[2] The first time he came to the United States, Morano, a professional barber, arrived on 1 June 1892 on the Chandernagor coming from the port of Naples, with his father Giuseppe (46, laborer) and his two-years younger brother Francesco.
[6][7] Years later, Morano moved to Brooklyn where his associates Alessandro Vollero and Leopoldo Lauritano owned a coffee house at 133 Navy Street.
[6] Morano opened the Santa Lucia restaurant close to the Coney Island amusement parks,[2] from where his gang, including his right-hand men Tony Parretti, made money in gambling and cocaine dealing.
[2] However, the gang was not a tightly led organization, but a rather loose association where everybody worked for himself, although Morano was one of the leaders that initiated recruits as camorristi.
[2][10] Morano wanted to expand his business to the lucrative numbers rackets in Italian Harlem under control of Giosuè Gallucci, the 'King of Little Italy'.
After eliminating their common enemies – in particular Joe De Marco, who ran a restaurant and several gambling establishments on Mulberry Street in Lower Manhattan – the Neapolitans went after the Sicilians.
[14] The Neopolitans believed they also could take over other Harlem rackets, such as the artichoke monopoly, the coal and ice business, and the lucrative zicchinetta card games, if they could eliminate the Morellos.