Chapter 5 first quarter

The first time I read the name Joseph Michael Wallach was in a book about the American Italian Mafia in a chapter titled "The Wallach Contract."In the book published in the 1970s, the author did not mention the later well-known Wallach Memorandum, only saying that it was an assassination attempt by the American judicial circle and Mafia experts. Classic example, also selected into some police school textbooks, and so on. Joseph Wallach was a member of the Luciano family of the New York Mafia at the time.Needless to say, Luciano is the surname of the owner Charlie.In New York City, the lair of the mafia, there are five such families, with a total of more than 2,000 members, accounting for one-third of the total number of mafia in the United States.

In the early 1960s, officials from the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI confirmed for the first time the real existence of this criminal group known as the "Mafia" from the mouth of Joseph Wallach.The organization came out in the early 20th century. Its Italian name is "Cosa Nostro", which literally translates to "our cause" or "our action" in English. "Kosha Nostra" is divided into several families, also known as groups, and each family is in charge of an area.In alphabetical order, the areas where some important families are located are: Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Denver, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Norwalk, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Francisco etc.There are also several "open areas": Miami, Las Vegas and Havana, the capital before the Cuban Revolution in 1959.The so-called "openness" means that any family can own people or open businesses in these areas.

The head of the family is called "Boss", and after "Boss", there are "Second Bosses", and then there are different numbers of "Captains".Each "column leader" leads a "column", and the members of the "column" are called "soldiers".Soldiers are also divided into ranks, some soldiers can be dispatched directly by the boss, and some soldiers can take orders and do business by themselves.All members of "Cosa Nostra", whether bosses or soldiers, must be Italians of pure blood.But it can have other ethnic groups in its peripheral groups—Jews, blacks, Irish, Puerto Ricans, French, British, and so on.

Since 1931, "Kosha Nostra" has no "Big Boss" or "Boss of all Bosses" (Boss of all Bosses), although many people have dreamed of a similar title for themselves. title.A "committee" or "board" of 9 to 12 bosses coordinated national operations and coordinated affairs among the various families. "Walach's Contract" was one of dozens of homicides that Joseph Wallach was involved in during his more than 30-year mafia career. "Kosha Nostra" internally refers to the assassination tasks assigned to its subordinates as "contracts".

In early September 1952, Joseph Wallach's column captain, Anthony Bender, asked him to have dinner with him at Rox's restaurant in Greenwich Village, New York.After a few pleasantries, Anthony got straight to the point.According to newly learned information, a member of the Lu Qisai family, Eugenio Cianini is an "informant" of the Federal Drug Administration. "This guy tipped the Narcotics Department," Anthony told Wallach, "and the old man got word from Charlie Luciano. Charlie said Ciannini was very smart, and he hadn't been with the Narcotics Department for three or five years." We've got to kill him and everyone around him."

The old man's name was Victor Jinovance, who was the facade boss of the Luciano family at that time. The real boss, Charlie Luciano, was arrested in 1936 and sentenced to 50 years in prison, and was exiled back to Italy in 1946. My hometown is Naples. Eugenio Ciannini was indeed the eyeliner of the Federal Drug Administration. In 1942 he was arrested for trafficking heroin and imprisoned for 15 months.After that, while continuing his underworld activities, he selectively reported some accomplices, usually members of other families, to the Narcotics Bureau when necessary.But these "intelligences" only involved specific people and events, so the Narcotics Bureau never knew about the existence of "Kosha Nostra", thinking that Ciannini was just dealing with several drug gangs.Whenever Ciannini was in the hands of the police, he would reveal his identity as an informant.Police sometimes struggle to weigh whether the intelligence provided by these informants is worth turning a blind eye to their criminal activities.

