Luciano had planned the hit, and he quickly became one of the leaders in the criminal underworld ... Luciano revolutionised the way the New York mob was run. Mobsters: The Mob’s Greatest Hits
Luciano proposed that the mobsters share the New York territories. ibid.
But when Joe ‘the Boss’ Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano were taken out by organised hits, mobster Lucky Luciano rose to the top, and organised crime was born. ibid.
He [Thomas Dewey] won scores of convictions, and in 1946 saw to it that Lucky Luciano, an illegal immigrant, was deported back to Italy. ibid.
He [Lucky Luciano] came in 1906 at the age of eight as part of the great tide of Italian immigrants to the Lower East Side, Little Italy ... At the age of eighteen he was sent to the notoriously harsh Hampton Farms Penitentiary for a year for peddling narcotics. His reward for keeping silent when arrested was to be made a full member of the Five Points Gang alongside the infamous Al Capone, Frankie Yale and Johnny Torrio. Great Crimes & Trials s1e2: Lucky Luciano and the Mob: Narcotics, BBC 1993
[Thomas] Dewey had to battle to extradite him from Arkansas. But at last in May 1936 Charles Lucania, as he was called on the Charge Sheet, found himself in a New York courthouse ... He was sent down for a minimum of thirty years. The heaviest jail sentence ever given for vice. Examined on arrival in prison he was found to have syphilis and to be a drug addict. ibid.
As he reached his car his features contorted with a heart attack that killed him within minutes. ibid.
Charles Lucky Luciano: the Number One gangster of all time. Intelligent, ruthless, and a visionary. Luciano transformed the Mafia from warring street gangs into a highly sophisticated empire. Mafia’s Greatest Hits s1e2: Charles Lucky Luciano, 2012
Why was nobody able to stop him? ibid.
A score of other murders which had taken place along I-35. Great Crimes & Trials s3e3: Henry Lee Lucas, BBC 1996
After 10 days in custody Lucas suddenly collapsed and admitted to killing Becky and Mrs Rich. ibid.
‘I’ve had shootings, knifings, strangulations, beatings, and I’ve participated in actual crucifixions.’ ibid. Lucas
He [Lucas] had just solved two murders and was confessing to many more. ibid.
One particularly brutal beating gave him brain damage. ibid.
‘The day I got out of jail was the day I started killing.’ ibid. Lucas
Luciano had begun his career as a top hitman for New York Mafia Don, Giuseppe Joe ‘The Boss’ Masseria. ibid.
In 1925 another boss arrived in town ... The streets of New York turned red. The underworld called it the Castellammarese War. ibid.
With Masseria’s murder, Luciano signalled to the underworld that the Castellammarese War was over. ibid.
The gangs of New York would be organised into five families to control the boroughs. ibid.
Luciano then contacted his childhood friend Meyer Lansky to arrange the hit. ibid.
Lansky was able to do complex calculations in his head. ibid.
Arnold Rothstein ... a fabulously rich New York businessman. ibid.
Luciano, Lansky and Rothstein proved to be quick learners, and soon they became very rich indeed. ibid.
Luciano was able to expand his vision and develop new ways for the Mafia to grow. ibid.
There would be no boss of bosses. Instead, Luciano introduced a more democratic form of leadership. ibid.
Luciano was also a bachelor and party animal. ibid.
In the 1930s Luciano was the face of organised crime. And Dewey was after him. ibid.
The trial began on May 12th 1935. Dewey reigned forth in his opening statement. ibid.
Frank Costello ... took over the day to day running of his empire. ibid.
Dewey, the man who had put him away for 30-50 years, granted Luciano executive clemency in 1946. ibid.
In 1962 Luciano was targeted for arrest as an alleged member of a ring that smuggled $150,000,000’s worth of heroin into the United States. ibid.
Charles Lucky Luciano’s reign had been a remarkable one. ibid.
With Lansky at his side, Luciano was soon shooting his way to the top of the New York underworld. Mafia’s Greatest Hits: Meyer Lansky, 2012
He [Luciano] created a new texture, a whole new way of how criminals could operate in America. Selwyn Raab, author Five Families
Luciano created the Commission. Selwyn Raab
Turned out he [Luciano] had once been a rat to save his skin. Selwyn Raab
In the 1920s when it was illegal to have a drink Luciano’s ready-made criminal organisation was quick to capitalise on this unpopular law. Luciano and his fellow gangstas were able to diversify and forge a powerful syndicate of crime. Mafia Empire: Vow of Silence, 2006
Luciano became the uncrowned king of American crime everything from bootlegging and prostitution to narcotics and loan-sharking. ibid.
Vito Genovese, Lucky Luciano, and Maya Lansky were some of the men who made up the Commission, the Mafia’s secret government. They were leaders of an empire that at the height of its power affected virtually all areas of everyday life. ibid.
In Palermo in 1957 American and Sicilian Mafia held a series of secret meetings to discuss their common future. In attendance were American godfathers Joe Bonanno and Lucky Luciano, now living back in Italy. ibid.
LUCIO, MELISSA: True Crime Recaps 2022 - The State of Texas vs Melissa 2021 -
The last minutes of Melissa Lucio’s life were ticking by. After years on Death Row her execution was scheduled for April 27th 2022. But just before she’s put to death a trial court agrees to hear new evidence that could prove she didn’t murder her two-year-old daughter Mariah. True Crime Recaps: Melissa Lucio’s Death Sentence Halted Moments Before Final Day! Youtube 12.22, 2022
Harlingen, Texas, February 2007: Paramedics responded to a call … walked into a small apartment bursting at the seams with nine kids. They were there for the little girl lying on her back in the middle of the floor … The expected that Melissa would be grieving but she wasn’t. ibid.
She said Melissa fell down these 14 stairs outside the building leading up to their front door on the second storey. ibid.
Doctors called it the absolute worst case of child abuse they’d seen in 30 years. They counted 110 bruises in various stages of healing. Her arm was healing from a fracture … ibid.
I’ve lost 12 years without my children. Some of them have memories of me and some of them don’t … I hear them calling out for me. The State of Texas vs Melissa, 2021
I don’t understand how the court system could have done this to me. The state of Texas wants to kill me.
My name is Melissa Elizabeth Lucio. I’m 48 years old. I have 14 children. I’ve been on death row 11 years. ibid.
Police: Autopsy reveals toddler suffered blunt trauma to head. ibid. Valley Morning Star article
This was the worst case of child abuse I had ever seen. There were bruises from head to toe. ibid. autopsy lady
None of those kids ever said that their mum was beating up on Mariah. ibid. lawyer
LUND, ROBERT: When Missing Turns to Murder TV -
An ex-pat British man living in a remote part of southern France calls his stepdaughter in Lancashire. When Missing Turns to Murder s1e9: Evelyn Lund, Netflix 2023
‘He came into my mum’s life at a vulnerable time.’ ibid. daughter
‘Apparently, when he drank it turned him nasty. I was angry.’ ibid.
Back in France, with so much evidence against Robert Lund, French authorities decide to arrest him on suspicion of murder. ibid.
‘The discovery of Evelyn’s body confirmed our suspicions.’ ibid. French rozzer