Carlo Gambino is often named by casual followers of mob history as the most famous boss of bosses in the American Mafia. In reality, Gambino never officially held that title, and the role itself was abolished in 1931. Before that abolition, several men served as boss of bosses, including Giuseppe Morello, Salvatore D’Aquila, Joe Masseria, and Salvatore Maranzano. But there was one additional figure who held the position and is rarely discussed today: Gaspar Milazzo, the boss of the Mafia in Boston and New England, who served from 1930 until 1931.
Contrary to the popular belief that Charlie Luciano modernized the American Mafia by creating the Commission in 1931, the organization had a national committee overseeing crime families for years before that. Some sources refer to this body as the Grand Council, and national assemblies were regularly held where representatives from across the country discussed operations. The chief adviser to this council was the individual referred to as the boss of bosses. Giuseppe Morello held the position from around 1906 to 1910.
Salvatore D’Aquila followed from 1910 to 1928. Joe Masseria took over in 1928 after D’Aquila’s murder and remained in power until 1930. Salvatore Maranzano held the title in 1931 until his death. Gaspar Milazzo was born in the province of Trapani, Sicily, on August 6, 1879.
After moving to the United States, he and his wife Francesca settled in Brooklyn, where their first son Salvatore was born in 1911. While in Brooklyn, Milazzo was involved with the Mafia, and some sources state he served under Nicola Schiro. Others claim that boss of bosses Salvatore D’Aquila dispatched several important mafiosi to other cities, sending Milazzo to Boston in 1915. In Boston, Milazzo owned a bakery, and by 1916 he was reportedly the boss of the New England Mafia based out of the city.
In 1930, Joe Masseria, who had become boss of bosses in 1928, became locked in a violent war with rival Salvatore Maranzano. By December of that year, senior Mafia figures across the country were dissatisfied with the bloodshed and frustrated with Masseria’s leadership. One FBI file stated: “Masseria exercised a dictatorial rule of terror over the members. The Mafia clans called for a national assembly of representatives of the Honored Societa.
This assembly was held in Boston and Joe Masseria was stripped from his role as boss of bosses. ”
At that assembly, Gaspar Milazzo was elected as the new boss of bosses. According to an FBI report, the representatives convened in Boston in December 1930, where Milazzo was provisionally elected capo di capi. The assembly also formed a commission tasked with approaching Maranzano to end his war with Masseria.
The commission included Giuseppe Traina, Vincenzo Troia, Toto Lo Verde, Salvatore Mangiaracina, Nicolo Gentile, and Peppino Siracusa. The group traveled to New York and took residence at the Hotel Pennsylvania, reserving ten rooms and a drawing room. Their authorization was to end the war and guarantee peace by promising the election of a new capo di capi. The committee warned that if Masseria provoked a disturbance of the peace, he and his family borgata would be exterminated.
Milazzo served as boss of bosses from December 1930 through May 1931, when Masseria was murdered, effectively ending the Castellammarese War. Salvatore Maranzano then succeeded him. According to some sources, Milazzo stepped down as boss of the New England Mafia in 1932. He remained a highly respected figure in the mob until his death in June 1957 from heart disease.
Notably, of all the official bosses of bosses, Milazzo was the only one who was not murdered. D’Aquila was killed in 1928, Masseria and Maranzano both in 1931, and Morello in 1930, although by then he was no longer boss of bosses.