TURNS OUT, BONANNO AND GENOVESE WERE ESSENTIALLY INFORMANTS
The one thing that always vexed me particulary about mob history, was the genesis of Vito Genovese, and all the issues he caused within and outside the mafia. There was never really clear indication other than posturing and power moves that could essentially unravel the drama that was between Luciano, Costello, Bonanno and Genovese. That was until today.
Ready for it? Joe Boanno and Vito Genovese were rats. Now before I lose you, just hear me out and think objectively about the entirety and just not a few tidbits. To begin with, their are not "rats," in the sense of what we commonly see today. To begin with none of these men testified against anyone in the mafia, and never ever put anyone behind bars, or did they?
It all starts at the Havana Conference in that took place in Havana, Cuba between December 22-29th 1946 at the Hotel Nacional. Let the truth be told it semi-started prior to that, but the fact is, it was semi handled in 1946.
The Havana Conference was a meeting between the United States Cosa Nostra, and the Cosa Nostra leaders in Havana, Cuba. There was definitely an agenda here and for the sake of history, I want to cover aspects of this because it lays the foundation for why this article is titled the way it is.
There were four or five keys issues at hand. Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel was an issue, casino's in Cuba were an issue, narcotics trafficking was an issue, and Vito Genovese was an issue. Of all the issues obviously narcotics trafficking was a huge deal and a way for the mafia to really make some money, but perhaps the more pressing issue for the sake of this article is the nonsense Vito Genovese was up to.
Prior to the conference, Genovese was hiding in Italy as a result of ducking a murder charge in New York City. Genovse at the time was captain, and felt that he deserved more after returning from his exile. What's also worth mentioning is that Genovese was slightly in attendance at this conference. When I mean slightly I mean that the subject of his nonsense was discussed without him, and then in person between Luciano and himself.
The first order of business for Luicano was the title of BOSS OF BOSSES. In 1931 Luciano had gotten rid of the title because he felt that everyone should have a vote and an equal say in what happened which is why the commission was invented to begin with. Luciano also felt that they didn't want another Maranzano problem. The fact is in 1932 Luciano could have easily claimed that title but he didn't.
Everything was running smooth like I said until Vito Genovese returns. Genovese's intention was to take over the Luciano crime family and was not shy about stating it to anyone who would listen. In 1946 when Luciano was deported, Frank Costello would take over, further agitating Genovese.
There was a lot of tension between Luciano/Costello and Genovese, to the point where the family was beginning to spilt. Luciano realized this and wanted to avoid murder and a hostile war. So at this meeting he decides to reenact the BOSS OF BOSSES title, so that he could keep a hold of his crime family and still wield his power in the mafia.
The next major subject was narcotics. Keep with me folks, it's all encompassing. Luciano had always been into narcotics, some even suggesting that he used them, but that's never been substantia
ted. Luciano long felt that narcotics was a stronghold for money and power. Since the 1920's the mafia had been importing heroin, cocaine and marijuana, so this was nothing new to the mob.
In the 1930's the mob began importing narcotics from the East Asia Golden Triangle.(Thailand, Laos, Myanmar--->to the confluence of the Ruak and Mekong rivers,) The route even ran via Afghanistan, which was the where all the opiates were coming from. Luciano and the mob wanted transport lanes from the triangle to South America, then to Cuba, then to Florida, to New York. Because they owned the Cuban government, they could easily use Cuba as a layover or stopover, and smuggling point.
In Cuba they could store the drugs, then put it in bulk on ships that would then head to Canada and the United States via Montreal, with Florida acting as a port. With Luciano also having already been deported, he could easily import heroin from North Africa via Italy, Cuba, and then into the United States, and Canada. He forged deep ties with Sicilian mafia bosses in Italy who also could help in the transport from Afghanistan through Corsica and even into France. Years later we could know this as the French Connection. The plan was to bring narcotics through North Africa to Cuba then ship to the ports the mob controlled in the United States. Primary locations were Florida, New Orleans, and New York.
