Salvatore Maranzano (Italian: [salvaˈtoːre maranˈtsaːno]; July 31, 1886 – September 10, 1931), nicknamed Little Caesar,[1] was an Italian-American mobster from the town of Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily, and an early Cosa Nostra boss who led what later would become the Bonanno crime family in New York City.

He then briefly became the Mafia's capo di tutti capi ("boss of all bosses") and formed the Five Families in New York City but was murdered on September 10, 1931, on the orders of Charles "Lucky" Luciano, who established The Commission, in which families shared power to prevent future turf wars.

He had a fascination with Julius Caesar and the Roman Empire, and enjoyed talking to his less-educated American Mafia counterparts about these subjects.

[4] The Sicilian mafioso Don Vito Ferro decided to make a bid for control of Mafia operations in the United States.

Four gunmen – Vito Genovese, Albert Anastasia, Joe Adonis and Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel – then walked into the dining room and shot and killed Masseria.

[4] With Masseria gone, Maranzano reorganized the Italian American gangs in New York City into the Five Families, headed by Luciano, Joe Profaci, Tommy Gagliano, Vincent Mangano, and himself.

[9] Despite his advocacy for modern methods of organization, including crews of soldiers doing the bulk of a family's illegal work under the supervision of a caporegime, at heart Maranzano was a "Mustache Pete" — an old-school mafioso too steeped in Old World ways.

[6] By September 1931, Maranzano realized Luciano was a threat, and hired Mad Dog Coll, an Irish gangster, to kill him.

[12] Although there would have been few objections had Luciano declared himself capo di tutti capi, he abolished the title, believing the position created trouble among the families and would make himself a target for another ambitious challenger.