Gangster Sonny

He became the head of the former Reina crime family in 1931. Gaetano or “Tommy” as he was known retired and relinquished control of the Gagliano crime family allegedly in 1953 to his Underboss, Gaetano “Tommy Brown” Luchese, while some have 1951 as the year. The Lucchese crime family would go on to become one of the most powerful criminal organizations in America, the crime family that Tommy Gagliano led at the start of “La Cosa Nostra” still holds a top position in the American underworld to this day.^{[citation needed]} The Lucchese crime family was formed and grew into an underworld power under the reign of the “Three Tommys” from the early 1920’s, when first Boss Tommy Reina held the leader of the Bronx crime family, the death of the last Tommy, Luchese in 1967 ended the succession of leadership for these 3 great mafia Bosses!Tommy Gagliano remains a shadowy figure in the history of Cosa Nostra, with few details having surfaced about his early life before his arrival in New York from Sicily by the early 1920’s, he was know to have been the Underboss or second in command for one of the first mafia Bosses of the Bronx, Tommy Reina from the early or mid 1920’s until the death of Reina in 1930, when Gagliano was briefly the Underboss to a new successor to Reina, but Gaglaino soon became Boss.The murders of Tom Reina and Joseph Masseria during the Castellammarese War of 1930-31, and the creation of the Commission under the guidance of Charles “Lucky” Luciano, saw the promotion of the “Two Tommys”, Tommy Gagliano and Tommy Lucchese to the top of the Lucchese family. Reina had been briefly replaced by Joseph Pinzolo, a man roundly hated by those under and around him, including Gagliano and Lucchese - following Pinzolo’s murder, Gagliano was confirmed as leader by Masseria, by Castellammarese War ‘victor’ Salvatore Maranzano following Masseria’s demise at the hands of Luciano’s men, and for a third time upon the creation of the Commission. Lucchese was confirmed as Gagliano’s second-in-command.Gagliano steered the Lucchese family through a period when tensions between the Five Families constantly ran high. With Luciano sent back to Italy by the US government, Vincent Mangano, Joe Bonanno, Stefano Magaddino and Joe Profaci had taken control of the Commission. Gagliano had to be very careful in the face of this alliance, and was keen to keep a low profile while furthering the business interests of his section of Cosa Nostra, in industries such as gasoline rationing, meat and black market sugar. Indeed, in keeping with his previous hidden history, very little is known about Gagliano between 1932 and his death in the early 1950s, when the ever-loyal Tommy Lucchese took over as head of the family.

As with many ‘facts’ regarding the mob, the date of Tommy Gagliano’s death is disputed, with some sources, even statements made longtime Gagliano associate, by Tommy Luchese who allegedly suggested during 1951 Senate hearings that Gagliano had already passed away from natural causes, on 16 February 1951, though the date is usually stated as two years later in 1953, it is possible that Gagliano had officially retired by 1951 and his status was being protected so that he would not have any law enforcement or media scrutiny during his last years, but there is no concrete evidence to support this theory.