National Network for Equitable Library Service

Lucky Luciano's posthumous memoirs may well have cost him his life. The partner of Meyer Lanksy and Bugsy Siegel, the man who created and controlled the "Commission" and the set down the rules, wanted to have his side of the story on record. It turns out that most of Luciano's criminal activity coincides with the history of the Mafia in America in the first half of the twentieth century and beyond. In preparation for a film of his life story, the famous New York gangster living in a golden exile in Naples recounted the main incidents of his life to producer Martin A. Gosch. Back in the United States, the new leaders of the Mafia were not pleased about the project that had almost reached completion and was ready to be turned into a screenplay. It is almost certain that their displeasure was communicated to "Charlie Lucky" with a hint to forget about the idea altogether. But Luciano went ahead anyway, compelled by the need to tell all and in some way offer an explanation about a life of crime. After taking a sip of espresso coffee at Naples airport as he waited for Gosch to land, Luciano died of a massive heart attack. Or was it something else' The film was never made, so this book remains the only account of the life of the man known as the "Boss of Bosses." Martin A. Gosch is deceased, and Richard Hammer lives in New York City.