Frank "the Prime Minister" Costello (10 February 1891-18 February 1973), born Francesco Castiglia, was an Italian-American Mafioso and the boss of the Genovese crime family from 1946 to 1957, succeeding Lucky Luciano and preceding Vito Genovese. Costello would become one of the most influential American Mafia bosses durign the 20th century, as he had political connections, links to gambling rackets in both America and Cuba, and power in the underworld.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Francesco Castiglia was born in the Calabrian hill town of Lauropoli, in the Province of Cosenza. At the age of four, Castiglia and his mother were crammed onto a passenger ship bound for New York City, leaving behind Castiglia's sister and relatives. Castiglia's family settled in the East Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan. Castiglia came to despise his father for working under such a poor society, thinking that the working man was the loser. He would wander the streets for hours, looking for a way to escape poverty. Soon, he found crime was the only way out, and joined a street gang under the name of "Frankie" and began robbing people. He adopted many aliases but there was one that would stick: "Frank Costello", an Irish version of his name. He lost his virginity to a fifteen year-old girl who gave him wine, saying that every time he drank, her hair became silkier and silkier. His boss beat him up because he did not pay his rent, learning a lesson. At the age of 23, he married Lauretta Giegerman, a Jewish woman whom his friend introduced him to; she was only fifteen. The honeymoon ended when Costello was arrested for packing a gun, and after one year in jail, vowed never to carry a gun, using his brains, not weapons.
Gambling[]
Just after World War I ended in 1918, he worked with punch-boards, and not only made the boards, but also the dolls that went as prizes. He had earned $100,000 within a year, then filed for bankruptcy, gaining $14,000 in a scam. He learned how to capitalize on more schemes from a master, Arnold Rothstein. Rothstein ran a bookmaking empire and protected his empire through Tammany Hall. Costello learned to use money, not threats, to buy all of the politicians there; they controlled who would become District Attorney. In 1920, with bootlegging, Rothstein guided the bootlegging operations of Costello and several other "Young Turks", including a savvy Italian kid named Lucky Luciano from the Upper East Side. Two other kids from the block, Meyer Lansky and Benjamin Siegel, also became bootleggers, and Luciano's colleague Vito Genovese was suspicious of them because they were non-Italian. Once, Genovese asked Costello in front of the two Jews, "What are you trying to do, load us with a bunch of Heebs?". Costello stepped in before Bugsy could unleash his temper, saying "Take it easy, Don Vitone. You're nothing but a fucking foreigner yourself". Genovese did not say another word.
Costello used his base at Lexington Avenue to run racketeering, bribery, and intelligence, and became a multi-millionaire at the age of 34. In December 1935, however, they smashed a $40,000,000 liquor raid, but in 1927, Costello's trial ended in a hung jury: "I hung it", Costello said. When he re-visited Lauropoli with his wife, the townspeople lined up, his reputation preceding him. His sister translated his tales of his fortune in America, and the people wanted to rename the town after him, but he said that that would be too much.
Atlantic City Conference[]
In 1929, Costello made his reputation as a peacemaker at Atlantic City, calling it for a specific reason: the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, where Al Capone's Mob lined up members of the North Side Gang while disguised as Chicago Police and mowed them down. Costello told him to go to jail to let things cool down; "Tell me when I'm supposed to laugh", he replied. But he heeded Costello and arranged his own arrest, using a minor gun charge to provoke it. His intervention at Atlantic City gave him the nickname "The Prime Minister" of the Underworld.
New York political boss[]
Costello walking on a New York street
When Rothstein was killed over a card game dispute, Costello inherited his connections in Tammany Hall. Luciano took him in as his senior adviser when he set up his own crime family and Costello became consigliere, using his connections as a bridge between the legitimate and illicit worlds. However, he also worked by himself, putting a slot machine in every candy store, restaurant, and small bar in the New York area, 5,000 in all, and leading the gambling operations of NYC. He used connections in Tammany Hall to legitimatize his bookmaking operations (also inherited from Rothstein) and paid the police and officials lots of money. In the 1932 Democratic Convention, at the Drake Hotel, he shared a suite with Jimmy Heinz, an important political leader. He was introduced as a political contributor to the people, meeting Franklin D. Roosevelt, a candidate for the presidency. However, he could not corrupt Fiorello LaGuardia, the new Mayor of NYC, who in 1934 declared war on his slot machines. However, Huey Long, "The Kingfish" and Governor of Louisiana, offered help. At a party at Long Beach, Costello saved Long from a man who was beating on him because he, drunken, tried to pee between the man's legs but failed; the only urinal was occupied by this man. The two eventually became friends, a relationship that paid off for Costello. Long let Costello bring his slot machines down south. The two moved into the Majestic Hotel in Central Park West after a while, and Costello had a mistress named Felma Martin, tolerated by his wife because she could not bear him any children, whom he put up in a 5th Avenue apartment. He thought that she was playing around so bought a telescope and looked into her apartment with it, but this was the thing that he was most ashamed of in his life, besides his voice; he had a hoarse tone because of a failed operation to remove a throat illness. What he lacked in voice, he made up for with affability. His style could not have been more different from Genovese, a rival within the Luciano Family, who was intimidating, who could destroy him without any regret. When Luciano went to jail in 1936 for prostitution, Genovese became acting boss. However, when he was charged with murder, he was exiled to Italy. Luciano, still in his prison cell, chose Costello to become acting boss.
