Indeed probably in Napels not long before his death in 1962.

You are so right about that.

Lucky himself confirmed in The Last Testament Of Lucky Luciano that Meyer gave him the name Lucky after the beating. Most 'experts' think the majority of that book is self serving and bs but when the man himself is saying it's true it's easy to see how it can be accepted as fact.

In the book The Real And Fake Gangster there is several different accounts of how he got the name as well as different accounts as who was responsible for 'the ride' he took.

It says in the book that biographer L. Kats quotes Frank Costello as saying that Luciano gave himself the nickname because he felt people were attracted to others who were viewed as Lucky. He had it tattoed on his arm and encouraged others to call him Lucky.

I've read elsewhere he got the name after a big win at a floating craps game.

Frank Costello's attorney later said that Frank Costello told him that Luciano hated the name and nobody would call him that even behind his back.

As far as the ride it's commonly accepted that Maranzano was responsible for 'the ride'. In the Last Testament Lucky confirms this.

In The Real and Fake Gangster Frank Costello again supposedly tells his attorney that it wasn't gangsters but the cops who picked up Luciano. He said it was basically a brutal police interrogation because they were trying to find Jack 'Legs' Diamond and they knew he and Luciano were associates.

Sal Vazzini a undercover narcotics agent who talked to Luciano in 1960 says that Luciano told him that plainclothes police picked him up outside his house put him in their car and beat him up again in an effort to locate Legs Diamond.

Obviously my point in all of this is most of the stuff we accept as fact probably isn't anywhere close to what really happened.
Especially in cosa nostra where the whole life is a big secret, at least in those days.

I realize this and understand it, but I still spend way too much time reading and researching about cosa nostra especially the old days. I want to know the truth as much as possible, but I think in all of us there is a little part that likes these stories and we like to believe things happened a certain way, truth be damned.

He's dressing like a senior citizen living in Italy in the late 1950's

Great Picture !

Frank Costello understood, as Don Corleone said in the "Godfather" " One Lawyer with a briefcase can steal more money than a 100 men with Machine guns"

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/23-years-john-gotti-life-sentence-gallery-1.2268434

Photo gallery

Life as a way of changing people, especially a 100 year old gangster.

You never know, Sonny still might want to kill him. He just took a picture with him. For all we know, after the photo op, Sonny tried to stab him with one of the plastic knives from the cafeteria and was carried back to his room. Mike told him he'd stop by again in a week. Told dad he loved him.

Sonny might not even know what is going on for all we know.

Any current pictures of Peter Gotti?

Salvatore "Shotsie" Sparacio

Age 95 and still in the can.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5271391/New-Yorks-criminal-underground-20th-century.html

When Joe the Boss and Kid Twist ruled the streets: Photos of mafia hits, bank robbers and opium smugglers reveal the dark reality of New York’s criminal underground in the early 20th Century

This comment killed me

Leave Giancana's shirt alone. It's 1960's Mexico, man. Who wears a suit to the beach? Suppose he has to dive for a volleyball.

Holy shit I’d pay top dollar to see that

A little OT, but until the rare pics start rolling in again, how about the coolest mob pic? Here's my vote. Hands down.

This is the first thing that came to my mind. Lastorino and Senter. Two good looking guys dressed to the nines. I love the body language in this pic.

Miami Vice was really popular in the '80s.

Venero Mangano



Carmine Persico



Anthony Donato (1985)



Alphonse Trucchio



Eugene Onofrio and Joey Merlino



Joey Merlino and Don King


Salvatore "Chuckie" Merlino

Nice ones Moe. Especially Mangano heading off to fight the Nazis.

I am trying to track down good quality mugshots or other photos of some obscure figures associated with John Gotti and Salvatore Gravano.

-Joe Colucci
-Tommy "Shorty" Spero
-Ralph Spero
-Robert DiBernardo - I have seen one of him when he is older on here. I am looking for one when he was younger with longer hair
-Nicholas Scibetta
-Joseph "Old Man" Paruta
-Michael Coiro
-Emanuel Gambino
-William Battista
-James McBratney

Any help would be greatly appreciated,

Taking a picture with an organized crime figure? You'd think Merlino would know better...

Nice 1 Oak.

Shorty Spero

http://flashbackmiami.com/2016/05/04/meyer-lansky-mafia-boss-spends-his-final-years-in-miami-beach/

Meyer Lansky photos

His hand looks bandaged in the pic with golf club

Yeah looks like he wear gloves