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Como Joe Valachi Quebrou o Segredo da Máfia!
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Aug 12, 2025
Joe Valachi broke the code of "mafia silence", revealing the inner workings of the "italian mafia". His "mafia testimony" exposed the "organized crime" syndicate, including its structure and secret rituals. This led to the "valachi hearings", impacting both law enforcement and the public's understanding.
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0:00
Joe Velacei, a notorious mafia hitman,
0:03
shattered the sacred omea, the code of
0:05
silence within the mafia. He was the
0:08
pioneer in unveiling the term lacosa
0:11
nostra to the public and exposing the
0:13
inner workings of the organization from
0:15
its hierarchical structure to its
0:17
clandestine rituals and dark history of
0:19
violence. In 1962, Velacei found himself
0:23
imprisoned alongside his longtime mafia
0:26
boss, Don Vito Genevvesi, leader of one
0:29
of America's most formidable criminal
0:31
families. Despite their past
0:33
affiliation, Velacei sensed danger when
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Genevi arranged for them to share a
0:38
cell. Genevves, a man of notorious
0:40
reputation, held Velace responsible for
0:43
his imprisonment due to suspicions of
0:45
betrayal. Genovves's ominous words
0:48
likening Velacei to a rotten apple that
0:51
needed elimination coupled with a kiss
0:53
on the cheek sealed Velace's fate. He
0:56
understood he was marked for death.
0:59
Paralyzed by fear, Velacei saw threats
1:02
lurking in every corner of the prison.
1:04
On a fateful morning, Valachi,
1:06
anticipating an attack from Genevese's
1:08
men, fatally assaulted another prisoner,
1:11
mistaking him for a hitman. Realizing
1:13
his mistake, Valiche faced the grim
1:16
reality of a murder charge and the
1:18
looming spectre of the death penalty.
1:21
Cornered and desperate, Valichi made a
1:23
lifealtering decision. He approached the
1:26
authorities, offering to divulge vital
1:28
information about the mafia in exchange
1:30
for leniency. Thus, Velacei embarked on
1:34
a path of betrayal against his former
1:36
associates, becoming a key informant for
1:38
the US Department of Justice. Willing to
1:41
spill the secrets of the underworld to
1:43
save himself from the gallows, Attorney
1:45
General Robert Kennedy and his team at
1:47
the US Department of Justice saw in Joe
1:49
Velace a rare opportunity to break
1:51
through the impenetrable walls of
1:53
organized crime. Despite relentless
1:56
efforts, Kennedy had struggled to make
1:58
significant inroads into the underworld
2:00
of American crime. Now, with Velace's
2:03
willingness to cooperate, they had a
2:05
chance to unravel the mysteries of the
2:07
mafia. Kennedy extended a deal to
2:10
Velacei. In exchange for his
2:12
cooperation, he would be allowed to
2:14
plead guilty to a charge of
2:15
non-premeditated homicide, receiving a
2:18
life sentence with the condition that he
2:20
reveal crucial information about his
2:22
organization.
2:23
On July 17th, 1962, Velace was
2:27
discreetly transferred from the Atlanta
2:29
Prison to Westchester County Jail in New
2:31
York under the alias Joseph Madonna.
2:34
Isolated in solitary confinement, he
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faced interrogation by FBI agent James
2:39
Flynn, who adopted a tough stance,
2:41
pressing Velace to disclose vital
2:43
intelligence. Utilizing deception, Flynn
2:47
falsely led Velace to believe that the
2:49
FBI possessed extensive knowledge about
2:51
Lacosa Nostra, prompting Velace to open
2:54
up about its meaning and inner workings.
2:57
This marked the beginning of a cascade
2:59
of revelations as Velachi dulged names,
3:02
dates, and intricate details about the
3:04
mafia's organizational structure and
3:06
operations. Velace understood the
3:09
stakes. His cooperation was his only
3:11
chance to escape a lifetime behind bars.
3:14
Thus, he provided a firstirhand account
3:16
of life within the mafia, painting a
3:18
vivid picture of its inner workings and
3:21
the realities faced by its members. As
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Velacei continued to share information,
3:26
the FBI gained unprecedented insight
3:29
into the mafia, creating charts to
3:31
visually represent the intricate network
3:33
of Lacosa Nostra's family units. This
3:36
collaboration between Velachi and law
3:38
enforcement, each with a boss, a sub
3:40
boss, and lieutenants and soldiers below
3:42
them for the FM. And it was like the
3:44
Rosetta Stone was telling them the
3:46
secrets, and the hieroglyphs began to be
3:48
decoded. Velacei told Flynn that the
3:51
mafia families were spread out across
3:53
the USA from Boston to San Francisco and
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for the first time the FBI had a sketch
3:59
of the enormous scope of the mafia in
4:01
their activities.
4:03
For 3 months from the end of September
4:05
1962, Clint interrogated Velace four
4:09
times per week. A typical session lasted
4:11
for about 3 hours. Then Velace began to
4:14
get irritated and it was difficult to
4:16
handle. Feling realized that the main
4:18
fear of Velacei was that he would never
4:20
escape from Veto Geneovves. Hardly a day
4:23
passed without him making some reference
4:25
to his old boss. Sometimes completely
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disheartened, thinking he was going to
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die. Do you care what I tell anyone?
