Genovese Crime Family
From Joseph (Joe The Boss) Masseria to Vincent (Chin) Gigante, the Genovese Family has probably been the most powerful La Cosa Nostra family of the last hundred years. You could call it the Ivy League of Organized Crime.
In the 1920’s, Masseria, was recognized by Cosa Nostra leaders as the ultimate arbitrator of all major decisions that cut across family lines. Masseria enjoyed this prestige and didn’t hesitate to flex his muscle at the least opportunity.
In the early 1920’s, Masseria sent one of his soldiers to Chicago to help strongman Johnny Torrio take control of that city. Al Capone would eventually replace Torrio and come into conflict with an LCN Family headed by Joseph Aiello. In an attempt to aid Capone, Masseria tried to end the Detroit family’s support of Aiello. These events escalated into the famous Castellammarese War.
When the conflict spread to New York, Masseria found himself at war with the forces led by Sal Maranzano, the boss of what eventually became known as the Bonanno Family. Masseria was certainly a formidable foe, but things changed quickly with the killing of his chief strategist, underboss Peter Morello, and the ambush slaying of Al Mineo, a strong supporter and boss of what we now know as the Gambino Family. An ambitious Masseria capo, Lucky Luciano, recognized Masseria’s weakened position and plotted with Maranzano to kill off Joe The Boss.
Luciano easily assumed control of the family, and then parlayed his newly achieved status to take on and outfox his scheming former ally Maranzano, who was apparently planning to kill Luciano. In September of 1931, after Maranzano was executed, Luciano was on top of the LCN world.
Unlike Masseria and Maranzano, Luciano recognized that other Mafia leaders had grown weary of an autocratic style of leadership, the endless battles, and the possibility of an early death. Luciano is credited with creating a Commission of seven bosses to arbitrate inter family disputes and set broad policy as a sort of Mafia Board of Directors. The actual architect of the scheme is not clear, but there is no doubt that without the backing of Luciano, this method of leadership would not have been accepted. It was the most influential and long lasting achievement of Luciano’s career.
By the mid 1930’s, Luciano was a household name, much to his regret. He became an important target of famous rackets buster, Thomas Dewey, and soon found himself accused of controlling prostitution in New York. Whatever the merits of the case, Luciano, at the height of his power, was convicted and sentenced to a thirty to fifty year jail term. His slow decline had begun.
Normally, Vito Genovese, the fearsome underboss, would have become acting boss with the jailing of Luciano. However, Genovese had been accused of murder and had fled to Italy. Capo Frank Costello was the next choice as stand in for Luciano, who hoped to achieve a reversal of his conviction.
Luciano was not to win his appeals, but, shortly after the end of World War II, Luciano was freed and deported to Italy. Many myths have arisen over these events but what appears to be factual is that the U.S. Government, fearful of sabotage along the vital New York docks, left no stone unturned in its attempts to prevent such acts. One scheme involved enlisting the support of the many longshoremen whose unions were controlled by the mob. Luciano was asked to use his influence in this area, and he apparently did. In recognition of these efforts, he received an early release. However, the secrecy surrounding these negotiations led to the many rumors and half truths. Some writers even had U.S. allies telling Luciano of their secret invasion plans for Sicily so he could prearrange the support of the Sicilian Mafia. This is patently ridiculous.
Late in 1946, Luciano secretly traveled to Cuba. Joe Bonanno said that beginning in 1931, LCN held a national meeting every five years. He mentioned the 1946 event but did not indicate where it took place. It is likely that the documented gathering of many Mafia bosses in Havana in late 1946 was this meeting. Obviously, Luciano would have been eager to be present to reassert his power. The leadership status of the newly freed Luciano and that of Vito Genovese, who had been recently exonerated of a murder charge, would require some clarification.
