Luciano, Costello, Torrio and the Atlantic City conference

[Dwalin2014]

A curiosity: most of the books and articles I read list Lucky Luciano, Frank Costello and Johnny Torrio among the participants in the Atlantic City conference in 1929. However, in the book "30 illegal years to the strip" by Bill Friedman, it's said

The country’s most power underworld leaders, Luciano and Costello, never met Torrio, the supposed organizer of the syndicate of Reles’ imagination. Costello testified that he had never met Torrio, even though he admitted knowing a couple dozen of the biggest Prohibition gang leaders, including Torrio associate Al Capone. Jimmy Blue Eyes told me that he never met Torrio, knew nothing about him, and never heard his name mentioned by any of his associates.

How reliable is that information in your opinion? I always though Luciano was closely associated with Torrio since Torrio moved from Chicago to New York, is it really possible they never met?

By the way, could somebody suggest where can I find the most reliable version of the list of the attendees of the Atlantic City Conference? DIfferent sources list different names, could somebody please suggest the version considered the most accurate?

[DPG]

Your on a ghost hunt...but best of luck to you.

I can believe they didn't know each other. They make it out like Torrio formed the "big six", "big five", "the combine", and the NCS. Only thing linking him to any of this is newspaper articles.

[AustraliaSteve]

Shot in the dark here... but wasn't Profaci one of the main organisers/attendees of the 1926 Atlantic City meets? I haven't checked any references, but the date seems to ring a bell.

[Antiliar]

MickeyMeatballs: You might be thinking of the Cleveland meeting at the Hotel Statler that took place in December 1928. Profaci and Magliocco were arrested there.

Dwalin2014: The earliest stories about the Atlantic City meeting only involved Chicago people. Capone met up with Nucky Johnson, but it isn't known if he attended the conference. Later, more and more names were added, but we don't know if that's true or just unfounded rumor. The book by Costello's lawyer, Joseph Wolf, "Frank Costello: Prime Minister of the Underworld," claims that Costello and Luciano both attended, but he could be mistaken. Wolf had also been Luciano's lawyer, but would they tell him that information? I don't know. Eventually other writers added on a bunch of people from all over the country, but where's the evidence?

[DPG]

I've even seen people write sthat Marazono or Joe the boss had Luciano setup the AC meeting.

[AustraliaSteve]

Thank you Antiliar. That's the one.