The Making of the Mob (2015–…): Season 1, Episode 1 - The Education of Lucky Luciano - full transcript

From the chaos of
the New York City streets...

Rises a
legion of visionary gangsters.

Vicious killers and criminal geniuses

determined to create their own version

of the American dream.

Lucky Luciano, Meyer Lansky,

Bugsy Siegel, Vito Genovese,

and Frank Costello form alliances

and revolutionize the underworld.

You're looking at guys
dressed in $250 suits

and diamond rings.



These guys don't get
up early in the morning.

They don't have to punch a clock.

Over a 50-year period,

these ambitious, young
immigrants come together

to form the American Mafia,

Making millions, killing thousands...

And changing the face of crime, forever.

Their authority stretches
across two continents,

impacting global wars...

And creating empires.

I don't think
anyone has really described

the grip the Mafia had on America.

There's none that had the
institutional tentacles

of the Mafia.



Totally criminal, totally amoral,

totally horrible, but totally brilliant.

♪

Just get it done, now.

♪

In the fall of 1931...

Lucky, good to see you.

Charles "Lucky" Luciano

calls the most powerful
gangsters in America...

Al.

To a hotel in Chicago,

for a meeting that will
soon change everything.

The blood on the streets must stop,

and these cycles of revenge must end.

We may be criminals,

but that doesn't mean we're savages.

We have to run our
business like a business.

To begin, we start organizing our families,

like we did in sicily.

The Capos, the Crews, the Consiglieres,

all reporting to the head of the family,

but there will be no more boss of bosses.

Instead, we'll have a board of directors,

a commission run by the heads
of the five New York families.

They will have the
final say in all matters,

even life and death.

♪

To peace and profits.

In a single move,

Luciano creates the most powerful

organized crime syndicate
America has ever seen.

Uniting thousands of ruthless criminals

across the country...

And bringing order to a
multimillion-dollar operation.

It's the birth of the
modern American Mafia,

and it all began more
than two decades earlier.

♪

In 1906,

nearly 900,000 immigrants
pour into New York City.

Among them, is a nine-year-old
sicilian named Charles Luciano.

♪

Luciano and his family arrive
with hopes of a better life,

but what they find is nothing
like what they expected.

More than four million
people live in New York City,

piled into highly segregated tenements.

And while most fight to
scrape out an honest living,

others turn to crime.

As neighborhoods sprang up,

whether they were
Jewish, Irish, or Italian,

you had exploiters.

You had gangsters.

They plundered from their own people.

Shaked down storekeepers.

If you didn't pay money for them,

you might be beaten up.

And it was easy money for them,

and it was an easy market.

Across the city,

hundreds of unorganized
gangs terrorize entire blocks

in a chaotic turf war.

There's a wide array of
mobsters in New York City.

There's mobs upon Mob.

It is damn dangerous

because they are knocking
each other off on the streets.

In this unstable environment,

Luciano's family struggles to survive.

And as Luciano's father fails to find work,

he turns to alcohol,

and takes his frustrations
out on his family.

♪

By age 15,

Luciano has dropped out of school.

And like most teenagers
from the lower east side,

he's hit the streets,

looking for ways to support his family.

Next hand. Next hand.

For the people that I grew up with,

who ended up getting involved in crime,

there was nothing else.

They didn't have a great education.

In-in those days, if you
came from a poor environment,

this was a way of-of earning money.

Luciano decides to
join one of the dozens of gangs

in his neighborhood.

But, while most immigrants
stick to their own kind,

Luciano teams up with a couple
of tough Jewish teenagers

named Meyer Lansky and
Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel.

My grandfather, Meyer Lansky,

met Lucky Luciano on
the streets of New York.

He was being run down for some money

to cross over to the other neighborhood.

My 5'4" grandfather said,
"I'm not giving you any money.

"You'll have to fight me for it."

And at that point, Luciano respected him.

He said he was the bravest man he ever met.

Meyer Lansky
is a Russian immigrant

with a knack for mathematics,

whose parents came to America

to avoid religious persecution.

Seven, oh!

While Bugsy Siegel

is an intimidating
Jewish kid from Brooklyn,

known for his charm, and
also his violent outbursts.

Bugsy Siegel got his nickname
because when you were bugs,

you were nuts.

