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Joseph Michael Valachi (September 22, 1904 [nb 1] – April 3, 1971) was an American mobster in the Genovese crime family who was the first member of the Italian-American Mafia to acknowledge its existence publicly in 1963. He is credited with the popularization of the term cosa nostra. [3]
According to Valachi, the original bosses of the Five Families were Charles Luciano, Tommaso Gagliano, Joseph Profaci, Salvatore Maranzano and Vincent Mangano. At the time of his testimony in 1963, Valachi revealed that the current bosses of the Five Families were Tommy Lucchese , Vito Genovese , Joseph Colombo , Carlo Gambino , and Joe Bonanno .
Joseph "Joe Cargo" Valachi – he exposed the inner workings of the American Mafia in 1963. Valachi was active since the Castellammarese War during the early 1930s, as an associate of the Lucchese crime family; however; after the murder of Salvatore Maranzano in 1931, he joined the Genovese family. Valachi was a soldier in the crew of Anthony ...
The Valachi Papers is a 1972 neo noir crime film directed by Terence Young. It is an adaptation of the 1968 non-fiction book of the same name by Peter Maas, with a screenplay by Stephen Geller. It tells the story of Joseph Valachi, a Mafia informant in the early 1960s who was the first ever government witness coming from the American Mafia itself.
The Valachi Papers is a 1968 biography written by Peter Maas, telling the story of former mafia member Joe Valachi, a low-ranking member of the New York–based Genovese crime family, who was the first ever government witness coming from the American Mafia itself. His account of his criminal past revealed many previously unknown details of the ...
Illustrative is the scene in the film The Valachi Papers when Vito Genovese (Lino Ventura) gives the kiss of death to Joe Valachi (Charles Bronson) to inform him that his betrayal of "the family" is known, and that he will be executed.
In 1963, Joseph Valachi publicly disclosed the existence of New York City's Five Families at the Valachi hearings. Since then, a few other crime families have been able to become powerful or notable enough to rise to a level comparable to that of the Five Families, holding or sharing the unofficial designation of Sixth Family.
The first known account of the ritual in the United States was provided in 1963 by Joe Valachi, who was initiated in 1930, [3] in his testimony at the McClellan hearings. [7] Valachi's was a high-profile case, and helped convince the country of the existence of the organization in the United States called the Cosa Nostra, also known as the Mafia.