Vito Genovese

Vito Genovese
Born	(1897-11-27)November 27, 1897 Rosiglino, Tufino, Province of Naples, Italy
Died	February 14, 1969(1969-02-14) (aged 71) Springfield, Missouri, United States

Vito "Don Vito" Genovese (November 27, 1897 – February 14, 1969) was an Italian mafioso who rose to power in America during the Castellammarese War to later become leader of the Genovese crime family. Genovese served as mentor to many future mob bosses including Vincent "The Chin" Gigante, 4th cousin Michael "Mike the Pipe" Genovese and Carlo "Don Carlo" Gambino. He is also a relative of Thomas Genovese.

Early years

After emigrating from Naples, Genovese started his Mafia career serving New York boss Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria during the early 1920s. Involved in bootlegging and extortion, Genovese's main asset to Masseria was his propensity for violence. Charles "Lucky" Luciano was an early associate and benefactor of Genovese. Their relationship lasted 40 years, till Luciano's death. They started together as kids in the slums of New York City.

Genovese's wife, Anna, whose signature was her dark glasses, later informed on her husband. Although associates expected Vito to order her execution, he later told Joe Valachi he couldn't bring himself to order the killing (as Bonanno crime family boss Phillip Rastelli would later do). Vito was a very thin man who stood at 5'8". He had a fondness for Cashmere wool coats and had bloodless eyes that always seemed to be staring. He is believed to have been the shooter of Gaetano Reina, which led to the breakout of the Castellammarese War. In April 1931, during the bloodiest part of the war, Luciano orchestrated the betrayal and assassination of Masseria. Genovese was one of the four shooters who murdered his former employer. Later that year, Luciano arranged a hit on Salvatore Maranzano, the victor in the gang war. With both Masseria and Maranzano dead, Luciano established himself as the paramount gangster in the country. Luciano now became the boss of his own Luciano crime family with Genovese as the underboss. However, in 1936 Luciano was convicted of pandering charges and sent to prison, leaving Genovese as acting boss. In 1937, Genovese was indicted for the 1934 murder of Ferdinand Boccia. To avoid prison, Genovese fled to Italy that same year and settled in the city of Nola near Naples.

Exile in Italy

Genovese lived and prospered in Italy. Vito had become a good friend of Benito Mussolini and was awarded the highest civilian medal the dictator could confer. In Naples, following the allied invasion in 1944, Genovese was appointed to a position of interpreter/liaison officer in the U.S. Army headquarters and quickly became one of American Military Government of Occupied Territories' (AMGOT) most trusted employees. It was a remarkable turnabout; less than a year before, Genovese had arranged the murder of Carlo Tresca, editor of an anti-Fascist Italian-language newspaper in New York, as a favor to Mussolini and the government.

While helping Mussolini's fascist government prosper, Genovese was also running an enormous black market operation with Calogero Vizzini, a powerful Mafia boss in Sicily. On August 27, 1944, the Military Police cracked down on the black market ring and arrested Genovese. When Agent Orange C. Dickey of the Criminal Investigation Division of the US Army investigated Genovese's background, he discovered that Genovese was a fugitive wanted on murder charges back in New York. The problem was nobody in the Army or the federal government was interested.

After months of frustration, Dickey was finally able to make preparations to ship Genovese back to New York to face trial. At that point, the pressure started being applied to Dickey. Making less than $210 per month, Dickey turned down a $250,000 bribe to release Genovese. When that didn't work, Dickey was pressured through his military chain of command to release Genovese. Dickey refused to buckle under pressure.

Gaining Power

Back on the streets, Genovese did not receive the top spot in the Luciano family that he had long expected. Frank Costello had taken over as boss when Genovese fled to Italy, and kept the post after he returned. Further aggravating Genovese was the fact that Willie Moretti, a feared New Jersey racketeer, had grabbed his old job as underboss. Genovese was busted down to caporegime. However, his long absence had lulled his enemies into a sense of security they would soon regret. During the 1950s, Genovese ordered the murders of Costello, Moretti and Albert "Mad Hatter" Anastasia. Only Costello survived, but he was frightened enough to give up control of the family. Genovese took over as boss of the renamed Genovese crime family, and was now at the height of his power. The coup against Costello and Anastasia was supported by the two biggest earners in the family, Anthony Strollo and Anthony Carfano. Soon after Genovese became the godfather, he would allegedly arrange for these two caporegimes to be murdered. Genovese loyalists Philip Lombardo, Gerardo Catena and Mike Miranda would assume the top positions in the family by the early 1960s.

Apalachin Meeting

In 1957, Genovese arranged the Apalachin Conference in the rural town of Apalachin, New York, a conference for dozens of top mafiosi that he hoped would confirm his position in the family. Unfortunately for Genovese, the meeting (November 14, 1957) went horribly wrong. New York State Police Trooper Edgar Croswell had been watching the meeting house, which belonged to mobster Joseph "Joe the Barber" Barbara. When Croswell saw large numbers of mobsters there, he called for reinforcements and surrounded the farm. When the attendees were alerted, they chaotically fled the location, some fleeing on foot into the woods. Aside from derailing Genovese's power plan, the Apalachin Meeting brought the Cosa Nostra out of the shadows and into the view of the public and law enforcement.

Final Years

In 1959, Genovese was convicted of selling a large quantity of heroin and was sentenced to 15 years in the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia. Many court observers felt the chief witness, a low level criminal who claimed to have met Genovese, was lying. Years later, the witness would recant his tesimony, saying that he had been released from prison in return for implicating Genovese.

In popular culture

Genovese is portrayed in the 2001 TV movie Boss of Bosses by Steven Bauer.

External links

• Vito Genovese

Further Reading

Lewis, Norman (1978). Naples '44. New York. Carol & Graf. ISBN 9780786714384.