I really don't know exactly when The Mafia formed in New York. I do know that in the mid 20's two men waged a bloody war for bootlegging rights to Brooklyn.
Joe "the Boss" Masseria and
Salvatore Maranzano battled viciously, loosing many men along the way. This war would be known as the Castellammarese war. Early in the war, Luciano,
Lansky, Siegal, Costello, and Genovese joined forces with Joe the Boss (who had already recruited young soldiers such as Anastasisa and Gambino). As the war went on many soldiers changed loyalties. One such man was
Carlo Gambino. Gambino agreed to work for Maranzano because he believed that Masseria would lose the war. Two more of Masseria's men would desert the boss,
Salvatore "Lucky" Luciano and Vito Genovese agreed to assasinate Masseria if Maranzano could provide them with protection. The deal was made. On April 1931, Luciano had lunch with Joe the Boss. During the meal, Luciano went to the men's room. While he was in the men's room, Vito Genovese,
Albert Anastasia, Bugsy Siegel, and Joe Adonis killed Masseria and fled the scene. Maranzano was now the sole leader of the New York underworld. His first action would be to call a huge meeting of all the families. They met in May 1931 in the banquet hall of the Grand Concources in the Bronx. At the meeting, Maranzano explained how the Mafia would now (and forever) be organized.
He formed the five families of New York, Giving one of the families to
Vincent Mangano. Maranzano organized La Cosa Nostra exactly the way the Roman Empire was structured when Ceasar was its ruler. The Mafia was setup so that there was many men between Maranzano and any crime that was committed by a member of a L.C.N. family. Maranzano also established a few rules to be followed by all members. The biggest rule was that only men of Italian blood could obtain membership. This proved to be a big rule. Maranzano then realized that in order for him to keep his new found power, he would have to get rid of some very dangerous men. The main one being Lucky Luciano. Luciano soon heard of the bosses' plans to eliminate him from the picture. So, instead Lucky (with the help of Genovese and Lucchese) had Maranzano killed. Lucky Luciano was now the head of L.C.N. and he proceeded to make many changes. He created a national crime syndicate that welcomed jewish and irish mobs as non-member associates. He also added the position of consigliere to the family structure. Lucky established the twelve member group called the Commision to settle the affairs of the entire crime syndicate. Luciano established Murder Incorporated, which was led by the blood thirsty Albert Anastasia. The Mafia in New York was a extremely powerful force both localy and nationly. They controlled every aspect of New York from gambling to the shipping docks.