Genovese crime family

Giuseppe Morello

The Genovese crime family originated from the Morello gang of East Harlem, the first Mafia family in New York City.[4] In 1892, Giuseppe Morello arrived in New York from the village of Corleone, Sicily, Italy. Morello's half brothers Nicholas, Vincenzo, Ciro, and the rest of his family joined him in New York the following year. The Morello brothers formed the 107th Street Mob and began dominating the Italian neighborhood of East Harlem, parts of Manhattan, and the Bronx.

One of Giuseppe Morello's strongest allies was Ignazio "the Wolf" Lupo, a mobster who controlled Manhattan's Little Italy. In 1903, Lupo married Morello's half sister, uniting both organizations. The Morello-Lupo alliance continued to prosper in 1903, when the group began a major counterfeiting ring with powerful Sicilian mafioso Vito Cascio Ferro, printing $5 bills in Sicily and smuggling them into the United States. New York police detective Joseph Petrosino began investigating the Morello family's counterfeiting operation, the barrel murders, and the black hand extortion letters. On November 15, 1909, Morello, Lupo, and others were arrested on counterfeiting charges. In February 1910, Morello and Lupo were sentenced to 25 and 30 years in prison, respectively.[5]

As the Morello family increased in power and influence, bloody territorial conflicts arose with other Italian criminal gangs in New York. The Morellos had an alliance with Giosue Gallucci, a prominent East Harlem businessman and Camorrista with local political connections. On May 17, 1915, Gallucci was murdered in a power struggle between the Morellos and the Neapolitan Camorra organization, which consisted of two Brooklyn gangs run by Pellegrino Morano and Alessandro Vollero. The fight over Gallucci's rackets became known as the Mafia-Camorra War. After months of fighting, Morano offered a truce. A meeting was arranged at a Navy Street cafe owned by Vollero. On September 7, 1916, Nicholas Morello and his bodyguard Charles Ubriaco were ambushed and killed upon arrival by five members of the Camorra gang.[6] In 1917, Morano was charged with Morello's murder after Camorrista Ralph Daniello implicated him in the murder. By 1918, law enforcement had sent many Camorra gang members to prison, decimating the Camorra in New York and ending the war. Many of the remaining Camorra members joined the Morello family.

The Morellos now faced stronger rivals than the Camorra. With the passage of Prohibition in 1920 and the ban of alcohol sales, the family regrouped and built a lucrative bootlegging operation in Manhattan. In 1920, both Morello and Lupo were released from prison and Brooklyn Mafia boss Salvatore D'Aquila ordered their murders. This is when Giuseppe "Joe" Masseria and Rocco Valenti, a former Brooklyn Camorra, began to fight for control of the Morello family.[7] On December 29, 1920, Masseria's men murdered Valenti's ally, Salvatore Mauro. Then, on May 8, 1922, the Valenti gang murdered Vincenzo Terranova. Masseria's gang retaliated killing Morello member Silva Tagliagamba. On August 11, 1922, Masseria's men murdered Valenti, ending the conflict. Masseria won and took over the Morello family.[8]

Joe Masseria

During the mid-1920s, Masseria continued to expand his bootlegging, extortion, loansharking, and illegal gambling rackets throughout New York. To operate and protect these rackets, Masseria recruited many ambitious young mobsters, including future Cosa Nostra powers Charles "Lucky" Luciano, Frank Costello, Joseph "Joey A" Adonis, Vito Genovese, and Albert Anastasia.

Luciano soon became a top aide in Masseria's criminal organization. By the late 1920s, Masseria's main rival was boss Salvatore Maranzano, who had come from Sicily to run the Castellammarese clan. Their rivalry eventually escalated into the bloody Castellammarese War.

In early 1931, Luciano decided to eliminate Masseria. The war had been going poorly for Masseria, and Luciano saw an opportunity to switch allegiance. In a secret deal with Maranzano, Luciano agreed to engineer Masseria's death in return for receiving Masseria's rackets and becoming Maranzano's second-in-command.[9] Joe Adonis had joined the Masseria faction, and when Masseria heard about Luciano's betrayal, he approached Adonis about killing Luciano. However, Adonis instead warned Luciano about the murder plot.[10] On April 15, 1931, Masseria was killed at Nuova Villa Tammaro, a Coney Island restaurant in Brooklyn. While they played cards, Luciano allegedly excused himself to the bathroom, with the gunmen reportedly being Anastasia, Genovese, Adonis, and Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel;[11] Ciro "The Artichoke King" Terranova drove the getaway car, but legend has it that he was too shaken up to drive away and had to be shoved out of the driver's seat by Siegel.[12][13] With Maranzano's blessing, Luciano took over Masseria's gang and became Maranzano's lieutenant, ending the Castellammarese War.[9]

With Masseria gone, Maranzano reorganized the Italian American gangs in New York City into Five Families headed by Luciano, Profaci, Gagliano, Vincent Mangano, and himself. Maranzano called a meeting of crime bosses in Wappingers Falls, New York, where he declared himself capo di tutti capi ("boss of all bosses").[9] Maranzano also whittled down the rival families' rackets in favor of his own. Luciano appeared to accept these changes, but was merely biding his time before removing Maranzano.[14] Although Maranzano was slightly more forward-thinking than Masseria, Luciano had come to believe that Maranzano was even more greedy and hidebound than Masseria had been.[9]

By September 1931, Maranzano realized Luciano was a threat, and hired Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll, an Irish gangster, to kill him.[9] However, Lucchese alerted Luciano that he was marked for death.[9] On September 10, Maranzano ordered Luciano, Genovese, and Costello to come to his office at the 230 Park Avenue in Manhattan. Convinced that Maranzano planned to murder them, Luciano decided to act first.[15] He sent to Maranzano's office four Jewish gangsters whose faces were unknown to Maranzano's people. They had been secured with the aid of Lansky and Siegel.[16] Disguised as government agents, two of the gangsters disarmed Maranzano's bodyguards. The other two, aided by Lucchese, who was there to point Maranzano out, stabbed the boss multiple times before shooting him.[17][18] This assassination was the first of what would later be fabled as the "Night of the Sicilian Vespers."[17]

