like that was a trend for all of NY's families at the time.

Just an observation: These so-called coups or internal wars are A) not split equally and B) there's plenty of examples of the smaller faction winning. Going by the formal number of made guys (omitting non-made crew members) the crews of Capone, Masseria, Genovese, Gotti, Massino-Napolitano, Merlino were all minority factions. Their rivals had their own loyalists but I'd argue that a sizeable portion of membership then and now wish to avoid the politics and carry on about their activities. These are the "deadheads" who "can't be counted on" by the busybodys. I remember in Cafaro's testimony he said if he could do it all over again he would only he'd stay away from the boss and just run a club as a soldier. Interesting.

If a member is called to do something they'll do it or face the internal bureaucracy, but with the exception of a few core faction members, the majority of membership cannot be counted on to tool up. I omitted the Periscos from my above example because they were still boss and kept it, however technically Orena the official AB was said to have the larger backing. I'd argue a great deal of them were passive which leveled the playing field for the Persico's 25 member unit. Even the famed Cast War, if realistily you had 2000 people in 5 boroughs all gunning for each other the murder rate would have skyrocketed rather than been limited to 5-10 individuals. Instead, with the murder of Masseria's allies went his power to exert influence to a budding Maranzano who himself wasn't predicted to win months before. It seems even at the highest levels a significant amount of the leadership were either passive or weren't willing to raise up over who held certain political positions.

[JeremyTheJew]

Wow I edited it I may have been a lil high earlier today

Didn't Frank have some personal stake in one of Bugsy's casinos/hotels? So the assumption is he had something to do with it.

Why would Luciano care about Siegel by 1947? And if he did how would he have the deciding say from Sicily?

Supposedly the decision was made during Luciano’s stay in Cuba when all the high ranking mobsters and Francis Albert came to visit him, that’s the most repeated narrative atleast. Bill Bonnano, in his last book, said the decision was made during a commission meeting that took place in a boat off the coast of Florida IIRC. Been years since I read his last book. Personally I feel his death had to be something more personal.

it happens bro.

[rayray]

Was Costello the de facto boss? For some reason I thought Luciano had a fairly good grasp or input while Costello was at the helm.

[Frank]

Was Costello the de facto boss? For some reason I thought Luciano had a fairly good grasp or input while Costello was at the helm.

That's an interesting question. I always thought he had control of the family till he was deported.