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Lucky Luciano (1897–1962) -

Charles "Lucky" Luciano was an Italian-born gangster credited with engineering the structure of modern organized crime in the United States, in what he dubbed The Commission.

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Lucky Luciano -

As the first official boss of the modern Genovese crime family, Luciano successfully ran controlled lucrative criminal rackets in New York City such as illegal gambling, extortion, bookmaking, loansharking, and trafficking illegal substances.

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Lucky Luciano -

Jailed in 1936, the mafia boss offered to help in the war effort during World War II by using his criminal connections in Italy to advance the Allies' cause. The deal eventually brought him parole and deportation. His luck finally run out in January 1962 after he suffered a fatal heart attack in Naples. He is buried in Queens, New York.

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Bonnie and Clyde -

Barrow was suspected of numerous killings and was wanted for murder, robbery, and state charges of kidnapping. Together, the pair are believed to have murdered at least nine police officers and four civilians. In this familiar image, Parker playfully points a shotgun at her partner in crime.

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Bonnie and Clyde -

The couple's demise was bloody and violent. After a colorful and much publicized manhunt, the pair were shot to death by law enforcement officers in an ambush near Sailes in Louisiana on May 23, 1934.

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John Dillinger (1903–1934) -

John Herbert Dillinger led a violent gang that terrorized the American Midwest during the Great Depression. His exploits earned him the title "Public Enemy Number 1."

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John Dillinger -

From 1933 to 1934, the gang was responsible for killing 10 men, wounding seven others, robbing banks and police arsenals, and staging three jail breaks. Dillinger is pictured standing in court at Crown Point, Indiana in 1934.

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John Dillinger -

Fate caught up with the man the FBI described as a "lurid desperado" on July 22, 1934, after Dillinger emerged from the Biograph Theater in Chicago. He was shot dead by federal agents while trying to flee. Pictured is Dillinger bagged and tagged in the Cook County morgue.

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Baby Face Nelson (1908–1934) -

Lester Joseph Gillis has the dubious honor of killing more FBI agents than any other person. An associate of John Dillinger, Gillis was known by his alias "Baby Face Nelson" on account of his youthful appearance.

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Baby Face Nelson -

Nelson joined a gang in his early-teens; by age 14 he was an accomplished car thief, progressing to running stills, bootlegging, and armed robbery by his early twenties.

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Baby Face Nelson -

The 1934 escape from prison by John Dillinger was facilitated by Nelson and his gang. After Dillinger's death and that of fellow outlaw "Pretty Boy Floyd," the FBI declared Nelson "Public Enemy No 1" (pictured is the bureau's circular). Fate caught with Nelson, who was fatally shot by FBI agents during The Battle of Barrington, just outside of Chicago.

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Al Capone (1899–1947) -

Born of an immigrant family in Brooklyn, New York, Alphonse Gabriel Capone grew up to become the most notorious gangster of the Prohibition era. Known as "Scarface," he was the co-founder and boss of the Chicago Outfit.

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Al Capone -

Capone dominated organized crime in Chicago from 1925 to 1931, running gambling, prostitution, and bootlegging rackets and expanding his territories by gunning down rivals. Pictured is Capone's FBI criminal record in 1932, showing most of his criminal charges were discharged or dismissed.

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Al Capone -

His seven-year reign as a crime boss ended when he went to prison at the age of 33. Incarcerated first at the Atlanta penitentiary, Capone was later moved to Alcatraz. Released after eight years, he died of cardiac arrest in 1947 as a powerless recluse.

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Clyde Barrow (1909–1934) and Bonnie Parker (1910–1934) -

Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker were a criminal couple whose exploits captured the imagination of the American press and its readership in the early 1930s.

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Matteo Messina Denaro -

Matteo Messina Denaro is one of the most infamous crime bosses in recent history. Italy's most wanted man, a boss of the Cosa Nostra Mafia in Sicily, was arrested by police in a private health clinic in Palermo on January 16, 2023, after being a fugitive since 1993. “It is a victory for all the police forces that have worked together over these long years to bring the dangerous fugitive to justice,” Italy’s chief of police, Lamberto Giannini, said in a statement, per CNN. Anti-mafia security forces have been closing in on Messina Denaro’s circle for years now. He's believed to have ordered dozens of murders, including the murders of anti-Mafia prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, and has been given several life sentences in absentia for his crimes, which also include fatal bombings in Milan, Florence, and Rome in the late 1990s, and torturing and murdering the 11-year-old son of someone who gave evidence against Cosa Nostra.

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Ma Barker (1873–1935) -

Kate Barker, better known as Ma Barker, was the mother of several American criminals who ran the Barker-Karpis gang during America's "public enemy era" of the 1930s. Several gang members numbered her own sons.