"Lucky" Luciano's mugshot

After Maranzano's murder, Luciano called a meeting in Chicago with various bosses, where he proposed a Commission to serve as the governing body for organized crime.[19] Designed to settle all disputes and decide which families controlled which territories, the Commission has been called Luciano's greatest innovation.[9] Luciano's goals with the Commission were to quietly maintain his own power over all the families, and to prevent future gang wars; the bosses approved the idea of the Commission.[5]

The group's first test came in 1935, when it ordered Dutch Schultz to drop his plans to murder Special Prosecutor Thomas E. Dewey. Luciano argued that a Dewey assassination would precipitate a massive law enforcement crackdown. An enraged Schultz said he would kill Dewey anyway, and walked out of the meeting.[20] Murder, Inc leader Albert Anastasia approached Luciano with information that Schultz had asked him to stake out Dewey's apartment building on Fifth Avenue. Upon hearing the news, the Commission held a discreet meeting to discuss the matter. After six hours of deliberations the Commission ordered Lepke Buchalter to eliminate Schultz.[21][22] On October 23, 1935, before he could kill Dewey, Schultz was shot in a tavern in Newark, New Jersey, and succumbed to his injuries the following day.[23][24]

Luciano influenced Democratic Party politics in New York at the time, giving direction to Tammany Hall associates.[25]

On May 13, 1936, Luciano's pandering trial began.[26] Dewey prosecuted the case that Carter built against Luciano.[27] He accused Luciano of being part of a massive prostitution ring known as "the Combination". During the trial, Dewey exposed Luciano for lying on the witness stand through direct quizzing and records of telephone calls; Luciano also had no explanation for why his federal income tax records claimed he made only $22,000 a year, while he was obviously a wealthy man.[9] On June 7, 1936, Luciano was convicted on 62 counts of compulsory prostitution.[28] On June 18, he was sentenced to 30 to 50 years in state prison, along with Betillo and others.[29][30]

Luciano continued to run his crime family from prison, relaying his orders through acting boss Vito Genovese, but in 1937, Genovese fled to Naples to avoid an impending murder indictment in New York.[31] Luciano appointed his consigliere, Frank Costello, as the new acting boss and the overseer of Luciano's interests.

During World War II, federal agents asked Luciano for help in preventing enemy sabotage on the New York waterfront and other activities. Luciano agreed to help, but in reality provided insignificant assistance to the Allied cause. After the end of the war, the arrangement with Luciano became public knowledge. To prevent further embarrassment, the government agreed to deport Luciano on condition that he never return to the U.S. In 1946, Luciano was taken from prison and deported to Italy.[32]

Frank Costello at the Kefauver hearings

From May 1950 to May 1951, the U.S. Senate conducted a large-scale investigation of organized crime, commonly known as the Kefauver Hearings, chaired by Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee. Costello was convicted of contempt of the Senate and sentenced to 18 months in prison.[33] Senator Kefauver concluded that politician Carmine DeSapio was assisting the activities of Costello, and that Costello had become influential in decisions made by the Tammany Hall council. DeSapio admitted to having met Costello several times, but insisted that "politics was never discussed".[34] In 1952, the government began proceedings to strip Costello of his U.S. citizenship, and he was indicted for evasion of $73,417 in income taxes between 1946 and 1949. He was sentenced to five years in prison and fined $20,000.[33] In 1954, Costello appealed the conviction and was released on $50,000 bail; from 1952 to 1961, he was in and out of half a dozen federal and local prisons and jails, his confinement interrupted by periods when he was out on bail pending determination of appeals.[35][33]

Costello ruled for 20 peaceful years, but his quiet reign ended when Genovese was extradited from Italy to New York. During his absence, Costello demoted Genovese from underboss to caporegime, leaving Genovese determined to take control of the family. Soon after his arrival in the U.S., Genovese was acquitted of the 1936 murder charge that had driven him into exile.[36] Free of legal entanglements, he started plotting against Costello with the assistance of Mangano family underboss Carlo Gambino. On May 2, 1957, Luciano mobster Vincent "Chin" Gigante shot Costello in the side of the head on a public street; however, Costello survived the attack.[37] Months later, Mangano boss Albert Anastasia, a powerful ally of Costello's, was murdered by Gambino's gunmen. With Anastasia's death, Gambino seized control of the Mangano family. Feeling afraid and isolated after the shootings, Costello quietly retired and surrendered control of the Luciano family to Genovese.[38]

Vito Genovese's mugshot

Having taken control of what was renamed the Genovese crime family in 1957, Genovese decided to organize a Cosa Nostra conference to legitimize his new position. Held at mobster Joseph Barbara's estate in Apalachin, New York, the Apalachin meeting attracted over 100 Cosa Nostra mobsters from around the nation. However, local law enforcement discovered the meeting and quickly surrounded the estate. As the meeting broke up, the police stopped a car driven by Russell Bufalino, whose passengers included Genovese and three other men, at a roadblock as they left the estate.[39][40][41] Cosa Nostra leaders were chagrined by the public exposure and bad publicity from the Apalachin meeting, and generally blamed Genovese for the fiasco. All those apprehended were fined, up to $10,000 each, and given prison sentences ranging from three to five years, but all the convictions were overturned on appeal in 1960.[40] Wary of Genovese gaining more power in the Commission, Gambino used the Apalachin meeting as an excuse to move against his former ally. Gambino, Luciano, Costello, and Lucchese allegedly lured Genovese into a drug-dealing scheme that ultimately resulted in his conspiracy indictment and conviction. In 1959, Genovese was sentenced to 15 years in prison on narcotics charges.[42] Genovese, who was the most powerful boss in New York, had been effectively eliminated as a rival by Gambino.[43]

