Businessman crime boss Bootlegger racketeer drug trafficker mobster extortionist
Genovese was born on November 27, 1897 in Tufino, Italy, the son of Phillip Anthony and Nancy Genovese. Vito had two brothers, Michael and Carmine, who also belonged to Genovese's crime family. His cousin, Michael, became boss of the Pittsburgh crime family. Genovese entered the United States on May 23, 1913, at New York City. He resided with his family in Little Italy, the Italian section of Greenwich Village.
Genovese was educated in Italy through the equivalent of fifth grade.
Young Genovese became involved in the Italian underworld and quickly established himself as a reliable and ruthless mob soldier. In 1931 Genovese allied himself with Charles ("Lucky") Luciano to arrange the demise of their leader, Giuseppe ("The Boss") Masseria, and make Salvatore Maranzano "The Boss of All Bosses. " In classic fashion the unsuspecting Masseria was wined, dined, and shot to death, and less than six months later Maranzano was assassinated - leaving Luciano and Genovese in control. During the 1920's Genovese had been arrested several times, but his only two convictions were for the relatively minor crime of carrying a concealed weapon. He was one of the first underworld figures to establish and operate legitimate businesses in order to protect himself. His enterprises included imports, wastepaper, and steel straps. In 1934, however, Genovese was involved in an extortion plot in which one collaborator, Ferdinand ("The Shadow") Boccia, demanded a large share of the $160, 000 proceeds. They quarreled, Boccia was murdered, and the police questioned Genovese, but the prosecution stalled when witnesses could not be found. In 1937, a year after Genovese was naturalized, he became concerned about a possible indictment for Boccia's murder and fled to Italy. He reportedly took $750, 000 with him and gave one-third of it to Mussolini, who decorated him. Genovese remained out of the public eye until 1944, when a United States Army investigation of black markets in Italy implicated him, and he was jailed while employed as an army interpreter. While he was in custody in Italy, word came from New York that he had been indicted for Boccia's murder. The indictment was possible because prosecutors had finally located two corroborative witnesses. Genovese fought extradition until January 1945, when witness Peter LaTempa was poisoned while in protective custody in a Brooklyn, New York, jail. Genovese then returned to New York City, and the charges were dismissed. Genovese found that his long absence from the United States and weakened his influence with the Cosa Nostra. Luciano had made a deal with Governor Thomas E. Dewey and had accepted deportation to Italy, where Luciano continued to operate until he moved to Cuba. Frank Costello, who had involved the crime organization in a number of legitimate businesses, had become the Cosa Nostra leader. Genovese bided his time until 1957, when he allegedly ordered Costello's murder. The rival miraculously survived a bungled shooting, and Genovese fled to his home with forty armed guards. Fearing that Costello and Albert Anastasia, another powerful mob leader, would join forces against him, Genovese called a general meeting of the Italian underworld to announce that he would take Costello's place and that the new underboss would be Gerardo ("Jerry") Catena. Costello's attacker went free when Costello declined to identify him, and Costello was received back into Genovese's organization as an underling. Genovese then allegedly plotted the murder of Anastasia, whose assassination in a fashionable New York City hotel barbershop on October 25, 1957, provided a memorable photograph of mob bloodshed. Two weeks later more than 100 mobsters convened at Apalachin, New York, to endorse Genovese's return to power. A poorly organized police raid captured about sixty underworld leaders, including Genovese; many others escaped into the woods. The publicity about Anastasia's killing and the Apalachin meeting hurt Genovese, and the authorities began to close in. In 1958 Senator John L. McClellan's select committee gave Americans a detailed look inside the Cosa Nostra. In testimony before the committee Genovese took the Fifth Amendment more than 150 times. The committee concluded that Genovese had amassed a fortune worth $30 million. Shortly afterward Genovese was indicted in a federal narcotics smuggling case in New York City, and on April 3, 1959, he was convicted. He was sentenced to fifteen years. On February 11, 1960, he became the first mob boss since Luciano to be jailed. Even from his federal prison cell in Atlanta, however, Genovese continued to run the Cosa Nostra. It was in prison that Genovese's cellmate, mob soldier Joseph Valachi, learned the details of Genovese's operations. Valachi came to believe that Genovese had marked him for death, and in 1963 Valachi turned state's evidence against his former boss. Valachi's testimony confirmed many allegations concerning Genovese, solved a number of murders and disappearances, and developed the first complete portrait of the inner workings of the Cosa Nostra. Genovese was transferred to the federal prison in Leavenworth, Kansas, but he continued to exert influence on the mob. He died in the prison hospital at Springfield, Missouri.
Genovese was known as Boss of all Bosses from 1957 to 1959 when he ruled one of the most powerful, richest and dangerous criminal organizations in the world and maintained power and influence over other crime families in America. Along with longtime associate Luciano, he is deemed responsible for expanding the heroin trade to an international level.
For a brief period during World War II, Genovese supported Benito Mussolini's regime in Italy for fear of being deported back to the United States to face murder charges.
Member of the Cosa Nostra
Genovese was a man of modest height who stood at 5' 7". Physically he was stocky and undistinguished.
In 1931 Genovese's first wife, Anna Vernotico, died, and the rising leader chose as his second bride Anna Petillo, who was already married to Gerard Vernotico. Vernotico's body was subsequently discovered on a rooftop, and two weeks later, on March 30, 1932, Genovese married the widow. They had two children. In 1950 Anna left Genovese, and in a court battle over alimony she described her husband as a wealthy man who brought home $20, 000 to $30, 000 a week in proceeds from the "Italian lottery. "
