Retired Intelligence Detective Gary Jenkins brings you the best in mob history with his unique perception of the mafia. The Lucchese family, sometimes referred to as the "Brogada," was involved in a wide array of criminal activities such as extortion, loan sharking, and gambling. As a cunning and violent leader, Lucchese aligned himself with Vito Genovese during Genovese's bid to become the boss of bosses. However, Lucchese later allied with Lucky Luciano, Frank Costello, Meyer Lansky, and Carlo Gambino. He played a pivotal role in orchestrating a narcotics conviction against Genovese, which ultimately led to Genovese's downfall and marked the beginning of the Mafia's decline.

Interestingly, connections between families exist even within the criminal underworld. An example of this is seen in the feudal world where Thomas Gambino, Carlos Gambino's son, married Frances Lucchesi, the daughter of Three Fingers Brown. It is these intricate webs of relationships that add further complexity to the fabric of organized crime.

Despite his involvement in nefarious activities, Lucchese garnered a level of respect within the community due to his charitable donations to local organizations. He passed away in New York City in 1969, leaving behind a notorious and influential legacy as one of the most dominant mobsters of the 20th century. While not as widely recognized as figures like Lucky Luciano or Frank Costello, Lucchese operated behind the scenes, exerting significant influence.

Support the podcast.

Subscribe to get new gangster stories every week.

Get 50% off use the code gangland50 when check out at Factor Foods

Hit me up on Venmo for a cup of coffee or a shot and a beer @ganglandwire

Click here to "buy me a cup of coffee"

To go to the store or make a donation or rent Ballot Theft: Burglary, Murder, Coverup, click here

To rent Brothers against Brothers, the documentary, click here. 

To rent Gangland Wire, the documentary, click here

To buy my Kindle book, Leaving Vegas: The True Story of How FBI Wiretaps Ended Mob Domination of Las Vegas Casinos.

To subscribe on iTunes click here. Please give me a review and help others find the podcast.

Donate to the podcast. Click here!

Transcript

[0:00] Well, hey guys, Gary Jenkins here, retired Kansas City Police Intelligence Unit detective.

Back here with one of my little short bios. I, you know, I did Vito Genovese recently.

This is gonna be about Thomas Lucchese, better known as Tommy Brown or Three Fingers Brown.

He was a prominent American mobster and the founding member of the Lucchese crime family.

He was born June 10th, 1889 in Palermo, Italy and immigrated to the United States with his family at a young age. So he's like a real Sicilian.

[0:28] Tommy Brown or Tom Lucchese earned his nickname Three Fingers after losing parts of two fingers

Rise in organized crime during prohibition

[0:34] on his right hand in an industrial accident when he was working at a cement plant when he was a kid.

That didn't hold him back. Little Tommy Lucchese became involved in organized crime at an early age, quickly rose through the ranks of the underworld because of prohibition primarily.

You can see the photo up here of him holding up his right hand with only three fingers.

In his early years, Tommy Lucchese was a close associate of the mobster Gaetano Reina, who was a real old school Sicilian mobster and an old Mustached Pete Blackhanders.

He worked as a hitman and an enforcer for the Reina crime family, and he was known for his first endeavor.

Lucchese's early criminal activities and rise in power

[1:11] Tommy Lucchese hired guys to wash store windows in East Harlem and set up a little business when he was young.

When a store owner refused to pay the Casey's guys to wash the windows, mysteriously, vandals broke out those same windows. And then, of course, they came back around and, you know, hey, we can probably stop those windows from being br...