If Luciano’s leadership of the Family was confirmed in Havana it was soon rendered mute. Luciano’s presence became known to the U.S. government which exerted pressure on Cuba to expel him. Shortly thereafter, he was once again on a boat returning to Italy. Whatever power he had retained all those years in jail was now just about dissipated. Over the next 15 years, Luciano was reputed, among other things, to be involved in narcotics trafficking from Italy to the U.S. but never charged. However, it is clear that he no longer was a dominant player, and greatly resented his slide. He died of a heart attack in 1962. His purported autobiography was released in 1974.
By 1950, Luciano was definitely out. Who would assume the spot atop the powerful crime family became a serious bone of contention between Vito Genovese and Frank Costello. As Luciano’s underboss, Genovese felt the top spot rightfully belonged to him. Costello was very much aware of Genovese’s feelings and made alliances to counter them. Unfortunately for Costello, his enemies were more successful. In 1957 Costello was wounded by a young Chin Gigante, on orders from Genovese, and quickly retired. When Albert Anastasia was killed a few months later, any possibility of a Costello return was gone. During his 20 year reign, Costello earned a reputation for preferring negotiation over violence. He particularly was able to exert great political influence by using the corrupt Tammany Hall “system” to do his will. Once “retired,” Costello lived quietly, playing no part in the rackets, till his death of natural causes in 1973.
Genovese had finally achieved the prize he had sought for so long. But the enjoyment of his new status would be very brief. By 1959, Genovese had been implicated in a major heroin conspiracy which led to conviction and a stiff jail sentence. From prison, however, he still wielded control over his family. It was this power that led to the first public betrayal of omerta, the oath of silence that all mobsters take when inducted into a family. It was one of his soldiers, Joe Valachi, who gave the public the first real insider information on LCN. Valachi had also been convicted of heroin charges and was suspected of being an informer. Believing he was marked for death, Valachi killed another prisoner whom he mistook for a mobster preparing to kill him. With nowhere else to turn, Valachi called the feds and began talking about his personal understanding of the history of LCN. In his revelations, Valachi referred to his organization as the Genovese Family and this moniker has been used ever since despite Genovese’s death in prison in 1969.
When Genovese first went off to jail on the drug charge, he left the family under the day to day control of Tommy Eboli with assistance from powers Jerry Catena, Mike Miranda and Anthony (Tony Bender) Strollo. Strollo fell out of favor and disappeared in 1962. Gradually Eboli gathered momentum and with the death of Genovese, is said to have become official boss. By 1972, Eboli had lost his support and consequently was gunned down in the street by persons unknown. No great unrest then ensued within the family, suggesting the hit was sanctioned beforehand by the Commission, whose dominant boss then was Carlo Gambino.
Next up was capo Frank (Funzi) Tieri who reportedly was a long time friend of Gambino. Mob turncoat Joe Cantalupo briefly mentions Tieri in his book. Cantalupo claims that Tieri, although small physically, was able to instill fear in much larger mobsters. Jimmy Fratianno, another mob informer, also had a few encounters with Tieri. According to Fratianno, he was invited to a mob sitdown where Tieri presided over and approved the killing of a Genovese associate within a few minutes. Earlier, Tieri had also warned Fratianno to stay away from former mob boss Joe
Bonanno because Bonanno was now “a leper” in the world of Cosa Nostra. Famous FBI undercover agent, Joe Pistone also mentions Tieri in his book. In the fall of 1980, Bonanno soldier and Pistone mentor, the late Lefty Guns Ruggiero, told Pistone that Tieri had stepped down from the Commission. No doubt this was because of Tieri’s ongoing RICO trial in which he eventually was convicted of being boss of the Genovese Family. Sentenced to ten years in January of 1981, Tieri avoided any jail time by dying a few months later.
Around this time the facts surrounding the leadership of the Genovese Family get confusing. Like all “facts” involving the Mafia, there is plenty of room for questioning their validity or interpretation. LCN keeps few written records and even wiretap evidence is suspect especially when those being overheard are talking about events in the past. Mistaken beliefs, exaggeration and deliberate lying have often been overheard on FBI bugs. John Gotti’s taped claim that the police probably killed Paul Castellano is probably the best known example of the latter, and the need to use caution when interpreting information about the mob. With that in mind it is difficult to sort out the truth about who was the “real” boss of the Genovese Family from the late 1970’s on.
