JOE MASSERIA served as boss of New York’s Morello crime family from 1922 to 1931. At his peak, Joe was the top boss in New York. Masseria became involved with the Sicilian mob at a young age, fleeing to America at age 16 after killing a man. Soon after arriving in New York, he began working as a low-level soldier for the most powerful organized crime outfit in the city, the Morello family. The outsider began a remarkable rise through the family ranks, ascending to the level of captain by the 1910s.

When the death of boss Nick Morello created a power vacuum in the city, Joe went to war with a rival captain for control of the family. In 1922, Joe was rushed outside his apartment by two gunmen, who opened fire on him at point-blank range. He ducked into a nearby store, and the assassins pursued, shooting out the front window and unloading in Joe’s direction until they ran out of bullets. Miraculously, Joe survived the attempted hit without a scratch. He was found dazed in his room, still wearing his straw hat, which had two bullet holes in the crown. The incident added to Joe’s legend in the underworld as “the man who can dodge bullets.”

Joe would prevail in the war, emerging as the head of the Morello family, but the ambitious boss had his eyes on even greater power, vying for control of the Mafia as a whole. He continued to vanquish his enemies until 1929, when he got his wish after the ruling families named him as the new Capo di Tutti Capi, or Boss of Bosses. They would soon regret this decision, as Joe began endlessly leaning on various Mafia groups to pay him respect in the form of monetary tributes.

The unpopular boss was soon challenged for control of the mob by a rival faction in what became one of history’s bloodiest mob conflicts, the Castellammarese War. With heavy casualties on both sides, the violent power struggle was finally ended when Joe was sold out by Lucky Luciano, his top lieutenant and most trusted man, who made a deal with the enemy to arrange Joe’s death in exchange for inheriting all his rackets and becoming second-in-command in the new power structure. In 1931, Joe was ambushed by multiple gunmen at his favorite restaurant and shot to death at age 45.