Joseph Valachi during the McClellan hearings, 1963

Genovese soldier Joe Valachi was convicted of narcotics violations in 1959 and sentenced to 15 years in prison.[44] Valachi's motivations for becoming an informer had been the subject of some debate; Valachi claimed to be testifying as a public service and to expose a powerful criminal organization that he had blamed for ruining his life, but possibly he was hoping for government protection as part of a plea bargain in which he was sentenced to life imprisonment instead of the death penalty for a murder, which he had committed in 1962 while in prison for his narcotics violation.[44]

Valachi murdered a man in prison whom he feared mob boss, and fellow prisoner, Vito Genovese had ordered to kill him. Valachi and Genovese were both serving sentences for heroin trafficking.[45] On June 22, 1962, using a pipe left near some construction work, Valachi bludgeoned an inmate to death whom he had mistaken for Joseph DiPalermo, a Mafia member he believed had been contracted to kill him.[44] After time with FBI handlers, Valachi came forward with a story of Genovese giving him a kiss on the cheek, which he took as a "kiss of death."[46][47][48] A $100,000 bounty for Valachi's death had been placed by Genovese.[49]

Soon after, Valachi decided to co-operate with the U.S. Justice Department.[50] In October 1963, Valachi testified before Arkansas Senator John L. McClellan's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the U.S. Senate Committee on Government Operations, known as the Valachi hearings, stating that the Italian-American Mafia actually existed, the first time a member had acknowledged its existence in public.[51][52] Valachi's testimony was the first major violation of omertà, breaking his blood oath. He was the first member of the Italian-American Mafia to acknowledge its existence publicly, and is credited with popularization of the term cosa nostra.[53]

Although Valachi's disclosures never led directly to the prosecution of any Mafia leaders, he provided many details of history of the Mafia, operations, and rituals; aided in the solution of several unsolved murders; and named many members and the major crime families. The trial exposed American organized crime to the world through Valachi's televised testimony.[27]

After Genovese was sent to prison in 1959, the family leadership secretly established a "Ruling Panel" to run the family in his absence. This first panel included acting boss Thomas "Tommy Ryan" Eboli, underboss Gerardo "Jerry" Catena, and Catena's protégé Philip "Benny Squint" Lombardo. After Genovese died in 1969, Lombardo was named his successor. However, the family appointed a series of "front bosses" to masquerade as the official family boss. The aim of these deceptions was to protect Lombardo by confusing law enforcement about who was the true leader of the family. In the late 1960s, Gambino lent $4 million to Eboli for a drug scheme in an attempt to gain control of the Genovese family. When Eboli failed to pay back his debt, Gambino, with Commission approval, murdered Eboli in 1972.[54][55][56]

After Eboli's death, Genovese capo and Gambino ally Frank "Funzi" Tieri was appointed as the new front boss. In reality, the Genovese family created a new ruling panel to run the family. This second panel consisted of Catena, Lombardo, and Michele "Big Mike" Miranda. In 1981, Tieri became the first Cosa Nostra boss to be convicted under the new RICO Act and died in prison later that year.[57] After Tieri's imprisonment, the family reshuffled its leadership. The capo of the Manhattan faction, Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno, became the new front boss. Lombardo, the de facto boss of the family, soon retired and Vincent "Chin" Gigante, the triggerman on the failed Costello hit, took actual control of the family.[58]

In 1985, Salerno was convicted in the Mafia Commission Trial and sentenced to 100 years in federal prison.[59] In 1986, shortly after Salerno's conviction in the Commission Trial, Salerno's longtime right-hand man, Vincent "The Fish" Cafaro, turned informant, and told the FBI that Salerno had been the front boss for head Gigante. Cafaro also revealed that the Genovese family had been keeping up this ruse since 1969.[60][61]

After the 1980 murder of Philadelphia family boss Angelo "Gentle Don" Bruno, Gigante and Lombardo began manipulating the rival factions in the war-torn Philadelphia family. Gigante and Lombardo finally gave their support to Philadelphia mobster Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo, who in return gave the Genovese mobsters permission to operate in Atlantic City in 1982.[58]

FBI mugshot of Vincent Gigante in his bathrobe

Gigante built a vast network of bookmaking and loansharking rings and from extortions of garbage, shipping, trucking, and construction companies seeking labor peace or contracts from carpenters', Teamsters, and laborers' unions, including those at the Javits Center, as well as protection payoffs from merchants at the Fulton Fish Market.[62] Gigante also had influence in the Feast of San Gennaro in Little Italy, operating gambling games, extorting payoffs from vendors, and pocketing thousands of dollars donated to a neighborhood church—until a crackdown in 1995 by New York City officials.[62] During Gigante's tenure as boss of the Genovese family, after the imprisonment of John Gotti in 1992, Gigante came to be known as the figurehead capo di tutti capi, the "Boss of All Bosses", despite the position being abolished since 1931 with the murder of Salvatore Maranzano.[63]

Gigante was reclusive, and almost impossible to capture on wiretaps, speaking softly, eschewing the phone, and even at times whistling into the receiver.[64] He almost never left his home unoccupied because he knew FBI agents would sneak in and plant a bug.[64] Genovese members were not allowed to mention Gigante's name in conversations or phone calls; when they had to mention him, members would point to their chins or make the letter "C" with their fingers.[62][65]

From 1978 to 1990, four of the five crime families of New York, including the Genovese family, rigged bids for 75% of $191 million, or about $142 million, of the window contracts awarded by the New York City Housing Authority. Installation companies were required to make union payoffs between $1 and $2 for each window installed.[66][67]

