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| Victor Stracci | |
| Biographical Information | |
| Aliases | Don Stracci |
| Gender | Male |
| Born | January 1, 1882 Modica , Provincia di Ragusa Sicily, Italy |
| Died | August 1955 Midtown, New York City |
| Affiliation |  Stracci Family
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| Title(s) | Don |
Victor Anthony Stracci was a Sicilian born-American career criminal and crime boss, son of Hector Stracci, the first Don of the Stracci crime family. Stracci was the head of the Stracci Family from 1920 to 1955, when he was murdered at the St. Alban's Hotel in Midtown, New York City, by Corleone crime family gunmen Peter Clemenza and Aldo Trapani.
Biography[]
Stracci was born and raised in
Provincia di Ragusa , Sicily, he was child of poor family, but he immigrated with his brother Mario to the United States in 1901 with their family. The two became laborers and founded a hauling company, which soon became the front used for his own street gang, operating in New Jersey's Jersey City and the New Jersey Waterfront. Stracci lived in Stracci Compound with his gang's turf in NJ.
In 1920, Victor Stracci founded the Stracci crime family after taking over smaller gangs, leaving Mario Stracci as the Soldier of the Stracci crime family and the head and founder of the Stracci Hauling Company. Victor Stracci became the Don of one of New York City's Five Families, alongside the Barzini crime family, Tattaglia crime family, Cuneo crime family, and Corleone crime family. He allied with Carmine Cuneo of The Bronx and Vito Corleone of Little Italy, although the Straccis clashed with everyone, as turf wars were sometimes between allies.
Stracci did not agree with prostitution, although his Soldato Anthony Madonna ran some brothels in NYC. Stracci had connections with businessman as far east as Brooklyn, where his cousins Donato Stracci, Diego Stracci, and Dino Stracci ran some fronts. His other cousin Santino Stracci ran the Stracci Hub in New Jersey, which was in competition with the Waterside Warehouse, another distribution racket, which smuggled explosives.
The Stracci Family were some of the toughest families, aside from the Barzinis and Cuneos. They fought the Tattaglias on many occasions, and always won, while they had a mixed chance of winning and losing when they entered mob wars with the Corleones. Stracci was a friend of Vito "The Godfather" Corleone, and attended his daughter's wedding party, where he joined in the singing alongside Francesca Corleone, the Don's wife, in 1945.
However, he was involved in the scheme to force the Corleones into the heroin trade, backing Virgil Sollozzo in his attempt to murder Vito Corleone and replace him with Santino Corleone, who was hot for the deal. However, Vito survived the attempt and his son Michael Corleone murdered Sollozzo, causing Stracci to lose all of the money he had invested in the drug dealing, and the Five Families War began. From 1946 to 1955, the Straccis lost all of their rackets, warehouses, and hubs, including the Kenyon Yard Hub, their best racket. In an attempt to end the war, Stracci sent some of his hitmen to help the Barzinis, Cuneos, and Tattaglias in killing Santino, and they succeeded, but this led to more violence, as Corleone Soldato Aldo Trapani extorted Stracci-affiliated associates and took over all of their fronts and crime rings.
Death[]
Stracci talking with Aldo Trapani at the St. Alban's Hotel, shortly before his murder.
Stracci was murdered on August 1, 1955, at St. Alban's Hotel in Midtown. Stracci arranged a meeting with Trapani to discuss a peace treaty between the Straccis and Corleones, so he was escorted by Trapani to the elevator, alongside his Underboss Donato Baltiseri. When the elevator reached the ground floor, Peter Clemenza shot at the Straccis when the doors opened, and Trapani shot Stracci once in the stomach. When he bent down, Trapani shot Stracci in the back of the head, finishing the execution. Stracci's death weakened the family, but it remained alive, under his son Salvatore Stracci, who was murdered in November.