In early 1911, the Lucchese family emigrated to the United States,[3] settling in Manhattan's Italian neighborhood of East Harlem.

The family lived at 104 Parsons Blvd in Malba, Queens before moving in 1950 to 74 Royat Street in Lido Beach, Long Island.

[6] By the early 1920s, Lucchese had become a strong ally of fellow mobster Charlie "Lucky" Luciano and became a top member of Gaetano Reina's crime family.

[6] During his booking, a police officer compared Lucchese's deformed hand with that of Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown, a popular Major League Baseball pitcher.

His old friends Charlie Luciano, Frank Costello, and Meyer Lansky had become partners with Jewish gangster Arnold "the Brain" Rothstein selling bootleg alcohol.

[9][12] On July 18, 1928, Lucchese was arrested along with his brother-in-law, Joseph "Joe Palisades" Rosato, for the murder of Louis Cerasuolo; the charges were later dropped.

[13] On April 15, 1931, Luciano had lured Masseria to a meeting where he was murdered at a restaurant called Nuova Villa Tammaro on Coney Island.

[14][13] While they played cards, Luciano allegedly excused himself to the bathroom, with the gunmen reportedly being Vito Genovese, Albert Anastasia, Joe Adonis, and Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel;[15] Ciro "The Artichoke King" Terranova drove the getaway car, but legend has it that he was too shaken up to drive away and had to be shoved out of the driver's seat by Siegel.

[19][20] In the aftermath of Maranzano's murder Luciano subsequently created The Commission to serve as the governing body for organized crime.

[22] The Gagliano family also dominated unions in the trucking, construction and food industries and had undisclosed ownership interests in several Manhattan nightclubs.

He maintained close relationships with New York City politicians, including Mayors William O'Dwyer and Vincent Impellitteri.

Lucchese concentrated on the core Cosa Nostra values of making money, keeping a low public profile, and avoiding criminal prosecution.

The Lucchese family came to dominate Manhattan's garment district and the related trucking industry by gaining control of key unions and trade associations.

During the 1950s, Lucchese controlled a narcotic trafficking network with Santo Trafficante Jr., the boss of the Tampa crime family.

[3] In 1957, Lucchese and his allies decided to attack the bosses of the Luciano and Anastasia crime families to gain Commission control.

The meeting was held at rural home of mobster Joseph "Joe the Barber" Barbara in Apalachin, New York.

Bonanno went into hiding in Montreal, but a badly shaken Magliocco appeared and confessed everything; he was fined $50,000 and forced into retirement.

[33] On July 13, 1967, Lucchese died of a brain tumor at his home in the Lido Beach area of Long Island.

Over 1,000 mourners, including politicians, judges, policemen, racketeers, drug pushers, pimps, and hitmen attended the ceremony.

The Commission finally selected capo Carmine Tramunti as temporary acting boss until Corallo was released from prison.