The Genovese Family was arguably the most powerful crime family in New York. But when was the height of their wealth and power exactly? Was it all the way back in Luciano’s day or was it during or post Vito genovese? I understand that Catena was very wealthy and powerful. It also seems as though the head of the Greenwich Village crew was very important within the family.

I don’t know but as far as all around would have to be when Frank Castillo was acting or boss he just had so many powerful men in business in law in every aspect that a family could want.

Because after he was out look what being loud and moving so much dope did for the family , it just made so many powerful people run and with powerful people you can get your big earners off charges or at least reduced if not have events completely thrown out .

But once Vito was openly known drug guy itjust changed the family .

If you look at all the families it was dope that started all the bullshit ....it causes jealousy because certain guys are making huge money ....it causes more murders ....it makes the regular Joe hate what they are about ....then LE runs the other way....Dope got Paul Castellano killed indirectly but directly .

It was behind so many downfalls in families.......they just not could let another family get all the money.....they thought that it would hurt the family if not involved......but in the end it killed them.

Was it Tommy Eboli who had his mitts in the boxing world in a big way, way back when?

i think when gotti kills big paul hes gave the strongest family advantage to chin from 1986 to present. the gambinos were a bigger and stronger family. they kill paul it was chaos. then frank decicco gets blown up. yes chin gets indicted in 1990 but he was on the street till 97??? and his acting bosses and barney today where all stronger leaders then anyone gotti promoted

so i think the genovese height of power was after paul dies. so peak 1986 97. then massino gave them a run in the late 90tys to the shit collasped

That’s interesting because the mob was far from its heyday in the 1980s

Agreed! If they found more ways to substitute drug money then they wouldn’t have had the need to get into them in the first place. The gasoline scams are on example but only a few members were really in on that. I’ve always felt that Luciano and most of the old timers really wanted to eventually become legitimate wealthy businessmen. Kind of like how Michael Corleone was at least perceived in Godfather 3. He had hundreds of millions but because of his legitimate businesses and rebranding, some people probably felt he was clean.

I’ve heard people say the Gambino’s were the richest and most powerful under Carlo.

How about the ruling panel days with Catena, Strollo and Miranda?

It depends how you measure the height of its power. Number of guys? Money making schemes? Clout on the Commission? Unions and control over industries? Political influence?

During Frank Costello's reign, they had influence on politicians and judges plus huge gambling empires, but did they have influence over unions and industries like garbage and construction like they did in the 80s?

yeah a lot of people say that under carlo the gambino's were the strongest
but also people say he respected (you can say feard or knew their power or whatever) the west side so who knows...

i kinda misunderstood redirect you honor. so the genovese like the other families golden years where the 60tys early 70tys. they controlled everything. but they were second in power of the 5 nyc families till big paul died

They had garbage it just was not in LE radar same with snow removal same with big city special events LE never bothered to look at any of it till , the rats ! and technology with listening devices.

They had everything locked up.

I go based on wealth. Because we already know they’ve always had strong connections pretty much everywhere. Same for the other families. Which bosses were really kingpins sitting atop the commission? Pretty sure Carlo was that for a while.

I think that most families were at the height of their power by the mid to late 50's and early 60's, around the time of Appalachian and the Kefauver hearings. After that the government and law enforcement, at least publicly, could no longer look away and tell the public that there was no problem with organized crime.

As for the Genovese, I think that the height of their power was sometime from the late 30's through the early 60's, in other words the end of Lucian's reign through Costello's reign and the beginning of Genovese's time at the top. That was when their power was the most expansive, when family members like Costello, Alo, Tourine, Trigger Mike Coppola, and Catena had holdings all over the country and internationally as well. That was also the period when their associates like Lansky, Zwillman, Stacher and Nesline were at their peak. The Genovese were the biggest, most powerful family in NYC and NJ, they probably were the most active family in South Florida through Lansky, Coppola and others, and were arguably the most active family in Cuba as well. They were either the most invested or the second most invested family in Vegas during that time, and they were active in New Orleans and Newport, Kentucky through Trigger Mike. Stacher and Siegel were active on the West Coast with gambling and the movie studios as was Zwillman, they were active in other areas of the Caribbean as well as Europe, they already had crews in Springfield, Mass and Connecticut, and they were already strong in the Teamsters through Tony Provenzano and others. They also had Nesline in Washington, DC. They also had Morris Levy in the record industry and they had a big stake in the William Morris agency in the entertainment filed. During that time I think that the only family that was even close was Chicago.

The Genovese were never second behind the Gambinos in power until maybe the late 60's, and even then I think that that is doubtful. The Gambinos may have had a few more men, but they never had as wide an array of rackets as the Genovese. They were only minimally involved in Vegas and were not as involved in Cuba, they were never involved in New Orleans or Newport. They also weren't as strong in Florida, New England or NJ, and they were not nearly as powerful within the Teamsters. They never had the strong base of associates that the Genovese had as Lansky, Zwillman, Stacher and Nesline were powers in their own right. The only area where they had any advantage over the Genovese was in drug trafficking, but I believe that they did not get heavily involved in drugs until the late 60's if I recall correctly.

