Genovese Crime Family Leadership Timeline

The Genovese Crime Family is the oldest and, by most law enforcement assessments, the most powerful organised crime family in the United States. Its roots stretch back to 1892 and the arrival of Giuseppe Morello in New York — a Sicilian immigrant from Corleone who would build the first significant Mafia organisation in the city. Over thirteen decades and more than a dozen bosses, the family has survived counterfeiting prosecutions, gang wars, RICO indictments, and the collapse of virtually every other major American Mafia organisation, emerging each time more disciplined and more deeply embedded than before.

Where other families broke apart under FBI pressure, the Genovese family adapted. It pioneered the use of front bosses and acting bosses to insulate its true leadership from prosecution — a strategy perfected under Vincent Gigante, who spent years feigning mental illness while quietly running one of the most sophisticated criminal enterprises in the world. The family’s extraordinary discipline, large membership, and diversified rackets have made it uniquely resilient across more than a century of American organised crime.

Below is the complete leadership timeline from 1892 to the present day.

Giuseppe Morello — 1892 to 1909

In 1892 Giuseppe Morello arrived in New York from Corleone, Sicily — the same town that would later inspire the fictional Corleone family in The Godfather. He would go on to become the leader of the first significant Mafia family in New York, building a criminal empire through extortion, counterfeiting, and labour rackets. He was known for a deformed right hand that had only one finger, resembling a claw — a distinctive feature that made him immediately recognisable.

Morello’s reign ended when he was convicted of counterfeiting in 1909 and sentenced to 25 years in federal prison. He maintained his position as boss through the first year of his sentence but gradually lost formal authority. He would return to power upon his release in 1920.

Nick Terranova — 1910 to 1916

Nicholas Terranova, also known as Nicholas Morello, was a half-brother to Giuseppe and took control of the family shortly after Giuseppe’s imprisonment. His reign lasted six years. On September 7, 1916, Nick and his bodyguard Charles Ubriaco were shot dead outside Vollero’s Cafe, a restaurant on Navy Street in Brooklyn, by gunmen working for Pellegrino Morano. His brother Vincenzo stepped up immediately to fill the vacuum.

Vincenzo Terranova — 1916 to 1920

Vincenzo, the older of the Terranova brothers, held the family together for four years until Giuseppe Morello was released from prison in 1920, at which point he handed control back to his half-brother. Two years later, in 1922, Vincenzo was shot dead in a drive-by near his home on East 116th Street in Manhattan — the gunman was Umberto Valenti, a notorious hitman working for the D’Aquila crime family who was attempting to seize control of the Morello organisation.

Giuseppe Morello (Second Reign) — 1920 to 1922

Released from Atlanta Federal Penitentiary in 1920, Morello attempted to reclaim his empire. He quickly found himself considered a threat by his former captain Salvatore D’Aquila, who ordered him killed within a year of his release. Morello fled temporarily to Sicily. D’Aquila dispatched Umberto Valenti to finish the job, but Valenti was intercepted — Valenti was killed in 1922 by Masseria gunmen, with Lucky Luciano reportedly pulling the trigger. With Valenti gone, D’Aquila’s power began to drain, and Morello, recognising that his time had passed, stepped aside for Joe Masseria.

Joe Masseria — 1922 to 1931

Joe Masseria took the head of the Morello family with Giuseppe Morello serving as his consigliere — an arrangement that suited Morello, who preferred to avoid police attention. Masseria grew rapidly in stature, and after the death of Frankie Yale in 1928 he positioned himself to become boss of bosses. His decree ordering the death of rival Salvatore Maranzano ignited the Castellammarese War — a brutal conflict that younger mobsters increasingly viewed as catastrophic for business.

The end came on April 15, 1931. Masseria was lured to a restaurant called Nuova Villa Tammaro on Coney Island where he was shot dead at the dinner table. Lucky Luciano, who had secretly switched allegiance to Maranzano in exchange for control of Masseria’s rackets, was present. He had excused himself to use the bathroom moments before the gunmen entered.

Lucky Luciano — 1931 to 1946

Acting 1936–1937: Vito Genovese | Acting 1937–1946: Frank Costello

Charles “Lucky” Luciano is considered the father of modern organised crime in the United States. After engineering the deaths of both Masseria and Maranzano in 1931, Luciano restructured the New York underworld — creating the Commission, the governing body that would regulate relations between the Five Families for decades, and establishing the template for how American organised crime would operate for the rest of the century. Working closely with Meyer Lansky, he developed the National Crime Syndicate into a genuinely national operation.

In June 1936, Luciano was convicted on 62 counts of compulsory prostitution and sentenced to 30 to 50 years in state prison. He continued to run the family from behind bars using Vito Genovese and then Frank Costello as acting bosses. In 1946 he was released early — officially for wartime services to the US Navy — and immediately deported to Italy, where he lived until his death in 1962, never returning to the United States.

Frank Costello — 1946 to 1957

Frank Costello was one of the most politically connected mob bosses in American history, wielding influence over judges, politicians, and law enforcement that no other mobster before or since has matched. His gambling operations stretched from New Orleans with Carlos Marcello to Florida and Cuba with Meyer Lansky to race wires in Los Angeles with Bugsy Siegel. He shared profits equitably with his crews, demanded little for himself, and was genuinely popular within the family — a rare quality in a boss.

