Joseph Valachi, an American mobster in the Genovese crime family, became the first member of the Italian-American Mafia to publicly acknowledge its existence when he testified before a U. S. Senate committee in 1963. His decision to break the Mafia’s blood oath of silence, known as omertà, exposed the inner workings of organized crime to the American public for the first time.
Valachi was born on September 22, 1904, into a poor Italian immigrant family from Campania, settling in the East Harlem neighborhood of New York City. He later claimed that his violent, alcoholic father drove him toward a life of crime. His criminal career began with a small burglary crew known as the Minutemen, so named for their quick escapes from smash-and-grab robberies. As the gang’s getaway driver, Valachi gained a reputation as a rising talent in New York’s criminal underworld because of his skill behind the wheel.
He was arrested twice in the early 1920s, once on suspicion of grand larceny in 1921 and again in 1923 after a failed robbery. He pleaded guilty to attempted burglary and was sentenced to 18 months at Sing Sing prison, though he was released after serving only nine months. When Valachi returned to the streets, he discovered the Minutemen had replaced him with a new driver. He responded by forming his own burglary gang.
In 1930, during the height of the Castellammarese War—a bloody power struggle between rival factions led by Salvatore Maranzano and Joe Masseria for control of Italian organized crime in the United States—Valachi joined the American Mafia and became a made man. He had switched his allegiance from Masseria to Maranzano, and after Reina family boss Gaetano Reina was killed, Valachi participated in the fight for Maranzano, which ultimately succeeded following Masseria’s murder on April 15, 1931. Maranzano then proclaimed himself the boss of bosses, and Valachi joined his bodyguards. That position lasted only five months before Charles “Lucky” Luciano organized a group of Maranzano’s own subordinates to assassinate him.
Valachi then became a soldier in the family headed by Luciano, which would eventually become known as the Genovese family. He served under crew boss Anthony “Tony Bender” Strollo. Years later, in 1953, mob boss Vito Genovese allegedly ordered the murder of a man named Stephen Franse. While hiding in Italy, Genovese had tasked Franse with keeping an eye on his wife, Anna.
Genovese became enraged over Anna’s alleged romantic relationships and her lawsuit against him, and he gave Valachi the order to stage Franse’s murder. On June 18, 1953, Franse was lured to Valachi’s restaurant in the Bronx, where he was strangled to death by Valachi’s nephew, Fioricano, and Pasquale Pagano. In 1959, Valachi was found guilty of drug offenses and received a 15-year prison term. His reasons for later turning informant became a subject of debate.
He claimed he was testifying as a public service to expose a powerful criminal organization he blamed for ruining his life. Others suggested he was hoping for government protection as part of a plea deal, particularly since he faced life in prison rather than the death penalty for a murder he committed in 1962. While serving his drug sentence, Valachi was imprisoned alongside Vito Genovese, who was also serving time for heroin trafficking. On June 22, 1962, Valachi killed an inmate he believed to be Joseph DiPalermo, a Mafia member he thought had been hired by Genovese to kill him.
He used a pipe that had been left nearby during construction. Valachi later told FBI handlers that Genovese had kissed him on the cheek, which he mistook for a kiss of death, and that Genovese had placed a $100,000 bounty on his head. After deciding to cooperate with the U. S.
Justice Department, Valachi was represented by attorney William G. Hundley. In October 1963, he testified before Arkansas Senator John L. McClellan’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, in what became known as the Valachi hearings.
His testimony marked the first time a member of the Italian-American Mafia had publicly acknowledged its existence. He is also credited with popularizing the term “Cosa Nostra. ”
Although Valachi’s revelations never directly led to the prosecution of Mafia leaders, he provided extensive details about the organization’s history, operations, and rituals. His testimony helped resolve several unsolved murders and named numerous members and major crime families.
The televised hearings exposed American organized crime to the world in an unprecedented way. After the Justice Department first encouraged and then blocked the publication of Valachi’s memoirs, journalist Peter Maas wrote and published “The Valachi Papers” in 1968, heavily influenced by the memoirs and interviews with Valachi. Valachi died of a heart attack on April 3, 1971, while serving his life sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution in La Tuna, Texas.
He was buried four days later in Lewiston, New York, at Gate of Heaven Cemetery.