On This Day in 1951 Willie Moretti was Killed Aged 57
On this day in 1951 the underboss in the Genovese Crime Family, and cousin to Frank Costello was gunned down in a mercy killing ordered by mob boss Vito Genovese.
On October 4, Willie Moretti was sitting down to lunch at a restaurant called Joe’s Elbow Room in Cliffside Park, New Jersey. Accompanying him were four other mobsters, and the 5 of them were laughing and joking in Italian.
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Around 11:28am gun shots were fired, and the result was Moretti lying on his back on the restaurant floor with bullet wounds to his head and face.
Willie Moretti Death Scene
Why a Mercy Killing?
In the 1950’s Kefauver Hearings Willie Moretti decided to cooperate with the committee where others refused to by taking the Fifth Amendment. During the hearings Moretti played up for the cameras and brought a lot of media attention to himself.
For example, when asked how long he’d been in the Mafia he replied,
“What do you mean, like do I carry a membership card that says ‘Mafia’ on it?”
Telling jokes and speaking very candidly he was breaking the code of Omerta and it was believed that his mental condition was getting worse (possibly due to advanced stages of Syphilis).
Joe’s Elbow Room – Willie Moretti’s Final Lunch
The commission decided that this could just be the start of the problems, and he could go on to become more talkative, bringing more heat down on the Families.
Allegedly Vito Genovese stated before the killing,
“The Lord have mercy on his soul, he’s losing his mind”
You can read more about the mercy kill on Willie Moretti here.
On this day in 1951, Willie Moretti — underboss of the Genovese Crime Family and cousin to the powerful Frank Costello — was shot dead in what has since become one of the most talked-about "mercy killings" in American organised crime history. He was 57 years old.
Moretti had been a significant figure in the New Jersey underworld for decades, running gambling operations across the state and serving as a key enforcer and political fixer. His close relationship with Frank Costello gave him considerable standing within the broader mob hierarchy, and he was well connected to the upper echelons of the Five Families. He was also known to have helped launch the career of a young Frank Sinatra, allegedly persuading bandleader Tommy Dorsey to release Sinatra from his contract by placing a gun barrel in Dorsey's mouth — a story that later inspired a memorable scene in The Godfather.
On the morning of 4th October 1951, Moretti sat down to lunch at Joe's Elbow Room restaurant in Cliffside Park, New Jersey, accompanied by four other men. The mood was relaxed, the group laughing and conversing in Italian. At approximately 11:28am, shots rang out. When the smoke cleared, Moretti lay on the restaurant floor, struck by bullets to the head and face. His companions had vanished.
The killing had been sanctioned by Vito Genovese and approved by the Commission, but the reasoning behind it was unusually sympathetic by mob standards. During the 1950 Kefauver Hearings — a nationally televised Senate investigation into organised crime — Moretti had appeared willingly before the committee at a time when figures such as Lucky Luciano's associates were taking every opportunity to plead the Fifth Amendment. Rather than stonewalling, Moretti played to the cameras, cracking jokes and speaking with a candour that left mob leadership deeply uncomfortable. When asked how long he had been a member of the Mafia, he quipped, "What do you mean, like do I carry a membership card that says 'Mafia' on it?" It was entertaining, but it was dangerous.
It was widely believed that Moretti was suffering the advanced effects of syphilis, which had begun to affect his mental faculties and loosen his tongue. Genovese reportedly remarked, "The Lord have mercy on his soul, he's losing his mind." The Commission agreed that Moretti posed an escalating risk, and the decision was made to act before his condition deteriorated further.
Willie Moretti's killing remains a rare example of the mob acting out of something resembling compassion, and it cemented the notion that in the world of organised crime, even loyalty has its limits.
Further Reading
Want to know more about This Mobster? Five Families is essential reading.
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