His downfall came from Vito Genovese, who had spent years plotting to seize control of the family. In 1957 a gunman shot Costello in the lobby of his apartment building. The bullet grazed his skull. Costello survived, understood the message, and retired — surrendering power to Genovese rather than risk a prolonged war.

Vito Genovese — 1957 to 1969

Acting 1959–1962: Anthony Strollo | Acting 1962–1965: Thomas Eboli | Acting 1965–1969: Philip Lombardo

Vito Genovese had spent years manoeuvring toward the top. In 1957, in alliance with Carlo Gambino, he orchestrated the removal of both Costello and Albert Anastasia — Costello was forced into retirement, Anastasia was shot dead in his barber’s chair. Genovese took control of the Luciano family, renamed it in his own honour, and appeared to have achieved everything he wanted. His triumph was short-lived.

Less than a year into his reign, the disastrous Apalachin meeting — a national Mafia summit raided by state police — put every major boss in America under FBI scrutiny. In 1959 Genovese was convicted on narcotics charges and sentenced to 15 years in federal prison. He had been set up, many believed, by rivals including Costello and Lansky, who fed a government informant the information needed to convict him. Before going to prison he established a ruling panel to supervise the family while he pulled strings from his cell. He died in prison in February 1969, never having spent a day free after his conviction.

Philip Lombardo — 1969 to 1981

Philip Lombardo took over at 51 and ran the family for twelve years, using Thomas Eboli and Alphonse Tieri as front bosses to shield himself from FBI surveillance. He was one of the most successfully anonymous bosses in the family’s history — few outside law enforcement circles knew his name or his role. By 1981, in declining health, Lombardo stepped back from day-to-day operations and made clear that Vincent Gigante was his chosen successor, with Anthony Salerno continuing as front boss.

Vincent Gigante — 1981 to 2005

Acting 1981–1986: Tony Salerno | Acting 1990–1992: Liborio Bellomo | Acting 1997–1998: Dominick Cirillo | Acting 1998–2005: Matthew Ianniello

Vincent “The Chin” Gigante was the most cunning boss the Genovese family ever produced. For years he wandered the streets of Greenwich Village in a tattered bathrobe and slippers, mumbling to himself, apparently confused and mentally incapacitated — a performance he kept up for nearly three decades to avoid prosecution. Psychiatrists repeatedly declared him unfit to stand trial. He later admitted in court that the entire act was deliberate.

Behind the bathrobe Gigante ran the most powerful organised crime family in America with extraordinary precision. In 1986 he ordered the attempted murder of Gambino boss John Gotti — the hit failed, but with Gotti’s eventual conviction in 1992, Gigante was formally recognised by the FBI as the most powerful active mob boss in the United States. He communicated using whispers and hand gestures, refused to allow his name to be spoken aloud, and insisted associates point to their chins if they needed to reference him.

Gigante was finally convicted in 1997 on racketeering charges and sentenced to 12 years in federal prison. He died in December 2005 while still officially holding the title of boss — having led the Genovese family for 24 years.

Liborio Bellomo — 2005 to Present

Acting 2005–present: Daniel Leo

Liborio “Barney” Bellomo took over as official boss following Gigante’s death in 2005, though he was still serving a prison sentence at the time from a 1996 RICO conviction. Released in 2008, he quickly resumed his position at the head of the family — maintaining the Genovese tradition of operating through acting bosses to insulate himself from direct federal exposure. In 2021 Bellomo and several other Genovese family members were indicted on racketeering charges relating to labour union extortion, demonstrating that the family’s long-established control over construction and labour unions in New York remains very much active.

The Genovese family under Bellomo is considered by the FBI to be the largest and most disciplined of the surviving New York families, with an estimated membership of 250–300 made members and hundreds more associates — making it by far the most substantial organised crime organisation currently operating in the United States.

Frequently Asked Questions — Genovese Crime Family

Who is the current boss of the Genovese Crime Family?

Liborio Bellomo is the current official boss. Released from prison in 2008 after a RICO conviction, he leads the family through acting bosses including Daniel Leo. The Genovese family remains the largest and most powerful of New York’s Five Families, with an estimated 250–300 made members.

Why is the Genovese family considered the most powerful of the Five Families?

Its exceptional discipline, large membership, diversified rackets, and consistent use of front bosses to protect its true leadership have made it uniquely resilient under decades of FBI pressure. It has never suffered the kind of catastrophic internal collapse that destroyed or diminished other families.

What was Vincent Gigante’s bathrobe act?

Gigante spent approximately three decades wandering his Greenwich Village neighbourhood in a bathrobe and slippers, mumbling incoherently, feigning severe mental illness to avoid prosecution. Multiple courts declared him unfit to stand trial. He admitted in 1997 that the act was entirely deliberate. He was finally convicted that year and died in prison in December 2005.

Who founded the Genovese Crime Family?

Giuseppe Morello founded the family in 1892, making it the oldest of New York’s Five Families. Originally the Morello Crime Family, it was eventually renamed after Vito Genovese seized control in 1957.

What happened to Lucky Luciano?

Luciano was convicted in 1936 on 62 counts of compulsory prostitution and sentenced to 30 to 50 years. He continued running the family from prison via acting bosses. Released in 1946 for wartime services and immediately deported to Italy, he never returned to the US and died in Naples in 1962.