Niue has operated as a prolific license issuer for novelty bullion since the early 2000s, lending its sovereign authority to themes well outside conventional numismatic territory. Luciano, born Salvatore Lucania in Sicily in 1897, reorganized the American Mafia into the Commission structure in 1931 — the same year he survived a one-way ride that should have killed him, earning the nickname. He was ultimately deported to Italy in 1946 after a wartime intelligence deal with the U.S. Navy regarding port security on the New York docks.
Niue has operated as a prolific license issuer for novelty bullion since the early 2000s, lending its sovereign authority to themes well outside conventional numismatic territory. Luciano, born Salvatore Lucania in Sicily in 1897, reorganized the American Mafia into the Commission structure in 1931 — the same year he survived a one-way ride that should have killed him, earning the nickname. He was ultimately deported to Italy in 1946 after a wartime intelligence deal with the U.S. Navy regarding port security on the New York docks.