On May 30, 1990, Gigante was indicted along with other members of four of the New York crime families for conspiring to rig bids and extort payoffs from contractors on multimillion-dollar contracts with the NYC Housing Authority to install windows.[68] Gigante attended his arraignment in pajamas and bathrobe, and due to his defense stating that he was mentally and physically impaired, legal battles ensued for seven years over his competence to stand trial.[62] In June 1993, Gigante was indicted again, charged with sanctioning the murders of six mobsters and conspiring to kill three others, including Gambino boss John Gotti.[69][62] At sanity hearings in March 1996, Sammy "The Bull" Gravano, former underboss of the Gambino crime family, who became a cooperating witness in 1991,[70] and Alphonse "Little Al" D'Arco, former acting boss of the Lucchese family, testified that Gigante was lucid at top-level Mafia meetings and that he had told other gangsters that his eccentric behavior was a pretense.[62] Gigante's lawyers got testimony and reports from psychiatrists that from 1969 to 1995 Gigante had been confined 28 times in hospitals for treatment of hallucinations and that he suffered from "dementia rooted in organic brain damage".[62]

In August 1996, senior judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, Eugene Nickerson, ruled that Gigante was mentally competent to stand trial; he pleaded not guilty and had been free for years on $1 million bail.[62] Gigante had another cardiac operation in December 1996.[62] On June 25, 1997, Gigante's trial started. Gigante stood trial in a wheelchair.[71] On July 25, 1997, after almost three days of deliberations, the jury convicted Gigante of conspiring in plots to kill other mobsters and of running rackets as head of the Genovese family.[72] Prosecutors stated that the verdict finally established that Gigante was not mentally ill as his lawyers and relatives had long maintained.[72] On December 18, 1997, Gigante was sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined $1.25 million by judge Jack B. Weinstein, a lenient sentence due to Gigante's "age and frailty", who declared that Gigante had been "...finally brought to bay in his declining years after decades of vicious criminal tyranny".[73] While in prison, he maintained his role as boss of the Genovese family, while other mobsters were entrusted to run the day-to-day activities of the family; Gigante relayed orders to the crime family through his son, Andrew, who visited him in prison.[74][75][62]

On January 23, 2002, Gigante was indicted with several other mobsters, including his son Andrew, on obstruction of justice charges due to a him causing a seven-year delay in his previous trial by feigning insanity.[76][77] Several days later, Andrew was released on $2.5 million bail.[78] On April 7, 2003, the day the trial began, Prosecutor Roslynn R. Mauskopf had planned to play tapes showing him "fully coherent, careful, and intelligent," running crime operations from prison, but when Gigante pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice,[79][80] judge I. Leo Glasser sentenced him to an additional three years in prison.[62][81] Mauskopf stated, "The jig is up...Vincent Gigante was a cunning faker, and those of us in law enforcement always knew that this was an act...The act ran for decades, but today it's over."[79] On July 25, 2003, Andrew Gigante was sentenced to two years in prison and fined $2.5 million for racketeering and extortion.[82]

Gigante died on December 19, 2005, at the Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri.[62] His funeral and burial were held four days later, on December 23, at Saint Anthony of Padua Church in Greenwich Village, largely in anonymity.[64] Liborio "Barney" Bellomo took over as boss.

When Gigante died in late 2005, the leadership went to Genovese capo Daniel "Danny the Lion" Leo, who was apparently running the day-to-day activities of the Genovese crime family by 2006.[83] That same year, Cirillo was reportedly promoted to consigliere behind bars and Mangano was released from prison. By 2008, the Genovese family administration was believed to be whole again.[84] In March 2008, Leo was sentenced to five years in prison for loansharking and extortion. Former acting consigliere Lawrence "Little Larry" Dentico was leading the New Jersey faction of the family until convicted of racketeering in 2006; he was released from prison in 2009. In December 2008, Bellomo was paroled after serving 12 years. What role Bellomo plays in the Genovese hierarchy is open to speculation, but he is likely to have a major say in the running of the family once his tight parole restrictions are over.

A March 2009 article in the New York Post claimed Leo was still acting boss despite his incarceration. It also estimated that the Genovese family consists of about 270 "made" members.[85] The family maintains power and influence in New York, New Jersey, Atlantic City and Florida. It is recognized as the most powerful Cosa Nostra family in the U.S.[2] Since Gigante's reign, the family has been so strong and successful because of its continued devotion to secrecy. According to the FBI, many family associates do not know the names of family leaders or even other associates. This information lockdown makes gaining incriminating information from government informants more difficult for the FBI.[86]

In 2016, Eugene "Rooster" Onofrio, who is believed to be a capo largely active in Little Italy and Connecticut, was accused of operating a large multimillion-dollar enterprise that ran bookmaking offices, scammed medical businesses, smuggled cigarettes, and guns. He was also alleged to have run a loan-shark operation from Florida to Massachusetts.[87] Other members of his reputed crew pleaded guilty to extortion and other crimes.[88] Gerald Daniele, an associate, was sentenced to 2 years in prison in March 2018.[89] On April 10, 2018, Ralph Santaniello, suspected of being a Genovese acting capo was sentenced to 5 years in prison for extorting $20,000 from Craig Morel, the owner of one of the biggest towing and scrap-metal companies in Western Massachusetts, including threatening his life and assaulting him.[90][91][92] Morel managed to negotiate the extortion price from $100,000 to $20,000. Associate Giovanni "Johnny" Calabrese was sentenced to 3 years in prison.[93]

In October 2017, 13 Genovese and Gambino soldiers and associates were sentenced after being indicted following an NYPD operation in December 2016. Dubbed "Shark Bait", the investigation was based on the involvement of a large illegal gambling and loansharking ring. Prosecutors claimed 76-year-old Genovese soldier Salvatore DeMeo was in charge of the criminal operation and had generated several million dollars from the enterprise. Soldier Alex Conigliaro was sentenced to four months in jail and four months' house arrest in late October 2017, with a fine of $5,000, after admitting that he supervised and financed a $14,000-per-week illegal bookmaking and sports betting operation between 2011 and 2014.[94][95] Genovese associates Gennaro Geritano and Mario Leonardi were allegedly partners in selling untaxed cigarettes in New York, alleged to have sold over 30,000 packs.[96]

According to the FBI, the Genovese family has not had an official boss since Gigante's death.[97] Law enforcement considers Leo to be the acting boss, Mangano the underboss, and Cirillo the consigliere. The family is known for placing top capos in leadership positions to help the administration run day-to-day activities. At present, capos Bellomo, Muscarella, Cirillo, and Dentico hold the greatest influence within the family and play major roles in its administration.[86] The Manhattan and Bronx factions, the traditional powers in the family, still exercise that control today.

