Vito Genovese

More to Explore

People and Groups

Themes

Events

Related Topics

This Day in History

May 27

Crime

Murder suspect spends third day perched on crane, 2005

May 27, 2005, was the third day that Carl Edward Roland, 41, wanted by police in connection with the murder of his ex-girlfriend Jennifer Gonzalez, spent…

Recommended Articles

  • Johnny Torrio

    (born February 1882, Orsara, Italy—died April 16, 1957, New York, N.Y., U.S.) American gangster who became a top crime boss in Chicago and, later, one of the founders of modern organized crime in America.

  • Lucky Luciano

    (born Nov. 11, 1896, Lercara Friddi, Sicily, Italy—died Jan. 26, 1962, Capodicino Airport, Naples) the most powerful chief of American organized crime in the early 1930s and a major influence even from prison, 1936–45, and after deportation to Italy in 1946.

  • Bugsy Siegel

    (born Feb. 28, 1906, Brooklyn, N.Y., U.S.—died June 20, 1947, Beverly Hills, Calif.) New York and California gangster who was the U.S.

  • Timothy McVeigh

    (born April 23, 1968, Pendleton, N.Y., U.S.—died June 11, 2001, Terre Haute, Ind.) American militant who carried out the Oklahoma City bombing on April 19, 1995.

(Born Nov. 27, 1897, Rosiglino, Italy—died Feb. 14, 1969, Springfield, Mo., U.S.) one of the most powerful of American crime syndicate bosses from the 1930s to the 1950s and a major influence even from prison, 1959–69.

Genovese immigrated from a Neapolitan village to New York City in 1913, joined local gangs, and in the 1920s and '30s was Lucky Luciano's second-in-command in narcotics and other rackets. In 1937 he escaped to Italy to avoid prosecution on a murder charge and became a friend of Benito Mussolini, financing several Fascist operations while engaged in narcotics smuggling to the United States.

At war's end he befriended U.S. military occupation authorities and bossed the black market operations in Italy until federal agents returned him to the United States to face trial on the earlier murder charge. A key witness, Peter La Tempa, however, was murdered (poisoned) in 1945 while in protective custody, and Genovese was set free on June 11, 1946. He gradually reestablished his power in New York City, arranging the murder of several rivals (such as Willie Moretti in 1951 and Albert Anastasia in 1957 and allegedly the attempt on Frank Costello in 1957), and commanded the gunmen-racketeers in the narcotics trade. He was effectively “boss of all the bosses” in the New York area.

Finally, in 1958, the federal government indicted him for smuggling and distributing narcotics, and in 1959 he was convicted and sentenced to federal prison for 15 years. From prison (first at Atlanta, then at Leavenworth) he continued to rule and to order the killing of rivals. He died of a heart attack at the Medical Center for Federal Prisoners, Springfield, Mo., in 1969.

Copyright © 1994-2011 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. For more information visit Britannica.com.

Fact Check We strive for accuracy and fairness. But if you see something that doesn't look right, contact us!

Advertisement

Shop HISTORY

See More