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00:00In the shadows of New York's towering skyline, behind velvet curtains and closed courtroom doors,
00:06there was a man who ruled not with fists or fear, but with influence, connections, and quiet power.
00:12He wasn't the kind of mob boss who barked orders in dimly lit social clubs or left bodies in trunks.
00:19Instead, he attended political fundraisers, dined with mayors, and kept a penthouse suite at the Waldorf Astoria.
00:26They called him the Prime Minister of the Underworld.
00:30His real name was Frank Costello, but that wasn't the name he was born with, nor the life he was supposed to live.
00:36Francesco Castiglia entered the world on January 26, 1891, in the rugged hills of Calabria, Italy.
00:45Like many poor southern Italians of the time, his family sought something better.
00:49In 1895, young Francesco, just four years old, boarded a ship with his mother and brother Edward
00:56and made the long journey to America to reunite with their father, who had already settled in East Harlem, New York City.
01:03The Castiglias were just another immigrant family trying to survive, running a small grocery store in a neighborhood brimming with other newcomers, struggle, and crime.
01:12As a boy, Frank, he had started using that name to sound more American, was smart, observant, and sharp.
01:20But he wasn't content sweeping floors at the family shop.
01:23Under his older brother's guidance, he drifted into the streets and into gangs.
01:28By age 13, he was committing petty crimes, running with street thugs, and learning the rules of survival from those who enforced them with brass knuckles and straight razors.
01:38He had charm, but behind it, there was ambition, a hunger for more than just scraps.
01:44Arrested multiple times in his teens for robbery and assault, Costello quickly learned that muscle could only get you so far.
01:51The real power, he discovered, was in staying just visible enough to matter, but never enough to be blamed.
01:58In 1914, at the age of 23, he married Loretta Geigerman, a Jewish woman whose German-born parents likely didn't expect their daughter to wed a future mafia boss.
02:09That same year, Frank was caught carrying a concealed weapon.
02:13He served 10 months in jail, but something shifted.
02:16When he got out, he made a decision, one that would define his rise in the criminal world.
02:22He would use his brains, not his fists.
02:25During Prohibition, America's streets ran with illegal liquor, and the men who controlled it became kings.
02:31That was when Costello met Charlie Lucky Luciano, a Sicilian street hustler who, like Frank, wanted to change the way organized crime worked.
02:40The two became fast friends and partners, a rare bond in a world where betrayal was currency.
02:46But not everyone approved.
02:48Some old-school mafiosi sneered at Costello, calling him, the dirty Calabrian.
02:54He wasn't Sicilian, and that made him suspect.
02:57But Luciano didn't care.
02:59He saw in Costello what others didn't.
03:02Loyalty, vision, and a mind built for business.
03:05Together, with a crew that included Vito Genovese, Tommy Lucchese, and Jewish associates like Meyer Lansky and Bugsy Siegel,
03:13Costello helped form a powerful syndicate that moved liquor through speakeasies, bribed police, and flooded the streets with money.
03:20And while others focused on territory or brute force, Costello looked beyond.
03:26Toward politics, gambling, and influence.
03:29By the early 1920s, Costello had already aligned himself with Irish mobsters like Aunie Madden and Bill Dwyer,
03:36helping them manage a massive bootlegging operation known as the Combine.
03:40It was likely during this time that Frank adopted the surname, Costello, to better blend in with his Irish counterparts.
03:47He wasn't trying to be someone else, he was trying to be everything.
03:51Italian, Irish, Jewish, whoever helped the business grow.
03:56It was this adaptability that made him indispensable.
03:59But it wasn't all smooth sailing.
04:01In 1926, Costello and Dwyer were indicted for bootlegging after allegedly bribing two U.S. Coast Guardsmen to look the other way
04:09while thousands of cases of liquor were unloaded in New York Harbor.
04:13The trial ended with a hung jury, and Frank walked.
04:16When Dwyer went to prison shortly after, Costello, along with Madden, took over the Combine.