The Luciano's would control the New York docks with the Mangano's. The Marcello crime family would control New Orleans, and Santos Trafficante Jr would control Florida. The routes put in place all those years ago are still used today and were used in the infamous Pizza Connection case.
The 3rd issue at hand was Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel. Benny had a great idea in Las Vegas. A hotel and casino, which was legal. He saw it as an exclusive getaway for the rich and famous and would essentially plant a flag for the mafia in Vegas, but mobsters had already been there for years using Vegas as a weigh station for narcotics trafficking through Mexico.
Siegel takes the idea to Meyer Lanksy. Lanksy likes the idea and uses his contacts in Chicago and New York to acquire not just funds but also for permission. They all invested. One of the problems Sigel had was he made a promise to the New York and Chicago bosses that a hotel and casino couldn't miss and would be very profitable.
The problems began with THE FLAMINGO almost immediately/ One of the biggest mistakes of Siegel's life was putting his torrid girlfriend Virginia Hill in charge to oversee the project. Because of that misstep contractors would begin stealing. Not only were they charging twice what materials normally cost, but they would deliver materials, steal them at night, then turn around and see them back to Siegel the next day. They would inflate labor costs and more.
With the rising costs and labor an initial $1.5 million dollar investment skyrocketed to $6 million. To make the situation even more dangerous rumors began to circulate that Hill and Siegel were skimming. Turns out the rumors were absolutely true. Meyer Lansky would find out that Siegel was sending Virginia Hill to Zurich, Switzerland every few weeks to deposit large sums of money. The mafia began to believe that the idea was if The Flamingo failed Hill and Siegel would likely take off to Switzerland with a ton of cash to disappear.
Luciano was enraged and took a vote. Everyone voted that Bugsy should be killed without hesitation. Luciano assigned the hit to Chicago. There job was to oversee it, to ensure it got done. The hit was then handed to Jack Dragna, boss of Los Angeles, who then flipped it over to Frankie Carbo of the Lucchese crime family. Everything was set, however Bugsy got a lifeline because a portion of the casino was opening. Lansky asked the group to give it more time, to see if they could make a profit.
The opening night was a disaster. It was a total flop that enraged many of those who invested. The pleaded for Luciano to kill him. Lansky then interceded and asked for them to hold off two more weeks. After two weeks The Flamingo closed to resume construction. It would open two months later with a small profit, but not the type the mob was okay with. Then on June 20, 1947 Bugsy is hit. It's long be asserted that Virginia Hill was in on the hit, that she knew it was going to happen and ensured Bugsy was there that night. In fact, Bugsy was waiting for Hill to return home.
Despite the tension with Genovese, Luciano met with Genovese in a hotel room at the hotel nacional. Genovese told Luciano that the United States government knew he was there in Cuba, knew he was trafficking narcotics, and that he made massive inroads into the casinos/ He told Luciano that Cuba would expel him. Genovese suggested since Luciano would be expelled that hand over the family to him, and I quote "FUCKING RETIRE."
Whether Genovese was lying in order to try and pressure Luciano depends on who you talk to. Luciano believed at that second that Genovese had given him up to the government for his own advancement. Luciano lost his shit and beat the living hell out of Genovese, so much so, that it took five days for Genovese to recover before he was well enough to fly home. Luciano also warned him that he would be killed if he mentioned the incident to anyone.
In February of 1947, the ball drops. The United States begins attempting to remove Luciano from Cuba, by telling the Cuban government that Luciano was importing narcotics. Cuba laughed it off, and ignored the United States. Infuriated the news went to President Harry Truman who decided to stop sending needed medical supplies to the island. It was too much for the Cubans and they deported Luciano swiftly.
With Luciano always believing this was the work of Genovese, because Genovese wanted Luciano out of the picture but wouldn't risk killing him over it, and the beat down he received was enough to make him beyond infuriated. The situation was fairly contained until Joe Bonanno ran to the press in New York, giving them all the information the United States needed to prove that Luciano was in fact residing in Cuba. Up until that point, it was just Genovese's word. They tried to get Cuba to budge but they just laughed and said their was zero proof he was even there. Then as Bonanno tells the press where he lives, added with the United States refusing to ship medical supplies, Cuba had no other choice.
