Silva Tagliagamba was an early New York mobster and a member of the Morello crime family

Morello crime family

The Morello crime family is the direct ancestor of the Genovese crime family, the oldest of New York City's Five Families.-From Corleone to America:...

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Tagliagamba served as a bodyguard

Bodyguard

A bodyguard is a type of security operative or government agent who protects a person—usually a famous, wealthy, or politically important figure—from assault, kidnapping, assassination, stalking, loss of confidential information, terrorist attack or other threats.Most important public figures such...

 for mob boss Umberto Valenti during in the early 1920s. On May 8, 1922, Valenti allegedly murdered mobster Vincent Morello in Manhattan. When Morello's ally, Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria

Joe Masseria

Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria was an early Mafia don in the United States. He was boss of what is now called the Genovese crime family, one of the New York Mafia's Five Families, from 1922 to 1931.-Early days:...

, heard about the shooting, he supposedly set an ambush for Valenti later that day outside the Liquor Exchange, an open air market for bootleggers, in downtown Manhattan. Other accounts suggest that it was Valenti, not Masseria, who set up the ambush. In any event, during the ambush, Masseria shot and fatally wounded Tagliagamba. Both Valenti and Tagliagamba escaped the scene while Masseria was arrested.

In June 1922, Tagliagamba died from his wounds. Masseria was indicted on the Tagliagamba shooting, but the case never came to trial.