Don Morello

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Giuseppe Morello was born in Corleone, Sicily on May 2, 1867. His father Calogero Morello died in 1872 and his mother Angelina Piazza remarried one year later to Bernardo Terranova, a member of the Terranova Mafia clan of Corleone. Bernardo and Angelina had seven known children: two sons named Vincenzo (the first, born in 1874, died at age two; the second was born in 1886), Ciro (born 1888), Nicolò (born 1890), Lucia (born 1877), Salvatrice (born 1880), and Rosalia (born 1892, died October 14, 1915). The Morello and Terranova children grew up together and Bernardo may have facilitated Giuseppe's early induction into the local cosca. Author David Critchley notes that Morello also had an uncle, Giuseppe Battaglia, who was a leader in the Corleonesi Mafia and who may have assisted in his nephew's passage. Giuseppe Morello married Maria Rosa Marsalisi (1867–1898) in 1889. The couple had two children: a daughter, Angela (born 1891 and died 1892), and a son, Calogero "Charles" Morello (born November 1892 in Corleone, died 1912). The year of Morello's emigration to the United States is not certain. Author Mike Dash writes that Morello emigrated in 1892 after becoming a suspect in a murder in Corleone and after his counterfeiting ring had been compromised. Despite his departure, the Italian government brought a case to court and found him guilty of money counterfeiting. On September 14, 1894, he was sentenced to 6 years and 45 days imprisonment plus a fine and deprived of the right to hold public office. It is possible that the sentence was handed down in absentia; according to Critchley, it appears that Morello left Sicily for New York around this time. Morello's three half-brothers Nicolò, Vincenzo and Ciro, his stepfather Bernardo, his mother Angelina, his sister Maria, his half sister Rosalia, his wife Maria Rosa Marsalisi and son Calogero would arrive in New York City on March 8, 1893. In the mid-1890s, Giuseppe Morello moved to Louisiana in search of employment and was joined by the other members of the Morello-Terranova family. The following year they moved to Texas and farmed cotton. After contracting malaria they returned to New York around 1897. Morello tried his hand in different business ventures, including failed investments in a saloon and a date packaging business. Morello's first wife, Maria Rosa Marsalisi, died in 1898 in Corleone. In 1902, he acquired a saloon at 8 Prince Street in Manhattan which became a meeting place for members of his gang. In December 1903, Morello married Nicolina "Lena" Salemi (1884–1967), who stayed with him for the rest of his life. In the 1890s, Giuseppe founded the 107th Street Mob which would later evolve into the Morello crime family. In 1903, Ignazio "the Wolf" Lupo, the Sicilian Mafia boss in Little Italy, Manhattan, married Morello's half sister Salvatrice. Morello built his empire based on his merciless ordering of death sentences against anyone who dared to face him. Lupo, his main enforcer, was responsible for more than sixty murders in a 10-year period. The Morello family would frequently employ the notorious barrel murder system, dumping dismembered corpses into large wooden barrels. The barrels would then be thrown into the sea, left on a random street corner, abandoned in a back alley or shipped to nonexistent addresses in another city. Family businesses included extortion, loan sharking, Italian lottery, robbery and counterfeiting. Illegally earned money was then legitimized by legal businesses such as stores or restaurants owned by the family, making them the first crime family in town to organize this kind of money laundering. They also introduced revolutionary ways of extorting small amounts of money every week from business owners in exchange for "protection", as opposed to the theft of large amounts which might bankrupt them. This technique was adopted from Black Hand gangsters and it led to increased profits for the gang. Two members of Morello's famiglia who became Captains under Morello and who later gained much prominence in the New York underworld were Giuseppe Masseria and Salvatore D'Aquila. By 1905, Morello had created the largest, most influential Sicilian crime family in New York City and was recognized as capo di tutti capi (boss of bosses) by Mafia leaders in other U.S. cities, according to Nicola Gentile. Morello was found guilty of counterfeiting again in 1910 and was sentenced to 25 years in prison. He was later paroled. In 1922, President Warren Harding freed Morello from the constraints of his parole by granting a conditional commutation of sentence. The youngest of his three half brothers, Nicolo Terranova, took over control until 1916, when he was killed by the Neapolitan boss in Brooklyn, Pellegrino Morano, as well as Tony Parretti as part of the Mafia–Camorra War. Morello's remaining two half brothers Vincenzo Terranova and Ciro Terranova, took over as boss and underboss and ran the family until Morello's release from prison. Newly released from Atlanta Federal Penitentiary in 1920 and trying to retake control of his empire, Morello found himself considered a threat to his former captain, now turned Mafia boss, Salvatore D'Aquila, who, within a year of Morello's release, ordered Morello killed. Morello, along with a number of others now under orders of death by D'Aquila, fled to Sicily for a spell. One of these men, a former D'Aquila gunman, Umberto Valenti, went after Morello and his chief protector and ally, Giuseppe Masseria, in order to regain the favor of D'Aquila. A war ensued and, after much violence and some prominent deaths among the mafiosi involved, Valenti was killed by Masseria gunmen (some say including or solely Charles Luciano) in August 1922. With Valenti gone, D'Aquila's power began to lose its luster of invulnerability. Morello, sensing his time to rule had passed and the power of Masseria was on the rise, became consigliere to Masseria and prospered under him throughout the Prohibition years of the 1920s. During the Castellammarese War, between 1930 and 1931, Masseria and Morello fought against a rival group based in Brooklyn, led by Salvatore Maranzano and Joseph Bonanno. Morello, an old hand at killing, became Masseria's "war chief" and strategic adviser. One of the first victims of the war, Giuseppe Morello was killed along with associate Joseph Perriano on August 15, 1930, while collecting cash receipts in his East Harlem office. Joseph Valachi, the first made man in the American Mafia to turn state's evidence, identified Morello's killer as a Castellammarese gunman he knew as "Buster from Chicago". Filmmaker Martin A. Gosch's The Last Testament of Lucky Luciano, a purported autobiographical account of Charles Luciano of disputed authenticity, claims that Luciano orchestrated Morello's murder.

