The famous gangster Vito Genovese was born on November 27, 1897 in the small Italian city of Tufino. The outback did not attract the family of the child, and she, like many compatriots at that time, emigrated to the United States. In 1913, immigrants settled in Manhattan, where the large Italian diaspora lived. It was in New York that the still very young Vito Genovese began to build his criminal empire.
The first steps in the mafia
The New York mafia of the beginning of the XX century consisted of several clans. Vito Genovese joined Lucky Luciano and the family of Joe Masseria. The young criminal began from the bottom. At first he was engaged in theft and collected money from gamblers. It was a "black" job through which all novice gangsters who wanted to climb the New York Organized Crime Olympus went through.
The way up was distinguished by strict regulations. Each member of the mafia had their own strictly designated responsibilities. From the very first days, success has been concomitant within this Genovese system. Very quickly, he tied up with banal theft and went into more prestigious affairs: extortion and bootlegging.
Famous bootlegger
In 1920, the Prohibition Act was passed in the United States. According to the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, the production and transportation of alcohol was prohibited. Immediately after the unpopular reform was carried out, clandestine alcohol dealers, bootleggers, began to appear throughout the country. It was such a smuggler that Vito Genovese became. A similar turn in his fate is not surprising: in New York, the lucrative trade in illicit alcohol was quickly taken under the control of organized crime.
During the Prohibition period, the gangsters of the Italian-American Mafia have noticeably enriched themselves and have become extremely influential. The same can be said of Genovese. He was able to climb relatively painlessly to the very top of the criminal pyramid of New York. Moreover, the gangster was extremely lucky. The police detained him many times, but could not put the Italian in jail. Despite his extensive track record, he only twice became a defendant in a criminal case, and both times he was accused of illegal possession of weapons.
Internecine war
In 1929, an unprecedented Castellammar war broke out between the largest New York mafia. The conflict arose between the clan Salvatore Maranzano and the clan Joe Masseria, which included including Genovese. Essentially, it was a war between two generations of Italians. Vito, who came to the USA as a child, belonged to a young shoot. Compared to his older comrades, he knew better English, was more dexterous in implementing complex criminal schemes.
The Castellammar war turned out to be one of the bloodiest in the history of the mafia. She significantly weakened both groups. The way out of the conflict was found after Lucky Luciano, together with Genovese, organized the assassination of his boss Joe Masseria. Gangsters eliminated the leader, agreeing with his opponent Maranzano. The killers took this step in order to end the merciless war between the clans.
New killings
However, even the murder of Masseria did not satisfy Vito Genovese. He personally participated in the reprisal against the boss and hoped that the action would restore the balance of power between different clans. In fact, everything turned out exactly the opposite. Formally, the war-winner Maranzano usurped all power over the New York Mafia and declared himself capo di tutti capi, that is, "boss boss."
This turn of events did not suit young mafiosi. They did not want to endure the despotism of one person. The tension in New York grew, and the triumph of Salvatore Maranzano lasted only a few months. September 10, 1931 he was killed. Vito Genovese and Lucky Luciano again stood for another reprisal. Depriving the lives of the last “boss of the bosses”, they set about organizing a new order in the life of the American mafia.
Commission Appearance
At the next meeting in Chicago, representatives of the largest criminal clans agreed to create a regulatory organization that could, due to its influence, resolve conflicts between different forces in the US criminal community. She received the name of the Commission. A single governing body was designed to prevent wars like Castellammar, when a huge number of gangsters shot each other and led the mafia to a protracted crisis. Today, some US organized crime researchers even compare the Commission on its regulatory functions with the UN.
The influential organization included representatives of the five largest families (Luciano, Bonanno, Lucchese, Colombo and Gambino himself), as well as Al Capone from Chicago and Stefano Magaddino from Buffalo. Genovese was still too young and did not get into the Commission. At that time (in 1931) he was considered a man of Lucky Luciano and was the younger boss in his clan.
Personal front
In the same 1931, the first wife of Vito died. The circumstances of her death caused a lot of controversy. Many, contrary to the generally accepted version of tuberculosis, believed that Vito Genovese himself killed the spouse because of jealousy. His wife’s funeral became an important milestone for him. However, after some time, the gangster fell in love with a new woman. The object of his interest was Anna Vernotiko. The only problem was that the chosen one of Genovese was already married. In March 1932, her husband was found dead on the roof of a New York house. Just two weeks after this episode, the gangster married Vernotiko.
Successor
The mafia Genovese family emerged as the successor to the Lucky Luciano family. After the armistice and the emergence of the Commission, this clan began to quickly grow rich and gain influence. Luciano and Genovese ran the extortion, smuggling, brothel operation. At the last and burned Lucky. In 1936, on charges of pimping, he was sent to prison. It is noteworthy that Luciano went to jail thanks to the efforts of Thomas Dewey, then the prosecutor, and later the governor of New York and the Republican candidate in the two presidential elections in 1944 and 1948.
