After Lucchese was released from prison he continued to work for Reina, he began working for Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria.

The Reina gang started during World War I and was located in the Bronx. The group was led by Gaetano Reina and it soon became a strong criminal organization within New York City. Gaetano "Tom" Reina controlled a monopoly over the ice distribution in the Bronx and upper Manhattan. Tommy Lucchese, Gaetano Gagliano, and Stefano "Steve" Rondelli were all top Lieutenants for Gaetano "Tom" Reina. Tommy Lucchese ran his own gang / crew in East Harlem called the 107th crew.

The Young Turks, or Broadway Mob, was a group of young Italian and Jewish men involved in bootlegging, robbery, illegal gambling, and thefts in the 1920s. The members of the Young Turks were Charlie "Lucky" Luciano, Frank Costello, Tommy Lucchese, Vito Genovese, Albert Anastasia, Frank Scalice, Joseph Adonis, Carlo Gambino, Meyer Lansky, and Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel. The group was led by Luciano, who was partnered with Jewish gangster Arnold Rothstein. The group was called the "Young Turks" by the old Italian Mafia bosses because they were ambitious, impatient and worked with anyone, Jewish or Italian. The old - style Mafia men were called the "Mustache Petes" and would not work with anyone who was not Italian. This group of young men would make the decision to end the Castellammarese war.

In 1930, the Castellammarese War was being fought between two rival crime bosses, Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano. Lucchese began the war as the right - hand man of Gaetano Gagliano, the head of a family aligned with Masseria. Reina began to change his alliance from Masseria to Salvatore Maranzano. This was because Masseria was demanding a share of Reina’s ice distribution. Gaetano Gagliano told Joe Masseria about his boss Tom Reina’s betrayal in hopes of getting on Masseria's good side. Vito Genovese a Masseria gunman, killed the 40 year old Tom Reina on February 26, 1930 outside his mistress' apartment with a shotgun blast to the back of the head. Masseria had suspected Reina of plotting with Maranzano and decided to replace him with a more controllable ally, Joseph Pinzolo.

Angry about being passed over, Gaetano Gagliano and Tommy Lucchese formed a splinter group within the family with help from other members (Stefano "Steve" Rondelli, Dominick "The Gap" Petrilli, Joe Valachi and others). Other members of the family joined their cause because Pinzolo was a disagreeable man, which soon led to everyone hating him. On September 9, 1930, Joseph Pinzolo was lured to an office leased by Lucchese on Broadway in Manhattan, where he was shot five times by Girolamo "Bobby Doyle" Santucci or Dominick Petrilli. Luckily for Lucchese, Masseria attributed the killing to Maranzano. Joe Masseria then decided to put Gaetano "Tommy" Gagliano in as the new boss of the Reina gang.

As the gang war continued for several years, the tide began to turn against Masseria. Charles "Lucky" Luciano, one of Masseria's top lieutenants, began secret negotiations with Maranzano. Now that Gaetano Gagliano and Tommy Lucchese were in charge of the Reina gang, Luciano persuaded them to secretly switch to Maranzano; they went along with the plan. Maranzano, Gagliano, and Lucchese planned to destroy Masseria. On November 5, 1930, the Masseria allied "Manfredi Family" (later called the Gambino Family) boss Alfred "Al Mineo" Manfredi and underboss Steve Ferrigno were murdered in front of an apartment building in the Bronx. The hit was carried out by Gagliano and Maranzano men that included Joe Valachi and others. At this point, Maranzano believed that Lucchese and Gagliano were now his men, but in actuality their loyalty was only to Luciano. Lucchese became one of Luciano's favored hitmen and was alleged to have been involved in at least 30 murders.

On April 15, 1931, with the connivance of Luciano, Joe Masseria was assassinated at a restaurant on Coney Island by Vito Genovese, Albert Anastasia, Joseph "Joey A" Adonis and Bugsy Siegel (a four - man hit squad). With Masseria's death, the Castellammarese War was over and Maranzano was the victor.

With the end of the gang war, Maranzano set up a new structure of crime families that incorporated all the existing Sicilian and Italian gangs in the United States with him as the top boss. The old Reina gang became one of the five crime families of New York City: Luciano Family, Gagliano Family, Mangano Family, Bonanno Family, Profaci Family. Gagliano became the boss of this new family with Lucchese as his underboss.

Maranzano soon grew jealous of Charlie Luciano's power and arranged their murders. However, Luciano found out about the plot and killed Maranzano first. On September 10, 1931 Tommy Lucchese went to see Maranzano at his office saying he had to discuss a matter on behalf of his boss Gaetano Gagliano. Lucchese was there to point out Maranzano to the Jewish hitmen (Sammy "Red" Levine, Abraham "Bo" Weinberg, and others) who were dressed as Police and IRS agents. The hitmen killed Maranzano in his office. Luciano, rather than becoming the new boss of all bosses, created and setup a Mafia Commission. The Commission was composed of family representatives (each boss from the Luciano Family, Mangano Family, Gagliano Family, Bonanno Family, Profaci Family, Buffalo Family and Chicago Outfit) and regulated organized crime and prevented wars. However, behind the scenes, Luciano was the strongest and most respected boss because he was the head of the Commission.

