Campagna was born in Brooklyn to parents from mainland Italy. As a teenager, he joined New York's infamous Five Points Gang of Manhattan. One of Campagna's gang associates was future Chicago Outfit boss Al Capone. In 1919, Campagna was convicted of robbing an Illinois bank and sent to the Pontiac Reformatory in Pontiac, Illinois. In April 1924, Campagna was paroled, but was returned to the reformatory six months later for a parole violation. After his final release in November 1924, Campagna returned to New York. “Anybody who resigns, resigns feet first.”