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Fred Barker (1901–1935) -

Ma Barker had a reputation as a ruthless crime matriarch who controlled and organized her sons' crimes. Youngest son Fred Barker's closest associate was Alvin Karpis. Together they founded the gang, one of the longest-lived criminal bands during the Depression era, spanning from 1931 to 1935.

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Arthur "Doc" Barker (1899–1939) -

Fred's brother Arthur "Doc" Barker had a reputation for violence and joined the gang to become a core member. Bank robbery and kidnapping became the gang's trademark activities. During a four-hour shootout with special agents on January 16, 1935, Ma and Fred Barker were killed. "Doc" Barker died in 1939 while attempting to escape from Alcatraz.

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Machine Gun Kelly (1895–1954) -

George Kelly Barnes, better known as "Machine Gun Kelly," was a gangster from Memphis, Tennessee, who operated during the Prohibition era.

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Machine Gun Kelly -

While his crimes included bootlegging and armed robbery, Kelly is notorious for the July 1933 kidnapping of the oil tycoon and businessman Charles F. Urschel, from which he and his gang collected a cool US$200,000 ransom (around US$4 million today). Kelly is pictured being led away in handcuffs by FBI following his arrest. He and his accomplice, wife Kathryn Kelly, were later sentenced to life imprisonment.

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Machine Gun Kelly -

Kelly did time at Alcatraz where he was given the nickname "Pop Gun Kelly" by fellow inmates. Often boasting about and exaggerating his past escapades, he was transferred to Leavenworth in 1951, where he died three years later of heart failure.

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Carlo Gambino (1902–1976) -

Sicilian-born Carlo Gambino emigrated to the United States in 1921. He rose up the mob ranks to eventually become the boss of the Gambino crime family.

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Carlo Gambino -

Gambino ingratiated his way into the Mafia in 1932 by marrying one of his cousins, Catherine Castellano, sister of mobster Paul Castellano. By the 1950s, Gambino's operations included gambling, loansharking, hijacking, narcotics trafficking, and, notably, labor racketeering.

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Carlo Gambino -

Declining health and several heart attacks deferred numerous trials held to see Gambino jailed for his crimes (in 50 years of crime, he only served 22 months in prison in the late 1930s). When he did eventually succumb to coronary failure in 1976, around 150 relatives and close friends, including top Mafia lieutenants, attended the funeral mass in Brooklyn.

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Frank Costello (1891–1973) -

Born Francesco Castiglia, Costello was an Italian-American crime boss of the Luciano crime family. A major syndicate gangster, he enjoyed close ties with Lucky Luciano and reaped the illicit rewards of bootlegging and gambling operations.

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Frank Costello -

Costello socialized with New York politicians and businessmen, and quickly became the syndicate's political link. When Luciano was imprisoned in 1936, he appointed Costello as acting boss. By the early 1950s, the beleaguered mobster was not only having to contend with rival in-fighting, he was battling the US Senate and its endeavors to curb organized crime.

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Frank Costello -

Jailed for contempt and tax evasion, Costello also later survived a 1957 assassination attempt. Known throughout his life as the "Prime Minister of the Underworld," Costello retired from crime in the late 1960s. He died of a heart attack on February 18, 1973.

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Paul Castellano (1915–1985) -

Paul Castellano succeeded Carlo Gambino as head of the Gambino crime family. Considered the "boss of bosses," or "the Godfather," because he presided over the largest and most powerful of the New York City crime families, Castellano identified more as a businessman than a hoodlum, extorting money from legitimate enterprises while also operating traditional rackets such as gambling, pornography, and loan-sharking.

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Paul Castellano -

Whereas his predecessor lived modestly and shunned the limelight, Castellano ran his organization from an ostentatious mansion on Staten Island dubbed the "white house."

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Paul Castellano -

Castellano's appointment as the Gambino crime boss displeased many within the family and he was disrespected by most, including one lieutenant called John Gotti. It was Gotti who allegedly ordered the successful hit on Castellano outside Sparks Steak House in Manhattan on December 16, 1985.

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John Gotti (1940–2002) -

With Castellano's death, John Gotti became the new boss of the Gambino crime family. Under Gotti, the family became America's most powerful crime syndicate.

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John Gotti -

Gotti ruled with an iron fist and quickly became one the most feared and dangerous crime bosses in the United States. Dubbed the "Dapper Don" for his stylish attire, and later the "Teflon Don" because numerous accusations leveled at him never seemed to stick, Gotti was finally convicted of several murders in 1992 after underboss Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano aided the FBI by turning state's evidence in a plea bargain arrangement.

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John Gotti -

On April 12, 1992, Gotti was found guilty on all charges and sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. He died of cancer behind bars on June 10, 2002. His demise also marked the beginning of the end of the Cosa Nostra and its grip on organized crime in America and elsewhere.

See also: What your business can learn from the Mafia

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