Downfall and Death
Dutch Schultz eventually took over the number rackets in Harlem. As Schultz' partner, Ciro received only 25% of the profits. Ciro's career briefly rose again after the death of Schultz and his associates. However, Luciano then put Mike Coppola in charge of destroying Terranova. With artichokes as his only legitimate source of income, Ciro didn't last very long.
On December 21, 1935 New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia appeared at the Bronx Terminal Market and banned the sale, display, and possession of artichokes. Six men were indicted on violation of the anti-trust laws, including Joseph Castaldo, a relative of Terranova and his successor in the artichoke business. La Guardia even had the police keep Terranova out of the city; every time Ciro appeared south of Westchester County he was arrested for vagrancy. In 1937, Ciro was living on borrowed money and lost his house.
On February 18, 1938, Ciro Terranova suffered a paralyzing stroke. He died two days later, with his son and wife at his side, at the age of 49.
Read more about this topic: Ciro Terranova
Famous quotes containing the words downfall and/or death:
“Show me one thing here on earth which has begun well and not ended badly. The proudest palpitations are engulfed in a sewer, where they cease throbbing, as though having reached their natural term: this downfall constitutes the heart’s drama and the negative meaning of history.”
—E.M. Cioran (b. 1911)
“For God was as large as a sunlamp and laughed his heat at us and therefore we did not cringe at the death hole.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)