The Genovese Crime Family is permanently named after Vito Genovese, but there have been a number of influential bosses like Lucky Luciano throughout their more than a century of existence. The Genovese have always remained first or second most powerful of New York’s Five Families, with the Gambinos being their top competition.
Their lineage goes all the way back to the 1890s and they are the still active current day. Who were their original leaders? How did they become such a wealthy and organized family? It all started with a Sicilian immigrant with a deformed hand.
America’s First Mafia Family
Giuseppe “Clutch Hand” Morello got his nickname because of his deformed left hand. He only had one finger on the hand and the hooked state of the hand and finger made it look exactly like a claw. Giuseppe was born in Corleone, Sicily way back in 1867.
Like Lupo, Clutch Hand was running from a murder charge in his home country when he came to America somewhere around 1892. Morello moved around for a few years before settling in New York in 1897. Many of his family members began to make their way to New York after he got there, including his half brothers Nick, Ciro and Vincenzo.
Giuseppe’s brothers had a different father and last name, Terranova. They were strongly united and would create the first relevant crime family in American history. The brothers not only built their own solid base in East Harlem, but also created some powerful alliances with other top gangsters.
Over in Little Italy the area was controlled by a Sicilian named Ignazio Lupo, they called him “Lupo the Wolf”. Lupo and the Morellos joined forces. Lupo even married Giuseppe’s half sister Salvatrice Terranova. Lupo represented the very first piece of Gambino lineage. Their means of making money was Black Hand extortion rackets.
They intimidated business owners and often relied on hostage taking and ransoms. It was a less subtle way of doing business than later years, the Morello Crime Family was very active and extremely aggressive. They usually didn’t run into much resistance since everyone was aware of their fierce reputations.
The Morellos were heavily invested in an international counterfeiting operation, which represented a large chunk of their earnings. They purchased fake $5 bills from the legendary “Don Vito” Cascio Ferro in Sicily at a discount and used the money in the U.S. While this racket sounds like a current day prison trap, back in the early 1900’s it was a hard crime to solve and the Morellos ran this scheme for years.
A staple of the Morellos was to stuff the bodies of their murder victims into barrels and leave them on local street corners. The phenomenon became known as the “Barrel Murders” and they were clearly designed to send an ominous message to the community.
The counterfeiting operation led to many of these incidents as the family looked to eliminate any threat to their financial pipeline.
Fierce Early Competition
The first loss that the Morello gang suffered was when Giuseppe Morello and Lupo the Wolf were arrested and charged after an investigation into their counterfeiting operation in 1910. Lupo got 30 years and would never regain control of his Little Italy territory.
Giuseppe was also given a lengthy prison sentence but he would reemerge 10 years later in the mafia. Giuseppe’s youngest half brother Nick Terranova took over the position of Morello boss, which was considered the “boss of bosses” in New York. He went by the name Nick Morello, even though that wasn’t his last name.
This was a difficult time for the Morellos as they were feeling the loss of Giuseppe and Lupo. Nick Morello proved unable to fill that vacuum. The Morellos began to feel the squeeze from other New York mobsters. There was a group in Brooklyn known as the “Camorra”, a group whose lineage traced back to Naples, Italy.
They were different from the Italian mafia although they competed in the same space. The Camorra relied on numbers instead of having a formal family with a hierarchy. The Brooklyn Camorra saw a weakness in Nick Morello and decided to act on it. They began quickly moving in on Morello territories.
The Morellos were now holding onto lots of muscle style rackets, like control of the docks. Pellegrino Morano was the leader of the Camorra and saw a golden opportunity to take out the Morello gang.
Nick “Morello” Terranova and his bodyguard were shot to death on September 7, 1916. They were arriving for what they thought were peace talks with the Camorra. Yet another brother Vincent Terranova took over the troubled family. Morano and his accomplices were charged with the murder. The Morellos would survived but the Camorra quickly diminished.
There was trouble with fellow members of the actual mafia as well. On May 7, 1922, Vincent Terranova was gunned down by Umberto “The Ghost” Valenti. His underboss Silva Tagliagamba was stabbed to death the very same day. Valenti was a hitman for Salvatore D’Aquila, the man who had taken over Lupo’s territory and continued what would later turn into the Gambino family.
Enter Joe “The Boss” Masseria
Giuseppe Clutch Hand Morello got out of prison in 1920 and got back into the family action. With his other two brothers dead, he and half brother Ciro “The Artichoke King” Terranova continued to run the family, which had now been in existance for over 25 years.