04:23That power grab sparked a bloody rivalry known as the Manhattan Beer Wars,
04:27with another gangster, Vanny Higgins, claiming he should have inherited Dwyer's territory.
04:33Alliances crumbled, bullets flew, and the streets turned red.
04:37But through it all, Costello remained calm, calculating and always one step ahead.
04:42By 1929, the landscape of American organized crime was shifting.
04:48Violence was bad for business, and there were smarter men who wanted to organize, not annihilate.
04:54Johnny Torrio, a seasoned Chicago mobster, helped broker peace among East Coast bootleggers by forming the Big Seven,
05:01a cartel of crime bosses that included Costello, Luciano, Lansky, and others.
05:07That same year, these men met in Atlantic City, not to fight, but to plan.
05:12Out of that meeting was born the National Crime Syndicate,
05:16a unified front of mobsters from every ethnicity and city, working together for profit.
05:21But the real turning point came in 1931, during what would be known as the Castellamorees War,
05:27a violent struggle between two mafia titans, Joe Massuria and Salvatore Maranzano.
05:33Costello, ever the strategist, stayed close to Luciano, who secretly agreed to betray his boss,
05:40Massuria, in exchange for Maranzano's favor.
05:43On April 15, 1931, Luciano lured Massuria to a restaurant in Coney Island.
05:49As Luciano excused himself to the restroom, gunmen stormed in and gunned Massuria down.
05:56The killers, it was said, included Bugsy Siegel, Vito Genovese, and Albert Anastasia.
06:02Ciro Terranova, the getaway driver, froze behind the wheel and had to be shoved aside.
06:08It was a mess, but it was also a message.
06:11The old ways were over.
06:12Luciano took over Massuria's family and made Castello his conciliere.
06:17But their alliance with Maranzano didn't last.
06:20When Luciano learned Maranzano planned to betray him too, he struck first.
06:25This time, he sent in Jewish hitmen, faces Maranzano wouldn't recognize.
06:30On September 10, 1931, they stormed his office and killed him.
06:35With both bosses dead, Luciano and Costello did something no one had done before.
06:40They created the commission, a governing board to manage mafia business across the country.
06:45Frank Castello wasn't just a participant, he was a founding architect.
06:50Now conciliere of the most powerful crime family in America,
06:54Castello began to build a different kind of empire.
06:57While Luciano dealt with internal mafia politics, Frank focused on revenue.
07:03Slot machines, to be precise.
07:05Thousands of them.
07:06He installed them in bars, cafes, gas stations, even bus stops.
07:11The money flowed in like a river.
07:14But not everyone was pleased.
07:16In 1934, New York's mayor, Fiorello LaGuardia,
07:20made a public spectacle of smashing Costello's machines and dumping them into the river.
07:25If Frank was embarrassed, he didn't show it.
07:28He simply looked south.
07:30That same year, Louisiana's populist governor Huey Long made him an offer,
07:35bring your slot machines to my state, and I'll give you 10% of the cut.
07:38Costello accepted.
07:40He sent his associate, Phil Castell, to oversee operations,
07:45backed by the rising New Orleans gangster Carlos Marcello.
07:48The machines were reinstalled, this time in Baton Rouge, not Brooklyn, and they made millions.
07:55Frank Costello didn't just adapt, he expanded.
07:58He was becoming more than a gangster.
08:00He was becoming a kingmaker.
08:02But power came at a cost.
08:03In 1936, Luciano was convicted of running a prostitution ring and sentenced to decades in prison.
08:11From behind bars, he tried to keep the family running through Costello and Lansky, but it was difficult.
08:17Vito Genovese stepped in as acting boss, until 1937, when he fled to Italy to avoid a murder charge.
08:25With Genovese gone, Luciano made it official.
08:28Costello was now acting boss.
08:30Willy Moretti, his trusted cousin, became underboss.
08:35Costello ran things quietly, efficiently, and with minimal violence.