If you move even further ahead, it's a wonder to me how Genovese wasn't killed. Not only did he attempt to kill Costello, using Vincent Gigante, but also helped orchestrate the hit on Albert Anastasia. This is exactly why Luciano went to great lengths to insert the title, and to have a commission. Vito didn't go to the commission to kill Costello, or Anastasia, and by the rules of Cosa Nostra should have been killed as a result.
Costello after getting shot by the Chin who couldn't shoot straight, walked away. He had enough money, he didn't need the drama, but he also knew revenge was a tactic he would employ down the road. Revenge you say? Oh yes, and it was epic.
Carlo Gambino had been approached by Genovese prior to the Costello hit. He asked Carlo to back him, and in turn, he would hit Anastasia, and this way Gambino could become boss of his own family and Genovese could get what he wanted. The plan worked, but he shouldn't have trusted Gambino, because Gambino fed him to the wolves.
After Genovese is effectively the boss, this lunatic calls the Appalachin meeting. It was designed to prance in as boss. He wanted the respect, and wanted to be known as the boss of bosses. Why they didn't kill him after that is beyond my understanding.
Genovese was all about narcotics. He didn't even mind picking up shipments himself which was his undoing. Gambino, Costello and Luciano had heard that this moron was actually going to check on a huge shipment of narcotics. One of the three dropped a dime, and when Genovese arrived he was met with nothing but lights and cops. That pinch would send him away for the rest of the life screaming about the prick he should have killed all along.
Then Bonanno pulls his epic fail. He wants to kill the remainder of the bosses and make himself boss of bosses. His mistake? He tells Joe Colombo, who goes and tells Gambino and others. The commission demanded he come answer the charges and like a coward he ran. He even played out his own fake kidnapping to avoid being killed. In the end, Bonanno was thrown out of the mafia, and the family lost a commission seat out of it. That being said...
It was largely Genovese and Bonanno who got Luciano sent out of the country for good. It's a rat move, in every sense. However we can also make the argument that one or some or all of the other three did as well. I find it less egregious of the latter to be honest. At that point, I think that Costello was in his right to do what he did. It didn't effect anyone but the target, and that's just how certain stuff was handled. Some may argue that Genovese wasn't a rat, but Luciano also was a guy who talked to cops. In his teens he was pinched for trafficking and ratted out a few others to walk from his crime. I guess the saying is true, no honor amongst thieves.
Ready for it? Joe Boanno and Vito Genovese were rats. Now before I lose you, just hear me out and think objectively about the entirety and just not a few tidbits. To begin with, their are not "rats," in the sense of what we commonly see today. To begin with none of these men testified against anyone in the mafia, and never ever put anyone behind bars, or did they?
The Havana Conference was a meeting between the United States Cosa Nostra, and the Cosa Nostra leaders in Havana, Cuba. There was definitely an agenda here and for the sake of history, I want to cover aspects of this because it lays the foundation for why this article is titled the way it is.
Prior to the conference, Genovese was hiding in Italy as a result of ducking a murder charge in New York City. Genovse at the time was captain, and felt that he deserved more after returning from his exile. What's also worth mentioning is that Genovese was slightly in attendance at this conference. When I mean slightly I mean that the subject of his nonsense was discussed without him, and then in person between Luciano and himself.
The first order of business for Luicano was the title of BOSS OF BOSSES. In 1931 Luciano had gotten rid of the title because he felt that everyone should have a vote and an equal say in what happened which is why the commission was invented to begin with. Luciano also felt that they didn't want another Maranzano problem. The fact is in 1932 Luciano could have easily claimed that title but he didn't.
Everything was running smooth like I said until Vito Genovese returns. Genovese's intention was to take over the Luciano crime family and was not shy about stating it to anyone who would listen. In 1946 when Luciano was deported, Frank Costello would take over, further agitating Genovese.
