Lucky Luciano

In 1946, the American justice system did the Mafia a huge favor.

It returned to Italy, his place of birth, Salvatore Lucania,

also known as Charles "Lucky" Luciano, the king of the New York crime world.

In 1936 he was sentenced to 50 years in prison,

on charges brought against him by Prosecuting Attorney Thomas E. Dewey.

After 9 years he was granted a pardon for:

"Special services rendered to the United States Armed Forces",

by Dewey, who was then the Governor of New York State.

Come on, andiamo!

See you soon.

Excuse me, I've to go to the washroom.

You can't imagine how I feel.

Hurrah! Here's to Charlie!

You must always stay on the side of power.

Only by doing this can you be in control of your world,

exactly as you want it.

For a man to be a man he must pull the strings.

I'd say he has to be a man of peace.

5 months after the elimination of Joe Masseria,

on the night of 11th September 1931,

known as the Night of the Sicilian Vespers,

40 bosses were killed, from one side of the United States to the other.

The man who planned the extermination of the old Mafia was Lucky Luciano,

who then became the boss of bosses.

Sour Sicily

The blood you gave me is all red

When I was young I went far away

Lonely and disheartened in this world

My beautiful mother

When you died you broke my heart

But my land will never abandon me

Wrap me in your arms like the sea

Thank you very much.

I was a free man in America,

and I'll be a free man in Italy too.

Even if I don't intend staying there very long.

Maybe I'll go back through Mexico.

But please, don't make me wait another 9 years.

Here are 200,000 dollars. We're here to help you anyway we can.

Che cazzo vuole?

We're just having a party.

Mi dispiace, I can't drink.

- You're Italian. - Sì.

It's all right, he's one of us.

I'm one of you. My parents are from Altavilla Irpino, near Avellino.

Can I do something for you?

Is your family in Italy?

Can I send them your greetings? Would you like a promotion?

Sure, a promotion.

But how... How could you? They're shipping you to Italy.

Don't worry. That's my business.

Hopefully.

My apologies, your Excellency. I'm a little late.

- He came to see where he was born. - The poor man.

The poor woman, three of her sons have been murdered this year.

AN INNOCENT VICTIM OF A CRUEL AND RUTHLESS HAND

KILLED BY THE HANDS OF A SINNNER LEAVING BEHIND A DESOLATE WIFE

DEDICATED HIS LIFE TO WORKERS' RIGHTS AND SOCIALISM

INNOCENT VICTIM OF A CRUEL KILLER

MURDERED BY A CRUEL UNKNOWN KILLER

AN HONEST HARDWORKING MAN

INNOCENTLY MURDERED IN HIS YOUTH

Are you Luciano?

You're not Italian, sir?

Kind of.

Do you like Naples?

I like the sea.

One spaghetti marinara!

Salute the Colonel!

Jim, I don't like your friend. Bring me a new one tomorrow.

My boyfriend will kill me if he catches me with another American soldier.

Tranquilla, these guys get too drunk to even try anything.

We only made one mistake in Sicily, Genovese: We were too nice!

It's true!

The Colonel requests the collaboration of all citizens,

to put an end to this shameful black marketing.

All offenders will be severely punished.

Strict rationing will be imposed,

to fairly ensure that

the American people's help reaches the Italian people.

Long live America! Long live Italy!

Black as eggplants!

- Good afternoon! - Hello, Don Vito.

Don Vito!

Vito, what'll we do with the blacks?

Sell them on the black market.

What's yours like? Is it like this one?

Like this? No, like this!

That's how you blackmail countries you say you're trying to help.

Gentlemen, here's Lucky Luciano.

So, what do you want to know?

- Where have you been until now? - Did you leave Italy?

- Who gave you a passport? - Were you arrested?

Slow down, one at a time.

Were you in control of the gaming houses in Cuba?

Let's all be seated.

Take a seat.

Recently, they were talking about you and drugs at the UN.

It's the Narcotics Bureau that's always talking about drugs!

- And that Esslinger. - Anslinger!

Henry Anslinger, Head of the Narcotics Bureau.

Esslinger. He's a Protestant, a German policeman.

If a gangster is gunned down, it's Luciano's fault.

If the Queen of England gets divorced, it's Luciano's fault.

If there's a party and people are having fun,

then of course there must be drugs involved.

That's right.

And it's Luciano's fault!

But for everyone, Lucky Luciano is synonymous with drugs.

I don't use them.

But the scandal, Mr Lucania, all the papers are writing about it.

They've discussed it in the United States Congress and Senate.

It's all political.

In America they had to elect a new president.

Dewey, a Republican, was the strongest candidate,

and so the Democrats kept saying

that he had pardoned me.

He pardoned you for helping the American Army.

Were you parachuted in Sicily in 1943?

I've never seen Sicily from the skies, not even from an airplane.

I go there by boat sometimes,

but only to Palermo, where I have a sweet factory.

Yes, the chocolates.

Candy.

I go there to get some sun, like in Capri.

What about counterfeiting? Since you've returned,

Sicily has become the capital of bootleg cigarettes.

Look, I smoke legal cigarettes.

I'm the only one in Naples who doesn't smoke bootleg cigarettes.

Why, which do you smoke?

There's no proof against me.

If there was the slightest proof,

I'd be in prison within the hour.

Why don't the Americans ask for my extradition?

I'm prepared to go back, even handcuffed,

to personally defend myself.

So you really want to return to America! Don't you like Italy?

I grew up in America.

I lived there a free man for 30 years.

I was unjustly condemned:

False evidence, corrupt witnesses, prostitutes...

They didn't respect the rules.

But here, in Italy...

it's an endless persecution. There are no rules.

Here they don't even know what a "caution" is.

But you had a previous record.

Just fines.

I didn't stop for red lights when I was running moonshine.

During prohibition...

Prohibition! Another invention of those Jesuits like Esslinger.

People wanted to drink.

Somebody had to give them something to drink.

If we didn't do it, the government wouldn't have lasted!

You were performing a service to society!

Exactly, a service to society.

That's why we sided with Roosevelt.

He understood that many things had to change,

and so we gave him our vote at the Chicago convention.

So you like politics. Don't you like Italian politics?

This is a poor country.

What kind of politics exist without big businesses?

Why, are your businesses in Italy not doing well?

On the sweet factory in Palermo alone I've already lost 10,000 dollars.

How do you manage to survive?

You spend a lot of money. You bet huge amounts at the races!

As I already explained to the finance police,

I receive a little help from my friends in New York.

Even my car was a present from them.

I'm not rich.

But your high standard of living? Your bodyguards?

What bodyguards? The police are always watching me.

Of course, you're always on the move. Rome, Milan...

- They even gave you a passport. - You went abroad...

I am a free man!

The American Government pardoned me.

That said, when I go to Capri the head of Interpol is there.

He looks after my security.

Do you think the Americans could let someone like Lucky Luciano

circulate freely in their country?

I can go back to America with my head held high,

and I have to go back there.

I have already prepared

a family tomb in Brooklyn for when I die.

Shove it up your ass.

I don't like puttane.

Salute!

Well, fuck me!

Portate le valigie in camera mia.

Are you sure you would've been the master?

You know, Gene, I don't like travelling.

Even in America, I always kept to my own patch.

Sometimes during winter I'd go to Florida for a holiday.

But always to where I knew somebody.

Here too, I'm always in Naples.

Sometimes Sicily.

Where I was born.

Or Milan, for the horses.

Whoever comes here to visit me comes to enjoy themselves.

You don't come here to work.

You come here as a tourist.