The famous gangster Vito Genovese was born on November 27, 1897 in the small Italian town of Tufino. The hinterland did not attract the child's family, and she, like many compatriots at that time, emigrated to the United States. In 1913, emigrants settled in Manhattan, where a large Italian diaspora lived. It was in New York that the still very young Vito Genovese began to build his criminal empire.
First steps in the mafia
The New York mafia of the early 20th century consisted of several clans. Vito Genovese joined Lucky Luciano and the Joe Masseria family. The young criminal started from the bottom. At first he was engaged in theft and collected money from gamblers. It was the "dirty" work that all aspiring gangsters went through to climb the Olympus of New York organized crime.
The way "up" was distinguished by strict regulations. Each member of the mafia had their own strictly defined duties. From the earliest days within this system, Genovese has been a success. Very quickly, he gave up the banal theft and took up more prestigious business: extortion and bootlegging.
Famous bootlegger
In 1920, the United States adopted"no alcohol law". Under the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, the production and transportation of alcohol was prohibited. Immediately after the unpopular reform, underground liquor dealers, bootleggers, began to appear throughout the country. Vito Genovese became such a smuggler. Such a turn in his fate is not surprising: in New York, the lucrative trade in illegal alcohol was quickly taken over by organized crime.
During the Prohibition period, the gangsters of the Italian American mafia became noticeably richer and extremely influential. The same can be said about Genovese. He managed to climb relatively painlessly to the very top of the New York crime pyramid. Moreover, the gangster was extremely lucky. The police detained him many times, but they were never able to put the Italian in jail. Despite his extensive track record, he only became a defendant in a criminal case twice, and both times he was accused of illegal possession of weapons.
Internecine war
In 1929, an unprecedented Castellammarese war broke out between the largest New York mafias. The conflict arose between the Salvatore Maranzano clan and the Joe Masseria clan, which included Genovese. In essence, it was a war between two generations of Italians. Vito, who came to the US as a child, belonged to the younger generation. Compared to his older comrades, he knew English better, was more dexterous in carrying out complex criminal schemes.
The Castellammarese War turned out to be one of the mostbloody in the history of the mafia. She significantly weakened both factions. A way out of the conflict was found after Lucky Luciano, along with Genovese, organized the murder of their boss, Joe Masseria. The gangsters eliminated the leader, having agreed with his opponent Maranzano. The killers took this step in order to stop the merciless war between the clans.
More killings
However, even the murder of Masseria did not satisfy Vito Genovese. He personally participated in the massacre of the boss and hoped that the action would restore the balance of power between the various clans. In fact, everything turned out exactly the opposite. The formal winner of the war, Maranzano, usurped all power over the New York mafia and declared himself capo di tutti capi, i.e., “boss of bosses.”
This turn of events did not suit the young mafiosi. They did not want to endure the despotism of one man. Tension in New York grew, and the triumph of Salvatore Maranzano lasted only a few months. On September 10, 1931, he was killed. Vito Genovese and Lucky Luciano were again behind the next massacre. Having taken the life of the last "boss of bosses", they set about organizing a new order in the life of the American mafia.
The Emergence of the Commission
At the next meeting in Chicago, representatives of the largest criminal clans agreed to create a regulatory organization that could, through its influence, resolve conflicts between different forces in the US criminal community. It became known as the Commission. A single governing body was called upon to prevent wars in the likeness ofCastellammarskaya, when a huge number of gangsters shot each other and led the mafia to a protracted crisis. Today, some researchers of US organized crime even compare the Commission in its regulatory functions to the UN.
The influential organization included representatives of the five largest families (Luciano himself, Bonanno, Lucchese, Colombo and Gambino), as well as Al Capone from Chicago and Stefano Magaddino from Buffalo. Genovese was still too young to get into the Commission. At that time (in 1931) he was considered a man of Lucky Luciano and was the underboss in his clan.
Personal Front
In the same 1931, Vito's first wife 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 his wife because of jealousy. The funeral of his wife 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 Vernotico. The only problem was that Genovese's chosen one 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 Vernotico.
