Editing Giuseppe Masseria (section)

== Early days ==
Giuseppe Masseria was born in Marsala, in the Province of Trapani, Sicily. He arrived in America after he killed a man. After the death of Nick Morello in 1916, he became the leader of one of several splinter groups who fought a "civil war" for control of the gang. In this struggle Masseria is said to have had the backing of [[Salvatore D'Aquila]], the leader of a Brooklyn-based crime family. (D'Aquila's group was the ancestor to the [[Gambino crime family]]). After the death of [[Nicholas Terranova]], D'Aquila came to be regarded as "capo consigliere" or "senior adviser" among the New York Mafia families. This means that, because of his perceived wisdom, he was considered first among equals and consulted by the other leaders on important matters. However this does not mean that he had any direct control over the other gangs or that they had to pay him any financial tribute. Some later chroniclers have erroneously equated his position with that of "Capo di Tutti Capi", a title to which Joe Masseria was later to aspire.