On January 10, 2018, five members and associates, including the son of former boss Vincent Gigante, Vincent Esposito, were arrested and charged with racketeering, conspiracy, and several counts of related offenses by the NYPD and FBI.[98] The charges include extortion, labor racketeering conspiracy, fraud and bribery. Genovese associate and Brooklyn-based United Food and Commercial Workers officer Frank Cognetta was also charged.[99] Union official and associate Vincent D'Acunto Jr. was also involved and allegedly acted on behalf of Esposito to pass along threat messages and to also collect extortion money from the union, in particular from Vincent Fyfe, the president of a wine liquor and distillery union in Brooklyn. Fyfe was forced to pay $10,000 per year for him to keep his $300,000-a-year union job, which he achieved through the influence of the Genovese crime family. The labor union infiltration was alleged to have taken place for at least 16 years. Esposito allegedly extorted several other union officials and an insurance agent. At his home during a warranted search, authorities recovered an unregistered handgun, $3.8 million in cash, brass knuckledusters, and a handwritten list of American Mafia members.[100] Esposito was granted bail for almost $10 million in April 2018, and pleaded not guilty.[101] In April, 2019, Esposito pled guilty to conspiring to commit racketeering offenses with members and associates of the Genovese Crime Family of La Cosa Nostra. [102] He was sentenced in July, 2019 to two years in prison. [103]

• 1890s–1909 — Giuseppe "the Clutch Hand" Morello — imprisoned
• 1910–1916 — Nicholas "Nick Morello" Terranova — murdered on September 7, 1916
• 1916–1920 — Vincenzo "Vincent" Terranova — stepped down becoming underboss
• 1920–1922 — Giuseppe "the Clutch Hand" Morello — stepped down becoming underboss to Masseria
• 1922–1931 — Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria — murdered on April 15, 1931
• 1931–1946 — Charles "Lucky" Luciano — imprisoned in 1936, deported to Italy in 1946
  • Acting 1936–1937 — Vito Genovese — fled to Italy in 1937 to avoid murder charge
  • Acting 1937–1946 — Frank "the Prime Minister" Costello — became official boss after Luciano's deportation
• 1946–1957 — Frank "the Prime Minister" Costello — resigned in 1957 after Genovese-Gigante assassination attempt[104][105]
• 1957–1969 — Vito "Don Vito" Genovese — imprisoned in 1959, died in prison in 1969
  • Acting 1959–1962 — Anthony "Tony Bender" Strollo — disappeared in 1962
  • Acting 1962–1965 — Thomas "Tommy Ryan" Eboli — became front boss
  • Acting 1965–1969 — Philip "Benny Squint" Lombardo — became the official boss
• 1969–1981 — Philip "Benny Squint" Lombardo — retired in 1981, died of natural causes in 1987
• 1981–2005 — Vincent "Chin" Gigante — imprisoned in 1997, died in prison on December 19, 2005[106]
  • Acting 1989–1996 — Liborio "Barney" Bellomo — promoted to street boss
  • Acting 1997–1998 — Dominick "Quiet Dom" Cirillo — suffered heart attack and resigned
  • Acting 1998–2005 — Matthew "Matty the Horse" Ianniello — resigned when indicted in July 2005
  • Acting 2005–2008 — Daniel "Danny the Lion" Leo[107] — imprisoned 2008–2013
• 2010–present — Liborio "Barney" Bellomo

The position of "front boss" was created by boss Philip Lombardo in efforts to divert law enforcement attention from himself. The family maintained this "front boss" deception for the next 20 years. Even after government witness Vincent Cafaro exposed this scam in 1988, the Genovese family still found this way of dividing authority useful. In 1992, the family revived the front boss post under the title of "street boss." This person served as day-to-day head of the family's operations under Gigante's remote direction.

• 1965–1972 — Thomas "Tommy Ryan" Eboli — murdered in 1972
• 1972–1980 — Frank "Funzi" Tieri — indicted under RICO statutes and resigned, died in 1981
• 1981–1986 — Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno — imprisoned in 1987, died in prison in 1992
• 1992–1996 — Liborio "Barney" Bellomo — imprisoned from 1996 to 2008
• 1998–2001 — Frank Serpico[74][75] – in 2001 was indicted,[108] in 2002 died of cancer[109]
• 2001–2002 — Ernest Muscarella — indicted in 2002[108]
• 2002–2006 — Arthur "Artie" Nigro — indicted in 2006
• 2010–2013 — Peter "Petey Red" DiChiara — stepped down
• 2013–2014 — Daniel "Danny" Pagano — indicted August 2014
• 2014–2015 — Peter "Petey Red" DiChiara — became consigliere
• 2015–present — Michael "Mickey" Ragusa[110]

