Member-only story
Giuseppe Masseria
Joe Masseria
I have seen this man’s name pop up a few times when doing other gangsters. It just so happened I pulled his name for my little hat of names to do. I learned a little about him. It seems the same few names that pop up in others popped up in my research of this man. Let’s me introduce you to this man.
Giuseppe Masseria was born on January 17, 1886, in Menfi, Italy. Menfi, Province of Agrigento, Sicily. He was born into a family of tailors. Giuseppe Masseria, or Joe Masseria, arrived in the United States in 1902.
He was just a young man when Joe started to work for the Morello crime family. They operated out of Harlem and Little Italy. He was an enforcer for the Morello family. As an enforcer, his job was to bring swift and brutal violence against anyone who threatened the gangs operations. It seems like most he was great at being an enforcer. Apparently, he did the job so well that he quickly began rising up the ranks in the criminal organization. It seems like it’s the best thing, but from all my research, it is not.
After the leader of the Morello family was assassinated, Joe Masseria used that opportunity to form his own gang. With his natural talent for violence and the advice of respected consigliere Salvatore D’Aquila, Joe became one of the most powerful and feared gangsters in New York. The thing of it is, you…