By the late 1920s the winds of war were once again blowing in New York, and it would alter the course of history. After prison, Giuseppe became closely aligned with “Joe the Boss” Masseria, another of Toto D’Aquila’s enemies. Toto was a former Morello captain who went rogue. They were able to catch up with Ghost Valenti in August, killing D’Aquila’s main muscle.
Somewhere along the line, it was decided that Masseria would now be boss of the Morellos and the founder Giuseppe Morello would be consigliere. Joe the Boss was the most potent leader the family ever had to this point, but he had a powerful enemy out to get him.
Salvatore Maranzano was sent over from Sicily by Don Vito Ferro for the sole purpose of taking over Masseria’s operations. The gang led by Maranzano had several up and comers like Joe Bonanno and Joe Profaci.
Masseria had his own team of future mafia kingpins in his crew. Lucky Luciano, Frank Costello, Vito Genovese and Albert Anastasia all were getting their start in the mafia under Masseria. On August 15, 1930, family originator Giuseppe Clutch Hand Morello was killed by Maranzano’s crew. At the time, it was considered a huge score for the Maranzano side.
Every couple weeks for the next year, the rivals would trade a body for a body. Eventually, the group of young turks led by Luciano decided the war was going nowhere. Although working for Masseria, Luciano secretly switched sides and coordinated a plan to kill him.
Lucky saw Joe the Boss as the reason why so many of his partners were dying in a dumb war. On April 15, 1931, Masseria was shot to death while dining at a restaurant in Brooklyn. Maranzano had agreed to end the war only after Masseria was dead.
But the young turks were done with the old Mustache Pete bosses and it was decided that Maranzano should die too. Luciano and company then killed Salvatore Maranzano on September 10, 1931.
A New Level of Organized
Charles Lucky Luciano was without a doubt the most influential and innovative mobster that ever lived. It’s honestly a crime that the Genovese family doesn’t hold his name. Lucky did more to structure the mafia than anyone else. Certainly more than Vito Genovese.
Lucky was a genius in that regard.For instance, he knew that violence had to be used but that it should be somehow controlled and even sanctioned. All of the previous bosses outside of Terranova leaned heavily on violence to gain control. Lucky concocted a way to use influence before violence.
Luciano added some changes to the hierarchy and created a Commission with heads of all 5 families on the board of directors. He also created the board of directors on the National Crime Syndicate, which was a coming together of Italian and Jewish mob families.
The Syndicate had an enforcement arm known as Murder Inc. which resolved disputes one body at a time. While setting up these high level networks, Luciano became the boss of bosses. Lucky was a forward thinking individual who knew how to cut successful deals.
Luciano took executive action to reshape another family, the one started by Lupo and the Toto D’Aquila. Lucky demoted their current boss Frank Scalise and inserted Vincent Mangano and then named his Murder Inc. protege Albert Anastasia as underboss.
It was Luciano who set up the 5 family structure and either approved or disapproved of other Commission and Syndicate members. When infamous Jewish bootlegger and Syndicate member Dutch Schultz insisted on killing federal prosecutor Thomas Dewey, Luciano took action. He dispatched Murder Inc. to kill the reckless Schultz, who was gunned down at the Palace Chop House on October 24, 1935.
Although Luciano had been involved in his share of doublecross incidents, he was widely respected as the leader of the underworld. His problem solving made the other bosses better at what they were doing. Just being able to coordinate with such a wise mobster was paying great dividends, so they had no problem granting him boss status.
Although Lucky Luciano proved to be the most historically significant person in the mafia, his time as boss of bosses was not very long. When he saved Thomas Dewey’s life by killing Dutch Schultz, he didn’t know Dewey was going to dial in on him next. The boss of bosses was about to get tangled up in a case that would lead to his demise.
The Prime Minister of The Underworld
After trying for years, Dewey was finally able to get Luciano in his web. While they were unable to get him with any murders or racketeering, they did charge him for profiting from a prostitution ring. Many people feel that the case against Luciano was shaky at best, but it got him a 30 year sentence.
For Dewey, he provided the FBI with their first major victory against the mafia. Luciano went to prison but retained control of the family. He made longtime partner Vito Genovese as acting boss, but Vito fled the U.S. to Naples over a murder charge in 1937.
It was at this point that Frank Costello was named new acting boss. When Lucky had the Supreme Court refuse to hear his case in 1938, he did the right thing and made Costello the official boss. Costello was a master at the waterfront rackets and became one of the richest men in the mafia.
He also wielded tremendous influence over many politicians who could provide high level courtesies. Like his mentor Luciano, Frank Costello was tightly allied with Mangano underboss Albert Anastasia. Albert liked Frank more than he liked his own boss Vincent Mangano.
Costello had the benefit of following in the footsteps of Luciano who set the table for years of success. During Costello’s reign, the mafia would plant seeds in many other cities, including Las Vegas. Costello had a diversified portfolio of criminal and legitimate business ventures.
