One of the most important members of the notorious Morello family, Peter “the Clutching Hand,” Morello was a devious killer whose tactics terrified his enemies. During the 1920s he was the bodyguard- adviser to Joe the Boss Masseria, regarded at the time as the most important mafioso in New York. Joseph Bonnano (Joe Bananas), shortly thereafter a boss of one of New York’s five crime families, made it clear why Morello was also called “the old fox”— he did Masseria’s thinking for him.
The Clutching Hand was cut down in August 1930 during the Castellammarese War. By whom is a matter of some dispute. Informer Joe Valachi insisted the job was done by Buster of Chicago, a mysterious hit man imported by Salvatore Maranzano, the leader of the anti-Masseria forces. This, like much of Valachi’s testimony, has been viewed with considerable doubt by Mafia watchers. Morello was cut down in his East Harlem business office, and it is doubtful that a stranger like Buster could have gotten to him, especially since at the moment he was handling a huge amount of cash, receipts from his loansharking racket.
Far more believable is Lucky Luciano’s version. The ambitious Luciano, like Morello, was allied with Joe the Boss, but he had decided by then that the time was ripe to get rid of Masseria. That being the case it was decided that Morello had to die first. As long as Morello lived, Masseria was considered impregnable, and even if the Boss were killed, Morello would undoubtedly go underground to carry on a fierce war with Luciano.
Luciano assigned Albert Anastasia and Frank Scalise to the job and they were able to penetrate Morello’s headquarters. They found Morello with a collector in his operation, Giuseppe Pariano, and, as Luciano put it, “he hadda get it too.” As a bonus, Anastasia and Scalise appropriated the $30,000 in cash lying on Morello’s desk.
