Charles "Lucky" Luciano was an Italian-born gangster who operated mainly in the United States. He started his criminal career in the Five Points Gang and was instrumental in the development of the National Crime Syndicate. Luciano is considered the father of modern organized crime in the United States for the establishment of the Commission in 1931, after he abolished the boss of bosses title held by Salvatore Maranzano following the Castellammarese War. He was also the first official boss of the modern Genovese crime family.
1936 mugshot
1931 New York Police Department mugshot of Lucky Luciano
The Hotel Nacional in Havana, former residence of Lucky Luciano in Cuba and the venue for the Havana Conference
Lucky Luciano at the Excelsior Hotel, Rome, in 1948
A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from mob and the suffix -ster. Gangs provide a level of organization and resources that support much larger and more complex criminal transactions than an individual criminal could achieve. Gangsters have been active for many years in countries around the world. Gangsters are the subject of many novels, films, television series, and video games.
Yakuza, or Japanese mafia, are not allowed to show their tattoos in public except during the Sanja Matsuri festival.
Sketch of the 1901 maxi trial of suspected mafiosi in Palermo. From the newspaper L'Ora, May 1901.
Criminal file and mugshot of Joseph Stalin in 1910
Du Yuesheng (1888–1951), a Chinese gangster and important Kuomintang supporter who spent much of his life in Shanghai