• 1903–1909 — Ignazio "the Wolf" Lupo — imprisoned
• 1910–1916 — Vincenzo "Vincent" Terranova — became boss
• 1916–1920 — Ciro "the Artichoke King" Terranova — stepped down
• 1920–1922 — Vincenzo "Vincent" Terranova — murdered on May 8, 1922
• 1922–1930 — Giuseppe "Peter the Clutch Hand" Morello — murdered on August 15, 1930
• 1930–1931 — Joseph Catania — murdered on February 3, 1931[111]
• 1931 — Charles "Lucky" Luciano — became boss April 1931
• 1931–1936 — Vito Genovese — promoted to acting boss in 1936, fled to Italy in 1937
• 1937–1951 — Guarino "Willie" Moretti — murdered in 1951
• 1951–1957 — Vito Genovese[112] — second time as underboss
• 1957–1975 — Gerardo "Jerry" Catena — also boss of the New Jersey faction; jailed from 1970 to 1975[113]
  • Acting 1970–1972 — Frank "Funzi" Tieri — promoted to front boss in 1972
  • Acting 1972–1975 — Carmine "Little Eli" Zeccardi — disappeared (presumed killed) in 1977
• 1975–1980 — Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno — promoted to front boss
• 1980–1981 — Vincent "Chin" Gigante — promoted to official boss
• 1981–1987 — Saverio "Sammy" Santora — died of natural causes
• 1987–2017 — Venero "Benny Eggs" Mangano — imprisoned in 1991, released December 2006, died August 18, 2017 of natural causes.
  • Acting 1990–1997 — Michael "Mickey Dimino" Generoso — imprisoned in 1997[114]
  • Acting 1997–2003 — Joseph Zito
  • Acting 2003–2005 — John "Johnny Sausage" Barbato — imprisoned from 2005 to 2008
• 2017–present — Ernest "Ernie" Muscarella

• 1931–1937 — Frank Costello — promoted to acting boss in 1937
• 1937–1957 — "Sandino" — mysterious figure mentioned once by Valachi
• 1957–1972 — Michele "Mike" Miranda — retired in 1972
• 1972–1975 — Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno — promoted to underboss in 1975
• 1975–1978 — Antonio "Buckaloo" Ferro
• 1981–1990 — Louis "Bobby" Manna — imprisoned in 1990
  • Acting 1989–1990 — James "Little Guy" Ida — became official consigliere
• 1990–1997 — James "Little Guy" Ida — imprisoned in 1997
• 1997–2008 — Lawrence "Little Larry" Dentico[114] — imprisoned from 2005 to 2009, retired.
  • Acting 2005–2008 — Dominick "Quiet Dom" Cirillo – became official consigliere.
• 2008–2015 – Dominick "Quiet Dom" Cirillo — reportedly stepped down
• 2015–2018 – Peter "Petey Red" DiChiara – died on March 2, 2018
• 2018–present – Unknown

Messaggero – The messaggero (messenger) functions as liaison between crime families. The messenger can reduce the need for sit-downs, or meetings, of the mob hierarchy, and thus limit the public exposure of the bosses.

• 1957–1969 — Michael "Mike" Genovese — the brother of Vito Genovese.[115][116]
• 1997–2002 — Andrew V. Gigante — the son of Vincent Gigante, indicted 2002
• 2002–2005 — Mario Gigante[117][118]

If the official boss dies, goes to prison, or is incapacitated, the family may assemble a ruling committee of capos to help the acting boss, street boss, underboss, and consigliere run the family, and to divert attention from law enforcement.

• 1997–2001 — (four-man committee) — Dominick "Quiet Dom" Cirillo, Lawrence "Little Larry" Dentico, John "Johnny Sausage" Barbato and Alan "Baldie" Longo — in 2001 Longo was indicted
• 2001–2005 — (four-man committee) — Dominick Cirillo, Lawrence Dentico, John Barbato and Anthony "Tico" Antico — in April 2005 all four were indicted[119]
• 2005–2010 — (three-man committee) — Tino "The Greek" Fiumara (died 2010)[120] the other two are unknown.

• Boss – Liborio "Barney" Bellomo – born in January 1957. He served in the 116th Street Crew of Saverio "Sammy Black" Santora and was initiated in 1977. His father was a soldier and close to Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno. In 1990, Kenneth McCabe, then-organized crime investigator for the United States attorney's office in Manhattan, identified Bellomo as "acting boss" of the crime family following the indictment of Vincent Gigante in the "Windows Case".[121][122] In June 1996, Bellomo was indicted on charges of extortion, labor racketeering and for ordering the deaths of Ralph DeSimone in 1991 and Antonio DiLorenzo in 1988; DeSimone was found shot 5 times in the trunk of his car at LaGuardia Airport and DiLorenzo was shot and killed in the backyard of his home.[123] Since around 2016, Bellomo was recognised, most likely, to be official boss of the Genovese family.

• Street Boss – Michael "Mickey" Ragusa – born June 22, 1965. Ragusa is a former soldier in Bellomo's Harlem/Bronx crew. In January 2002, Ragusa was indicted along with acting boss Ernest Muscarella, capo Charles Tuzzo, members Liborio Bellomo, Thomas Cafaro, Pasquale Falcetti and associate Andrew Gigante on the infiltration of the International Longshoreman's Association.[124][125]

• Underboss – Ernest "Ernie" Muscarella – former acting boss and former capo of the 116th Street crew. In January 2002, Muscarella serving as acting boss of family was indicted along with capo Charles Tuzzo, members Liborio Bellomo, Thomas Cafaro, Pasquale Falcetti, Michael Ragusa and associate Andrew Gigante on the infiltration of the International Longshoreman's Association.[124] On January 11, 2008 Muscarella was released from prison.[126] On April 16, 2019 Muscarella was identified as the Underboss of the Genovese family during a lawfully recorded conversation between Gambino family soldier Vincent Fiore and Gambino family associate Mark Kocaj.[127]

• Consigliere – Unknown

The Bronx faction

• Pasquale "Uncle Patty" Falcetti – capo of the 116th Street Crew with operations in the Bronx. In September 2014, Falcetti was sentenced to 30 months in prison for loan sharking.[128][129] During Falcetti's trail former Genovese family associate Anthony Zocolillo testified against and claimed that Falcetti made him a $34,000 loan for a marijuana trafficking operation.[128] On January 13, 2017 Falcetti was released from prison.[130] On July 10, 2017 Falcetti was observed by a law enforcement surveillance team meeting with Gambino crime family capo Andrew Campos in the Pelham Bay diner.[127]

