Vincenzo Terranova, a 35-year-old Italian-American man, met a violent end on the streets of Manhattan on May 8, 1922. Known as an early organized crime figure, Terranova was gunned down in a drive-by shooting near his home on East 116th Street. The fatal attack was believed to be part of a larger power struggle within the burgeoning Italian-American underworld of New York City.
At the time of his death, Terranova was a prominent figure in the Morello crime family, which would later
evolve into the Genovese crime family. His murder is widely attributed to Umberto Valenti, a notorious hitman associated with the rival D'Aquila crime family. Valenti was reportedly seeking to seize control of the Morello's criminal enterprises, and Terranova's assassination was a key move in this violent chess match for power.
The brazen daytime shooting sent shockwaves through the community and the criminal underworld. Hours after Terranova was killed, his underboss, Silva Tagliagamba, was also fatally wounded in Lower Manhattan, an act believed to have been carried out by Valenti and his gunmen. These events marked a significant escalation in the ongoing feud for dominance in New York's illicit rackets. While Umberto Valenti was identified as the likely perpetrator of Terranova's murder, historical records do not provide information on any arrests, trials, or convictions specifically for this crime. The violence of that era often went unanswered by the law, with disputes being settled internally among the feuding families.