Successor
The Genovese mafia family originated 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 extortion, smuggling, and brothels. At the last, Lucky got burned. In 1936year, he was imprisoned on charges of pimping. 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 US presidential elections in 1944 and 1948.
Beyond his freedom, the former boss appointed his best friend and longtime partner Vito as his successor. And so the Genovese family arose - one of the five largest mafia families in the United States. However, the elevation led to heightened police scrutiny. All the same Dewey called Genovese "New York gangster No. 1" and began to find out the circumstances of the crimes of the mafiosi, which would help put him in jail after Luciano. On Vito at that time "hung" a fresh contract killing. The police went on 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 United States, he brought a significant fortune at that time - 750 thousand dollars. Italy at that time was under the rule of Benito Mussolina. The Duce quickly became 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 a benefactor. He gave a huge amount to the needs of his municipality, and even financed the construction of a new power plant. For these and many other merits, Genovese received the Order of the Crown of Italy.
However, the gangster did not forget about the usu althemselves in 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 distributed in an even more surprising way. Italian air force planes were used to transport heroin to Mediterranean ports. Even before Genovese appeared in his homeland, the Sicilian mafia had great influence in the country. The guest from New York did not quarrel with his neighbors, but set up alcohol sales on the black market together with them.
From the fire to the fire
On January 11, 1943, Italian and American journalist Carlo Tresca was assassinated 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 of all destroyed all the opposition media. Cod, realizing that he was in mortal danger, moved to the United States. However, he failed to escape across the ocean. Later, the investigation showed that the Vito Genovese family was behind the murder of the journalist. The biography of this mafia is full of amazing twists and turns. So, having got to 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. His activities were interested in the army. The bureaucratic machine worked long and slowly, but after a long dialogue between the authorities in the United States, they finally demanded the extradition of the mafiosi. By now Genovesemanaged to clean up most of the traces of his criminal schemes, but he was still sent overseas. The famous mafioso was brought to the United States on a plane, handcuffed to the military police agent Orange Dickey. But, despite all the efforts of honest law enforcement officers, the court in the Genovese case fell apart. In 1946, the gangster was free again.
Back in the USA
After being forced to return to the US, Genovese found himself in a completely different country than he had left, moving to Italy. Mafiosi was deprived of his position in the family. Frank Costello became the boss in his absence. Vito hoped to at least take the place of his right hand, but this calculation did not materialize either. The former head of the family got under his wing a small gangster team that controlled Greenwich Village.
The status of Genovese's subordinate did not suit him at all. But he did not have the resources to return to power. Therefore, in the future, the Italian acted on the sly for several years. He maintained an air of loy alty to Costello, but at the same time he tried to enlist the loy alty 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 landed behind bars immediately after his return, many investigators dreamed of catching him in the crime. In 1950, the US Senate took an unprecedented step in the fight against organized crime. Large-scale hearings were held, which made public numerousshady mafia schemes.
The investigation also affected Genovese personally. His wife Anna filed for divorce and at the trial reported on her husband's criminal business, including numerous cases of extortion. But, as it turned out, Vito was imprisoned for a completely different case.
Arrest, death and legacy
In 1959, Genovese became a defendant in a drug trafficking case. He managed to avoid punishment for his crimes so many times that few believed in the success of the investigation. In addition, a team of highly paid lawyers was on the side of the mafiosi. However, this time there were too many circumstances against Vito. First, the US authorities chose him as a good example of the fight against crime. Secondly, many mafia leaders (Luciano, Costello, Lansky and others) were against Genovese. It was they who became the main informants of the court.
Vito Genovese tried a lot of things in his defense. Quotes from his speeches at the courts are known thanks to numerous books dedicated to this person. Even more, Genovese spoke informally: threatened, offered bribes, but all this did not help. The verdict was given by the jury. They sentenced Genovese to 15 years in prison. The aged 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 activities of the Cosa Nostra became known after the death of Vito Genovese. A documentary film about him, and more than one, was shot by journalists, the personality of this criminal became the prototype of many fictional characters in fiction and cinema, many publications have been written in the wake of his biography, but the Italian mafia, as before, continues to arouse genuine interest.