• Joseph G. "Joe D" Denti, Jr. – (sometimes spelled Dente) is a capo operating in the Bronx and New Jersey. His father Joseph Denti Sr. was a Bronx loan shark during the 1970s before moving in the early 1990s to Beverly Hills.[131] In 1996, his father died from a heart attack and his father's Bronx funeral was attended by many famous Hollywood figures which included Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Cher and Cathy Moriarty.[131] In 2000, Denti Jr. and Chris Cenaitempo became suspects in a police investigation after Chris's brother John Cenatiempo was identified by the police as an accomplice of Christopher Rocancourt, a man who robbed homes in the Hamptons.[131] On December 5, 2001 Denti Jr. along with capo Rosario Gangi, capo Pasquale Parrello and 70 other associates were indicted in Manhattan on racketeering charges.[132][133] The charges were brought against Denti Jr. and the others after it had been revealed that an undercover NYPD detective had infiltrated Parrello's Arthur Ave crew.[132][134] On April 29, 2009 Denti Jr. was released from federal prison.[135] On March 16, 2016 Denti Jr. along with Joseph Giardina, Ralph Perricelli Jr., and Heidi Francavilla were indicted and charged with defrauding investors in medical ventures out of $350,000.[136]

• Pasquale "Patsy" Parrello – born in 1945. He is a capo operating in the Bronx, he owns a restaurant on Arthur Ave called Pasquale's Rigoletto Restaurant. In 2004, Parrello was found guilty of loansharking and embezzlement along with capo Rosario Gangi, and was sentenced to 88 months.[137] Parrello was released from prison on April 23, 2008.[138][139] In August 2016, Parrello was indicted along with Genovese family capo Conrad Ianniello and Genovese family acting capo Eugene O'Norfio and Philadelphia family boss Joseph Merlino and forty two other mobsters on gambling and extortion charges.[140] In May 2017, he pled guilty to 3 counts of conspiracy to commit extortion and was sentenced to 7 years in federal prison in September 2017. Prosecutors at his trial alleged that in June 2011 he ordered 2 of his soldiers to break the kneecaps of a man whom annoyed female patrons at his restaurant.[141] [142]

• Daniel "Danny the Lion" Leo – a former member of the Purple Gang of East Harlem in the 1970s. In the late 1990s, Leo joined Vincent Gigante's circle of trusted capos. With Gigante's death in 2005, Leo became acting boss. In 2008, Leo was sentenced to five years in prison on loansharking and extortion charges. In March 2010, Leo received an additional 18 months in prison on racketeering charges and was fined $1.3 million. Leo was recently in a community corrections facility. He was released on January 25, 2013.[143][144]

Manhattan faction

• Dominick "Quiet Dom" Cirillo – capo and former trusted aide to boss Vincent Gigante. Cirillo belonged to the West Side Crew and was known as one of the Four Doms; capos Dominick "Baldy Dom" Canterino, Dominick "The Sailor" DiQuarto and Dominick "Fat Dom" Alongi. Cirillo served as acting boss from 1997 to 1998, but resigned due to heart problems. In 2003, Cirillo became acting boss, resigned in 2006 due to his imprisonment on loansharking charges. In August 2008, Cirillo was released from prison.
• Conrad Ianniello – capo operating in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. On April 18, 2012 Ianniello was indicted along with members of his crew and was charged with illegal gambling and conspiracy.[145][146] The conspiracy charge dates back to 2008, when Ianniello along with Robert Scalza and Ryan Ellis tried to extort vendors at the annual Feast of San Gennaro in Little Italy.[145] Conrad Ianniello is related to Robert Ianniello, Jr., who is the nephew to Matthew Ianniello and the owner of Umberto's Clam House.[147] In August 2016 Ianniello was indicted along with Genovese family capo Pasquale Parrello and Genovese family acting capo Eugene O'Norfio and Philadelphia family boss Joseph Merlino and forty two other mobsters on gambling and extortion charges.[140]
• Thomas "Figgy" Ficarotta – capo and protégé of former Little Italy Crew capo James Messera. He is the son of former Genovese member Anthony Ficarotta and has operations in Manhattan and Brooklyn.

Brooklyn faction

• Alan "Baldie" Longo - capo of a Brooklyn crew who formerly served under "Allie Shades" Malangone and ran rackets out of a social club that he owned in Brooklyn. Longo was involved in stock fraud and white-collar crimes in Manhattan and Brooklyn. On April 25, 2001, Longo was indicted on racketeering charges along with Colombo acting boss Alphonse Persico, based on the work of undercover informant Michael D'Urso. Longo was convicted and sentenced to 11 years.[148] He was released on November 24, 2010.[149]

• Anthony "Tico" Antico – capo involved in labor and construction racketeering in Brooklyn and Manhattan. In 2005, Antico and capos John Barbato and Lawrence Dentico were convicted of extortion charges. In 2007, he was released from prison.[150][151] On March 6, 2010, Antico was charged with racketeering in connection with the 2008 robbery and murder of Staten Island jeweler Louis Antonelli.[152] He was acquitted of murder charges, but found guilty of racketeering. He was released from prison on June 12, 2018.[153]

Queens faction

• Anthony "Rom" Romanello – capo operating from Corona Avenue in Corona, Queens[154] Romanello took over Anthony Federici's old crew. In January 2012, he pleaded guilty to illegal gambling after the cooperating witness died from a heart attack before testifying in the case.[154]

New Jersey faction

• Imprisoned – Michael "Mikey Cigars" Coppola – capo of the "Fiumara-Coppola crew",[155] although he is currently imprisoned, Coppola is still seen by law enforcement and experts as a leading captain in the New Jersey faction. He is currently serving his time at the United States Penitentiary, Atlanta for two counts of racketeering and his projected release date is March 4, 2024.[156]

• Silvio P. DeVita – Sicilian born capo operating in Essex County. He is currently believed to be controlling Newark. He has prior convictions of first-degree murder, robbery and several other offenses. DeVita has also been excluded from visiting any casino in New Jersey.[157]

Springfield, Massachusetts faction

• Acting – Eugene "Rooster" O'Nofrio – a mobster from East Haven, Connecticut. O'Nofrio served as acting capo of the "Mulberry Street crew" in Manhattan's Little Italy and acting capo of the "Springfield, Massachusetts crew".[140] In 2016 Onofrio was indicted along with Genovese family capo's Pasquale Parrello and Conrad Ianniello and Philadelphia family boss Joseph Merlino and Springfield gangsters Ralph Santaniello and Francesco Depergola and forty other mobsters on gambling and extortion charges.[140]

New York

• Stephen Depiro – former acting capo of the "Fiumara-Coppola crew". Depiro was overseeing the illegal operations in the New Jersey Newark/Elizabeth Seaport[158] before Fiumara's death in 2010. It is unknown if Depiro still holds this position.