♪

Combining their unique talents,

Luciano, Lansky, and Siegel
begin to establish themselves

as an up and coming criminal force

on the lower east side.

Luciano
was really an American.

He didn't have the prejudice

of the-the generation older than him.

He didn't really care
about somebody's background.

Whereas, a guy older than him might say,

"this is a Jew, and I'm
not doing business with him.

"We don't do business with them."

He could see, this guy and me, together,

we can make something,
and it sorta carried him.

As his crew starts
to have small-time success,

Luciano sets his sights
on joining the ranks

of a much bigger operation.

One of the more powerful
gangsters in New York

is a brutal sicilian
thug named Joe Masseria.

Masseria rules through
violence and intimidation,

and is now asserting his dominance

in Luciano's neighborhood.

Working for Masseria would be a fast track

to the big leagues.

But, to get in with the gangster,

Luciano knows he'll need an
opportunity to prove his worth.

Come on, pay!

I don't got it. I swear.

He's lyin'.

Just pay already.

Please, I can't. I swear.

See what he has on him. Come on.

Let's go.

Looks like 50 bucks.

See if he has any gold in his mouth.

What?

A couple fillings.

Good. That's good.

Get 'em.

One of the newest
recruits in Masseria's operation

is a 20-year-old
Italian immigrant

named Frank Costello.

Oh, Christ.

Go on. Get outta here.

Wait.

Wait.

Maybe we can give you a hand.

Bugs.

♪

Charles Luciano,

Meyer Lansky,

and Bugsy Siegel

are rising in the ranks
of the New York underworld,

after proving themselves
as valuable recruits

to up-and-coming
gangster, Frank Costello.

Over the next few years,

they run successful rackets for Costello...

Under Joe Masseria, a
ruthless criminal kingpin.

By 1919, the crew was nothing more

than a group of petty criminals,

making money through
small-time gambling rings

and protection shakedowns.

Seeing an opportunity
to strengthen their crew,

Frank Costello brings in a new soldier.

Guys, we
gotta move. We gotta move.

We got 16 boxes up here.
We gotta get 'em outta here.

Let's go.

Come on, guys. Two at a time.

Three at a time. Let's go.

Let's go. Let's keep it movin'.

It's all right.

- Hey, Frank.
- Vito.

I want you to meet my associate,

Charlie Luciano.

- Nice to meet ya.
- Likewise.

Vito's in the import-export business.

Mostly import.

Vito Genovese is
a low-level sicilian thug,

and has earned a reputation
as a lethal enforcer.

Busted!

Vito Genovese was almost
a classical tough guy.

Who'd be a guy who-who
beat up innocent victims.

Who would slug anybody.

Who would kick a dog when he was down.

There was nothing, no
atrocity he wouldn't pull.

Toughest guy in the world.

And he wanted that reputation.

♪

- Wasn't that crazy?
- You're a sick bastard, man.

Got a smokin' hot rack, though.

Whoo-hoo-hoo.

Hey, Charlie, there ya go.

Smokes.

With Vito Genovese on board,

they're ready to transform their crew

from low-level street thugs
into a legitimate gang.

Meyer Lansky is the money man.

Bugsy Siegel is the suave charmer

with ruthless instincts.

Frank Costello has all the connections

and knows how to play the system.

And Luciano is a visionary
with relentless ambition.

They know all they need now
is the right opportunity.

On January 17th, 1920,

the government passes the 18th Amendment,

and prohibition goes into effect,

making the sale and
distribution of alcohol illegal.

The theory was,

prohibition would, uh,
decrease, uh, alcoholism,

and it would increase the morals

and the moral fiber of Americans.

The whole concept backfired.

Instead of cleaning up America,

prohibition plays into
the hands of the gangsters,

creating a billion-dollar
industry virtually overnight.

Prohibition was one of the best things

the government ever did for the Mob.

Because supply and demand,

and the demand was people wanted to drink

and there was no supply.

So, the gangsters made
a lot of money on it.

I want these payments
coming in every two weeks.

If a guy doesn't pay, kill him.

Come on. You're pissing me off.

Get outta here.

Joe Masseria has
been running gambling rackets,

but he changes his entire business plan

to take advantage of prohibition.

