Vito Genovese with Anthony DeStefano

Gangland Wire

Gary Jenkins: Mafia Detective

True Crime, Documentary, Society & Culture, History

4.6 • 623 Ratings

🗓️ 23 August 2021

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Vito Genovese – The Deadly Don Gary interviews Pulitizer Prize-winning Anthony DeStefano on his most recent true crime history, The Deadly Don. Mr. DeStefano writes about the rise and fall of Vito Genovese. This is the very first comprehensive telling of this feared mafioso. Like most mobsters, he began his criminal career on the mean streets of lower Manhattan. He returned to Italy during the 1930s and was stuck there once World War II began. Genovese thrived, running a black market operation under the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. The Return of the Don After the Second World War was over, Vito Genovese returned to his place as the underboss of the Lucky Luciano Family where he made a fortune as the head of an illegal narcotics empire. DeStefano writes about the role Genovese played in the creation of the Mafia, his rise to the top after he pushed Frank Costello aside to take over the Lucky Luciano family. We discuss Genovese’s narcotics conviction that led to the creation of the most famous mob informant of all, Joe Valachi. Anthony DeStefano Anthony DeStefano has been a prolific and skilled chronicler of the New York Crime Families. He wrote Top Hoodlum: the Frank Costello Story, Gotti’s Boys, Vinnie Gorgeous: The Ugly Rise and Fall of a New York Mobster, King of the Godfathers: The Rise and Fall of Joey Massino, The Big Heist, Gangland New York, and Mob Killer. Show notes by Gary Jenkins To go to the store or make a donation click here To rent Brothers against Brothers, the documentary, click here. To rent Gangland Wire, the documentary, click here To subscribe on iTunes click here, please give me a review and help others find the podcast.

Transcript

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0:00.0	You are listening to Gangland Wire, hosted by former Kansas City Police Intelligence Unit Detective, Gary Jenkins.
0:17.6	Welcome all you wiretappers out there.
0:20.0	Back here in the studio of Gangland Wire, I've got Anthony or Tony Destifano on the line and on the Zoom call. He's got a new book out, The Deadly Dawn. It's a story about Vito Genovese, who was one of the more interesting mafia bosses that came out of the 1930s, 40s, and 50s. He was a long-serving boss.
0:40.1	You can see the cover of the book. Welcome, Tony. I'm really glad to have you on again.
0:44.6	Welcome. Thank you for having me. So let's kind of go back and remind people of some of your other
0:48.9	books. You're pretty prolific author. Tony, Gotti's boys boys talking about all the guys that John Gotti surround himself
0:56.3	with is, as it said, he did not do everything he did alone. Nobody does anything that they do
1:01.7	alone. He surrounded himself with a whole rogues gallery of contract killers, fixers, enforcers,
1:07.7	and to build, you know, his little crime empire, which really didn't last
1:12.1	too long.
1:12.8	You've got the big heist, a take on the Luzonza Airlines Heist, 1978, Gangland, New York,
1:19.1	the places and faces of mob history, mob killer, the bloody rampage of Charlie Charles
1:25.1	Cornelia, mafia hitman, mafia madness and murder. You've got King of the
1:30.1	Godfathers, the story of Joseph Big Joy Massino. I think you have another one, too. Is it Vinnie
1:35.6	Gorgeous? Vinny Gorgeous, ugly story of a New York mobster. And I think, I don't know if you
1:42.1	mentioned the Frank Costello book, Top Hoodlub, so that's another one.
1:45.9	I did not. I did not. All right. So have we covered them all, man? I tell you what, you are the
1:53.5	epitome of the mob historian. Well, it's been a lot, a lot of work, let me tell you, but some of those
1:59.2	been quite fun. Let's talk about
2:01.2	Vito Genovese. One of the things I think is most interesting is his place in those mob meetings,
2:07.0	you know, started off with back in Sicily. I believe he attended a meeting with Lucky Luciano
2:12.1	and then the meeting in Cuba. And he was just a central figure in that international
	...

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