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intelligence unit to flush out Italian spies and saboteurs. The jailbird, through Lansky, improved the deal to win the promise of early parole and possibly complete freedom after the war. At least one other Mafia man was immediately freed from jail at Luciano’s request. He was Johnny ‘Cockeye’ Dunn, who was responsible for the no-questions-asked removal of two suspected German spies. Apart from keeping peace on thewaterfront, the team was also credited with locating an enemy submarine off Long Island. Four German spies were captured as they came ashore and, under interrogation, revealed a North American network of Nazi agents.
    Even more valuable to the Allied cause were Luciano’s contacts with his homeland. Before the invasion of Sicily by British, Canadian and US forces in 1944, Luciano sent emissaries to local Mafia leaders urging that all help be given to the Americans. Four Italian-speaking US naval intelligence officers joined up with the Sicilian Mafia and successfully raided German and Italian bases for secret defence blueprints. Later, in Rome, the Mafia foiled an assassination attempt against Britain’s General Sir Harold Alexander and, as a footnote to history, seized Mussolini’s entire personal archives.
    The American authorities kept their part of the bargain and in 1945, within a few months of the war in Europe ending, Luciano was freed from jail. New York’s Governor Thomas Dewey, a former special prosecutor of organised crime who got Luciano jailed in the first place, granted commutation of sentence and had him deported to Italy. His comrade in crime, Lansky, was there to bid him farewell, with a contribution of half a million dollars to help him start his new life. From an ocean’s distance away, Luciano continued to hold sway over his American Syndicate until – like Lansky and Genovese, his two principal partners in a lifetime of corruption, torture and murder – he died of natural causes.

CHAPTER 3
‘WISE GUYS’: OUT OF THE MOUTHS OF MOBSTERS
    ‘ M afia-speak’ has slyly insinuated itself into American culture. ‘I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse’ is the instantly recognisable saying of Don Corleone, as portrayed by Marlon Brando, in
The Godfather.
But there are many other titles, words and phrases that are less well-known outside the Italian underworld. Since the street talk of the Mafia is a language unto itself, here are some of the favourite expressions, plus an explanation of the organisation’s hierarchy, followed by some of its leaders’ pithier language.
    When a young hopeful is accepted into the Mafia, he becomes a ‘Wise Guy’ or he has become ‘straightened out’. Later, after he is appointed a fully-fledged or ‘made’ member of his particular Mafia ‘family’, he could become a ‘Capo’ (captain) heading a crew of ‘Soldiers’, the lowliest rank. Hundreds of criminals who have not been invited by familiesto join their inner ranks of ‘made’ members are nevertheless linked with the Mafia as ‘Associates’. Some are in influential or powerful positions with companies and government agencies.
    The Mafiosi themselves refer to their crime family as ‘La Cosa Nostra’, which means ‘our thing’ or ‘this business of ours’. Collectively, they like to refer to themselves as ‘Men of Honour’.
    There are about 25 Famiglia or crime families in America, the five largest and most powerful based in New York. These have branches in other parts of the country or, in some cases, affiliated families tied to them by blood.
    The head of each family is the ‘Godfather’ or ‘Don’. An honorary title that the top Godfathers bestow upon one of their number is ‘Capo di Tutti Capi’, Godfather of Godfathers, or Boss of all the Bosses. Some, who feel powerful enough to ward off any challenge, seize the title. They usually die.
    Next comes the ‘under-boss’, who is usually the tough-guy, the disciplinarian. The ‘Consigliere’ or counsellor is