Salvatore Maranzano

Salvatore Maranzano (31st July 1886 - 10th September 1931) was a Mafia boss known as "Little Caesar" responsible for the foundation of the Bonnano crime family.

Biography
Maranzano was born in Sicily in 1931. Although initially wanting to be a priest, he later joined the Mafia and moved to the USA. As well as running a legitimate real estate business, Maranzano also got involved in bootlegging, prostitution and the Illegal Drug Trade, and took future mob boss Joseph Bonnano under his wing.

As a powerful mob boss, Maranzano attempted to take control of the Castellammarese Mob, resulting in him ordering the assassination of another mobster who was attempting to take charge. However, this caused Giuseppe Masseria, who was running the man before the American Mafia's governing body The Commission as the leader, to declare war on Maranzano, starting what is known as The Castellammarese War. Eventually, Maranzano bribed Masseria' s lieutenants Lucky Luciano and Vito Genovese, who assassinated Masseria, with the help of Bugsy Siegel, Albert Anastasia and Joe Adonis. Now in control of the Castellammarese Mob, Maranzano became the "Boss of all Bosses". However, after discovering that Luciano believed he was dangerously power hungry, Maranzano attempted to have him and Genovese assassinated. However, Luciano discovered his plan and sent Siegel and another assassin to Maranzano' s office, where they gunned him down. Following his death, Luciano abolished the position of "Boss of Bosses".