Thursday, Jan. 20, 2011
Charles 'Lucky' Luciano
Charles "Lucky" Luciano organized organized crime. The New York City boss built the now legendary Mafia model, turning petty criminal activity into a smoothly operating enterprise that turned serious profits. Along with his associate Meyer Lansky, Luciano even instituted a board of directors. The Genovese family crime boss set up shop in the Lower East Side and palled around with the likes of Frank Sinatra until U.S. special prosecutor Thomas Dewey charged Luciano with 62 counts of compulsory prosecution. He was deported to Italy in 1946 and then appeared in Cuba a year later. But he never regained the status and cachet his former life of crime had afforded him and died in 1962.