Masseria creates an underground network

of bootlegging distilleries in warehouses,

selling his own product
at a curbside liquor market

and secret drinking establishments

called "speakeasies."

In just months,

there are as many as 100,000
speakeasies in New York,

and thousands of them are
selling Masseria's liquor.

Prohibition probably reverses
Joe Masseria's fortunes

more than anybody else in the underworld.

He goes from being petty bootlegger,

to the king of the underworld.

Joe Masseria becomes Joe the boss.

Thanks to prohibition,
Masseria's empire expands,

and now covers half of Manhattan.

Take that over there.

Now, this guy's been short all week.

- Yeah, who is it?
- Send 'em to Vito.

No, I want you to have a boy talk to him.

Working with Costello,

Luciano and his crew are
bringing in money for Masseria.

But not enough to get noticed.

Meyer, come here.

Luciano begins to devise a plan.

One that he hopes will
get Masseria's attention.

Get things movin'. Get it movin', man.

I know, I know, I know. I understand.

The Mafia people, like Luciano,

were ambitious.

They were entrepreneurial.

They were not willing to
exist on the lowest level

of the social pecking order.

They were opportunistic people.

The booze is comin' right through here,

right up the coast of New Jersey.

It's headin' to Philly.

It's gonna be good stuff.

Are we sure about that route?

We tracked it for a couple weeks.

Yeah.

This is the big time, boys.

Luciano decides to
hijack a rival gang's truck,

filled with illegal booze,
and deliver it to Masseria.

If he can pull it off,

he'll have a chance to move
up in Masseria's organization

and finally earn some big money.

If anybody wants to
back out, now's the time.

Luciano emerged from this whole group

because he was not
afraid to make decisions.

He was a leader.

Salud.

♪

♪

This country
has a history of the old west.

I mean, you know, we were
the pioneers, and cowboys,

and the gunslingers, and all that.

I mean, you know, jump cut 100 years,

and now you got the Mob.

It-they're just-they're just
cowboys in pinstripe suits.

♪

♪

Need some help?

♪

Not exactly.

♪

Don't you know whose truck this is?

Masseria.

Joe Masseria.

♪

Luciano and his crew
have just pulled off a huge heist.

The only problem is,

they've robbed a truck
belonging to their own boss.

In an effort to
make a name for themselves,

Charles Luciano and his gang
have pulled off a daring heist,

only to learn they've inadvertently stolen

from their own boss, Joe Masseria.

Luciano knows that he and
his crew can't just return

what they've stolen,

as Masseria will make a brutal example

of anyone who crosses him.

It's Frank. Let me in.

Masseria's got guys
lookin' for us everywhere.

We can't just stay holed up here forever.

Let's just take him out.

It's either him or us. It
might as well be him, right?

You can't just walk in
there and take out Masseria.

You're right...

But we're not gonna be
hunted down like dogs, either.

What the hell are we gonna do, Charlie?

I'll go see Masseria myself.

♪

Luciano was smart, but he was a tough guy,

and he was a street guy.

And you put that together,

and you got this kinda unstoppable force.

♪

♪

You got some big balls
comin' over here like this.

Tell me why I shouldn't kill you right now.

I didn't know the trucks were yours.

- If I knew they were yours, i would ne...
- Shut up.

Ever kill anyone, Luciano?

No.

It's actually pretty easy.

Some people say...

It's an acquired taste.

But, to me, it comes very naturally.

Let me make it right.

Too late.

You give me a name... I'll murder for you.

♪

How'd it go with Masseria?

I'm alive.

Damn, they really worked you over.

Thanks for taking the fall for us.

Don't thank me yet.

I need your help.

With what?

Killing Umberto Valenti.

What?

If I don't kill him, we're all dead.

Umberto Valenti
is a feared assassin

who's murdered over 20 men...

And nearly
killed Joe Masseria just days earlier.

♪

Luciano has never killed before.

And now he must take out one
of the most dangerous mobsters

in New York.

There are
mobsters who liked to kill.

But, there are other mobsters,

and Luciano is in this category,

they'll kill when they must.

And, he has to make some tough decisions.

For weeks,

Luciano and his crew plan
the hit on Umberto Valenti,

waiting for the perfect
opportunity to strike.

