He fled to Italy in 1937, and for a brief period during World War II he supported Benito Mussolini's Fascist regime for fear of being deported back to the U.S. to face murder charges.

In 1959, Genovese's reign was cut short as he was convicted on narcotics conspiracy charges and sentenced to fifteen years in prison.

Vito had a sister, Giovanna Jennie (m. Ricciotto Prisco), along with two brothers, Michael and Carmine, who later joined Genovese's crime family.

[6] In 1913, when Genovese was aged 15, his family immigrated to the United States onboard the SS Taormina[7] and took up residence in New York City's Little Italy.

[10] The mansion's grounds were extensively landscaped into Italian gardens evoking Genovese's homeland, and included a small rock replica of Mount Vesuvius.

On February 26, 1930, Genovese allegedly ambushed Reina as he was leaving his mistress's house in the Bronx and shot him in the back of the head with a shotgun.

[19] On April 15, 1931, Luciano had lured Masseria to a meeting where he was murdered at a restaurant called Nuova Villa Tammaro on Coney Island.

[20][19] While they played cards, Luciano allegedly excused himself to the bathroom, with the gunmen reportedly being Genovese, Albert Anastasia, Joe Adonis, and Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel;[21] Ciro "The Artichoke King" Terranova drove the getaway car, but legend has it that he was too shaken up to drive away and had to be shoved out of the driver's seat by Siegel.

[5] In 1937, fearing prosecution for the Boccia murder, Genovese fled to Italy with $750,000 cash and settled in the city of Nola, near Naples.

He was also awarded the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus and made a commendatore, after he participated in helping create a new fascist party headquarters in Nola.

[35][36][37] In 1943, Genovese allegedly ordered the murder of Carlo Tresca, the publisher of an anarchist newspaper in New York and an enemy of Mussolini.

Former New York governor Charles Poletti, then attached to the U.S. Army, accepted a 1938 Packard Sedan as a personal gift from Genovese.

Genovese was appointed to a position of interpreter/liaison officer in the U.S. Army headquarters in Naples and quickly became one of Allied Military Government for Occupied Territories' (AMGOT) most trusted employees.

[40] Genovese established one of the largest black market operations in southern Italy, together with the Cosa Nostra's boss Calogero Vizzini.

Vizzini sent truck caravans loaded with all the basic food commodities necessary for the Italian diet rolling northward to hungry Naples, where their cargoes were distributed by Genovese's organization.

[43] After months of frustration, Dickey was finally able to make preparations to ship Genovese back to New York to face trial, but came under increasing pressure.

In making his decision, Judge Samuel Leibowitz commented: I cannot speak for the jury, but I believe that if there were even a shred of corroborating evidence, you would have been condemned to the (electric) chair.

[47] With his release from custody in 1946, Genovese was able to rejoin the Luciano family in New York; however, neither Costello nor his underboss Willie Moretti was willing to return power to him.

The three topics which would come under discussion were the heroin trade, Cuban gambling, and what to do about Bugsy Siegel and the floundering Flamingo Hotel project in Las Vegas.

However, on October 4, 1951, Moretti was assassinated by order of the Mafia Commission; the mob bosses were unhappy with his testimony during the Kefauver Hearings, and were worried, with the syphilis now affecting his brain, he might start talking to the press.

[49] In December 1952, Anna Genovese sued her husband for financial support, and later divorce in 1953, as well as testifying to Vito's involvement in criminal rackets, an unheard-of action by the wife of a mob figure.

[55] Outraged over Anna's potential love affairs and her lawsuit against him, Genovese ordered Joseph Valachi to set up Franse's murder.

[61] In November 1957, immediately after the Anastasia murder, after taking control of the Luciano crime family from Costello, Genovese wanted to legitimize his new power by holding a national Cosa Nostra meeting.

[65][66] The meeting agenda included the resolution of open questions on illegal gambling and narcotics dealing, particularly in the New York City area.

[69] When the state police found many luxury cars parked at Barbara's home they began taking down license plate numbers.

[74] The government's star witness was Nelson Cantellops, a Puerto Rican drug dealer who claimed Genovese met with him.

[76][77] In his book, Five Families, longtime New York Times organized-crime reporter Selwyn Raab wrote that a number of detectives, lawyers and organized crime experts have questioned the legitimacy of Genovese's conviction.

For instance, longtime NYPD detective Ralph Salerno argued that "anyone who understands the protocol and insulation procedures" of the Mafia would find it "almost unbelievable" that a crime boss would be directly involved in a drug operation.

[78] On September 25, 1959, Carfano and a female companion were found shot to death in his Cadillac automobile on a residential street in Jackson Heights, Queens.

[86] Genovese died of a heart attack at the United States Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri, on February 14, 1969.