Read Online Manhattan Mafia Guide by Eric Ferrara - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Eric Ferrara
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A second witness named Peter LaTempa was poisoned on January 15, 1945, leaving the prosecutors’ entire case riding on the testimony of an admitted killer and jailhouse rat; needless to say, charges against Genovese were dismissed. Nineteen years later, on August 24, 1964, Rupolo’s body was found washed up on a Queens beach. He was shot, stabbed, bound by rope and chained to a heavy object before being dumped in the East River.
It turns out that Boccia had helped Genovese establish a numbers racket early in 1934 but felt the big man was cutting him out of a fair share of profits. The rest is gangland history.
It is said that Genovese was bitter upon returning to America and playing second fiddle in Costello’s well-tuned Mafia family. For the next decade or so, he would run his Little Italy crew and breed a new generation of loyalist mobsters who helped him plot and murder his way to the top by the end of the 1950s.
It may have seemed like being family boss just wasn’t in the cards for Genovese. His first opportunity in 1936–37 only lasted about a year before he was forced into exile for a decade. After finally wresting control of the organization from Frank Costello in May 1957, Genovese only spent two years on the street before he was sentenced to fifteen years in prison on April 17, 1959, for drug trafficking.
It is kind of remarkable that the family acquired so much power under the circumstances. In those two years after Costello retired, Genovese reversed much of the family’s solid relationships that Costello had developed by making a lot of enemies, as well a few major blunders—like the November 14, 1957 Apalachin Conference he called in upstate New York, where police were tipped off, resulting in the arrests of sixty mobsters. To this day, many people believe that Genovese was set up on drug charges in 1959 in order to remove him from the picture altogether.
Genovese continued to rule and grow his family from behind bars through various front bosses but would succumb to a heart attack on Valentine’s Day 1969. His body was shipped from a federal penitentiary medical center to a funeral home in Red Bank, New Jersey, where services were held.
Vito Genovese was buried at Saint John’s Cemetery in Queens.
G ERNIE , J OSEPH
336 East 120 th Street, 1950s
Alias: Joseph Yanni, John Gernie
Born: August 4, 1921, New York City
Died: February 1972
Association: Genovese crime family
This Genovese soldier who provided muscle for Anthony Strollo’s crew had an arrest record spanning several decades, including burglary, larceny, gambling, assault and “causing an explosion with intent to kill.”
On September 18, 1957, Gernie was arrested for his part in a narcotics ring that sold heroin to undercover authorities over a three-month period. Gernie was allegedly present at several of these transactions, which were made at various West Side parking garages and cafés throughout the summer of 1956. When arrested, in Gernie’s possession was a marked $100 bill used by agents to purchase heroin just weeks earlier. Gernie was sentenced to ten years in prison on February 19, 1957, and fined $5,000. 60
G IGANTE , V INCENT
181 Thompson Street, 1928; 238 Thompson Street, 1950; 134 Bleecker Street, 1957; 225 Sullivan Street
Alias: Chin
Born: March 29, 1928, New York City (b. Gigante, Vincenzo Louis)
Died: December 19, 2005, Springfield, Illinois
Association: Genovese crime family boss
This colorful, hulking, former light-heavyweight boxer and Little Italy native earned his stripes as a Vito Genovese strong-arm before eventually taking over the family in the early 1980s. By the 1990s, Gigante was said to be a powerful leader inside the Mafia Commission, wielding influence over La Cosa Nostra organizations throughout the Northeast.
Vincent was born at 181 Thompson Street Salvatore to Esposito Vulgo and Iolanda Scotto di Vettimo, Neapolitan immigrants who were married in Italy in October 1920,
A second witness named Peter LaTempa was poisoned on January 15, 1945, leaving the prosecutors’ entire case riding on the testimony of an admitted killer and jailhouse rat; needless to say, charges against Genovese were dismissed. Nineteen years later, on August 24, 1964, Rupolo’s body was found washed up on a Queens beach. He was shot, stabbed, bound by rope and chained to a heavy object before being dumped in the East River.
It turns out that Boccia had helped Genovese establish a numbers racket early in 1934 but felt the big man was cutting him out of a fair share of profits. The rest is gangland history.
It is said that Genovese was bitter upon returning to America and playing second fiddle in Costello’s well-tuned Mafia family. For the next decade or so, he would run his Little Italy crew and breed a new generation of loyalist mobsters who helped him plot and murder his way to the top by the end of the 1950s.
It may have seemed like being family boss just wasn’t in the cards for Genovese. His first opportunity in 1936–37 only lasted about a year before he was forced into exile for a decade. After finally wresting control of the organization from Frank Costello in May 1957, Genovese only spent two years on the street before he was sentenced to fifteen years in prison on April 17, 1959, for drug trafficking.
It is kind of remarkable that the family acquired so much power under the circumstances. In those two years after Costello retired, Genovese reversed much of the family’s solid relationships that Costello had developed by making a lot of enemies, as well a few major blunders—like the November 14, 1957 Apalachin Conference he called in upstate New York, where police were tipped off, resulting in the arrests of sixty mobsters. To this day, many people believe that Genovese was set up on drug charges in 1959 in order to remove him from the picture altogether.
Genovese continued to rule and grow his family from behind bars through various front bosses but would succumb to a heart attack on Valentine’s Day 1969. His body was shipped from a federal penitentiary medical center to a funeral home in Red Bank, New Jersey, where services were held.
Vito Genovese was buried at Saint John’s Cemetery in Queens.
G ERNIE , J OSEPH
336 East 120 th Street, 1950s
Alias: Joseph Yanni, John Gernie
Born: August 4, 1921, New York City
Died: February 1972
Association: Genovese crime family
This Genovese soldier who provided muscle for Anthony Strollo’s crew had an arrest record spanning several decades, including burglary, larceny, gambling, assault and “causing an explosion with intent to kill.”
On September 18, 1957, Gernie was arrested for his part in a narcotics ring that sold heroin to undercover authorities over a three-month period. Gernie was allegedly present at several of these transactions, which were made at various West Side parking garages and cafés throughout the summer of 1956. When arrested, in Gernie’s possession was a marked $100 bill used by agents to purchase heroin just weeks earlier. Gernie was sentenced to ten years in prison on February 19, 1957, and fined $5,000. 60
G IGANTE , V INCENT
181 Thompson Street, 1928; 238 Thompson Street, 1950; 134 Bleecker Street, 1957; 225 Sullivan Street
Alias: Chin
Born: March 29, 1928, New York City (b. Gigante, Vincenzo Louis)
Died: December 19, 2005, Springfield, Illinois
Association: Genovese crime family boss
This colorful, hulking, former light-heavyweight boxer and Little Italy native earned his stripes as a Vito Genovese strong-arm before eventually taking over the family in the early 1980s. By the 1990s, Gigante was said to be a powerful leader inside the Mafia Commission, wielding influence over La Cosa Nostra organizations throughout the Northeast.
Vincent was born at 181 Thompson Street Salvatore to Esposito Vulgo and Iolanda Scotto di Vettimo, Neapolitan immigrants who were married in Italy in October 1920,
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