Even though Tieri was identified as Genovese family boss in a 1978 New York magazine article by none other than, ahem, Jerry Capeci, AND even though Tieri was convicted of being the Genovese boss, there are those who dispute that he ever was the boss. Among them are John Gotti and Sammy Bull Gravano, who were picked up on an FBI bug discussing Philip (Benny Squint) Lombardo as the Genovese boss during that period. If Gotti and Gravano were right, and Gang Land himself thinks they were, it wasn’t the only time that the wrong guy got convicted of being Genovese boss.
Until recently, it was thought that Fat Tony Salerno took over from Tieri and ruled until Salerno’s 1986 conviction in the Commission Case. Salerno had been identified in the indictment as the family boss, and along with the leaders of the Colombo and Lucchese family, was sentenced to 100 years. He died in prison a few years later.
Soon after Salerno was sentenced, however, the second Genovese soldier to publicly break his vow of silence, Vincent (Fish) Cafaro, told the FBI that Salerno was “taken down” after suffering a stroke in 1981, and that Chin Gigante became the official boss, but allowed Salerno to serve as the family’s “up front” boss in an effort to keep the FBI from identifying him as the real boss.
Gigante did not like the flamboyant John Gotti, especially when he orchestrated the assasination of Gambino boss Paul Castellano without approval of the Commission. Gigante’s consigliere, Louis (Bobby) Manno, has been convicted of plotting Gotti’s death, and mob turncoats, including Little Al D’Arco and Anthony (Gaspipe) Casso have confirmed that Gigante wanted Gotti to pay the ultimate price for killing Castellano. Casso claims to have been on the scene in April 1986, when Gotti’s first underboss, Frank DeCicco, (above right) was blown up in a Sunday ambush that had been planned to get both DeCicco and Gotti. Gigante was looking to install Gambino capos Jimmy Brown Failla and Danny Marino in place of them, but Gotti, a late riser, thwarted that idea by deciding at the last minute to meet up with his underboss later in the day, according to John Gotti: Rise and Fall, by Capeci and Mustain.
The Genovese Family lost a major source of income when the Mafia’s “concrete club” was shut down in the mid 1980’s with the Commission indictment and conviction. Profits from another long standing money producer, the Fulton Fish Market, has diminished as well. The feds and New York city have combined to eliminate the family’s 70-year control of the San Gennaro Festival in Little Italy. In addition, convictions of the family’s acting boss, acting underboss, and consigliere on racketeering charges have hurt the family. So too did the 1991 racketeering conviction of underboss Benny Eggs Mangano, as did the 1997 and 2003 racketeering convictions of Chin Gigante.
But the family’s structure is still solid and in place. A close ally of Gigante who seems and acts like a carbon copy minus the crazy act, Dominick (Quiet Dom) Cirillo, has been serving effectively as the family’s “street boss” for several years. Nicknamed Quiet Dom for his laid back, reserved manner, Cirillo is much like Gigante in the way he conducts his Mafia business, shunning telephones and social clubs in favor of “walk talks” in public streets, and opting for older, less flashy cars than the Mercedes Benz’s and Lincoln Continentals that Gotti favored. Like Gigante, he had a narcotics conviction in the 1950’s and toiled as an amateur and professional boxer before turning to organized crime. Liborio (Barney) Bellomo, the capo Gigante tabbed as acting boss when he was indicted in 1990, is serving a ten year sentence, but Bellomo is young, and due out in 2006. And with a membership of nearly 250 soldiers, and only three known cooperating witnesses (Valachi, Cafaro and George Barone), the Genovese Family is still strong. It’s the richest and most powerful family in the New York area, and arguably the entire country. (The only other candidate, the Chicago Outfit, is aided by its one-family monopoly over the second city’s rackets.)