Vito "Don Vito" Genovese (November 27, 1897 – February 14, 1969) was an Italian-born American mobster and crime boss who rose to power in America during the Castellammarese War to later become leader of the Genovese crime family. Genovese served as mentor to the future boss of the Genovese crime family Vincent "Chin" Gigante. He was known as Boss of all Bosses from 1957–1959.
Mario Puzo modeled the character of Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather (1972) on New York mob bosses Frank Costello (January 21, 1891 - February 18, 1973), who was nicknamed the "Prime Minister of the Mob" for his deft handling of La Cosa Nostra, and Vito Genovese (November 27, 1897 - February 14, 1969), a brutal man who almost achieved his dream of making himself "capo di tutti capi" ("Boss of Bosses"). Much of the action of Puzo's book is based on actual events that occurred in the lives of Costello, Genovese and his accomplices. Genovese reigned briefly as the most powerful gangster in America by forcing Costello's retirement after an aborted assassination attempt. Costello and Genovese rose to the top of the Mafia pyramid due to the 1936 arrest and conviction of Lucky Luciano by New York City District Attorney Thomas E. Dewey. When Luciano was jailed, he ran his "family" through Costello and named Genovese underboss. He served in that position for but one year, as in 1937 he was forced into exile in Italy for the better part of a decade (shades of Michael Corleone's exile) after authorities obtained evidence that he ordered the murder of an accomplice. When he expressed his desire to return in 1946, Costello had all the witnesses to the murder - who were conveniently in police custody - killed by poisoning. With the post-War deportation of Luciano, Costello was de facto head of the Luciano (later Genovese) crime family, but the returned Genovese had other plans. Feeling that it was he who should have been named acting boss rather than Costello, Genovese waged a bloody war for dominance after his return in 1946 (around the time The Godfather (1972) action kicks into high gear with the attempted assassination of Don Corleone), eventually resuming his role as Costello's underboss (meeting Luciano in Havana, Cuba, in 1946, Genovese reportedly had a fight with the former Boss of Bosses). Genovese eventually gained control of Luciano's family by ordering the assassination of Costello in 1957. Though shot in the head, Costello survived, but the incident influenced the "Prime Minister" of the underworld to resign his position and go into retirement. Genovese consolidated his power by having former Murder, Inc. boss Albert Anastasia assassinated in the barber shop of New York's Park Sheraton Hotel on October 25, 1957 (shades of Moe Green's murder in "The Godfather"). Genovese reportedly coordinated the infamous Apalachin gangland meeting in upstate New York on November 14, 1957, where he expected to be named Boss of Bosses. However, an alert New York state trooper noticed all the long black limousines and very out-of-place New York City gangster types in town, with the result that the meeting was raided by New York State police. This was the event that forced FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, who had long denied its existence, to admit that the Mafia did indeed exist. Angered by the publicity caused by the bust, Luciano and gambling kingpin Meyer Lansky helped a revenge-seeking Costello engineer a drug bust that put Genovese and his allies in jail in 1959.
$700,000