In 1950, Eugenio Ciannini made a trip to Europe.He had two missions on this trip: to bring medicines and U.S. dollar cash, which were in short supply in the European market after the war, from the United States, and to sell heroin back from France.At that time, opium was abundant in the Middle East, and the opium paste was shipped to Marseille, France, where it was processed into heroin and sold for $3,500 per kilogram. Up to 225,000 US dollars per kilogram.According to estimates at the time, this alone brought a net income of $350 million to the American Italian Mafia, or "Cosa Nostro," annually.Such high profits later attracted criminal gangs of other ethnicities, such as the Negro, Puerto Rican and Cuban gangs, but the mafia sold only those high-stakes street sales.

During his stay in Naples, Cianini approached Charles Luciano in exile on several occasions.At the same time, the Federal Drug Administration learned about the real purpose of Ciannini's trip to Europe through other channels, but it has not disturbed him in order to obtain more valuable information from him. However, the unsuspecting Italian police arrested Ciannini on charges of smuggling drug dollars.Ciannini managed to bring out a letter while awaiting trial, which he handed over to the European division of the Federal Drug Administration.But the Narcotics Agency did not immediately engage with their Italian counterparts because they learned that while in prison Ciannini had also arranged for the successful smuggling of 10kg of heroin into the United States.They wanted Ciannini to suffer a little more.

Ciannini brought out a second letter, in which he reported the situation of Charlie Luciano to the Narcotics Bureau in order to obtain official rescue. Joseph Wallach later said he didn't know how Charlie got the news, but he was sure "Kosha Nostra" had his own sources. What happened next was that the key witness against Ciannini suddenly retracted his confession, and the drug dollar smuggling case was dropped for lack of evidence.After returning to New York, Ciannini felt that his life was in danger, so he asked the Federal Drug Administration for protection. Anthony Bender told Wallach that according to the usual practice, such matters should have been handled by the Lucchese family themselves.However, first, Ciannini has almost never betrayed members of the family; second, because of this relationship, the Narcotics Bureau has been lenient to the Lu Qisai family from time to time.The Lucchese family was the most rampant in drug smuggling among the five largest families in New York at the time.

"Since the bullying hit us this time, it gave us an excuse to kill." Anthony said. Wallach knew Ciannini, and in fact, just before Ciannini left for Europe, he asked Wallach for a loan.If Ciannini is the ghost of the gun, who will Wallachi ask for the famine? Wallach then said, "But he owes me two thousand dollars." "Yes," Anthony said, "I heard." He gave Wallach a meaningful look, which meant that's why I invited you to this meal. Wallach understood that he couldn't get away with this matter.If Shangfeng sends someone else to "do" Ciannini, if he misses, he will be suspected of leaking the news to Ciannini.