I always felt that the
mentality of a wise guy

when he has to shoot somebody,

it's no different from,
uh, being in the trenches.

So, war is war.

A soldier is a soldier,

whether you're a soldier for the wise guys

or you're a soldier for the government.

♪

There he is.

You ready?

♪

There he is.

You ready?

♪

♪

In the Mob,

you will get an order
to commit a violent act.

Now, you have to detach
yourself from the act.

You have to think that you
are paying homage to the boss,

and you're doing what's expected of you.

So, you have to be strong-minded,

and, uh, think you have a license to do it.

You-you're just gonna
do it, no matter what.

At age 25,

Charles Luciano has
committed his first murder.

He saves himself and his crew,

but he's also put himself
under Masseria's control.

Masseria sees the
gangster's potential and promotes him.

A lot of good it'd do you.

Just listen for a second.

Now in Masseria's inner circle,

Luciano was ordered to
run a high stakes racket,

selling a recently outlawed painkiller...

Known as heroin.

Heroin was legal in America

into, well, the teens,

and it's a drug that is legitimate.

It was just being sold,

and people could get to
sleep a little more easily.

There'd be heroin in
things like cough syrup,

in aspirin.

Heroin usage
quickly spirals out of control.

And when the government
finally makes it illegal,

demand skyrockets.

Heroin becomes Joe
Masseria's biggest business.

The myth of the Mafia not dealing in drugs

comes from "The Godfather,"

when Don Corleone spoke the lines about,

"we don't do that. It
takes people's souls."

I don't think there's any truth in it.

They were interested in making money.

♪

Vito.

Come on.

Luciano and his crew
devise ways of smuggling heroin

to their clients,

like disguising their
deliveries in hatboxes.

Their main customers are prostitutes,

reliable addicts who
can sell Luciano's drug

out of local brothels.

Luciano quickly becomes one
of Masseria's top earners.

Pulling in what he used
to make in four months,

in just one day.

♪

♪

Luciano was
arrested for dealing heroin

and sentenced to six months in prison.

He's proven himself a loyal
member of Masseria's crew,

but it's only landed him behind bars.

While Luciano was left rotting in jail,

Masseria continues to rake in the profits.

Luciano begins to realize that
if he truly wants to succeed,

he'll have to find a way
to become his own boss.

After serving his prison sentence,

Charles Luciano was a free man,

determined to find a better
way to succeed in crime.

While Luciano was behind bars,

his partner, Meyer Lansky,

made an important new contact
with another Major bootlegger

in New York City.

His name is Arnold Rothstein.

My grandfather met Arnold Rothstein

at a bar mitzvah.

They talked. They were introduced.

Arnold Rothstein saw
potential in my grandfather.

They talked business for hours.

There was an instant respect.

Born to a
middle class Jewish family,

Rothstein disappointed his parents

by gambling at a young age.

He would go on to fix horse races,

operate illegal casinos,

and plan the most notorious
sports betting scandal

of all time.

Arnold Rothstein
was known as the brain.

One of his claims to
fortune, or to acclaim,

was that he had fixed
the 1919 world series.

It will come to be
known as the "black sox scandal."

Arnold Rothstein bets
heavily on the series,

winning the modern day
equivalent of $4 million.

When prohibition goes into effect,

Rothstein sees an
opportunity to make a fortune.

But, unlike Joe Masseria,

Rothstein treats his operation
like a legitimate business

and earns a reputation around the city.

Arnold Rothstein
was an influence and model,

not just his vision for business,

but his whole way of life.

He could go into a ballroom

and mix with the fanciest
people in the city,

or he could go downtown and handle himself

with the biggest thugs in the city.

His style influence
becomes the modern gangster.

So, any time you see a
guy on a street corner

pull out a big wad of
bills all rolled together,

that's Rothstein.

♪

That's good.

All right, good. Yeah, hey.

That's him.

He's bringing more booze
into Manhattan right now

than anybody.

Let's go.

Meyer Lansky knows that

working for a sophisticated
gangster like Rothstein

is the big opportunity that he and Luciano

have been looking for.

Mr. Rothstein, this is my
friend, Charlie Luciano.

Nice to meet you.

Rothstein is very good

at sizing up situations and people.

Smart people recognize
smartness in other people.

