From February 1930 to April 1931, the top Mafia families of New York were engaged in a bloody struggle for power. Called the Castellammarese War, on the surface this conflict seemed like a fight between the Masseria and Maranzano families, the two most powerful New York criminal organizations of the time. However, in reality, this Mafia war was almost a generational conflict, waged between old traditionalists and younger, more forward-thinking members of Italian organized crime. By the end of th