The Genovese Mafia Crime Family: A Complete and Fascinating History of New York Criminal Organization (Five Families) by Mafia Library

Author:Mafia Library [Library, Mafia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-11-01T22:00:00+00:00

Exile

After Luciano was imprisoned, it was his underboss Vito Genovese who was tapped for the role of acting boss. According to the (relatively loose) rules of the Mafia, a boss only lost his position by assassination or abdication—that is, they must die or step down. Since Luciano had done neither, he remained the titular head of the Luciano Family, while his appointee would run the day to day operations. Unfortunately, Genovese would follow in Luciano’s footsteps a little too closely. After a surprising streak of good luck and numerous dodged charges, Genovese would have to face the music. Kind of.

With Luciano gone, Dewey turned his attention to Costello and Genovese, the latter of whom was no longer enjoying the high life free of public attention. In fact, it was Dewey who publicly outed the fact that Genovese was the official successor to “Public Enemy Number One,” Lucky Luciano, in a case that was pursuing Genovese and a multitude of his companions, including Costello. While the case built against Costello fell flat, it became increasingly likely that Genovese may finally be up against a charge he couldn’t escape from: The 1934 murder of Ferdinand Boccia, Genovese’s partner in a high level card game scam.

In 1937, just months after he had become a United States citizen, Genovese fled the country to escape from Dewey’s crusade. It isn’t known exactly when he fled his New Jersey estate for his home country of Italy, but it had to have been before the end of February, when his beloved home in the country burned to the ground under suspicious circumstances. After the blaze had been put out, which involved a grueling, hours-long effort by firefighters, officials said that Genovese was on a European vacation at the time, and had left the furnace running for his entire absence. Nearly nothing was salvageable.

Genovese was apparently accompanied by his wife, who returned home to New York/New Jersey to tend to their several children. Genovese, however, remained in Italy and took residence in his home province of Napoli. By chance, Genovese left on his “vacation” with roughly $750,000 in USD cash, with millions more in credit letters. A man like Genovese would not spend his exile in poverty, of course. Michele Miranda, a co-conspirator with Genovese in Boccia’s murder, had also fled for Italy after his own charges were dropped, still fearing Dewey’s pursuit. The two men had once again linked up in the old country.

While Genovese was very far from his base of operations and source of income, the Italian political culture at the time presented new, enticing opportunities for willing gangsters. Ironically, the same dictator who had caused a mass exodus of mafiosi from Italy in the 1920s was now in charge of a haven for those fleeing the United States: Benito Mussolini, who had been running the country since 1922. Mussolini still maintained a hardline on Mafia activities officially, even after his 1927 declaration that his Fascists had freed Italy, most notably Sicily, of the Mafia threat.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.