Tommy Lucchese was underboss for Gaetano Gagliano, who was one of the members of the Mafia commission. The New York City underworld was organized and peaceful because of Charlie Luciano but he was soon arrested in 1936 and then deported in 1946. Gagliano would keep his family during a tough time, being out numbered in the Commission by the Bonanno family, Magaddino family, Profaci family and the Mangano family alliance. The Gagliano family during WWII was involved in black market sugar, gasoline rations, stamps and meat and the family's underboss, Lucchese, attended the Havana Conference in Cuba on behalf of his boss Gaetano Gagliano in 1946.

Lucchese became a naturalized United States citizen on January 25, 1943 in New York City.

Gagliano remained family boss until his death by natural causes in 1951. Having served for 22 years as a loyal underboss to Gagliano, Lucchese finally took control of the organization himself. Tommy Lucchese made Vincenzo Rao his Consigliere and Stefano LaSalle his underboss. Tommy Lucchese was popular and well liked among his men, and known to value their welfare highly. He was five - foot - two with a slight build, but readily capable of ruthless violence. Lucchese also enjoyed close relations with mayors and other politicians, including New York City Mayors William O'Dwyer and Vincent Impellitteri and became one of the most well respected bosses of the era. Concentrating on the core Cosa Nostra values of making money and not getting caught, Lucchese took the family into new rackets in Manhattan's Garment District and in the related trucking industry, taking control of key union officials and trade associations.

Lucchese had his 107th street crew become involved in large scale heroin smuggling with the crew's capo Giovanni Ormento. The scheme was worth millions of dollars in heroin and led to a major NYPD corruption scandal. This scandal involved corrupt NYPD officers allowing access to NYPD evidence rooms containing hundreds of kilograms of heroin, which were then stolen. The heroin was worth more than $70 million. The heroin was then replaced with baking flour; this was all happening around the time of Serpico, before he opened the scandal to the public.

In 1951 Tommy Lucchese was Boss of the Gagliano family. He soon made an alliance with Carlo Gambino who was the new underboss for Albert Anastasia (the boss of the Mangano Family). Lucchese teamed up with Gambino and Vito Genovese (who was just a capo again) to take the Anastasia and Frank Costello alliance. Vito Genovese wanted to be boss of the "Luciano family" and Boss of Bosses but needed to get rid of Costello, however first he needed to get rid of Anastasia.

Vito Genovese couldn't take out Albert Anastasia without more support, and Meyer Lansky soon put his support behind Vito’s plan. On October 25, 1957, Anastasia was murdered (by members of the Gallo crew from the Profaci Family) and Carlo Gambino became the new boss of the family. Vito Genovese then ordered Vincent Gigante to kill Frank Costello, so that Vito could finally take control of the Luciano Family and become the Boss. Costello was shot but lived and retired leaving Vito Genovese the new Boss. By 1957 the new alliance of Charlie Luciano, Frank Costello, Meyer Lansky, Carlo Gambino and Tommy Lucchese decided it was time to get rid of Vito Genovese.

Vito Genovese organized the Apalachin Meeting in upstate New York on November 14, 1957 at the home of mobster Joseph "Joe the Barber" Barbara. It was an America Mafia summit and hundreds of made men went to discuss business. Tommy Lucchese was on his way to the Apalachin Meeting with his underboss Stefano LaSalle and driver Aniello Migliore, but the meeting was raided by police before they got there. However, his consigliere Vincenzo Rao was arrested in the raid. Carlo Gambino and Vito Genovese were also arrested, along with many more. This caused Genovese to lose power and respect in the underworld. The alliance against Genovese finally won in 1959, when he was in Atlanta, Georgia, overseeing a shipment of heroin and the police, FBI and ATF were staking out the place and busted him. Genovese was sentenced to 15 years and this left Carlo Gambino the head of the Commission.

In 1962, Carlo Gambino's oldest son Thomas Gambino married Tommy Lucchese's daughter Frances. The wedding had over 1,000 guests and Carlo Gambino gave Lucchese a $30,000 'welcome to the family' gift and Lucchese cut Gambino into his airport rackets. Lucchese controlled JFK airport and had full control over all unions, management and security. Together Lucchese and Gambino ran the Commission and New York City.

In 1962 Lucchese and Gambino began to back the Gallo crew from the Profaci Family in the war against their boss Joe Profaci. Both Gambino and Lucchese saw the war as a way to take over rackets that were under control of the Profaci family, because the Profaci's were too involved in their war. On June 6, 1962 Boss Joe Profaci died of cancer and his underboss Joseph Magliocco became the new boss and kept fighting the war against the Gallo crew. Magliocco had support of most of the Profaci family and support from other family boss Joe Bonanno of the Bonanno Family.