One venture that caused problems was when Bugsy Siegel was sent to Las Vegas to control the Commission owned Flamingo Hotel and Casino. When the numbers started coming up short, they found that Siegel was defiant and believed he deserved the lion’s share of the earnings.
On June 20, 1947, Bugsy was at the home of his girlfriend Virginia Hill when he was shot to death through a window.
Frank Costello always had some misgivings and anxiety over the life he’d chosen. That uncomfortable feeling and demeanor was on full display when Costello was called to testify in front of the U.S. Senate at the Kefauver Hearings in the 1950’s. Costello’s face was not shown, instead the camera stayed focused on his hands.
Vito Comes Back To Claim The Prize
Vito Genovese wasn’t particularly happy about having to work with and share status with the many Jewish gangsters that were so prevalent back in the 1930s. Vito was upset when Costello was made actual boss, because that was supposed to be Vito’s job.
He’d been named acting boss back in 1937 but only He came back to the U.S. in 1946 but was caught in a murder case. The case against him fell apart when two witnesses were murdered. The way the case unfolded was a reminder to the other mobsters just how powerful and unpredictable Genovese was.
Now that he was free, he felt he could return to the top position that had been given to him by Lucky a decade earlier. Frank Costello was not about to be intimidated and refused to move out of Genovese’s way. He kept Vito as a capo and kept him there for a few years.
Genovese put himself in a corner when he informed Luciano at a meeting in Cuba that he wanted to be boss of bosses. It did not go over well. Lucky gave him a stern warning to slow his roll or else. Lucky was the one guy who Genove would not openly cross, so he stopped scheming for a short while.
Costello had the protection of Lucky and Meyer Lansky. He also had the very dangerous Albert Anastasia loyal to him and Albert would not hesitate to kill anyone. Vito never liked Anastasia, even years ago when they were the young turks. Albert was considered to be his chief nemesis.
A few years later with most of the roadblocks out of the way, Vito decided to make his move. Costello was shot in the head while walking through his apartment lobby. Gigante protege Vincent “The Chin” Gigante did a sloppy job that night. The bullet barely grazed Costello.
However, the incident was enough to get Frank to quickly step down. At which point Vito agreed not to finish the job. There was one more piece of work that had to be immediately dealt with, that of Albert Anastasia. Vito found several other bosses like Meyer and even Anastasia’s underboss Carlo Gambino who supported killing Albert.
Vito knew it would be a non stop war if he didn’t kill him. Albert was dealing with some turmoil so the bosses decided to catch him while he was distracted. Two young Colombo soldiers “Crazy Joe” Gallo and Carmine “The Snake” Persico gunned down Anastasia as he sat in his favorite barber’s chair on October 25, 1957.
The Apalachin Disaster
1957 started out as a great year for Vito Genovese. His two biggest adversaries were dead and the Commision was ready to name him the next boss of bosses. He was ready to claim his spot and chop up the Anastasia and Costello assets.
Vito wanted all the bosses in the country to meet under one roof to advance these issues, so he organized the Apalachin Conference. More than 100 of the country’s top mafia bosses arrived at an estate in Apalachin on November 14, 1957. Some of them were apprehensive about such a bold meeting, but were expected to attend.
It turned out to be a catastrophe for the bosses as the meeting was raided by police. Dozens of the men were detained, others ran away through the woods. It was an embarrassing incident and one that investigators used as proof that there really was a La Cosa Nostra.
Vito got a subpoena to testify about organized crime at the McClellan Hearings a few months later. He evoked his 5th amendment rights more than 150 times during the testimony. He walked away from this, but his luck would continue to take a turn for the worse.
In the summer of 1958, he was indicted in an international heroin case.Genovese controlled both the importing and the large scale distribution. He got sentenced to 15 years in prison. His big return to power had come to a crashing halt in less than 2 years.
It did not help him that the other family bosses were still unhappy about the Apalachin debacle. Vito’s years in prison were not uneventful. He ordered at least two murders, one because the guy didn’t show up to the Apalachin Summit despite Vito’s request to appear.
A Genovese soldier named Joe Valachi was in prison with Vito and became very paranoid that Genovese was going to kill him. Valachi would make a deal with the FBI to become a government witness. Valachi would expose the inner workings of the mafia in his historic testimony.
Genovese would never get out of prison and died of complications from a heart attack on February 14, 1969. During this time, the family was being run by acting boss Tommy Eboli and the rising Philip Lombardo. Eventually it would be taken over by the notorious Vincent “The Chin” Gigante, the man who shot Frank Costello in 1957.