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" Final Resting Place of Lucky Luciano"

Salvatore "Lucky" Luciano
24th November 1897 - 26th January 1962
Luciano was boyhood friends with both Meyer Lansky and Bugsy Segal. It was with their help that Lucky, after a series of hits on mafia leaders, organized the New York crime families into the Syndicate. He became Boss of Bosses, Meyer Lansky became the financial brains and Bugsy the muscle. Oversaw all rackets in New York and controlled the New York waterfront.  Was prosecuted by District Attorney Thomas Dewey on pimping & extortion charges and sentenced to 30-50 years in Dannemora Jail. Even in behind bars he ran the New York waterfront, with his regular visits from both Meyer Lansky & Bugsy Segal Lucky still welded enormous power. In 1942 the navy sailed the " Normandie" into New York to refit it as a troopship it mysteriously sank in its dock. Luciano by guaranteeing no further troubles obtained a pardon at wars end and was deported back to Italy. Even from Italy Luciano with Meyer Lansky's help ran the mob, meeting the family heads in Cuba. Some years before Lucky had sent Bugsy Segal to Los Angeles to oversee and expand on the California & Nevada rackets. Whilst in Las Vegas Bugsy decided to build the first super hotel/casino on what is now "The Strip", realizing Meyer Lansky's dream of having a legitimate hotel in Las Vegas. " The Flamingo" being built with mob money by Bugsy, went so over budget that cheques began to bounce leading to suspicions that Bugsy was skimming money from the mob. "The Flamingo" opened in December 1946 and was the first hotel in Vegas to book the megastars of the day to draw in the punters. Although it soon began to make a profit Bugsy fate was sealed for his alleged skimming. On Lucky's orders Bugsy, Lucky's childhood friend, was shot & killed  in Beverly Hills in June 1947. This was the first mob hotel in Las Vegas but proved to be so profitable many more followed. All this and further mob expansion was overseen by Luciano in Italy and Meyer Lansky in the states. Lucky Luciano never set foot in America again while he was alive, he died of a heart attack in Naples airport in 1962 but was buried in New York. Meyer Lansky died in 1983 at the age of 81. 

Luciano's tomb is near to many of his mafia friends, many of whom were killed on his orders as he rose to power.
Saint Johns Cemetery, Queens, New York.