08:39Unlike the brutal enforcers of his time, Frank didn't like blood.
08:44He preferred bribes over bullets.
08:46And the judges, politicians, and police captains he had cultivated over the years paid off.
08:52Under his leadership, the Luciano family remained powerful, profitable, and relatively low-key.
08:58But in the background, Genovese was watching.
09:01And he wasn't done.
09:03When Vito Genovese returned to the United States in 1945, he brought more than just ambition.
09:09He brought a vendetta.
09:11The murder charges against him had conveniently vanished after the mysterious deaths of two key witnesses,
09:16and now, with Luciano still exiled in Italy, Genovese saw a clear path to reclaim the family he believed was rightfully his.
09:24But one man stood in his way, Frank Costello.
09:28Genovese made his intentions known, subtly at first, then with increasing force.
09:34He lobbied Luciano to install him as the overall boss, to let Costello step aside as a formality.
09:41Luciano refused.
09:42He had chosen Costello for a reason.
09:45Costello wasn't just a capable administrator.
09:47He was a unifying figure, respected across mafia factions and political circles alike.
09:54Genovese's ambition, while obvious, was abrasive.
09:58Costello, for all his influence, didn't try to dominate others.
10:02That made him powerful and dangerous.
10:05By the early 1950s, Costello had become the face of organized crime without ever intending to be.
10:11The public didn't see a street thug or a thug in a trench coat.
10:15They saw a dignified, almost regal figure who lived in the Waldorf Astoria, wore tailored suits, and spoke with a calm confidence.
10:24But it was this very visibility that drew heat.
10:27In 1950, the U.S. Senate launched a sweeping investigation into organized crime, led by Senator Estes Kefauver.
10:35The hearings would become a national sensation, broadcast live on television, and they would change the way Americans viewed the mafia forever.
10:44When Frank Costello was called to testify, he refused to allow his face to be shown on camera.
10:49It was a calculated move, but one that backfired.
10:53The cameras instead focused on his hands, twitching and fidgeting as he gave evasive answers.
10:59His voice, smooth and firm, betrayed only hints of tension.
11:03But the image of those restless hands became iconic.
11:07America wasn't just hearing about the mafia now, they were watching it, in real time, and Costello had unwittingly become its poster boy.
11:15After refusing to answer certain financial questions, Costello abruptly walked out of the hearing, citing a sore throat.
11:22He returned days later, but remained tight-lipped.
11:26The public, however, had already seen enough.
11:28He was convicted of contempt of the Senate and sentenced to 18 months in prison.
11:34The legend of Frank Costello, the man who mingled with mayors and never carried a gun, was now being dissected in living rooms across the country.
11:43The hearings also led to another tragedy.
11:46Willie Moretti, Costello's loyal underboss and cousin, had begun behaving erratically.
11:51He had syphilis and it was affecting his brain.
11:54The mafia commission feared that his loose talk before the Senate might get worse.
11:59On October 4, 1951, they decided to act.
12:03Moretti was gunned down in a restaurant in New Jersey.
12:07It was an execution disguised as necessity, but the message was clear.
12:11No one was above suspicion, not even family.
12:15Costello, weakened by prison time and now lacking his closest ally, made a fateful decision.
12:20He appointed Genovese as his new underboss, perhaps hoping that appeasement might protect him.
12:27But Genovese saw it differently.
12:29To him, it was a signal of vulnerability.
12:32And now, he was ready to make his final move.
12:35On May 2, 1957, Frank Costello returned home to his Manhattan apartment.
12:41As he entered the lobby, a man emerged from the shadows and fired.
12:45The bullet grazed Costello's head, but miraculously he survived.
12:49The gunman fled, later identified as none other than Vincent, the Chin Giganti, acting on orders from Genovese.
12:58When questioned by authorities, Costello kept his code.
13:01He claimed he couldn't identify the shooter.
13:04That refusal saved Giganti, who was acquitted, and it ended Costello's reign.
13:09Costello understood the message.
13:11The hit hadn't failed.