Murder, Inc.[]
In 1941, he faced his biggest moment of leadership challenge: a hitman named Abe "Kid Twist" Reles. When he sent four mobsters to the electric chair after turning stool pigeon, Reles had to go. Reles was guarded at the Half-Moon Hotel in Coney Island by the cops, so Costello had to use his political protection to kill him. Kid Twist fell from six stories, earning him the epithet "The Canary Who Could Sing, But Couldn't Fly". The cops claimed to have been asleep at the time, but Luciano later said that Costello paid them $50,000; Meyer Lansky said that it was double that.
Peaceful life[]
After World War II, Lansky and Costello turned the parched desert town of Las Vegas into a gambling mecca, also controlling casinos in Havana and Miami, branching into oil and real estate, Costello even investing in Wall Street property. However, he wasn't really interested in leadership, letting the family devolve into "feudal barons, like before Louis XIV", said Peter Maas. He instead called himself "Mr. Schedule", getting himself breakfast before going to the Central Park Zoo to watch the animals, he went to the Waldorf to get a massage and trim, he ate lunch each day in one of the finest Midtown restaurants, went to a horse racing track, went to the Biltmore to go a steam room, and in the evening, he would go to Mon Signore or other fancy restaurants, and went back to Central Park West.
In 1947, his bootlegging partner Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. turned on him. Plagued by depression and insomnia, Costello went to a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist advised him to widen his social circle, to become friends with nice people, and befriended Santha Rama Rau, a young woman who was beginning a writing career, and he met her friends at a cocktail party in his honor. He joked with a stockbroker, saying "we both gamble with other people's money", and from then on, the two became friends. Rau and Costello lunched at the Waldorf Hotel, and Rau sensed that he was regretting his former life, and someone more-violent would take charge.
Return of Genovese[]
In 1946, Vito Genovese, extradited to Italy, was let loose of his charges when the star witness was found dead in a jail cell with enough poison to kill six horses. Vito undermined Costello's power, hoping to take over Luciano's crime family. On January 24, 1949, he was made Vice-Chairman of the Salvation Army and invited Genovese to dinner at the fundraiser party, hosting it at the Copacabana, which he secretly owned. Reporters had a field day: eight judges, several congressmen, and the Tammany Hall brass attended it. He appeared on the covers of TIME and other magazines, called "America's Number One Mystery Man".
However, his quest to gain respect as a legitimate man ended in 1951 with the Kefauver Committee, capping off a 14-city probe of organized crime. He asked not to be shown on the television, so the camera zoomed to his hands in "Costello's Hand Ballet". He rubbed his hands, touched his water, or crumpled a handkerchief in his hands when he was nervous, trying to dodge questions asked by Kefauver. The two-day barrage of questions ended when he said that he would answer no more questions. His most famous remark came when Kefauver asked what good he had done for the country: he said "paid my tax", causing a rare uproar of laughter. He was sent to jail for five years with a $30,000 fine, released in 1956.
His release nearly cost him his life, with Genovese plotting to have him killed. Vincent "the Chin" Gigante was sent to do the job. After returning from Mon Signore with his friends and wife. Around 11 PM, he cut short his routine to go home and call his lawyers, sharing a cab with Phil Kennedy. As he got out of his taxi, The Chin rushed out of a limousine and entered the lobby, waiting. Reaching his arm out with a pistol, he said "this is for you, Frank" and fired, six to twelve feet away. Costello, sinking to the floor with blood falling from his head, fell, and The Chin, certain that Costello was dead, fled the hotel. However, the bullet grazed the top of his fedora, separating the brim from the body of the hat. While Costello was in the hospital, a detective found a slip that showed earnings at the Tropicana, evidence of the mob's hold on Las Vegas. While Costello was questioned in a tax evasion trial on who had shot him, he said "I know not who could have done it; I haven't an enemy in the world", although he knew it was the Chin. Gigante went into hiding but turned himself in to police a month later. Costello knew that Genovese was behind the shooting but did not want to go to war. At Gigante's trial, he was found not guilty, and shook Costello's hand, Costello telling Genovese that he had resigned. Genovese was still suspicious of him, and on October 25, 1957, Albert Anastasia was gunned down while having a shave; Anastasia was a Costello ally. Costello told Anastasia's brother "This means I'm next". Before that could happen, Costello was sent to jail to finish his sentence, and Genovese was about to join him there in prison, nearly causing a riot. In 1959, Costello brokered a deal with Genovese, sorting out a truce, setting aside a truce, making peace with him.
Last years[]
In 1961, the Supreme Court threw out the deportation case and Costello was left alone, going back to the Waldorf, where Charlie "The Blade" Turine and others sought his advice. He cultivated roses at his estate, and preferred socializing with actor Anthony Quinn and non-mobsters. He remained a celebrity in New York and author Peter Maas wrote a biography about him, meeting eleven times, the first seven occasions in Maas' apartment. After a year and a half of discussions, he consented to write his biography, but in 1973, Charlie "the Blade" Turine called Maas, telling him that "he's gone", and hung up. At the age of 82, he had found himself, and knew what it ment to be alive, and died of a heart attack. His funeral was a small affair with fifty non-Mafia mourners and was buried at the St. Michael's Cemetery in Queens.
Even in his grave, Costello made headlines. His mausoleum was bombed by Carmine Galante, who took over as Bonanno crime family boss, saying that the old generations were gone; Galante was involved in the narcotics trade, something that Costello's generation opposed. His death ended the golden age of the Mafia.