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Joseph Michael Valachi (September 22, 1904 – 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.
Joseph Valachi was an American gangster, a member of Lucky Luciano’s mob family, who turned informer in 1962. Valachi held a rank in the Mafia equivalent to that of a sergeant, with interests chiefly in the numbers rackets and other gambling from the 1930s to the ’50s.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Joseph Michael Valachi was an American criminal who was a member of the Genovese crime family. He is most remembered for being the first gangster belonging to the Italian-American Mafia to publicly admit its existence. He was the one who introduced the phrase “Cosa Nostra” to the common vernacular.
Aug 8, 2023 · Learn about the life and crimes of Joseph Valachi, a made member of the Mafia who broke the code of silence and testified before Congress in 1963. Read his hand-written manuscript online, donated by journalist Peter Maas, and explore his insights into the early U.S. Mafia history.
Jun 3, 2019 · Gerald Shur, a former justice department attorney, invented the witness protection programme in the 1960s to break the code of silence of organised crime. He was the first to interview Joseph Valachi, the mobster who confirmed the existence of the mafia, and later helped convict John Gotti and Sammy Gravano.
Jul 8, 2019 · Learn how Joe Valachi, a low-level New York gangster, became the first mafioso to break the Mafia's code of silence and testify against his former bosses in 1963. Discover how his testimony changed the course of organized crime and the Mafia's history.
Named after the major government witness against the American Mafia, foot soldier and made man Joseph Valachi, the trial exposed American organized crime to the world through Valachi's televised testimony.
