Gotti is/was a tool.
Luciano helped us against the Krauts in WWII.
Gotti is/was a tool
?
Luciano helped us against the Krauts in WWII
For easy time and a get out of jail free card.
http://www.crimelibrary.com/gangsters_outlaws/mob_bosses/luciano/index_1.html
It was business as usual and Lucky was able to continue to run his empire from the walls of Dannemora. On one particular visit, two narcotics agents dropped by thinking that Luciano might be ready to talk. As soon as he saw the agents he said, "Take me out of here. I won’t talk to these people." Another visit brought none other than his sentencing judge, Phillip J. McCook. In an interview attributed to Luciano in a book whose authenticity has been questioned, The Last Testament of Lucky Luciano, by Martin A. Gosch and Richard Hammer, Judge McCook is alleged to have fallen to his knees, pleaded for forgiveness, and begged Luciano to remove a Sicilian curse that was ruining his life. Nobody who knew the rugged, no-nonsense judge believed this—and it never happened. Actually, McCook was visiting Luciano to check out a rumor that turned out to be unfounded -- that Luciano had been threatened with underworld violence.
World War II was grinding on in 1942 and the United States had entered it in 1941 when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. Luciano was ready in the spring of 1942 for almost any idea that would help get him out of dreary Dannemora. As it was, he was not even eligible to apply for parole until April 24, 1956. Meyer Lansky, in trying to help his friend get out of prison, sent out feelers that suggested that Lucky could help the United States war effort in Sicily and at home. Some serious thought was made to enlist Luciano’s help in securing the waterfront docks in New York from Nazi saboteurs.
Naval Intelligence got wind of the idea, and eagerly decided to approach Luciano with their proposal. But first, they needed to get him out of Dannemora and send him to a more secure location. The place they had in mind was Great Meadow Prison in Comstock, New York. Luciano was ecstatic and jumped at the opportunity to leave Dannemora to what he felt like was a country club. On May 12, 1942, he was headed for Great Meadow Prison.
Luciano felt that Great Meadow was a great place to visit, but didn’t want to live there. Shortly after his arrival there, he was hospitalized for iritis of his right eye, the eyelid which had drooped ever since his ordeal back in 1929. He recovered and would soon be healthy enough to be assigned chores in the cement shack . He attended no chapel services and never set foot in a classroom. Afterall, what trade could he learn for life on the outside?
Lucky didn’t break a single prison rule and was considered a model prisoner. Friends dropped by on a frequent basis, especially Meyer Lansky. However, there were other visitors that Lucky didn’t know, but expected.
The Allies in war torn Europe were about to launch an invasion of Sicily. The U.S. could use some help in acquiring intelligence on German troop movements and other vital military information. The U.S. had reason to believe the Mafia wanted the Axis forces off the island, so that they could get back to peace and prosperity for its own purposes. Naval Intelligence made numerous unrecorded visits to Great Meadow to solicit help from Lucky. Can he get word to the Mafia leaders on Sicily asking for help? Lucky assured them he could, and it was later proven he did.
Lucky enjoys a glass of wine in retirement
Lucky did what you would call easy-time at Great Meadow. He could get anything he wanted—booze, good food, and reportedly women. With his service to the U.S. government, he felt this justified an early release from prison. At war’s end and in a strange twist of fate, the person who could grant commutation of sentence was also the person who put him in jail, Thomas Dewey, who was now the Governor of New York.
Maybe Dewey felt obligated in giving Luciano a break because he had heard about Dutch Schultz’s intention on having him killed and how Luciano disposed of Dutch instead. At any rate, in January, 1946, Dewey granted commutation of sentence with the condition that he be deported to Italy. Dewey found that Lucky never became a naturalized citizen in his own right.