Joe Valachi
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| Joe Valachi | |
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| Born | September 22, 1903 Harlem, New York, USA |
| Died | April 3, 1971 (aged 67) El Paso, Texas, U.S. |
Joseph 'Joe Cargo' Valachi (September 22, 1903 – April 3, 1971) also known as "Charles Chanbano" and "Anthony Sorge" was the first Mafia member to publicly acknowledge the existence of the Mafia. He is also the person who made La Cosa Nostra (meaning "This thing of ours") a household name.[1]
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[edit] Career
Valachi was a "soldier" in New York City's powerful Genovese crime family, whose primary "job" within the family was that of a driver.
On March 10, 1921, Valachi was arrested for burglary in the Bronx. He was discharged by a Magistrate McGee two days later.
[edit] Federal testimony
In October 1963, Valachi had testified before Arkansas Senator John L. McClellan's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the U.S. Senate Committee on Government Operations that the Mafia did exist.[2][3]
Although Valachi's disclosures never led directly to the prosecution of many Mafia leaders, he was able to provide many details of its history, operations and rituals, aiding in the solution of several uncleared murders, as well as naming many members and the major crime families. His testimony, which was broadcast on radio and television and published in newspapers, was devastating for the mob, still reeling from the November 14, 1957 Apalachin Meeting, where state police had accidentally discovered several Mafia bosses from all over the United States meeting at the Apalachin home of mobster Joseph Barbara. Following Valachi's testimony, the mob was no longer invisible to the public.
He was the son-in-law of Gaetano Reina after he married Reina's oldest daughter Carmela, over the objections of her mother, brother, and uncles.
Valachi's motivations for becoming an informer have been the subject of some debate. Insanity ran in his family, with four of his brothers and sisters winding up in mental institutions, and two committing suicide.[citation needed] Valachi claimed to be testifying as a public service and a way to expose a powerful criminal organization that he blamed for ruining his life, but it is also possible he was hoping for US government protection to avoid the death penalty for a murder he committed on June 22, 1962. This murder, done with a pipe from a nearby construction site, was of a man, Joe Saupp, in prison whom Valachi had mistaken for a Mafia member by the name of Joseph DiPalermo intending to kill him (Valachi and Genovese were both serving a sentence for heroin trafficking).[4] 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". No one has ever corroborated this.[citation needed]
After the U.S. Department of Justice first encouraged and then blocked publication of Valachi's memoirs, a biography heavily influenced by those memoirs and by interviews with Valachi was written by journalist Peter Maas and published in 1968 as The Valachi Papers,[5] forming the basis for a later movie of the same title starring Charles Bronson in the title role. Valachi also reportedly inspired the characters of Willi Cicci and Frank Pentangeli in the hit film The Godfather Part II (1974).
[edit] Imprisonment and death
On June 22, 1962, Valachi killed a man while serving his sentence. In 1966, Valachi attempted to hang himself in his prison cell, using an electrical extension cord. He died of a heart attack in 1971 at La Tuna Federal Correctional Institution in Texas, having outlived Vito Genovese by two years. The $100,000 bounty placed on Valachi's head by Genovese went uncollected.
[edit] References
- ^ Their Thing, Time, August 16, 1963
- ^ Killers in Prison, Time, October 4, 1963
- ^ "The Smell of It", Time, October 11, 1963
- ^ Jerry Capeci. (2002) "The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Mafia", Alpha Books. p. 200. ISBN 0028642252
- ^ His Life and Crimes, Time, January 17, 1969
[edit] See also
- Buster from Chicago
- Vincent Palermo
- Sammy Gravano
- Tommaso Buscetta
- Joseph Massino
- Phil Leonetti
- The Valachi Papers (1972 film)
- Jimmy, The Shiv Death House Barber of Sing Sing
