The Commission (mafia)
After Maranzano's murder in 1931, the Mafia families called a meeting in Chicago. The purpose of the meeting was to replace the old Sicilian Mafia regime of "boss of all bosses" and establish a rule of consensus among the crime families. Charlie Luciano established a Mafia board of directors to be known as "The Commission" to oversee all Mafia activities in the United States and serve to mediate conflicts between families. The Commission consisted of seven family bosses: the leaders of New York's Five Families: Charlie "Lucky" Luciano, Vincent Mangano, Tommy Gagliano, Joseph Bonanno, and Joe Profaci; Chicago Outfit boss Al Capone; and Buffalo family boss Stefano Magaddino. Charlie Luciano was appointed chairman of the Commission. The Commission agreed to hold meetings every five years or when they needed to discuss family problems.
James Lanza
During the 1940s and 1950s, James Lanza was underboss of the San Francisco crime family, working under Michael Abati. He represented the San Francisco LCN family’s interest from the early 1940s to 1952 before being convicted of failing to report nearly $1 million in unpaid taxes. In 1957, he attended the infamous Apalachin Meeting, representing San Francisco, when the raid happened he was never caught, possibly escaping through the woods with other mobsters.
Following the debacle at Apalachin, J. Edgar Hoover ordered FBI field offices to draft lists of "Top Hoodlums" in their areas of responsibility. and the San Francisco office designated Lanza as their contribution to this effort. Because of the Bureau's failure to cultivate informants close to Lanza or insert anyone into his circle, Hoover approved the use of the FBI's black bag squad to break into Lanza's place of business and install an illegal wiretap which ran from 1959 through 1965.