13:13It had succeeded in its purpose.
13:14Genovese had tested him and made it clear that if he didn't step aside, the next bullet wouldn't miss.
13:21In a rare moment of pragmatism, Costello did something most mafia bosses never do.
13:26He retired.
13:28He relinquished control of the family, which would soon be renamed in honor of its new leader, the Genovese crime family.
13:35But Genovese's victory was short-lived.
13:37Later that same year, Albert Anastasia, the brutal boss of the Mangano crime family, was murdered in a Manhattan barbershop.
13:46Genovese had orchestrated the hit with help from Carlo Gambino, planning to install Gambino as the new boss.
13:53At the infamous Appalachian meeting in November 1957, Genovese brought together mafia leaders from across the country to formalize his power.
14:02But the meeting was raided by state police.
14:05The mobsters fled into the woods, muddy and humiliated.
14:09It was a disaster that shattered Genovese's credibility.
14:13By 1959, Genovese was in prison, convicted of heroin trafficking in a federal sting operation,
14:20one that some believe was quietly arranged by Luciano, Lansky, and even Costello himself as revenge.
14:26Genovese would die behind bars, a bitter man who had claimed the crown but lost the kingdom.
14:33As for Frank Costello, his retirement was unlike any other in mafia history.
14:38He didn't disappear into obscurity or flee the country.
14:41Instead, he remained in his Waldorf Astoria suite, attended garden shows, and continued to receive visitors,
14:48some of them mafia bosses, others politicians and businessmen.
14:52Gambino, Lucchese, and Lansky all came to him, seeking advice, guidance, or simply paying respects.
15:00Though he no longer held formal power, his influence never really left.
15:04In quiet rooms and behind closed doors, he was still the prime minister of the underworld.
15:10Even the government couldn't figure out what to do with him.
15:14In 1952, Costello was stripped of his U.S. citizenship.
15:18He fought the order in court, and in 1961, the Supreme Court upheld it.
15:24But just three years later, in a legal twist, his deportation was blocked due to a technicality.
15:30Once again, Frank Costello had slipped through the cracks.
15:34His later years were surprisingly serene.
15:37He tended to his flowers, enjoyed his wealth, and stayed out of the limelight.
15:42But the shadows never fully left him.
15:44In 1974, after his death, someone bombed the doors of his mausoleum in Queens.
15:50The prime suspect?
15:52Carmine Galanti, recently released from prison and hungry to reclaim lost power.
15:57Even in death, Costello's name provoked fear.
16:01Frank Costello died on February 18, 1973, at the age of 82, following a heart attack.
16:08His funeral was small and quiet, just 50 mourners, including family, old friends, and several
16:15curious law enforcement agents taking notes from the back of the room.
16:18He was buried at St. Michael's Cemetery in Queens, in a private mausoleum built to last
16:24forever, though not even granite was immune to the ghosts of vendettas.
16:28Today, Frank Costello's legacy remains both fascinating and paradoxical.
16:33He was a gangster who hated violence, a criminal who dined with governors, a man who could quote
16:39Shakespeare and make senators squirm.
16:41Unlike Luciano, he never went to war.
16:44Unlike Genovese, he never demanded absolute control.
16:48He played the long game, the political game, and for decades, he won.
16:52He showed the world a different kind of power.
16:55Not loud, not flashy, but deeply rooted, institutional, and enduring.
17:00He didn't just bribe the system.
17:03He became part of it.
17:04And for a time, Frank Costello wasn't just another mob boss.
17:08He was the one they all came to when they wanted to be heard.
17:11If you're fascinated by the hidden power plays, secret alliances, and untold stories behind
17:17history's most notorious crime bosses, then you're in the right place.
17:21Subscribe to Inside the Secret World of Mafia Titans for exclusive deep dives into the minds
17:27and empires of the underworld's most feared figures.
17:31Ever wondered what truly separates a street thug from a criminal mastermind?
17:36Let's uncover it, one story at a time.
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