Charlie "Lucky" Luciano was born Salvatore Lucania in Lercara Friddi, Sicily, November 27, 1897. He immigrated with his family in 1907. At the age of 18 he was arrested for delivering dope and sent to Hampton Farms, a state facility for youths. After being released, Luciano decided to change his first name to Charlie because he felt that Salvatore (Sal) was a girl's name.

Luciano would take up with the Five Points Gang where he would meet future crime bosses: Johnny Torrio, Al Capone, and Frankie Yale. In his neighborhood he would also meet street kids from other ethnic backgrounds, such as Benny Siegel and Meyer Lansky.

Along with Siegel, Lansky, and Frank Costello, Luciano began robbing houses and doing other stick ups. Their days of doing heists and stickups would end in 1919 with the passing of the Eighteenth Amendment. The Prohibition Era had begun and Luciano and his co-horts were right in the middle.

From 1931 to 1936, Luciano lived the life of a king. Everyone wanted to be near him- politicians, people in the entertainment industry, doctors, lawyers. Knowing that his new stature in the underword gained him more attention than what anyone really wanted, Luciano became somewhat reclusive- spending most of his day in his hotel room and not appearing until the night.

His life of leisure didn't last long. In 1936, he was brought up on charges of running a prostitution ring that spanned the entire city of New York. Thomas E. Dwewy, the NYC district attorney (the man Luciano once saved from getting assassinated) was coming after him. At first Luciano wasn't concerned, claiming that he had nothing to do with prostitution. There were enough witnesses that claimed Luciano was personally involved in collecting the money from prostitutes and strong arming many of the pimps into paying protection money for themselves and their whores. But Luciano still didn't believe that any case surrounding prostitution would work.

But Dewey did have a case and he did make it stick. Witness after witness (pimps, desolate hookers, small time gangsters) all testified that Charlie "Lucky" Luciano was the top pimp in all of NYC. Luciano was convicted and sentenced to thirty-fifty years in prison and sent to Dannemora, the Siberia of organized crime.

While in prison, Luciano spent most of his time trying to figure a way out. He knew that most of the people that came to the stand had lied about his involvement in prostitution and he also knew that Dewey and his office had manipulated the witnesses into testifying against him, he just needed to prove it. After the trial was over, most of the witnesses (especially the prostitutes) had been shipped away to Europe, where they were given monthly bankrolls to survive- a promise made by Dewey in exchange for their testimonies. Luciano found this out, and with his lawyer, tried several times to get them to recant their statements in court or at least admit what had taken place. After a few years, it happened. The prostitutes, along with other witnesses recanted, on paper, their statements and explained what Dewey had offered them, and how Dewey had threatened them into testifying against Luciano. But this didn't change anything. the judge ruled it insufficient evidence and threw Luciano's hopes of getting free out the window.

On December 7, 1941, the United States was brought into World War II with brutal force. The entire country had begun to rally behind their government and armed forces in an effort ot defeat the Axis powers of Europe- even organized crime figures. Since many of these men had been shipped out of their native land at a young age, either by force to avoid death or out of economics, they felt a strong loyalty to the U.S., especially Luciano. About six months into the war, Luciano had been reading the papers and talking to Lansky about the waterfronts and how worried the Naval Department was about spies and German U-boats sinking U.S. boats right in the harbor. Luciano had come up with a plan to get himself out of jail and be able to help the war effort. Luciano had to find something that was front page news and had to do it quickly. Then, if finally came.

Frank Costello got in touch with Luciano right away. He told him about an idea that Albert Anastasia had worked out with his brother, Tough Tony. Albert said that the guys from Navy Intelligence had been all over the docks talking to them about security. They were scared that all the stuff along the Hudson, the docks and boats, was in very great danger. Albert's idea was to give the Navy a big chunk of sabotage, something so big that it would scare the Navy to death.

The sabotage that Albert and his brother were talking about was the sinking of a ship in the West Side Manhattan port- the French luxury liner, the SS Normandie- a ship that was being slated to be turned into a troopship for the Allies. Luciano thought it was a great plan. It would get the attention of the Navy and wouldn't truly affect the war effort since the ship was nowhere ready for war. The plan was set in motion. Withing twenty-four hours the SS Normandie was gutted and wrecked. Naval Intelligence was charged preventing anything like this to happen again, since it was obvious that German spies had done this. That is when the U.S. Government turned to organized crime for help and began the idea of "Operation Underworld." Naval Intelligence officers, working out of their headquarters in Manhattan, went directly to Joseph "Socks" Lanza, the czar of the Fulton Fish Market, for help along the docks. But the illustrious Joe "Socks" could only help the Naval officers so much. There were some areas that were blocked to him, especially by Tough Tony. Luciano personally set up this blockade, forcing the Naval officers to come to him for help. Luciano agreed but only if it meant that it would reduce his sentence. Since it was a matter of national security, there could be no way that the D.A.'s office could refuse, even if Dewey was still the D.A. Luciano wanted too much to be paroled and set free for the obvious reason of picking up the reins of control to organized crime. Dewey agreed to parole, but only after Luciano agreed to be deported to Italy. Luciano agreeed to this deal, figuring that at least he would be free, not realizing the problems that he would face in the years to come.

The deal was set. All aong the docks the longshormen were to help the Naval Intelligence officers with securing the harbor against any German spies or U-boats, all on the say so of "Lucky" Luciano.

When the war ended, Luciano waited for his parole hearings. On V-E day, May 7, 1945, a petition for clemency and freedom for Luciano was sent to Governer Dewey- having been elected with the help of Luciano. On January 3, 1946, Charles Lucania was set free once again, on the stipulation that he never set foot on U.S. soil ever again. On February 2, a month later, Lucaino stepped out of jail and was driven directly to Ellis Island for deportation. Charlie "Lucky" Luciano would never set foot again in New YOrk city, a place where he lived as a king.

He died of a heart attack at Capodichino Airport in Naples, Italy, on January 26, 1962.