Just prior to the formation of The Commission and the five families, there was a bloody gang war raging in New York. The two sides were led by old-world mafiosi named Salvatore Maranzano and Giuseppe “Joe the Boss” Masseria.
Known as the Castellammarese War, the bloody conflict led to bodies in the street and a lot of attention from police and the press. Many of the participants in the conflict would later go on to prominence as some of the most infamous and well-known mobsters of the twentieth century.