Seeing that Wallach remained silent, Anthony said again: "You know, Ciannini just came back from Italy, but he's been hiding and we haven't been able to find him. If you have any news about him, let me know." Let's get up and go. Wallach had no other choice, so he quickly braved the bullet and volunteered: "Okay, I will find him." Of course, "find him" means "get rid of it." "No hurry, I'll tell the old man what you mean first." Anthony Bender dropped a sentence nonchalantly, and walked away, leaving only Joseph Wallach with a dejected expression. Anthony Bender informed him the next day that the old man Victor Jinovance had agreed to allow Wallach to take over the "contract." Valracci had no trouble finding Eugenio Ciannini.He hung up at Ciannini's house around 10:00 p.m., saying that it's been a while since you came back from Europe, should we settle the bill?Wallachi did not reveal his name, he just identified himself in his speech.This is the basic communication skills of people in the underworld, in order to prevent the phone from being monitored by the police. "I'll see you on the corner," Wallach concluded by saying, another line that baffles outsiders, but Ciannini knows it.Wallage was referring to the intersection of Castle Hill and West Chester Roads in the Bronx, where Wallage has a "Lido Nightclub." "I'll be there in 20 minutes," Ciannini said. Joseph Wallach was standing in front of his office window at the Lido Nightclub with the lights on in the dark when he saw Ciannini driving up, followed by another car parked on the side of the road not far away.As soon as Ciannini saw Valachi, he began to say that he was really a little bit stuck, and when the money for the goods arrived, he would immediately send them over with interest.Wallach signaled him to stop, led him to a corner, and said, "Let's not talk about the money. I think you're being followed. Do you know who it is? Narcotics or the police?" "God! They are coming for you." Ciannini looked surprised. "Maybe. That's all for tonight. I'll call you in two days." Ciannini returned the same way.Sure enough, as soon as his car started, another car followed him. It is said that Wallach was working on a classic mafia assassination case because all the people who were really involved in the case had alibi at the time of the crime.The assassination order came from Charlie Luciano, but he himself was far away in Naples, Italy, on the other side of the Atlantic.The police also never expected to find traces of the "old man" Victor Jinovance and Anthony Bender at the crime scene, and even Joseph Wallach, the specific executor of the "contract", would not splash blood on himself. a drop of blood. Wallach accepted the "contract", and he must complete the task within the specified time. As for how he operates, this is not something his superiors want to care about or inquire about.Wallach could refer the case to the family, other family members, or someone outside the organization.By the way, as a rule, mafia members are not paid to execute "contracts" as part of their job.They also cannot be reimbursed for any expenses incurred during the execution, including the cost of hiring hitmen.But if the "job" is done well, it will be inevitable to get a lot of care and benefits from the boss in the future. This time, Wallach adopted the most economical method.He had three East Harlan "hairy kids"—that's what he called them—three "candidates" waiting in line, eager to be accepted into the Luciano family.Two of them were brothers, Joseph and Pat Pagano, and one was Valacchi's nephew, Fiore Siano. No matter how careful it is to execute such a "contract", it is not too much, not to mention that the "target" Eugenio Ciannini has been followed.Two days later, Joseph Wallach invited Ciannini to the Cass Bar near the "Lido", this time he brought Joseph Pagano.Wallachi said that this is killing two birds with one stone. It not only makes the "hairy boy" recognize the "target", but also makes them familiar with each other, so that next time Chianini will not be on guard when he sees the Paganos again.In fact, there is a third purpose. Wallachi did not set the date at "Lido", but wanted to further investigate the situation of Ciannini being followed. According to Joseph Wallach's later recollection, during the conversation, Ciannini suddenly said: "I don't know why, I always felt very scared last night." "What do you mean?" Wallach asked. "I don't understand it either, I just feel that someone might want to attack me." "Why do you say these things? Stop thinking about it." "I do have a feeling..." Cianini babbled. This is not a good topic.Wallach hurriedly called a lady who had worked in the "Lido" and paid her a hundred-dollar bill, saying that she must make his "buddy" Ciannini happy. Afterwards, Miss reported to Wallach that Ciannini mentioned going to Harlan for a game of some sort. It took a lot of trouble for the three "hair boys" to find out that Eugenio Ciannini went to an underground casino called "rolling the dice" near the intersection of 2nd Street and East 112th Road.Before the start of each day, the dealer rolls dice to determine the gambling location.The card players first arrive at a designated place, and after verification that there is no problem, they are escorted by a special person to a certain room in a certain hotel, usually half a block away.In order not to attract the attention of the police, the poker players left one by one when the game was over, with a few minutes between each other. "Is anyone following him?" Wallach asked. "We didn't find out." The "fur kids" replied. "Okay, that's it." But things are not that simple.Wallach soon learned that the owner of the underground casino was a member of the Lucchese family.In order to prevent possible family disputes, Wallach felt that it was necessary to report to his superiors. Anthony Bender opened a "Golden Key Nightclub" in Midtown Manhattan, but it is said that this store has been blacklisted by the police, and plainclothes often wander around.Wallach parked the car two blocks away and hailed a cab.He didn't want his license plate to be taken away by the police. Without allowing Wallach to speak, Anthony began to attack: "Why have you been holding back? This matter should have been settled long ago. Could it be that you are still thinking about getting your money back?" "Anthony, listen to me, this guy always has a tail after him..." After Wallach finished explaining the ins and outs, Anthony admitted that his consideration was not unreasonable, and promised to ask the old man for a word for him. Soon, Anthony sent a message back, saying that the old man had approved Joseph Wallach's plan of action.