Michael James Genovese, Sr.
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Michael James Genovese (c. 1918-October 31, 2006) is a deceased boss of the Pittsburgh crime family. Contrary to rumors, Genovese was not related to New York mob kingpin Vito Genovese.
Genovese was born and reared in East Liberty, where he once controlled the Numbers Game, according to a report by the defunct Pennsylvania Crime Commission.
His climb through the Pittsburgh crime clan included a stint as capo and underboss to Sebastian John LaRocca, who became boss in 1956.
In November 1957, Genovese was part of the Pittsburgh contingency that attended a notorious summit of mob bosses from across the country in Apalachin, N.Y., according to the crime commission.
By the late 1970s, LaRocca's age and health forced him to begin yielding his power to Gabriel Mannarino, Joseph Pecora and Genovese, according to the crime commission. Pecora was convicted on gambling charges in 1979. Mannarino died in 1980.
Genovese took over the Pittsburgh clan, one of 24 original La Cosa Nostra families in the U.S., when LaRocca died in 1984.
Under Genovese's reign, the Pittsburgh Family dominated illegal gambling in Western Pennsylvania, the panhandle of West Virginia and eastern Ohio, the crime commission said. It was a major drug trafficker in Pittsburgh and was heavy into loansharking, scams and theft.
Age and federal prosecutors began catching up with organized crime in Pittsburgh by the early 1990s.
Charles "Chucky" Porter, who was Genovese's right-hand man, and Louis Raucci Sr., were indicted by a federal grand jury in March 1990 on charges including distribution of narcotics, extortion, conspiracy to commit murder, robbery, gambling and racketeering.
Stake-outs at L.A. Motor in Verona, where Genovese worked, revealed him meeting with Porter and Raucci almost daily, according to the crime commission. A wire inside the business, however, never recorded Genovese making any incriminating statements. He was careful to go outside when talking to Porter and Raucci.
Though the indictment against Porter and Raucci did not name Genovese as boss, several witnesses during the trial testified that he was the head of the Pittsburgh crime family. Other witnesses in mob trials in Ohio did likewise.
was head of the Pittsburg branch of the Genovese crime family. A lieutenant under longtime crime boss John Sebastian LaRocca, he accompanied LaRocca to the Apalachin Conference with Gabriel "Kelly" Mannarino and eventually became part of a three man commission with Mannarino and Joseph "Jo Jo" Pecora formed by LaRocca to take over day-to-day operations in 1978. Within a year, with the death of Mannarino and the imprisonment of Pecora, Genovese headed the commission.
Following LaRocca's death in 1984, with Pecora imprisoned and the death of Mannarino Genovese succeeded improved the organizations standing in the criminal underworld during the early years following his takeover. However, he was unable to expand his organiztion as the Mafia Commission would only allow him to recuit member to replace the elderly mobsters within the organization such as underboss Joe Pecora who, at the age of 68, died within three years of his rule.
Although a federal investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1985 considered the family among the lower ranking La Cosa Nostra-affiliated factions, FBI officials would imply in a later 1995 report that the Genovese's group remained one of the strongest organized crime groups on the east coast due to the large scale federal prosecutions of New York's Five Families and the Chicago Outfit.
Despite the successful federal prosecutions against high ranking members including underboss Charles Porter and capos Louis Raucci, Sr. and Anthony "Wimpy" Martrano, and the defections of Porter and Lenny Strollo Genovese in 1990, Genovese was suspected of ordering the takeover of territories of Youngstown and Cleveland, formerly held by the Cleveland crime family before his death of natural causes at his home in West Deer, Pennsylvania on October 31, 2006.
[edit] Further reading
- Block, Alan A. East Side-West Side: Organizing Crime in New York, 1930-1950. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers, 1983. ISBN 0878559310
- Capeci, Jerry. The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Mafia. Indianapolis: Alpha Books, 2002. ISBN 0-02-864225-2
- Pennsylvania Crime Commission. St. Davids, Pennsylvania: DIANE Publishing, 1984. ISBN 0-8182-0000-6
- United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Governmental Affairs. Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. Organized Crime and Use of Violence: hearings before the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Governmental Affairs. 1980. [1]
- United States. Congress. Senate. Select Committee on Improper Activities in the Labor or Management Field. Investigation of Improper Activities in the Labor Or Management Field: hearings before the Committee on Improper Activities in the Labor or Management Field. 1959. [2]
