In 1935, New York special
prosecutor Thomas E. Dewey, a future republican presidential candidate singled
out Luciano as an Organized Crime ring leader and targeted him along with
others. The special prosecutor’s life previously was possibly saved by Luciano,
when Luciano and the Commission did not allow Dutch Schultz, who had been repeatedly
targeted by Dewey, to kill him. Instead they had Schultz killed.
On the night of February 1, 1936,
Special Prosecutor Thomas E. Dewey directed mass raids of New York City
Brothels. Over a 100 whores and madams were arrested by vice policemen and they
were sent to the women’s house of detention. These women were threatened with
jail time for not cooperating. They were told that they would go to prison for
seven years if they did not testify against Lucky Luciano and the other
defendants. Thomas E. Dewey was able to convince 28 of these women to testify.
When Luciano got wind of Dewey’s
plans to indict him, he fled New York City. He went to Hot Springs, Arkansas, a
gangster haven at that time, established by famous gangster Owney Madden. On
April 1, 1936, New York detectives arrested Dewey. Dewey and his district
attorneys then battled with Hot Spring authorities to keep Luciano in custody.
Arkansas Governor J. Marion Furtell on April 18, 1936, signed the extradition
papers which forced Luciano back to New York.
The trial of “Vice Czar” Lucky
Luciano in 1936 for compulsory prostitution saw him get convicted. Special
prosecutor Thomas E. Dewey had mad Luciano the poster boy for the trial.
Although there were other defendants, the spotlight was on Luciano. Among Luciano’s
co-defendants were David “Little Davie” Betillo, Tommy the Bull, Jesse Jacobs,
Al Weiner and Willy Spiller.
On June 5, 1936, a jury convicted
Luciano on 62 counts of compulsory prostitution. Luciano was sentenced to 30-50
years behind bars by Judge Philip McCook, while his co-defendants were given a
prison sentence ranging from 2-4 years for Al Weiner and 25-40 years for David
Betillo. Luciano’s sentence was one of the longest in history for the type of
crime he was convicted for.
After Luciano was convicted on 62
counts of compulsory prostitution on June 5, 1936, he was sent to Clinton State
Prison at Dannemora in Upstate New York to carry out his sentence of 30 to 50
years. Clinton State prison was New York State’s maximum security prison and it
was known as the “Siberia” of all American penitentiaries due to its isolation
and the way it treated its prisoners, which was far from compassionate.
Lucky was miraculously able to
run his empire from his prison cell, by first giving orders through Vito Genovese
and then through Frank Costello. At first, after Lucky was incarcerated, Vito
Genovese became the acting Boss, so Luciano’s orders were relayed through him.
Vito Genovese had a feared reputation for violence, which he lived up to, once
he became acting boss by committing a murder. In 1937 Vito fled to Naples to
avoid a murder indictment. Frank Costello the family’s consigliere and the
third most powerful man now became the acting boss of the family and overseer
of Luciano’s interests.
