Joseph Lanza
Encyclopedia
Racket (crime)
A racket is an illegal business, usually run as part of organized crime. Engaging in a racket is called racketeering.Several forms of racket exist. The best-known is the protection racket, in which criminals demand money from businesses in exchange for the service of "protection" against crimes...
and a member of the Genovese crime family
Genovese crime family
The Genovese crime family , is one of the "Five Families" that dominates organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia . The Genovese crime family has been nicknamed the "Ivy League" and "Rolls Royce" of organized crime...
.
Born in Palermo
Palermo
Palermo is a city in Southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Province of Palermo. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old...
, Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
, Lanza immigrated to the United States and settled in New York working as a handler in Lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan is the southernmost part of the island of Manhattan, the main island and center of business and government of the City of New York...
's Fulton Fish Market
Fulton Fish Market
The Fulton Fish Market is a fish market in The Bronx, New York, United States. It was originally a wing of the Fulton Market, established in 1822 to sell a variety of foodstuffs and produce...
. Lanza soon became involved in labor union activity and, by 1923, had become an organizer
Union organizer
A union organizer is a specific type of trade union member or an appointed union official. A majority of unions appoint rather than elect their organizers....
for the United Seafood Workers union (USW). It was during this time that Lanza had become involved in organized crime
Organized crime
Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...
, eventually becoming a member of the Luciano
Lucky Luciano
Charlie "Lucky" Luciano was an Italian mobster born in Sicily. Luciano is considered the father of modern organized crime in the United States for splitting New York City into five different Mafia crime families and the establishment of the first commission...
(and later the Genovese) crime family. As head of the Local 359 USW, Lanza threatened wholesalers with delays in loading and unloading perishable goods resulting in profits of $20 million from the Fulton Fish Market
Fulton Fish Market
The Fulton Fish Market is a fish market in The Bronx, New York, United States. It was originally a wing of the Fulton Market, established in 1822 to sell a variety of foodstuffs and produce...
alone. He is the father of Colombo crime family
Colombo crime family
The Colombo crime family is the youngest of the "Five Families" that dominates organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia ....
mob associate Harry Lanza born May 4, 1950 who lived in 2007 in Hyde Park, New York
Hyde Park, New York
Hyde Park is a town located in the northwest part of Dutchess County, New York, United States, just north of the city of Poughkeepsie. The town is most famous for being the hometown of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt....
.
Although convicted of labor racketeering in 1938, Lanza became an important figure in safeguarding New York's waterfront
New York Harbor
New York Harbor refers to the waterways of the estuary near the mouth of the Hudson River that empty into New York Bay. It is one of the largest natural harbors in the world. Although the U.S. Board of Geographic Names does not use the term, New York Harbor has important historical, governmental,...
during the early 1940s. Lanza personally advised the Office of Naval Intelligence
Office of Naval Intelligence
The Office of Naval Intelligence was established in the United States Navy in 1882. ONI was established to "seek out and report" on the advancements in other nations' navies. Its headquarters are at the National Maritime Intelligence Center in Suitland, Maryland...
working with local stevedore
Stevedore
Stevedore, dockworker, docker, dock labourer, wharfie and longshoreman can have various waterfront-related meanings concerning loading and unloading ships, according to place and country....
s and fisherman in tracking submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
s, resulting in obtaining key strategic positions in waterfront installations and effectively conduct counter-espionage
Counter-intelligence
Counterintelligence or counter-intelligence refers to efforts made by intelligence organizations to prevent hostile or enemy intelligence organizations from successfully gathering and collecting intelligence against them. National intelligence programs, and, by extension, the overall defenses of...
activities for the Third Naval District.
Although Lanza had helped secure the New York waterfront, he was convicted of extortion
Extortion
Extortion is a criminal offence which occurs when a person unlawfully obtains either money, property or services from a person, entity, or institution, through coercion. Refraining from doing harm is sometimes euphemistically called protection. Extortion is commonly practiced by organized crime...
the following year and sentenced from 7½ to 10 years imprisonment. Upon his release in 1950, Lanza resumed his leadership role in the Fulton Fish Market and, despite a 1957 arrest for parole violation; he maintained control of the area until his death on October 11, 1968.
See also
- Carmine RomanoCarmine RomanoCarmine Romano was a New York City mobster and captain in the Genovese crime family who controlled the Fulton Fish Market distribution center in Downtown Manhattan.-Mob control of Fulton Fish Market:...
- Rosario GangiRosario GangiRosario "Ross" Gangi is a New York City mobster and captain in the Genovese crime family who became involved in labor racketeering and white collar crime.-Biography:...
- Alphonse "Allie Shades" MalangoneAlphonse MalangoneAlphonse "Allie Shades" Malangone is a New York City mobster and caporegime in the Genovese crime family. Malangone controlled a good portion of the Genovese interests in the Fulton Fish Market, while dabbling in pump and dump stock scams on Wall Street and controlling Brooklyn's garbage hauling...
Further reading
- Block, Alan A. "A Modern Marriage of Convenience: Organized Crime and U.S. Intelligence," in Organized Crime: A Global Perspective, ed. Robert J. Kelly, 1986.