Yeah, I'll tell you what.

We're gonna try somethin' out here.

I'll give you a shot.

See if you don't screw it up.

Luciano was still
part of Joe Masseria's gang,

but he begins distributing
alcohol for Rothstein

on the side.

You're
on the right track, Charlie.

As long as you keep
your eye on the business,

you'll do just fine.

In Luciano,

Rothstein sees a
different kind of gangster.

One who can also see the
potential in branching out.

He believed in makin' money,

and he didn't care on
what your nationality was

or the color of your skin.

He wanted to make money.

He was a businessman.

For Luciano,

Rothstein is a role model
he can finally look up to.

The father he always wanted, but never had.

And Luciano's new mentor was teaching him

there's a smarter way to do business.

Rothstein begins to show Luciano

how to organize his criminal
rackets like a corporation.

How long do you keep these books?

You keep these books forever.

Teaching him to
dress like a businessman...

and to sell quality liquor
to maximize his profits.

Luciano is not exactly as
polished as Arnold Rothstein,

but he's willing to learn.

No, no, no, no, no.

Rothstein says, "make yourself into someone

"who can work not only the lower east side,

"the Upper East Side.

"Be a success."

Put these bottles in the back,

wherever you got 'em, all right, men?

- That's the good stuff, from Rothstein.
- Yeah, it's good.

It's good stuff, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, really good.

Working for Rothstein,

Luciano and his gang begin
organizing their operation...

and selling top shelf liquor
to high-end speakeasies

around Manhattan.

Pulling in more money than ever before.

Get outta here.

Give him a drink.

Look at this this guy.

There's just one problem.

They still have to give a
huge cut of their profits...

To Joe Masseria.

Charles Luciano
and his crew begin following

Arnold Rothstein's bootlegging advice

and making a fortune.

All this stuff, this
is the new stuff from Canada.

Arnold
Rothstein teaches 'em,

don't be like Joe Masseria.

Don't sell people rot gut.

There's more money in
selling to rich people

than to alcoholic poor people.

So, sell the good stuff.

There shouldn't be any
empty bottles in this area.

As soon as they come
in, they go in the back.

How are we doing this week, Charlie?

Brooklyn was very thirsty this week.

Oh, yeah?

- What's going on over here?
- All right, listen.

This is all the new stuff from, uh, Jersey.

There's all the scotch, okay?

But, despite their success,

they're still forced to give Joe Masseria

a large cut of everything they make.

Benny... Take that to Masseria.

♪

Ten thousand from Brooklyn, Joe.

Masseria
wanted kickbacks from them.

He wanted as much as
$10,000 from each person

who worked for another gang.

And he saw this... That he deserved it

because he was so important and so vital

to Italian gangsters in New York City.

Masseria, he's sloppy. He's hotheaded.

He's not careful.

Luciano and Lansky
know that working for Masseria

is a dead-end.

We're gonna have to do somethin'.

They're watchin' us build,
and build, and build, right?

And then, they think they're gonna just
scoop up and take everything, right?

Yeah, exactly.

And that's when we strike.

For years, Meyer
Lansky and Charles Luciano

have operated under Masseria's control.

And now, they've had enough.

They know the only way out
is to kill Joe the boss,

an idea so dangerous,

they can confide it to only one man.

♪

Right now,
you're just a soldier.

Another tapista with a
gun, and you're tired of it.

Yeah.

There's safety in no
one knowing who you are.

Nobody targets a nobody.

You took risks.

I mean, you still take risks.

Calculated risks. Smart ones.

One where the odds work in my favor.

Yeah.

You got balls. I'll give you that.

You do this, there's no goin' back.

I know.

You already made up your mind.

Why ask me?

Because I trust you.

Trust yourself...

Because if you do this, you're on your own.

The qualities that make
someone rise in the Mafia

is two things...

Intelligence and big balls.

Sometimes, you get someone
who's really intelligent,

but they're not tough guys.

And then, you get someone who's really,

really a tough guy,

but h-he's just not intelligent.

But, when you get that
combination of intelligence

and big balls, you rise.

♪

Luciano and Lansky decide

that they're going to use their gang

to take out Joe "the boss" Masseria.

A move that will lead to an all-out war,

unlike anything New York has ever seen.