January 26 – Lucky Luciano dies of a heart attack in Naples, Italy, while meeting with Hollywood producers to discuss a movie based on his life. Possibly, as some theorize, the result of poisoning.
June 6 – Joe Profaci dies of cancer. The Gallo-Profaci War continues however as brother-in-law Joseph Magliocco takes over the Profaci crime family following Profaci's death.
June 21 - In a case of mistaken identity, John Saupp is fatally assaulted by fellow inmate and New York mobster Joe Valachi at Atlanta Federal Penitentiary, and dies three days later.[2] Valachi had thought Saupp was New York mobster Joseph DiPalermo, whom Valachi believed Mob Boss Vito Genovese had sent to kill him in prison.
October 27 – On a flight from Sicily to the Milan Linate Airport, the Saulnier jetplane of Enrico Mattei crashes in the surroundings of the small village of Bascapè in Lombardy. Together with Mattei, his pilot Irnerio Bertuzzi and the American Journalist William McHale also died. Mattei was the president of Italy’s national oil company Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi (ENI). Under his direction ENI negotiated important oil concessions in the Middle East as well as a significant trade agreement with the Soviet Union. Official inquiries declared that the plane crash was an accident, but some Mafiaturncoats – among the Tommaso Buscetta – have suggested that a special agreement had been achieved between the Cosa Nostra and "some foreigners" for the elimination of Mattei. The Italian Minister of Defense, Giulio Andreotti, was responsible for the accident investigation. Evidence was immediately destroyed at the crash site. Flight instruments were put into acid.
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