Genovese Family
The Genovese crime family is one of the five families of the New York la cosa nostra. The Genovese family has roots back to the early 1900’s formed by members of sicilian street gangs who merged forming the Morello crime family which would later officially become the Genovese family. During the time of the Castellammarese war under world boss Joe Masseria had taken control of the Morello family and recruited Charlie “Lucky” Luciano, Joseph Adonis, Albert Anastasia, Frank Costello, Vito Genovese , and Carlo Gambino all new soldiers. These new soldiers would be used to help fight the Castellammarese war against rival boss Salvatore Maranzano and his family which also had strong soldiers such as Jor Profaci , Joe Bonanno, and Stefano Magaddino. The war would rage on until April 15th 1931 when Masseria was killed in a Coney Island restaurant reportedly by a crew acting on orders from Charlie Luciano. Once Masseria was killed Maranzano declared victory but his reign was short lived as Luciano had him killed in his Manhattan office.
Luciano would then go on to form the Mafia Commission and took control of the Morello family making Vito Genovese his under boss and Frank Costello family consigliere. But in 1935 Luciano would also be convicted and receive a sentence of 30-50 years, leaving under boss Vito Genovese to take over as acting street boss. But Genovese would face a murder charge and be forced to go on the lamb and hide in Italy. This left Frank Costello to take over as boss of the family. Costello would take over complete control once Luciano was deported back to Italy in 1948. The now named Luciano family under Costello grew in power taking control of bookmaking , illegal gambling, and loan sharking rachets among other things. Costello was nicknamed “The Prime Minister of the Underworld”.
The Luciano family under Costello also had control over all the New York city docks along with very strong political connections. Costello would keep control of the family peacefully for 20 years until the return of Vito Genovese from Italy and his acquittal for his murder case. Genovese would arrive back on the scene with dreams of one day soon taking over the family. Costello would also come into more troubles as it was rumored that he was seeing a psychiatrist for depression and panic attacks. Also senator Estes Kefauver or Tennessee would begin investigating organized crime and form a committee , which set up a hearings and trials knows as the Kefauver Hearings. Costello would agree to testify and did not take the 5th Amendment like all of the other mafia heads which appeared. When asked by a committee member - “What have you done for your country Mr Costello” Costello would reply ” I paid my Tax” !
Costello was a allie with mangano family boss Albert Anastasia which helped him to influence the commission and keep his family in line. But Anastasia would be murdered in 1957 and Costello would lose a close alliance. This would give way for Vito Genovese to make a play for family leadership. Genovese would attempt to have Costello killed giving the job to a young family soldier named Vincente “Chin” Gigante. Costello would be shot in the head but survive and go on to quietly retire and yield the family leadership over to Vito Genovese and the now named Genovese Family. Genovese would take over as boss of his family with grand dreams of even taking over the Mafia Commission. He would organize and also attend a meeting of the mafia commission and over 100 heads of mafia families from around the country known as the Apalachin Meeting. The meeting would be raided by the police with Genovese and a few other boss’s escaping into the woods. This would lead to “La Cosa Nostra” being brought to the attention of not only law enforcement but the public and was no longer lingering in the shadows.
Genovese would be indicted and convicted on drug charges and receive 15 years in prison shortly after the apalachin debacle. It was rumored that he was set up by Carlo Gambino , Tommy Lucchese , and other mafia heads as punishment for trying to take over control of the mafia commission and to stop at further attempts. The family would take another slap in the face when family soldier Joseph “Joe Cargo” Valachi while in prison would begin to act strangly and attempt to kill an inmate whom he mistook as someone else. Valachi thought that the inmate was coming to kill him on orders from the Genovese family. Valachi would go on to become the first Genovese family member and Mafia member to openly announce the existence of the mafia syndicate while on trial. He would give the phrase “Cosa Nostra” a platform to become a household name.
Once Genovese was jailed in 1959 the family had a leadership void and would design a system of appointing a “Front Boss” to try and keep law enforcement off guard and unsure of who was making policy and actually running the family. They would also set up a ruling panel to make all decisions and run the Genovese family. These tactics had a lot of success and the Genovese family began to once again grow in power. In 1980 the boss of the Philadelphia Mafia Angelo “Gentle Don” Bruno was murdered , this murder was thought to have been influenced by Philip Lombardo and Vincent Gigante. The Genovese family wanted to be granted approval by the Philly Mafia to operate in Atlantic City. Bruno not showing signs of granting the Genovese this approval had to be eliminated. Then the Genovese family would support Nicodemo “Little Nicky” Scarfo to become the new boss of the Philly Mafia and for this backing he would grant them permission to operate in AC. When members of the ruling panel including front boss Anthony “Fat Tony” Salerno was convicted in the Mafia Commission Trials and sentenced to 100 years the family was once again in need of leadership. The Genovese family would be turned over to Vincent Gigante.
Vincent Gigante would take control of the family and go on to form two new positions with in the family ranks known as the “Messagario” (Messenger) and a position of “Street Boss”. Gigante would only speek to a few select members of the family two being his sons and these new positions was seen as a way to help insulate the boss from law enforcement investigations. Gigante would also come up with a plan to fool law enforcement along with everyone else into believing he was legally insane. Gigante would earn the nickname of “The OddFather” as he would often walk the street wearing a bath robe and mumbling inappropriate words. Gigante’s act would be so good that he even fooled many psychiatrist into thinking he was actually insane. Gigante would have most day to day operations handled by family under boss Venero “Benny Eggs” Magano in Brooklyn and the New Jersey activities of the Genovese Family handled by consigliere Louis “Bobby” Manna. But Gigante was always in complete control of the family making all major decisions including sanctioning a hit on rival Gambino family boss John Gotti for killing Paul Castellano without a commission ok.
Gigante would rule the Genovese family with an iron fist until the early 1990’s when mafia turn coats would implicate and testify against Gigante. In 1997 the gig was up for Gigante and he would be convicted on several charges and receive a 12 year sentence. Gigante would die in prison from heart disease in 2005 at the age of 77. The Genovese family continues as one of the most powerful families of the New York La Cosa Nostra. They are often referred to as the “Ivy League” and “Rolls Royce” of organized crime.