Castellammarese War
While the Castellammarese War was going on, Joseph "Joe Cargo" Valachi tried to patch up his friendship with Ciro and even befriended Ciro's driver. Gaetano "Tommy" Gagliano (who later became boss of the Lucchese crime family) then asked Valachi to take his side in the gang war.
Valachi's first assignment was to kill Ciro's driver; instead, Valachi killed Ciro's nephew, Joseph Catania. At Catania's funeral, Terranova swore revenge. Valachi also claimed to have killed Peter Morello, Ciro's half brother, but Lucky Luciano said that Albert Anastasia and Frank Scalise killed Morello.
On April 15, 1931, Masseria himself was murdered. Terranova, who drove the killers to the Masseria hit, was reportedly so unnerved after the murder that he could not put the car in gear. When the word of this went out, Ciro's reputation suffered. Many viewed this time as the beginning of Ciro's downfall.
Read more about this topic: Ciro Terranova
Famous quotes containing the word war:
“There is something to be said for government by a great aristocracy which has furnished leaders to the nation in peace and war for generations; even a Democrat like myself must admit this. But there is absolutely nothing to be said for government by a plutocracy, for government by men very powerful in certain lines and gifted with the money touch, but with ideals which in their essence are merely those of so many glorified pawnbrokers.”
—Theodore Roosevelt (18581919)