View source for Michele Miranda

{{short description|Italian-American mobster}}
{{multiple issues|
{{more sources|date=March 2025}}
{{inline|date=March 2025}}
}}
'''Michele "Big Mike" Miranda''' (July 26, 1896 &ndash; July 16, 1973) was a longtime member and eventual [[consigliere]] of the [[Genovese crime family]] and one of the most powerful New York gangsters in the 1950s and 1960s.

==Early years==
Born in [[San Giuseppe Vesuviano]], [[Province of Naples]], Miranda immigrated with his family to the United States in 1905 and settled in New York. In later years, Miranda's official residence was in [[Forest Hills, Queens]].<ref>Feinberg, Alexander. [https://www.nytimes.com/1957/12/15/archives/miranda-balks-at-gang-inquiry-auto-dealer-questioned-in-anastasia.html "MIRANDA BALKS AT GANG INQUIRY; Auto Dealer Questioned in Anastasia Slaying Is One of 7 to Refuse Answers"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', December 15, 1957. Accessed June 18, 2009. "Miranda, who lives in Forest Hills, Queens, and has an automobile agency in Manhattan, took the Fifth Amendment thirty-two times as a witness before the Joint Legislative Committee on Government Operations, the so-called watchdog committee."</ref> Becoming involved in crime as a teenager, his first arrest was for petty theft and assault in 1915. During [[Prohibition]], Miranda became an associate of [[Tommy Lucchese|Gaetano "Tommy Brown" Lucchese]] and was affiliated with the [[Gaetano Reina|Reina crime family]] of the [[Bronx]].  In 1931, following the end of the [[Castellammarese War]], he became close to [[Luciano crime family]] underboss, [[Vito Genovese]] and became a [[made man]], or full member, of that crime family.{{cn|date=March 2025}}

==Enforcer for Luciano and Genovese==
{{no sources section|date=March 2025}}
Miranda frequently acted as enforcer for [[Charles Luciano|Charles "Lucky" Luciano]] and Genovese along with the occasional hit for the crime family. As the decade progressed, Miranda kept rising through the family ranks. In the 1940s, Miranda used his former ties with Lucchese as a stepping stone in becoming the Luciano family's overseer of their activities in Manhattan's [[Garment District, Manhattan|Garment District]]. After the execution of [[Louis Buchalter|Louis "Lepke" Buchalter]] in 1944, Lucchese took control of Buchalter's garment industry rackets for the [[Lucchese crime family]].

==Reaching the top rank==
{{no sources section|date=March 2025}}
Miranda soon became one of the top [[Caporegime|capos]] in the family, a highly respected and feared gangster. Miranda had criminal interests in [[illegal gambling]], [[loansharking]], and labor racketeering.  Throughout this period, Miranda kept close ties to his mentor and one of the top bosses in the family, Genovese. On May 2, 1957, Genovese ordered the assassination of [[Luciano crime family]] boss, [[Frank Costello]]. Even though the hit failed, Costello soon retired from the family, leaving Genovese in control. Genovese named Miranda as [[consigliere]], making him the number three man after Genovese and [[underboss]] [[Gerardo Catena|Gerardo "Jerry" Catena]].

On November 14, 1957, Miranda, Genovese, Catena, and about 60 other Mafia bosses were apprehended by federal agents at the famous [[Apalachin Conference]] in [[Apalachin, New York]].

==Genovese in prison==
{{no sources section|date=March 2025}}
In 1958, Genovese was indicted on [[narcotics]] charges and sentenced to 15 years at the [[Atlanta Federal Penitentiary]] in [[Atlanta, Georgia]]. While serving his sentence, Genovese placed the family under the leadership of a "Three Man Ruling Panel", made up of acting boss [[Thomas Eboli|Thomas "Tommy Ryan" Eboli]], Catena, and Miranda. Genovese would relay orders from his prison cell to the panel members as they ran the day-to-day family activities.

Law enforcement continued to pursue Miranda and other Mafia bosses.  In October 1965, the [[New York Police Department]] (NYPD) arrested Miranda and Eboli for parole violations of consorting with known criminals, but all the men were released within a week. On September 22, 1966, Miranda and 12 other high level Mafia members, including bosses from New York, [[New Orleans]], and [[Florida]] were arrested at the [[La Stella Restaurant]] in [[Queens]], [[New York (state)|New York]]. Miranda was once again charged with consorting with known criminals.  Each man had to put up $100,000 bail, a total of $1.3 million for all 13 men.

==Retirement==
In 1972, Miranda retired from active involvement in family affairs.  On July 16, 1973, Michele Miranda died of natural causes in [[Boca Raton, Florida]].{{cn|date=March 2025}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
*Fox, Stephen. ''Blood and Power: Organized Crime in Twentieth-Century America''. New York: William Morrow and Company, 1989. {{ISBN|0-688-04350-X}}
*Kelly, Robert J. ''Encyclopedia of Organized Crime in the United States''. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2000. {{ISBN|0-313-30653-2}}
*Sifakis, Carl. ''The Mafia Encyclopedia''. New York: Da Capo Press, 2005. {{ISBN|0-8160-5694-3}}
*Sifakis, Carl. ''The Encyclopedia of American Crime''. New York: Facts on File Inc., 2001. {{ISBN|0-8160-4040-0}}
*United States. Congress. House. Select Committee on Assassinations. ''Investigation of the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy''. [https://books.google.com/books?id=2lXiaWgKZ5wC&q=%22Michele+Miranda%22]
*United States. Congress. Senate. Government Operations Committee. ''Organized Crime and Illicit Traffic in Narcotics''. 1964. [https://books.google.com/books?id=yxJMaa3f3cEC&q=%22Michele+Miranda%22]

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20160304025729/http://www.astorialic.org/starjournal/1950s/1957november_p.php Greater Astoria Historical Society - The Daily Star: Investigating the Mafia]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20061023064449/http://www.alternatives.com/crime/usmafia.html US Mafia, Short History & Key Players]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20160303192239/http://www.americanmafia.com/Feature_Articles_415.html Attendee Profiles At The 1957 Apalachin Mob Confab] By Mike La Sorte

{{Genovese crime family}}{{American Mafia}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miranda, Michele}}
[[Category:1896 births]]
[[Category:1973 deaths]]
[[Category:People from the Metropolitan City of Naples]]
[[Category:American gangsters of Italian descent]]
[[Category:Genovese crime family]]
[[Category:People from Forest Hills, Queens]]
[[Category:Consiglieri]]
[[Category:Italian emigrants to the United States]]