The war finally came to an end in 1963 when Gallo crew capo Joseph Gallo was arrested. Joe Magliocco and Joe Bonanno decided they needed revenge on Lucchese, Gambino, Magaddino for the Gallo war and the Bonanno war. They decided they needed to have them killed so Magliocco ordered capo Joe Colombo to kill all three Bosses (Tommy Lucchese, Carlo Gambino, and Stefano Magaddino). Joe Colombo went to the Mafia Commission instead and talked about the plot to murder them. Magliocco showed up to the Commission and was stripped of his Boss title and forced into retirement. Joe Colombo became the new boss of the Profaci Family and it was decided to rename it as the Colombo Family. Joe Bonanno decided to go into hiding and his last ally, Joe Magliocco, died of high blood pressure. Even Bonanno's ally from Tampa Florida, Boss Santo Trafficante, was against him.

The Commission then stripped Joe Bonanno of his Boss title and put in capo, Gaspar DiGregorio, as the new boss. Upset by the Commissions decision Joe Bonanno started a war; it was later called the Banana war (1962 – 1967). The war continued for years and in October 1964 Joe Bonanno was kidnapped by Buffalo crime family members Peter and Antonino Magaddino. Buffalo boss Stefano Magaddino (who was also a cousin to Bonanno) asked him to retire and end the war. Joe Bonanno refused and continued the war and began to see victory when he suffered a heart attack and would finally retire. The Commission had won and put in another capo, Paul Sciacca, as the new boss of the Bonanno Family.

Tommy Lucchese became the boss of the Gagliano family in 1951, and promoted Settimo Accardi as Boss / Capo of the entire Jersey Crew. In 1955, Accardi was deported and he chose Anthony "Ham" Delasco to run the faction. The New Jersey Elizabeth family began war with its own Newark faction. The war continued into the 1960s, and when Simone "Sam the Plumber" DeCavalcante became the boss he was able to end the fighting. Lucchese replaced his New Jersey capo Delasco who had died with Joseph Abate and his protege Anthony "Tumac" Accetturo.

In 1963 Joseph Valachi became the first American Mafia government witness when he testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Government Operations. The Valachi hearings was the first concrete evidence that the American Mafia did exist. Joseph Valachi was a low ranking soldier in the Genovese crime family when he decided to testify. Before he became a member in the Genovese family Valachi was an associate in the Reina family (later named the Lucchese crime family) and had worked with Tommy Lucchese and Tommy Gagliano in the Castellammarese War. He later decided to switch and join the Genovese family and worked as a driver until 1962 when he testified that the Mafia was real. Valachi gave information on how the Mafia worked and who were the leaders in each crime family. The hearing was televised and America learned the truth about rituals and the violence of the Mafia. He also described the Mafia Commission and its members Vito Genovese, Carlo Gambino, Tommy Lucchese, Joseph Bonanno, and Joseph Colombo.

Lucchese led a quiet, stable life until he developed a fatal brain tumor and died at his home in the Lido Beach area of Long Island on July 13, 1967. At the time of his death, Lucchese had not spent a night in jail in over 40 years. His funeral was at the Calvary Cemetery in Queens, New York, and was attended by over 1,000 mourners, including politicians, judges, policemen, racketeers, drug pushers, pimps, and hitmen. When Lucchese died, his first choice Antonio "Tony Ducks" Corallo was in prison and his second choice Ettore Coco was also in trouble with the law and only served time as boss for a while. Vincenzo Rao the family consigliere was also a choice but he was facing legal problems and could not become boss. The Commission then decided to put in capo Carmine Tramunti until Corallo was released from prison. Tramunti would later be arrested in the famous French Connection heroin smuggling trade. Corallo was out of prison by then and took over as the family’s new boss.

• Joseph "Joe Brown" Lucchese - was the younger brother of Tom Lucchese. Little is known of him besides that he worked in the horses track and was a capo in the Lucchese family. Joseph worked closely with Aniello "Neil" Migliore running Queens based gambling operations, and died sometime in the early 1970s.

• Robert Lucchese - the son of Tommy Lucchese. He worked in the Garment District with Thomas Gambino.

• Thomas F. Gambino - the son of Carlo Gambino. He married Frances Lucchese the daughter of Tommy Lucchese. Capo in the Gambino family along with his two brothers Joseph and Carl, and brother - in - law Robert Lucchese they controlled many trucking firms in the Garment District.

• Joseph "Joe Palisades" Rosato - he married Lucchese's sister Rose. As Lucchese's brother - in - law Rosato was involved in the Garment District rackets. Rosato was identified as a capo in the Lucchese crime family in the 1963 Valachi hearings.