The only time that you could argue that the Gambinos were stronger was the period from the late 60's, when Vito Genovese died, to the early 80's. However, I think that that is more of a media creation, as Carlo Gambino had become the public face of organized crime through the media during that time, the stereotypical godfather. Just because the Genovese used a power sharing agreement and kept the actual identity of their boss hidden did not mean that the family lost any power. Until the Chin rose to the top in the early 80's bosses/ front bosses like Catena, Tieri and Salerno may have been less interested in Commission politics than Carlo Gambino and he may have been the most powerful boss on the Commission,. However, just because he was the biggest boss on the Commission does not mean that his family was the most powerful, kind of like Massino being arguably the biggest boss in the late 90's did not make the Bonannos the strongest family in NYC. The Genovese were still making more money and had more big earners than the Gambinos, even during that time period. If nothing else, just remember Carlo Gambino needed the Genovese family's namesake to make help make him boss.

I also forgot to say that during that time the Genovese had the strongest political connections in NYC through Costello and Gerry Catena. They also had connections in the Federal Government which continued at least until the early 70's and helped to get Richard Nixon to pardon Ray DeCarlo..

In times of crisis is strong who remains stable.Genovese have reached

In times of crisis is strong who remains stable.Genovese have reached their peak after Gotti and Gravano seriously damaged the Gambinos,that was their historical enemies.After 1990 the other four families was seriously damaged by bloody boss (Lucchese),internal war (Colombo) and a boss that flipped (Bonanno) while the Genovese had only 8 rats and remained strong and had a boss Bellomo that is free from 2008 and the family also had ties with the ndrangheta as the digregorio case made think so IMO it height of their wealth and power was from 1990 to today.

Thanks JC great post.

Maybe Bellomo's wealth personally is more than previous crime family bosses, I'm not sure, if he is indeed the boss, but no boss today is even close in power than what the families used to control.


Also very informative post JC

Appreciate the post. Where in Europe was the Genovese family active? Whether you believe that the Gambino’s or Genoese were the strongest I think we can all agree that they had the best earners and influence for sure. Not including Franzese from the Colombo family but that was in the 70s. After the Mob’s heyday.

Interesting take because so many people are quick to say that all of the 5 families are a shadow of what they once were including the Genovese. Very great points though. You’re always a great contributor.

It’s amazing I know none of the stuff you guys know.....I said it a few times in posts that I wish I would of known what I was living when I was young .

I know I did not think that any of it would matter ....the internet was not even a thought.....so I only knew what I was living and I sometimes think at certain events that are history that I would of paid more attention even just remembering names for Christ sake .

I would have to meet a guy a few times before I would know his name and what he was about....I have slipped up with a few guys here in PM ‘S about a few very interesting events.

But yeah we had no clue it was going to be a thing ...we thought nobody knew shit !!! about what was what.

And all the old cats with stories I just brushed most of them off without a second thought... but I am headed to see a old cat that was in my fathers crew back at the end of Nucky Johnson crew my fathers guys learned for those old cats ....but I never thought about listening to them in there old days.....don’t get me wrong some close guys but nothing like this internet.

so benny squint lombardo becomes boss after vito genovese dies in feb. 1969 has there ever been a fbi article, new paper or a turncoats acount of gambino and lombardo meeting? ive never seen any. i read aton of stuff about funzi tieri basicly being tooted as the boss. whether he was underboss or acting boss which he was. lombardo used him like a lighting shield. never heard of gambino and him meeting. they must have, and it must have been super secret. greg scarpa telling the feds everything funzi tieri doing in the early 70tys around brooklyn and alot about him and carlo

Probably when they got involved in the casino business in Cuba, Las Vegas and Europe.

final answer alex. it was when lucky luciano was boss. and technically it wasnt the genovese family yet. so if the genovese family starts after frank costello steps down as boss after chin shot him. or was lucky luciano still the boss and frank costello the acting boss for lucky. anyway genovese becomes official boss sometime in 1957 then goes to prison in late 1959 and dies in prison 1969( he must have been close to parole). so genovese height was the apalachin meeting and the year 1958 then it went real bad. sick in bed got a bad cold boring friday no party till patriots curb stomp the charges sunday afternoon. philip rivers cant play when it 20degree out

The 1950s were the top decade. They had Lansky.

1931 to Valachi flipped. What Valachi gave the feds did damage to the Genovese crime family. He pointed LE in a lot of directions that started to really hurt the Genovese family money income. From the day Lucchese pasted away till the day Gambino died, the Gambino family was on top in almost every field. Castellano and Gigante had a strong alliance which helped make Genovese evenly matched to both the Gambino and Chicago families. When Bruno Angelo was killed in Philadelphia, was when the Genovese crime family came back into number one. Buffalo and Cleveland went through Genovese family on the Commission starting in the 1970s. Buffalo after Magaddino passed away, and Cleveland after they found out that John Nardi was getting support from Castellano in the Gambino family. By 1982 there can be no doubt that the Genovese crime family was the most powerful family in the US.

Your father's crew??..was working 4 Nucky & or an extension of Phila.? Was Nucky his own power or part of Sabella etc.?

No .... they were close to some of Nucky guys when they were old and my fathers guys were late teens ....some of those old guys had shit till they died and nobody claimed AC you had many different families here in summer but the only main stays were the old guys left over from Nuckys era .

And when I say crew I don’t mean a OC crew ...but in the 40’s you had guys that were straight or you had guys that were not .

There were a lot of heavy guys in AC that were jewish , Irish , mixed and Italians very tough crowd and most had connections .

I always wondered what the estimate of total income for the boss was. In Luciano’s days, Costello’s and Genovese’s. At this time, the American Mafia was probably the most powerful criminal enterprise in the world. This was all before the Italians really started to make billions of dollars from their drug trafficking and businesses.