November 24, 1897

Charles “Lucky” Luciano was born Salvatore Lucania in Lercara Friddi, Sicily. Luciano was an Italian-American gangster who was said by the FBI to be the man who “organized” organized crime in the United States. In many ways, he was the model for the character Don Corleone in the popular book and movie, The Godfather (1972). He evaded arrest and survived attempted gangland assassinations only to be arrested in 1936 while vacationing in Hot Springs (Garland County). After his arrest, he was extradited to New York to stand trial. Luciano was sentenced to thirty to fifty years at the maximum security Dannemora Prison in New York. He was deported to Italy in 1946, where he died in 1962.