In Their Own Story

The barrel sat on the corner of East 107th Street, a wooden cask that had been dumped like trash. Inside, a body—dismembered, packed tight. It was the Morello family's signature, a message to anyone who crossed them. Giuseppe Morello, his claw-like right hand resting on his cane, watched from a window above. 'Let them find him,' he said to Ignazio Lupo. 'Let them know what happens.' The barrel murder system was just one tool in a growing empire built on counterfeiting, extortion, and the weekly protection racket—a revolutionary idea borrowed from Black Hand gangsters that bled small businesses dry without killing them. By 1905, Morello was capo di tutti capi, boss of bosses, according to Nicola Gentile. But the fall came fast: a 25-year sentence for counterfeiting in 1910, parole, then a conditional commutation from President Warren Harding in 1922. Released from Atlanta Federal Penitentiary in 1920, he found his former captain Salvatore D'Aquila had put a price on his head. Morello fled to Sicily, then returned to become consigliere to Giuseppe Masseria. On August 15, 1930, while collecting cash receipts in his East Harlem office, a Castellammarese gunman known as 'Buster from Chicago' killed him. Joseph Valachi identified the shooter. Morello was 63.

Reader's Guide

Giuseppe Morello is a historical figure, not a video game character. He appears in the source as the first boss of the Morello crime family (later the Genovese crime family) and a top adviser to Giuseppe Masseria. His life is documented from his birth in Corleone, Sicily on May 2, 1867, to his death on August 15, 1930. Key events include: founding the 107th Street Mob in the 1890s; marrying Maria Rosa Marsalisi in 1889 (she died in 1898); emigrating to the U.S. around 1892 after a murder suspicion and counterfeiting charges; being sentenced in absentia on September 14, 1894 to 6 years and 45 days for counterfeiting; moving to Louisiana and then Texas before returning to New York around 1897; acquiring a saloon at 8 Prince Street in Manhattan in 1902; marrying Nicolina Salemi in December 1903; being recognized as capo di tutti capi by 1905; being sentenced to 25 years for counterfeiting in 1910; being paroled and receiving a conditional commutation from President Harding in 1922; being released from Atlanta Federal Penitentiary in 1920; fleeing to Sicily after D'Aquila ordered his death; becoming consigliere to Masseria; and being killed during the Castellammarese War on August 15, 1930, by a gunman known as 'Buster from Chicago'. The source does not describe any video game appearances or gameplay mechanics.

Did You Know?

• Giuseppe Morello had a deformed right hand with only one finger, resembling a claw, earning him the nickname 'the Clutch Hand'.
• He was sentenced to 6 years and 45 days imprisonment for counterfeiting on September 14, 1894, possibly in absentia.
• Morello's half brother Nicolo Terranova was killed in 1916 by Neapolitan boss Pellegrino Morano during the Mafia–Camorra War.
• President Warren Harding granted Morello a conditional commutation of his parole in 1922.
• Joseph Valachi identified Morello's killer as a Castellammarese gunman known as 'Buster from Chicago'.