Deprived of freedom, the former boss appointed his best friend and longtime partner Vito as the successor. So the Genovese family came into being - one of the five largest mafia families in the United States. However, the elevation led to increased police attention. All the same, Dewey called Genovese "New York gangster No. 1" and began to find out the circumstances of the crimes of the mafia, which would help put him in prison after Luciano. At that time, a fresh contract murder hung on Vito. The police followed the trail of this crime, after which Genovese decided to emigrate to Italy for his own safety.
Homecoming
In Italy, Genovese settled in Nola - a city located near Naples. From the USA he brought a significant fortune for those times - 750 thousand dollars. Italy at that time was ruled by Benito Mussolina. Duce quickly made friends with Vito Genovese. The growing influence of the Italian mafia in New York, of course, could not go unnoticed at home.
The head of the mafia family in his country tried to match the image of the benefactor. He gave a huge amount to the needs of his municipality, and even financed the construction of a new power station. For these and many other merits, Genovese received the Order of the Crown of Italy.
However, the gangster did not forget about the usual criminal schemes. Thanks to his friendship with Mussolini's son-in-law, he organized the supply of Turkish opium to Milan, where heroin was produced from this raw material. Drugs were spread in an even more amazing way. For transporting heroin to the ports of the Mediterranean, the aircraft of the Italian air force were used. Even before the appearance of Genovese in the homeland in the country, the Sicilian mafia had a great influence. A guest from New York did not conflict with his neighbors, but established with them the alcohol trade on the black market.
Out of the frying pan into the fire
On January 11, 1943, the Italian and American journalist Carlo Tresca was killed in New York. At home, he became famous thanks to his anti-fascist publications and bold criticism of the Duce. Mussolini, at the beginning of his tenure in power, first destroyed all the opposition media. Cod, realizing that he was in mortal danger, moved to the United States. However, he could not escape beyond the ocean. Later, the investigation revealed that the Vito Genovese family was behind the murder of the journalist. The biography of this mafia is full of amazing twists. So, once in Italy, in exchange for his well-being, he began to provide Mussolini with all kinds of criminal services.
In the same 1943, the Duce regime fell. Allied troops landed in Italy. The relatively quiet time for Genovese is over. He became interested in the army. The bureaucratic machine worked for a long time and slowly, but after a lengthy dialogue between the authorities in the United States, they finally demanded the extradition of the mob. By this time, Genovese managed to clear most of the traces of his criminal schemes, but he was still sent overseas. The famous mafioso was brought to the United States by plane, handcuffed to a military police agent, Orange Dickey. But, despite all the efforts of honest law enforcement officers, the trial in the Genovese case crumbled. In 1946, the gangster was again at large.
Again in the USA
After a forced return to the United States, Genovese ended up in a completely different country from which he left, moving to Italy. Mafiosi was deprived of his position in the family. The boss in his absence was Frank Costello. Vito hoped to stand at least in the place of his right hand, but this calculation did not come true. The former head of the family received under his wing a small team of gangsters who controlled Greenwich Village.
The status of a subordinate to Genovese was completely unsatisfactory. But he did not have the resources to return power. Therefore, in the future, the Italian for several years acted stealthily. He maintained a look of devotion to Costello, but at the same time he tried to enlist the devotion of other family members.
Prosecution
The invisible struggle for power within the clan was complicated by the excessive attention of the state. Although Genovese never went to jail immediately after his return, many investigators dreamed of catching him on a crime. In 1950, the US Senate took an unprecedented step in the fight against organized crime. Large-scale hearings were held, which made public the numerous shadow schemes of the mafia.
The investigation also affected Genovese personally. His wife Anna filed for divorce and in court reported on the spouse's criminal business, including numerous cases of extortion. But, as it turned out, Vito was imprisoned in a completely different matter.
Arrest, Death, and Heritage
In 1959, Genovese became a defendant in the drug trade case. He managed so many times to avoid punishment for his crimes that few believed in the success of the investigation. In addition, on the side of the mafiosi was a team of highly paid lawyers. However, this time there were too many circumstances against Vito. Firstly, the US authorities chose him as an example of the fight against crime. Secondly, there were many Mafia leaders against Genovese (Luciano, Costello, Lansky and others). They became the main informants of the court.
Vito Genovese tried to introduce many things in his defense. Quotes of his speeches on ships are known thanks to the numerous books devoted to this person. Genovese spoke even more informally: he threatened, offered bribes, but all this did not help. The jury passed the verdict. They sentenced Genovese to 15 years in prison. An elderly don died behind bars on February 14, 1969. He was 71 years old.
Today, this gangster is rightfully considered one of the most powerful and influential mafiosi in the history of US organized crime. Many circumstances of the activity of the goat nostra became known after Vito Genovese died. Journalists shot more than one documentary about him, the personality of this criminal became the prototype of many fictional characters in fiction and cinema, many publications were written in the wake of his biography, but the Italian mafiosi, as before, continues to cause genuine interest.