Giuseppe Masseria's Autopsy

[Old Schooled]

f1f1f877fba6169fbbeafe2b2612c465.jpg

0859b03c51f8fc68dda890e717e27bb9.jpg

[The Greek]

So he hadn't even started eating.

[HairyKnuckles]

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.

[JogodoBicho]

Great Find. Never saw this one. 

[Ivan]

OC Shortz put out a detailed rundown of the killing about a year ago, definitely worth a watch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-O4ej8mX138

[Little_Al1991]

Great post.
Thanks for sharing

[Little_Al1991]

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.

Where can I access Gentile’s memoirs?

[motorfab]

Where can I access Gentile’s memoirs?

The book hasn't been translated into English, but if you speak or understand Italian, you can sometimes find it on sites like eBay (it took me years, but I managed to find it last year last, and yet I live near Italy)

Articles on Gentile's book have been translated by the feds, you can consult them here: https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... e_chilanti

The original articles are also available in the link

[Little_Al1991]

Where can I access Gentile’s memoirs?

The book hasn't been translated into English, but if you speak or understand Italian, you can sometimes find it on sites like eBay (it took me years, but I managed to find it last year last, and yet I live near Italy)

Articles on Gentile's book have been translated by the feds, you can consult them here: https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... e_chilanti

The original articles are also available in the link

Thank you

[The Greek]

Gerardo Scarpato, the owner of Nuovo Villa was eventually murdered too. I think his widow was murdered shortly after also but I can't find the article. They fled to Italy right after the murder but came back a year later.

[stubbs]

5’4”, 155 lbs… wild how small some of those old school gangsters were. I’m sure he had a lot of moxie for his size.

[Ivan]

5’4”, 155 lbs… wild how small some of those old school gangsters were. I’m sure he had a lot of moxie for his size.

He's not especially fat, either, despite his "fat gourmand" image. 155 is very mildly overweight for his height.

Lines up nicely with the empty stomach in the autopsy I guess.

[B.]

Yeah Masseria was slightly chubby and had a round face but he's been mythologized as Fat Bastard.

Despite Bonanno insisting Masseria was going to keep getting "crazier and crazier and fatter and fatter" and detailing his eating habits (how do you know, JB?), someone pointed out that Maranzano had a worse BMI when he died and wore a girdle. Maranzano was eating a lot of those "bread and onions".

[Pogo The Clown]

He’s a fat pig.


Pogo

[Ivan]

Yeah Masseria was slightly chubby and had a round face but he's been mythologized as Fat Bastard.

Despite Bonanno insisting Masseria was going to keep getting "crazier and crazier and fatter and fatter" and detailing his eating habits (how do you know, JB?), someone pointed out that Maranzano had a worse BMI when he died and wore a girdle. Maranzano was eating a lot of those "bread and onions".

This is one of the odder legitimizing myths for the post-1931 regimes.

"Yeah so that one Mustache Pete we all hate? He was... uh... ALSO FAT!"

Dunno, seems unnecessary.