Buried Heaven

Lore & Background

Valachi was born in East Harlem, New York City, to impoverished Italian immigrants from Cervinara, Campania. His father was a violent alcoholic. He began his criminal career with a small gang called the Minutemen, known for smash-and-grab burglaries. In 1930, he was inducted into the American Mafia as a made man in the Reina family (later the Lucchese family).

He fought in the Castellammarese War on the side of Salvatore Maranzano and later became a soldier in the Luciano family (later the Genovese family). In 1953, he lured mobster Steven Franse to his restaurant, where Franse was strangled to death on orders of Vito Genovese. Valachi was convicted of drug trafficking in 1959 and sentenced to 15 years. In 1962, while in prison, he bludgeoned an inmate he mistook for a hitman sent by Genovese, and was sentenced to life.

He then became an informant and testified before a U.S. Senate committee in 1963, breaking omertà. He died of a heart attack on April 3, 1971, at the Federal Correctional Institution, La Tuna, in Anthony, Texas.

Did You Know?

• His testimony was the first major violation of omertà.
• He was buried at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Lewiston, New York.