1. Vito Genovese fled to Italy in 1937, and for a brief period during World War II he supported Benito Mussolini's Fascist regime for fear of being deported back to the US to face murder charges.
52 Facts About Vito Genovese
1. 2.
In 1957, Vito Genovese vied for the title of capo di tutti capi by ordering the murder of Albert Anastasia and the botched hit of Frank Costello.
3.
In 1959, Vito Genovese's reign was cut short as he was convicted on narcotics conspiracy charges and sentenced to fifteen years in prison.
4.
Vito Genovese was born on November 21,1897, in Risigliano, a frazione in the comune of Tufino, in the Province of Naples, Italy.
5.
Vito Genovese's father was Frances Felice Genovese and his mother Nunziata Aluotto.
6.
In 1913, when Vito Genovese was aged 15, his family immigrated to the United States onboard the SS Taormina and took up residence in New York City's Little Italy.
7.
In 1935, looking for a place where his family could be "out in the country", Vito Genovese purchased a mansion in rural Middletown Township, New Jersey.
8.
In 1937 while Vito Genovese was in Italy due to the Boccia murder, the mansion burnt down and was never rebuilt.
9.
Vito Genovese started his criminal career stealing merchandise from pushcart vendors and running errands for mobsters.
10.
Vito Genovese later collected money from people who played illegal lotteries.
11.
At 19, Vito Genovese spent a year in prison for illegal possession of a firearm.
12.
Luciano, Frank Costello, and Vito Genovese started their own bootlegging operation with financing from Rothstein.
13.
In 1930, Vito Genovese was indicted on counterfeiting charges when police found $1 million of counterfeit US currency in a Bath Beach, Brooklyn, workshop.
14.
Later in 1930, Vito Genovese allegedly murdered Gaetano Reina, the leader of a Bronx-based gang.
15.
On February 26,1930, Vito Genovese allegedly ambushed Reina as he was leaving his mistress's house in the Bronx and shot him in the back of the head with a shotgun.
16.
In September 1931, Luciano and Vito Genovese planned the murder of Salvatore Maranzano.
17.
Luciano had received word that Maranzano was planning to kill him and Vito Genovese, and prepared a hit team to kill Maranzano first.
18.
In 1934, Vito Genovese allegedly ordered the murder of mobster Ferdinand Boccia.
19.
Rather than pay Boccia anything, Vito Genovese decided to have him murdered.
20.
On November 25,1936, Vito Genovese became a naturalized United States citizen in New York City.
21.
In 1937, fearing prosecution for the Boccia murder, Vito Genovese fled to Italy with $750,000 cash and settled in the city of Nola, near Naples.
22.
Vito Genovese donated nearly $4 million to Mussolini's fascist party by the end of World War II.
23.
Vito Genovese was awarded the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus and made a commendatore, after he participated in helping create a new fascist party headquarters in Nola.
24.
In 1943, Vito Genovese allegedly ordered the murder of Carlo Tresca, the publisher of an anarchist newspaper in New York and an enemy of Mussolini.
25.
Vito Genovese allegedly facilitated the murder as a favor to the Italian government.
26.
Vito Genovese established one of the largest black market operations in southern Italy, together with the Cosa Nostra's boss Calogero Vizzini.
27.
Vito Genovese personally offered Dickey a $250,000 bribe to release him, then threatened Dickey when the offer was refused.
28.
Dickey was even instructed by his superiors in the military chain of command to refrain from pursuing Vito Genovese, but refused to be dissuaded.
29.
On June 2,1945, after arriving in New York by ship the day before, Vito Genovese was arraigned on murder charges for the 1934 Boccia killing.
30.
Vito Genovese was now a capo of his former Greenwich Village Crew.
31.
In December 1952, Anna Genovese sued her husband for financial support, and later divorce in 1953, as well as testifying to Vito's involvement in criminal rackets, an unheard-of action by the wife of a mob figure.
32.
Vito Genovese filed a counter-suit for divorce on the grounds of desertion.
33.
In 1953, Vito Genovese allegedly ordered the murder of mobster Steven Franse.
34.
Vito Genovese had tasked Franse with supervising Anna while he hid in Italy.
35.
Outraged over Anna's potential love affairs and her lawsuit against him, Vito Genovese ordered Joseph Valachi to set up Franse's murder.
36.
However, Vito Genovese needed to remove Costello's strong ally on the Commission, Albert Anastasia, the boss of the Anastasia crime family.
37.
Vito Genovese was conspiring with Carlo Gambino, Anastasia's underboss, to remove Anastasia.
38.
In early 1957, Vito Genovese decided the time to move on Costello had come.
39.
Vito Genovese ordered Vincent Gigante to murder Costello, and on May 2,1957, Gigante shot and wounded Costello outside his apartment building.
40.
Vito Genovese now became boss of what is known as the Vito Genovese crime family and promoted his longtime lieutenant, Anthony Strollo, to underboss.
41.
Vito Genovese had heard rumors that Costello was conspiring with Anastasia to regain power.
42.
In November 1957, immediately after the Anastasia murder, after taking control of the Luciano crime family from Costello, Vito Genovese wanted to legitimize his new power by holding a national Cosa Nostra meeting.
43.
Vito Genovese selected Buffalo, New York boss and Commission member Stefano "The Undertaker" Magaddino to organize the meeting; he in turn chose northeastern Pennsylvania crime boss Joseph Barbara and his underboss Russell Bufalino to oversee all the arrangements for it.
44.
Vito Genovese said he was just there for a barbecue and to discuss business with Barbara.
45.
On June 2,1958, Vito Genovese testified under subpoena in the US Senate McClellan Hearings on organized crime.
46.
Vito Genovese refused to answer any questions, citing the Fifth Amendment rights under the US Constitution 150 separate times.
47.
On July 7,1958, Vito Genovese was indicted on charges of conspiring to import and sell narcotics.
48.
The government's star witness was Nelson Cantellops, a Puerto Rican drug dealer who claimed Vito Genovese met with him.
49.
In September 1959, Vito Genovese allegedly ordered the murder of mobster Anthony Carfano.
50.
In 1962, an alleged murder threat from Vito Genovese propelled mobster Joseph Valachi into the public spotlight.
51.
Vito Genovese's killers had attached two concrete blocks to his legs and tied his hands.
52.
Vito Genovese died of a heart attack at the United States Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri, on He is buried in Saint John Cemetery in Middle Village, Queens.