← Back to the front page

Fascinating Facts About the Birth of the Italian-American Mafia

Khalid Elhassan February 13, 2025 17 min

Mafia - Lucky Luciano, who midwifed the birth of the modern Italian-American Mafia — Lucky Luciano, who midwifed the birth of the modern Italian-American Mafia. The Mob Museum

2. “Little Caesar” in Charge of the Mafia

The basic Italian-American Mafia structure established by Salvatore Maranzano. FBI

Salvatore Maranzano was a huge fan of Julius Caesar, whom he sought to emulate. He often lectured less educated American Mafiosi about the Roman dictator, which earned Maranzano the nickname “Little Caesar”. It was not meant as a compliment. In 1930, he waged what came to be known as the Castellammarese War against Joe Masseria. After Masseria’s assassination by his own lieutenants, Maranzano reorganized the American mafia, and set up a basic hierarchical structure that survives to this day. Each established family would henceforth have a boss and underboss, and beneath them would be captains, or caporegimes, in command of soldiers. Above them all, Maranzano declared himself “Boss of All Bosses”.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.