Vito Genovese (1897-1969)

Vito “Don Vitone” Genovese was known as the “Boss of Bosses” when it came to the American Mafia scene. He was born in Naples, Italy and after immigrating to the USA in the early 20’s. He joined the mob under New York boss Giuseppe “Joe the Boss” Masseria. While working for Masseria he became friends with Charles Luciano who would help influence the rest of Genovese life. 1931 Luciano orchestrated the hit on Masseria with Genovese as one of the hit men. After the hit Luciano became the boss of the familyto which he gave his name, making Genovese the underboss. In 1936 Luciano was sent to prison, so Genovese was left as the acting boss. In 1937 Genovese was indicted on murder charges so he fled to Italy, where he remained until 1945 when he was brought back to face trial only to be released due to a lack of evidence.

Once back in the United States he found that his former position inside the Luciano family was taken by Willie Moretti under new boss Frank Costello. Genovese would actually order a hit on Costello and Albert Anastasia. Only Costello would survive and he would hand over the reins of the Luciano family to Genovese. The name of the family was now changed to the Genovese family. In 1957 he helped organize the Apalachin meeting as a way to solidify his spot in La Cosa Nostra. After the meeting was interrupted by the police and the existence of Cosa Nostra was brought into main stream Genovese could no longer strive to gain total power over Cosa Nostra. In 1959 Genovese was convicted of dealing heroin and sentenced to 15 years in prison where he died in 1969.