• Lawrence "Little Larry" Dentico – former capo operating in South Jersey and Philadelphia. Dentico was acting consigliere from 2003 through 2005, when he was imprisoned on extortion, loansharking and racketeering charges. He was released from prison on May 12, 2009.[159][160]
• Albert "Kid Blast" Gallo – former capo operating in Brooklyn neighborhoods of Carroll Gardens, Red Hook, and Cobble Hill and parts of Staten Island. In the mid-1970s, Gallo and Frank Illiano transferred from the Gallo crew of the Colombo crime family to the Genovese family. Gallo's co-capo Illiano died of natural causes in 2014.
• Rosario "Ross" Gangi – former capo operating in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and New Jersey. Gangi was involved in extortion activities at Fulton Fish Market. He was released from prison on August 8, 2008.[161][162]
• John "Johnny Sausage" Barbato – former capo and former driver of Venero Mangano, he was involved in labor and construction racketeering with capos from the Brooklyn faction. Barbato was imprisoned in 2005 on racketeering and extortion charges, and released in 2008.[163][164]
• James "Jimmy from 8th Street" Messera – former capo of the Little Italy Crew operating in Manhattan and Brooklyn. In the 1990s, Messera was involved in extorting the Mason Tenders union and was imprisoned on racketeering charges.[165][166] He was released from prison on December 12, 1995.[167]
• Ralph "the Undertaker" Balsamo (born 1971) – a soldier[168] operating in the Bronx and Westchester. Balsamo pleaded guilty in 2007 to narcotics trafficking, firearms trafficking, extortion, and union-related fraud and was sentenced to 97 months in prison.[169] He was released from prison on March 8, 2013.
• Louis DiNapoli – soldier with his brother Vincent DiNapoli's 116th Street crew.
• Anthony "Tough Tony" Federici – former capo in the Queens. Federici is the owner of a restaurant in Corona, Queens. In 2004, Federici was honored by Queens Borough President Helen Marshall for his community service.[170] Federici has since passed on his illicit mob activities to Anthony Romanello.[154]
• John "Little John" Giglio (born April 11, 1958) – also known as "Johnny Bull" is a soldier involved in loansharking.[171]
• Joseph Olivieri – soldier, operating in the 116th Street Crew under capo Louis Moscatiello. Olivieri has been involved in extorting carpenters unions and is tied to labor racketeer Vincent DiNapoli.[172] He was convicted of perjury and was released from Philadelphia CCM on January 13, 2011.[173][174]
• Alphonse "Allie Shades" Malangone – was a former capo in the 1990s, controlling gambling, loansharking, waterfront rackets and extorting the Fulton Fish Market. He also controlled several private sanitation companies in Brooklyn through Kings County Trade Waste Association and Greater New York Waste Paper Association. Malagone was arrested in 2000 along with several Genovese and Gambino family members for their activities in the private waste industry.[175][176]
• Daniel "Danny" Pagano – former acting capo of the Westchester County–Rockland County crew. Pagano was involved in the 1980s bootleg gasoline scheme with Russian mobsters.[177] In 2007, Pagano was released after serving 105 months in prison.[178] In 2015, sentenced to 2 years in prison on racketeering conspiracy charges.[179]
• Charles Salzano – a soldier released from prison in 2009 after serving 37 months on loan sharking charges.[169]
• Carmine "Pazzo" Testa — a soldier heavily involved in firearm trafficking along with, union fraud, money laundering, narcotic trafficking and illegal gambling charges. He pleaded guilty for firearm trafficking and has served 72 months with a 5,000 dollar fine.
• Joseph Zito – soldier in the Manhattan faction (the West Side Crew) under capo Rosario Gangi. Zito was involved in bookmaking and loansharking business.[180] Law enforcement labeled Zito as acting underboss from 1997 through 2003, but he was probably just a top lieutenant under official underboss Venero Mangano. In the mid-1990s, Zito frequently visited Mangano in prison after his conviction in the Windows Case. Zito relayed messages from Mangano to the rest of the family leadership.

New Jersey

• Anthony "Tony D." Palumbo – is a former acting capo in the New Jersey faction.[181] Palumbo was promoted acting boss of the New Jersey faction by close ally and acting boss Daniel Leo. In 2009, Palumbo was arrested and charged with racketeering and murder along Daniel Leo and others.[181][182][183] In August 2010 Palumbo pleaded guilty to conspiracy murder charges.[184] He was sentenced to 10 years in prison and was released on November 22, 2019.[185]

New Jersey

• Frankie "Frankie Ariana" DiMattina – an associate convicted January 6, 2014 on extortion and a firearms charge and sentenced to 6 years in prison.[186]

• 116th Street Crew – led by Pasquale "Uncle Patty" Falcetti (operates in the East Bronx)
• Greenwich Village Crew – (former crew of Vincent Gigante ) (crew operates in Greenwich Village in Lower Manhattan)
• Broadway Mob – (operated in Manhattan)
• Genovese crime family New Jersey faction – (crew operates in New Jersey)

• Godfather of Harlem (2019)

• Mobsters (1991)[246]