Mustache Pete

The Mustache Petes wanted to maintain Sicilian criminal traditions in their new country and were more interested in working with and exploiting their fellow Italians than the public at large.

Luciano and other "Young Turks" in the New York Mafia concluded that the Mustache Petes were too set in their ways to see the millions of dollars that working with non-Italian gangsters could bring.

During the Castellammarese War (1930–31), Luciano built a network of younger mafiosi in both the Masseria and Maranzano camps who secretly intended to assassinate one of the older bosses, then bide their time before killing the other.

[1] Following the death of Maranzano on September 10, 1931, the newer generation of Italian mobsters reorganized the National Crime Syndicate and founded The Commission, becoming closer to the modern American Mafia.

The October 15 disappearance of Joseph Ardizzone, head of the Los Angeles family, was later regarded as part of this alleged plan to quickly eliminate the old-world Sicilian bosses.