Gambino said he would handle it.
He sent a message to Anna Genovese, who was living apart from her husband, angry and disillusioned. She knew of Vito’s string of mistresses, as she knew that he had ordered her first husband’s murder in order to win her.
During World War II, when Vito was in Italy as a friend of Benito Mussolini and enjoying the favors of many Italian beauties there, she had taken on several lovers herself. They had proved much more satisfactory than Vito, whom she regarded as a “Lousy Latin Lover.”
After a brief talk with Gambino, Anna sued for separate maintenance. Her story to the court was that Vito was a very rich man. Their home in Atlantic Highlands had cost $75,000. Genovese spent an additional hundred thousand dollars in renovations, and a quarter of a million dollars for furnishings. There were Chinese teak furniture, Italian statuary, marble fireplaces and staircases, gold and platinum dishes.
“My husband,” she declared, “never pays less than two hundred and fifty dollars for a suit, three hundred and fifty dollars for a coat, sixty dollars for a pair of shoes. We have lived very high. I have many fur coats, dresses that cost from three hundred to nine dollars each.”
She further stated that all the time her husband was in Italy, she kept the books and that his income from the Italian lottery never was less than forty thousand dollars a week.
“I can no longer live with him because he has beaten me brutally on many occasions.”
Genovese’s friends expected him to kill her or have her killed. Instead, and for a reason no one could understand, Genovese ordered a contract on his onetime friend, Steve Franse, in whose care he had left Anna when he had decided to go to Italy during the war. Killing Franse would be a warning to Anna that she had better stop her talking.
Franse was lured to a restaurant where he was brutally beaten, garroted, and his body tossed into the rear of his car, which was driven at a spot on the Grand Concourse and abandoned.
It was a fruitless killing. There were too many things now against Genovese. Anna’s testimony sent Federal authorities to his office, where they seized his books. What the Feds wanted was not an income tax evasion rap but evidence of involvement in major crimes, a murder, narcotics, anything that would send Genovese away for a long time.
Gambino learned of a small time pusher named Nelson Cantellops who was serving a five year term in Sing Sing on a drug rap. A lawyer called on Cantellops, and offered him protection — and a large sum of money — if he would tell what he knew about Genovese’s deals in narcotics.
Cantellops wrote a letter to the Federal Bureau of Narcotics asking for an interview. The Feds didn’t believe that Cantellops, a Puerto Rican who was busted for pushing junk on street corners, could have any information linking higher ups in the Mafia to drugs. However, after agents talked with him for several days they decided they could use him in their efforts to nail Genovese and members of the Genovese family Cantellops implicated.
Cantellops’ story was that, at first, he had been only a pusher, but he had met some important people in the Syndicate for whom he did errands. He was often entrusted with large amounts of heroin by “Big John” Ormento for delivery to various members of the organization. He proved to be a most reliable messenger.
In a short time he was introduced to some of the bigger men in the organization, among them Natale Evola and Rocco Mazzie, two of Genovese’s most trusted lieutenants, and finally to Vito Genovese himself. Then came the story that crushed Genovese.
At a date and time Cantellops named, he was in a car with Evola, Mazzie, Ormento, and Genovese when Genovese gave the orders to his men to move in and take over the narcotics distribution in the East Bronx.
This testimony resulted in the indictment of Genovese and twenty-four other men for narcotics conspiracy. In the spring of 1959, fifteen of the twenty-four were brought to trial.
The other nine took off for parts unknown and fugitive warrants were issued for them, becoming the objects of intensive manhunts.
The only witness against Genovese was Cantellops.
Defense attorneys were certain that Cantellops had been briefed, that he had been given the information to which he testified by someone. However, no matter how hard they tried to shake him, Cantellops could not be moved from his testimony nor tripped up.
All the defendants were found guilty. Genovese was sentenced to a term of fifteen years in a federal penitentiary.
Genovese was certain beyond all doubt that someone in the Syndicate had wanted him out of the way but he wasn’t certain just who. He suspected several, among them Carlo Gambino and Frank Costello, Abner “Longy” Zwillman, and Tony Bender.
The members of Genovese’s family sent their most skilled killers to get Zwillman and Bender, and Gambino, if possible. Costello was in and out of prison, battling denaturalization moves. Eventually, his citizenship was revoked in 1961 but he fought deportation and remained out on bail.
Abner “Longy” Zwillman was found dead hanging from a rafter in the cellar of his West Orange, New Jersey home on February 27, 1959.
The story was that he had committed suicide. With his hands tied behind him? And a taut wire around his neck? Moreover, his body was bruised, indicating he had been beaten. Underworld sources declared that Gerry Catena, Genovese’s underboss, had let out the contract on Zwillman.
Tony Bender was next. On April 8, 1962, he left home for a walk. No trace has been found of him to this day. According to the best sources of information, Bender was strangled, his body tossed into a cement mixer, and the blood and flesh of Bender is now part of a Manhattan skyscraper project.
With Genovese in prison, the so-called regents of the mob, Mike Miranda, Tommy Eboli, and Gerry Catena, were not strong enough to control the mob or administer the vast holdings Genovese had attained.
Little by little, Gambino took over one and another of Genovese’s rackets. He couldn’t be stopped. Then, in 1962, Lucky Luciano died of a heart attack in Naples.
Gambino was the only man who knew of all the contacts in Europe who had supplied heroin to Luciano. He contacted them and they agreed to deal only with him. The national crime cartel had to deal with Gambino. They had no objection, because they felt that Gambino was fair. Thus Gambino further strengthened his hold on all the rackets in New York and his position as Boss of Bosses.
There was one last obstacle to face now and Gambino would be securely ensconced in his role of capo di tutti capi.
The Gallos.
The Gallos wanted in. They were no longer satisfied with being mere hit men. Larry Gallo, the oldest of the three brothers, was invited to a meeting at the Sahara Lounge in Brooklyn to discuss the demands made on Gambino. He was told he would receive good news. He barely escaped death in the form of a noose around his neck, by the appearance of a cop on a routine check of his rounds.
Crazy Joe Gallo was arrested by three detectives on a charge of extortion and convicted in a sensational trial. He was sentenced to a term of seven to fourteen years. When Crazy Joe was released from prison he attempted to take over again. The year was 1971. He had only a short time to live. He married a lovely young woman and was celebrating with his bride and several friends and their wives in the early morning hours at Umberto’s Clam House in Brooklyn when two gunmen walked in and shot him dead.
Vito Genovese died suddenly in prison. Joe Adonis died in Italy. Tommy (Ryan) Eboli, a top lieutenant in the Genovese family, was shot and killed. Jerry Catena went to prison.