The brothers Giuseppe Morello and Nicholas Morello
The Morello crime family was one of the earliest American Mafia families to be established in New York City, being founded during the late 1890s by an immigrant from Sicily, Giuseppe Morello. The Morellos became one of the most powerful gangs in the city, being responsible for over 100 murders and ruling most of the city's rackets. In 1915, the Morellos went to war with Pellegrino Morano and the Camorra of Brooklyn over the numbers rackets left behind after the murder of Giosue Gallucci by Morano's men. The war would end with the destruction of the Camorra, but Morello was in jail for much of the conflict, and his family would also disintegrate. Joe Masseria became the boss of one segment of the family, while Salvatore D'Aquila decided to create his own family in The Bronx and Brooklyn, the "Gambino crime family". The Genovese crime family would rise from the ashes of the Morellos.