July 23, 2012

Charles “Lucky” Luciano was an Italian-American gangster who was said by the FBI to be the man who “organized” organized crime in the United States. He evaded arrest and survived attempted gangland assassinations only to meet his downfall in 1936 while vacationing in Hot Springs (Garland County). There he was arrested and eventually extradited to New York, where he was tried, convicted, and sentenced to thirty to fifty years in prison. His sentence was commuted in 1946.