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.

Valachi was born on September 22, 1904[nb 1] in the East Harlem area of New York City, United States, to Domenico Villacci and Maria Michela Casale.

Valachi was the driver for the gang, and his ability to make a quick getaway earned him a reputation as a rising star in the New York City criminal underworld.

Valachi joined during the height of the Castellammarese War, a violent power struggle within Italian organized crime between the factions of Joe Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano over control of operations in the United States.

Valachi fought as part of the Reina family on the side of Maranzano, which eventually emerged victorious after Masseria's assassination on April 15, 1931.

That position was short-lived, as Maranzano himself was assassinated five months after the end of the Castellammarese War by a coalition of his subordinates, led by Charles "Lucky" Luciano.

However, it also possible he was hoping for government protection as part of a plea bargain in which he was sentenced to life imprisonment instead of death for a murder, which he had committed in 1962 while in prison for his narcotics violation.

[10] On June 22, 1962, using a pipe left near some construction work, Valachi bludgeoned an inmate to death whom he had mistaken for Joseph DiPalermo, a Mafia member whom he believed Genovese had contracted to kill him.

[14] When Valachi decided to co-operate with the U.S. Justice Department, Attorney William G. Hundley became his protector and later stated, "We'd put dark glasses and wigs on him and take him to the Roma restaurant.

On April 3, 1971, Valachi died of a heart attack while he was serving his sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution, La Tuna, in Anthony, Texas.