Megan BullLauretta Giegerman was born on October 28, 1894, in Manhattan, New York, the daughter of German Jewish immigrants Jacob H. Geigerman and Cecelia Josephs.
Her name appears inconsistently across records — sometimes “Lauretta,” sometimes “Loretta,” and the surname alternates between “Giegerman” and “Geigerman.” This kind of variation was common for immigrant families whose names were transcribed by hand across multiple government and religious records in the late 19th century.
She is also frequently referred to by the nickname “Bobbie,” which appears alongside her name in genealogical and biographical records.
Marriage to Frank Costello
Lauretta married Francesco Castiglia — better known to history as Frank Costello — on September 22, 1914, in Manhattan, according to Wikipedia’s sourced account of Costello’s life and a Find a Grave memorial for her. (Some later web articles give 1918 as the marriage year; the earlier, better-sourced date is 1914.)
At the time, Costello was still a young man on the rise within New York’s criminal underworld; he would go on to become one of the most powerful organized crime figures in American history, eventually leading the Luciano crime family after Charles “Lucky” Luciano.
Costello was Roman Catholic and Lauretta was Jewish, an interfaith pairing that was notable for the period. The marriage lasted until Costello’s death in 1973 — roughly 58 years — making it a lifelong partnership despite her husband’s high-risk profession, his multiple arrests, his prison sentences, and his frequent appearances in the press, including his famous televised testimony before the 1951 Kefauver Committee hearings on organized crime.
Public records and biographical accounts consistently describe the couple as having no children.
A Life Kept Deliberately Private
While Frank Costello became a household name — profiled in newspapers, hauled before Senate hearings, and later fictionalized in film — Lauretta stayed almost entirely out of public view.
She did not give interviews, and no substantial personal writings, speeches, or first-person accounts from her have surfaced publicly.
Some accounts describe her as a former showgirl or vaudeville performer before her marriage, though this detail is repeated more often in recent web articles than in primary historical sources, and readers should treat it as a claim that isn’t fully documented rather than an established fact.
What is consistent across sources is the picture of a woman who chose privacy: living alongside one of the most scrutinized men in American criminal history without becoming a public figure herself.
Later Years and Death
Details about Lauretta’s life after Frank Costello’s death on February 18, 1973, are thin. Multiple sources note that she withdrew further from public attention following his passing, and no clearly documented date of death has surfaced in accessible public or genealogical records.
Her Find a Grave memorial lists her death year as unknown. This is not unusual for private individuals of her generation whose fame, such as it was, existed only through a spouse.
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Why People Still Search for Her Name
Interest in Lauretta Giegerman comes almost entirely from interest in Frank Costello. Costello is a recurring figure in books, documentaries, and dramatizations about mid-20th-century organized crime, and readers naturally want to know more about the people closest to him.
Because so little is documented about Lauretta herself, her name has become something of a magnet for speculative or padded content online — much of which recycles the same handful of facts (her birth date, her parents’ names, and her marriage) while adding unverified color.
This article has tried to do the opposite: state plainly what is documented, and flag what isn’t.
Frequently Asked Questions
Was Lauretta Giegerman involved in organized crime? There is no reliable public evidence that she was personally involved in her husband’s criminal activities. She is known to history through her marriage, not through any documented role in his business.
Did Frank Costello and Lauretta Giegerman have children? No. Available records consistently describe the marriage as childless.
How long were Frank Costello and Lauretta Giegerman married? Based on the September 1914 marriage date and Costello’s death in February 1973, the marriage lasted roughly 58 years.
Is her name spelled Lauretta or Loretta, Giegerman or Geigerman? Both spellings appear across historical and genealogical records. “Loretta ‘Bobbie’ Geigerman” is the form used in her Find a Grave memorial and in Wikipedia’s account of Frank Costello.
When did Lauretta Giegerman die? Her exact death date is not documented in publicly accessible records.