There was a lot of tension between Luciano/Costello and Genovese, to the point where the family was beginning to spilt. Luciano realized this and wanted to avoid murder and a hostile war. So at this meeting he decides to reenact the BOSS OF BOSSES title, so that he could keep a hold of his crime family and still wield his power in the mafia.
The next major subject was narcotics. Keep with me folks, it's all encompassing. Luciano had always been into narcotics, some even suggesting that he used them, but that's never been substantia
ted. Luciano long felt that narcotics was a stronghold for money and power. Since the 1920's the mafia had been importing heroin, cocaine and marijuana, so this was nothing new to the mob.
In the 1930's the mob began importing narcotics from the East Asia Golden Triangle.(Thailand, Laos, Myanmar--->to the confluence of the Ruak and Mekong rivers,) The route even ran via Afghanistan, which was the where all the opiates were coming from. Luciano and the mob wanted transport lanes from the triangle to South America, then to Cuba, then to Florida, to New York. Because they owned the Cuban government, they could easily use Cuba as a layover or stopover, and smuggling point.
In Cuba they could store the drugs, then put it in bulk on ships that would then head to Canada and the United States via Montreal, with Florida acting as a port. With Luciano also having already been deported, he could easily import heroin from North Africa via Italy, Cuba, and then into the United States, and Canada. He forged deep ties with Sicilian mafia bosses in Italy who also could help in the transport from Afghanistan through Corsica and even into France. Years later we could know this as the French Connection. The plan was to bring narcotics through North Africa to Cuba then ship to the ports the mob controlled in the United States. Primary locations were Florida, New Orleans, and New York.The Luciano's would control the New York docks with the Mangano's. The Marcello crime family would control New Orleans, and Santos Trafficante Jr would control Florida. The routes put in place all those years ago are still used today and were used in the infamous Pizza Connection case.
The 3rd issue at hand was Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel. Benny had a great idea in Las Vegas. A hotel and casino, which was legal. He saw it as an exclusive getaway for the rich and famous and would essentially plant a flag for the mafia in Vegas, but mobsters had already been there for years using Vegas as a weigh station for narcotics trafficking through Mexico.
Siegel takes the idea to Meyer Lanksy. Lanksy likes the idea and uses his contacts in Chicago and New York to acquire not just funds but also for permission. They all invested. One of the problems Sigel had was he made a promise to the New York and Chicago bosses that a hotel and casino couldn't miss and would be very profitable.
The problems began with THE FLAMINGO almost immediately/ One of the biggest mistakes of Siegel's life was putting his torrid girlfriend Virginia Hill in charge to oversee the project. Because of that misstep contractors would begin stealing. Not only were they charging twice what materials normally cost, but they would deliver materials, steal them at night, then turn around and see them back to Siegel the next day. They would inflate labor costs and more.
With the rising costs and labor an initial $1.5 million dollar investment skyrocketed to $6 million. To make the situation even more dangerous rumors began to circulate that Hill and Siegel were skimming. Turns out the rumors were absolutely true. Meyer Lansky would find out that Siegel was sending Virginia Hill to Zurich, Switzerland every few weeks to deposit large sums of money. The mafia began to believe that the idea was if The Flamingo failed Hill and Siegel would likely take off to Switzerland with a ton of cash to disappear.Luciano was enraged and took a vote. Everyone voted that Bugsy should be killed without hesitation. Luciano assigned the hit to Chicago. There job was to oversee it, to ensure it got done. The hit was then handed to Jack Dragna, boss of Los Angeles, who then flipped it over to Frankie Carbo of the Lucchese crime family. Everything was set, however Bugsy got a lifeline because a portion of the casino was opening. Lansky asked the group to give it more time, to see if they could make a profit.
The opening night was a disaster. It was a total flop that enraged many of those who invested. The pleaded for Luciano to kill him. Lansky then interceded and asked for them to hold off two more weeks. After two weeks The Flamingo closed to resume construction. It would open two months later with a small profit, but not the type the mob was okay with. Then on June 20, 1947 Bugsy is hit. It's long be asserted that Virginia Hill was in on the hit, that she knew it was going to happen and ensured Bugsy was there that night. In fact, Bugsy was waiting for Hill to return home.
