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Charles "Lucky" Luciano Trial: 1936

Aided The War Effort



World War II freed Luciano. In 1942, U.S. Navy officers, frustrated by unstable labor conditions and sabotage on the New York waterfront, visited Luciano. He ordered cooperation and gained a private cell. A year later, the Navy, planning the invasion of Sicily, asked him to enlist the help of the island's natives. A deal was struck. After the war, with the Navy citing Luciano's aid in shortening the war in Sicily and Italy and with by then-Governor Dewey's approval, he was paroled to his birthplace in Sicily.



Luciano settled in Naples, barred from Rome by the Italian government. He lived there, except for an illegal sojourn in Cuba (where he ordered the death of his syndicate associate, "Bugsy" Siegel), until he died of a heart attack in 1962.

Bernard Ryan, Jr.

Suggestions for Further Reading

Fox, Stephen. Blood and Power. New York: William Morrow & Co., 1989.

Godwin, John. Murder USA. New York: Ballantine Books, 1978.

Gosch, Martin A. and Richard Hammer. The Last Testament of Lucky Luciano. Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1974.

Nash, Jay Robert. Almanac of IVorld Crime. Garden City, N.Y.: Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1981.

—. Encyclopedia of World Crime. Wilmette, Ill.: CrimeBooks, 1990.

Additional topics

Law Library - American Law and Legal InformationNotable Trials and Court Cases - 1918 to 1940Charles "Lucky" Luciano Trial: 1936 - "i'm Gonna Organize The Cathouses Like The A", Aided The War Effort