Read Online Manhattan Mafia Guide by Eric Ferrara - Free Book Online
Authors: Eric Ferrara
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murder, Garofalo lived at and operated the Colorado Cheese Company at 176 Avenue A, as well as the High Grade Packing Company in Merced, California.
Garofalo was said to be semiretired from the mob when, in 1955, he returned to Sicily, where he attended the Grand Hotel des Palmes Summit in Palermo on October 14–17, 1957. 54 He then returned to the United States briefly to allegedly take part in the Apalachin Summit in November 1957, when it is suspected that Garofalo briefed the gathered Mafia bosses on the results of the Palermo conference. Though the outcome of both meetings is still largely a mystery, one theory suggests that at least one result was the establishment of a new heroin trade operation between the American and Sicilian Mafias.
In August 1965, seventy-four-year-old Frank Garofalo was swept up in a large-scale crackdown on Cosa Nostra operations in Sicily. 55 Shortly after dawn on August 2, Sicilian police executed seven simultaneous raids across the island, resulting in the arrests of several high-ranking Mafioso. The Palermo police, heading the operation, said they possessed evidence firmly linking the U.S. and Sicilian underworlds in a worldwide narcotics distribution ring, alleging that pure heroin was being imported from Asia, refined in Sicily and distributed throughout North America.
Besides Garofalo, seven American Mafia members were indicted, including Joe Bonanno, Carmine Galante and Santo Sorge. Sicilian Mafia boss Giuseppe Genco Russo was also charged. In all, seventeen top-level Mafia leaders were put on trial for criminal conspiracy, as well as narcotics and currency trafficking. In an unprecedented move, investigating judge Aldo Vigneri visited America in 1965 to interview several witnesses, including two FBI agents and disgraced mobster Joe Valachi, who was housed in a Washington, D.C. jail cell at the time.
Despite presenting eight years of evidence and several witnesses, prosecutors failed to prove their case, and all charges were dropped against all defendants in June 1968. Frank Garofalo disappeared from public record after that.
G ENOVESE , V ITO
29 Washington Square West, 1944
Born: November 27, 1897, Naples, Italy (b. Genovese, Avito)
Died: February 14, 1969, Springfield, Missouri
Association: Genovese crime family boss
Not many other Mafioso of the era quite match up to the fearsome reputation of Vito Genovese, the churlish mob leader who had no problem using violence on anyone who stood in his way. Fellow mobsters, friends and civilians were all fair game to the man who went on to lead arguably the most infamous (and powerful) Mafia organization in America.
Vito Genovese mug shot.
According to Mafia insiders, Genovese entrusted very few to his inner circle and was one of the most inaccessible bosses of La Cosa Nostra. The stealthy mobster enforced an elaborate chain of command between himself and his underlings and was known to pass his own (Mafia) family members on the street without so much as a glance. Was this a crafty ploy to evade the authorities or an example of the gangster’s icy personality? Those in the know think it was a little of both.
Born to Felice and Nunziata Genovese in Rosiglino, Tufino, a province of Naples, Italy, the future mob heavyweight immigrated to New York City with his family about 1914. His first arrest came soon after—a weapons possession charge in Manhattan on January 15, 1917, that earned the twenty-year-old aspiring gangster sixty days in the workhouse, a term he served between June and July of that year.
A string of six arrests between 1918 and 1925 on charges ranging from felonious assault to homicide (twice), all ended in a discharge. Genovese would only see the inside of a jail cell once more until the 1950s—thirty days in January 1927, with which he also received a $250 fine.
By this time, the five-foot, seven-inch, 160-pound Genovese had established himself as a feared Prohibition-era strong-arm for hire and was planting the
Garofalo was said to be semiretired from the mob when, in 1955, he returned to Sicily, where he attended the Grand Hotel des Palmes Summit in Palermo on October 14–17, 1957. 54 He then returned to the United States briefly to allegedly take part in the Apalachin Summit in November 1957, when it is suspected that Garofalo briefed the gathered Mafia bosses on the results of the Palermo conference. Though the outcome of both meetings is still largely a mystery, one theory suggests that at least one result was the establishment of a new heroin trade operation between the American and Sicilian Mafias.
In August 1965, seventy-four-year-old Frank Garofalo was swept up in a large-scale crackdown on Cosa Nostra operations in Sicily. 55 Shortly after dawn on August 2, Sicilian police executed seven simultaneous raids across the island, resulting in the arrests of several high-ranking Mafioso. The Palermo police, heading the operation, said they possessed evidence firmly linking the U.S. and Sicilian underworlds in a worldwide narcotics distribution ring, alleging that pure heroin was being imported from Asia, refined in Sicily and distributed throughout North America.
Besides Garofalo, seven American Mafia members were indicted, including Joe Bonanno, Carmine Galante and Santo Sorge. Sicilian Mafia boss Giuseppe Genco Russo was also charged. In all, seventeen top-level Mafia leaders were put on trial for criminal conspiracy, as well as narcotics and currency trafficking. In an unprecedented move, investigating judge Aldo Vigneri visited America in 1965 to interview several witnesses, including two FBI agents and disgraced mobster Joe Valachi, who was housed in a Washington, D.C. jail cell at the time.
Despite presenting eight years of evidence and several witnesses, prosecutors failed to prove their case, and all charges were dropped against all defendants in June 1968. Frank Garofalo disappeared from public record after that.
G ENOVESE , V ITO
29 Washington Square West, 1944
Born: November 27, 1897, Naples, Italy (b. Genovese, Avito)
Died: February 14, 1969, Springfield, Missouri
Association: Genovese crime family boss
Not many other Mafioso of the era quite match up to the fearsome reputation of Vito Genovese, the churlish mob leader who had no problem using violence on anyone who stood in his way. Fellow mobsters, friends and civilians were all fair game to the man who went on to lead arguably the most infamous (and powerful) Mafia organization in America.
Vito Genovese mug shot.
According to Mafia insiders, Genovese entrusted very few to his inner circle and was one of the most inaccessible bosses of La Cosa Nostra. The stealthy mobster enforced an elaborate chain of command between himself and his underlings and was known to pass his own (Mafia) family members on the street without so much as a glance. Was this a crafty ploy to evade the authorities or an example of the gangster’s icy personality? Those in the know think it was a little of both.
Born to Felice and Nunziata Genovese in Rosiglino, Tufino, a province of Naples, Italy, the future mob heavyweight immigrated to New York City with his family about 1914. His first arrest came soon after—a weapons possession charge in Manhattan on January 15, 1917, that earned the twenty-year-old aspiring gangster sixty days in the workhouse, a term he served between June and July of that year.
A string of six arrests between 1918 and 1925 on charges ranging from felonious assault to homicide (twice), all ended in a discharge. Genovese would only see the inside of a jail cell once more until the 1950s—thirty days in January 1927, with which he also received a $250 fine.
By this time, the five-foot, seven-inch, 160-pound Genovese had established himself as a feared Prohibition-era strong-arm for hire and was planting the
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