Despite the tension with Genovese, Luciano met with Genovese in a hotel room at the hotel nacional. Genovese told Luciano that the United States government knew he was there in Cuba, knew he was trafficking narcotics, and that he made massive inroads into the casinos/ He told Luciano that Cuba would expel him. Genovese suggested since Luciano would be expelled that hand over the family to him, and I quote "FUCKING RETIRE."
Whether Genovese was lying in order to try and pressure Luciano depends on who you talk to. Luciano believed at that second that Genovese had given him up to the government for his own advancement. Luciano lost his shit and beat the living hell out of Genovese, so much so, that it took five days for Genovese to recover before he was well enough to fly home. Luciano also warned him that he would be killed if he mentioned the incident to anyone.
In February of 1947, the ball drops. The United States begins attempting to remove Luciano from Cuba, by telling the Cuban government that Luciano was importing narcotics. Cuba laughed it off, and ignored the United States. Infuriated the news went to President Harry Truman who decided to stop sending needed medical supplies to the island. It was too much for the Cubans and they deported Luciano swiftly.
With Luciano always believing this was the work of Genovese, because Genovese wanted Luciano out of the picture but wouldn't risk killing him over it, and the beat down he received was enough to make him beyond infuriated. The situation was fairly contained until Joe Bonanno ran to the press in New York, giving them all the information the United States needed to prove that Luciano was in fact residing in Cuba. Up until that point, it was just Genovese's word. They tried to get Cuba to budge but they just laughed and said their was zero proof he was even there. Then as Bonanno tells the press where he lives, added with the United States refusing to ship medical supplies, Cuba had no other choice.
If you move even further ahead, it's a wonder to me how Genovese wasn't killed. Not only did he attempt to kill Costello, using Vincent Gigante, but also helped orchestrate the hit on Albert Anastasia. This is exactly why Luciano went to great lengths to insert the title, and to have a commission. Vito didn't go to the commission to kill Costello, or Anastasia, and by the rules of Cosa Nostra should have been killed as a result.
Costello after getting shot by the Chin who couldn't shoot straight, walked away. He had enough money, he didn't need the drama, but he also knew revenge was a tactic he would employ down the road. Revenge you say? Oh yes, and it was epic.
Carlo Gambino had been approached by Genovese prior to the Costello hit. He asked Carlo to back him, and in turn, he would hit Anastasia, and this way Gambino could become boss of his own family and Genovese could get what he wanted. The plan worked, but he shouldn't have trusted Gambino, because Gambino fed him to the wolves.
After Genovese is effectively the boss, this lunatic calls the Appalachin meeting. It was designed to prance in as boss. He wanted the respect, and wanted to be known as the boss of bosses. Why they didn't kill him after that is beyond my understanding.
Genovese was all about narcotics. He didn't even mind picking up shipments himself which was his undoing. Gambino, Costello and Luciano had heard that this moron was actually going to check on a huge shipment of narcotics. One of the three dropped a dime, and when Genovese arrived he was met with nothing but lights and cops. That pinch would send him away for the rest of the life screaming about the prick he should have killed all along.
Then Bonanno pulls his epic fail. He wants to kill the remainder of the bosses and make himself boss of bosses. His mistake? He tells Joe Colombo, who goes and tells Gambino and others. The commission demanded he come answer the charges and like a coward he ran. He even played out his own fake kidnapping to avoid being killed. In the end, Bonanno was thrown out of the mafia, and the family lost a commission seat out of it. That being said...
It was largely Genovese and Bonanno who got Luciano sent out of the country for good. It's a rat move, in every sense. However we can also make the argument that one or some or all of the other three did as well. I find it less egregious of the latter to be honest. At that point, I think that Costello was in his right to do what he did. It didn't effect anyone but the target, and that's just how certain stuff was handled. Some may argue that Genovese wasn't a rat, but Luciano also was a guy who talked to cops. In his teens he was pinched for trafficking and ratted out a few others to walk from his crime. I guess the saying is true, no honor amongst thieves.
Comments
Post a Comment