'Clutch Hand' Confusion

Mafia Boss of Bosses Giuseppe Morello

Peter appears

After spending about a decade behind bars in Atlanta Federal Prison on the counterfeiting conviction, Giuseppe Morello was released. At the same time, some Mafia historians report the appearance of a new Morello brother, Peter, also known as "the Clutch Hand."

Giuseppe Morello in Atlanta Prison

In fact, Peter and Giuseppe were the same person. The name "Peter" appears to have been a corruption of Morello's formal title, "Don Piddu." (Joseph Bonanno recorded the name as "Don Piddru.")

In some Mafia histories, "Peter" Morello is said to be an arch-enemy of soon-to-be boss of bosses Joe Masseria. Chandler made the most of the plot line, having Morello join former Lupo lieutenant Umberto Valenti in an all-out war against the rebellious Masseria.

But the story is terribly clumsy, as Chandler was at a loss to explain the close relationship between Masseria and Morello step-brother Ciro Terranova (despite the fact that he had Masseria assassinate Terranova's brother Vincent) and the future close relationship between Masseria and Morello himself.

At one point, Chandler finds his own story so unwieldy that he is forced to have Morello surrender to Masseria not once but twice in order to fit the war theory to the known historical events.

Actually, Masseria was a champion of the Morello-Terranova cause when Brooklyn-based Mafia leader Salvatore D'Aquila passed a death sentence against the clan leadership and all who aided it. D'Aquila had succeeded to the boss of bosses position during Morello's imprisonment, and he apparently was not thrilled about handing it back to Morello. According to Nick Gentile, Umberto Valenti was also targeted by D'Aquila. Valenti freed himself of the death sentence by agreeing to help D'Aquila eliminate the bigshots of the Morello-Terranova organization.

Masseria used a bit of treachery to catch Valenti off guard and murder him. Years later, he caught up with D'Aquila. However, rather than return control over the Mafia to Morello, he named himself supreme boss of the American Mafia around 1928.

Boss of bosses

As the 1920s concluded, a civil war within the American Mafia erupted. Masseria's apparent betrayal of the Morello cause had cost him support. He alienated much of the Sicilian underworld around the country by meddling in the internal affairs of Mafia families and by targeting a particularly strong band of Castellammarese immigrant Mafiosi for extermination.

The site of Giuseppe Morello's assassination in 1930

In a last ditch effort to halt the conflict, Masseria announced that he was stepping down as boss of bosses. He pledged loyalty to the rightful Mafia chief Giuseppe Morello, then in his early 60s.

(Cressey's error occurred with this event. In what might have been merely a typing error, he asserted that Maranzano rather than Masseria endorsed Morello as boss of bosses. In light of the revelations in Bonanno's autobiography, this proves to be ridiculously false.)

Some Mafia historians speculate that Morello was the power behind the throne all through the 1920s (as well as earlier during his partnership with Lupo), that Masseria was boss in name only and was actually doing the bidding of his elder. If Morello had, in fact, been the top boss throughout the Prohibition Era, as this theory suggests, he kept himself very well insulated. No one seems to have had any clue of the man's authority throughout the 1920s.

It appears far more likely that Morello was a puppet ruler. Masseria had hoped to benefit from the old man's prestige while continuing to pull the strings. But there also appears to have been a solid relationship between the two men. The fact that Masseria and Morello had a tight bond was established by a visit to their offices recalled by Bonanno, a Castellammarese who considered himself their enemy. Masseria was reportedly content to sit back and allow Don Piddu to speak to his guests during a critical meeting.

Unfortunately, the Castellammarese did not consider Masseria's retirement legitimate. They initially swore allegiance to returning boss of bosses Morello, but then had him gunned down in his offices.

Some will likely continue to argue over whether Morello ever held the role of supreme Mafia boss. However, he was certainly as influential as he was enigmatic. And he sat at least next to if not in the underworld throne for much of his Mafia career. Morello was without question one of the early shapers of the American Mafia.

The author relied on the sources cited in the Bibliography web page for information contained in this article.