An Heir Apparent’s Homecoming On The Westside: Genovese Mob Skipper Ralphie Balsamo Released From Federal Prison

February 8, 2025 — Because of his older brother’s funeral, Genovese crime family capo Ralphie (The Undertaker) Balsamo got to come home to New York a few months early. The 54-year old Balsamo, viewed by many as boss-in-training of the Westside regime, left federal prison in New Jersey earlier this week and checked into a halfway house. He did two years in the can for bookmaking and extortion and is said to be hand-selected by Genovese mafia don Barney Bellomo to be one of the future leaders of the organization, possibly his own successor, per sources with knowledge of Bellomo’s thinking on the matter.

Balsamo and Bellomo were indicted together in a 2006 federal narcotics and labor-racketeering case. As part of the evidence in Balsamo’s 2022 racketeering pinch, the U.S. Attorneys Office placed a photo of Balsamo standing next to Bellomo in a group photo snapped at Bellomo’s 65th birthday party. Balsamo’s civilian brother Joe died last week and almost every major LCN player in the Bronx attended the wake and funeral, except for Bellomo, several sources report. The Balsamos own the Balsamo Funeral Home and Balsamo-Cordovano chain.

The FBI considers Bellomo, 68, today, the most powerful mob boss in NYC’s Five Families right now. According to court records in Balsamo’s most recent case, when the FBI seized Balsamo’s 10 different cell phones and communication devices, agents found 20 months of Google searches looking up terms such as “Ralph Balsamo and the mob,” “Ralph Balsamo and Genovese family,” and “Ralph Balsamo and Barney Bellomo.”