4:32
Does anyone care? No one will believe
4:34
you. You know what I mean? The
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Kosanostra is a kind of second
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government. It's too big. I'm already a
4:40
dead man and I know it. Velace had
4:43
reasons to be worried. According to LCD
4:46
sources and members of the Genevesei
4:48
family were looking for Valachi from his
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cell. Habito Genevves had established a
4:53
reward of $100,000 for Velace. And now
4:57
the mafia had placed him in the New York
4:59
area. The FBI fearful that the mafia
5:02
would reach its main witness again moved
5:05
and this time to the high security base
5:07
of the army in Fort Monmouth, New
5:09
Jersey. In the spring of 1963, Velace
5:13
decided to come out in the limelight. He
5:15
wanted fervently to expose the powerful
5:18
criminal organization to which he
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accused of ruining his life. Bobby
5:23
Kennedy realized the potential he had as
5:25
a person who could make public how big
5:27
and important the mafia was. But Kennedy
5:30
had serious concerns about the
5:31
credibility of Elachi. For the last 30
5:34
years, he had been a ruthless mafia
5:37
hitman. According to the Department of
5:39
Justice, he had at least 33 murders in
5:42
his name, and now he was singing to save
5:45
his life. How could anyone be sure that
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what Valichi was telling was the truth?
5:50
So, the FBI decided to use that
5:52
information to test his credibility.
5:54
Felina had gathered material for the New
5:57
York police during its interrogations.
5:59
The police had been working for 30 years
6:01
on painstaking murder investigations
6:04
without resolve, tracing back to the
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wars between mafia gangs and the
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consequent struggle for control of power
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in the Kosanostra.
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Using Velace's story as a guide, the
6:15
intelligence unit reviewed the
6:16
department's files in an operation that
6:18
went district by district. With their
6:21
detailed information, they discovered
6:23
that the murders and executions of the
6:25
gangs, including dates, locations, and
6:28
circumstances, could be verified. Now
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convinced that they could trust LCD,
6:33
they prepared Velacei to testify. In
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September 1963, Velacei was flown to
6:40
Washington to testify before a Senate
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Investigation Committee on organized
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crime across the USA. In mid-occtober,
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he would appear as the star witness,
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offering firsthand testimony about his
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life as a mafia hitman. The hearings
6:53
were broadcast nationwide, becoming a
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national event tomorrow. And the USA is
6:59
a new country. We don't have the
7:01
mythology of other countries. We had
7:03
Indians and cowboys and we had
7:05
gangsters. Jones said that provided an
7:08
opportunity for people in our country to
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watch all those underworld movies they
7:12
had already seen. They put all the
7:14
pieces together and people were
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fascinated by all that kosanostra.
7:19
The Senate committee investigates the
7:20
mafia. The Senate investigation
7:22
subcommittee initiates new hearings
7:24
against crime. Senator Mlelen is its
7:27
chairman. Attorney General Robert
7:29
Kennedy paints a grim picture due to the
7:32
increase in illegal activities of the
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Kosanostra or mafia. He describes this
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organization as the government of
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organized crime, gambling, drug
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trafficking, extortion, fraud, and
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control of various unions. He claims
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their revenues are in the billions.
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Gentlemen, as you know, this morning we
7:50
brought to the Queens County the witness
7:52
web, whom we are determined to expose
7:55
every facet of his testimony and to
7:57
continue this investigation as far as we
7:59
possibly can. What has been his behavior
8:02
during the conversation while they were
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drinking coffee? Everything indicates
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that he is a willing witness eager to
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reveal what he knows. He has not posed a
8:11
difficulty. He seems worried. I would
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say not given the circumstances. The man
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is naturally nervous and somewhat
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restless, but other than that he is a
8:20
good witness. Do you not feel that he is
8:23
rather enjoying all this? I prefer not
8:25
to comment.
8:27
As the hearings commenced, Velacei was
8:29
asked why he had killed another prisoner
8:31
in jail. Why did you decide to kill him
8:33
in that place and at that time? Because
8:36
he was the guy I saw at that moment. In
8:38
other words, you felt that was your last
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day. Speaking frankly, Senator, I felt
8:44
it was my last day. The last day I would
8:46
be alive. You thought you could take
8:48
them all out before they took you out?
8:51
Probably. I don't know what I would have
8:54
done if I hadn't seen him. I can't
8:56
answer what I would have done. So, you
8:58
felt helpless and surrounded and decided
9:00
to attack when you could. When I saw
9:03
him, I thought that if I killed that man
9:05
who I thought was going to kill you,
9:07
then I would feel satisfaction. Senator,
9:09
let's put it that way. I felt
9:11
satisfaction despite all the turmoil
9:14
surrounding that public event. Velace's
9:16
testimony was a stark reminder that he
9:18
was a coldblooded killer. Then, Velace's
9:21
interrogation truly began. When did you
9:24
become a member of that organization? In
9:27
1930. What is the name of the
9:29
organization? Kosa Nostra in Italian.
9:33
Our thing and our family in our
9:35
language. Our thing and our family in
9:38
our language. At 18, he was the driver
9:41
of a famous band called the Minutemen.
9:43
the Minutemen who robbed hundreds of
9:45
clothing and jewelry stores between 1919
9:47
and 1923, smashing shop windows and
9:50
taking everything they could before the
9:52
police arrived. But one day they were
9:54
caught and Valuchi was sent to the
9:57
infamous Jingshing prison by the Hudson
9:59
River. At the age of 21, he became
10:02
friends with a gangster named Aleandro
10:04
Bolero. It was then that Velacei first
10:07
heard about a secret organization that
10:09
he would soon come to know as Laosa
10:11
Nostra, the mafia, which he wanted to be
10:13
a part of. Now I am going to talk about
10:16
life. I was a chauffeur, something that
10:18
had been known for many years, and in
10:21
fact other bands tried to hire me, but I
10:23
never wanted to leave. Velacei explained
10:26
to the Senate committee how he had
10:28
become a driver for one of the most
10:30
powerful mafia bands in New York led by
10:33
the Sicilianborn Salvator Maranzano. It
10:36
was 1929 and Maranzano was not caught up
10:40
in a bloody power struggle with his
10:42
adversary Jeppe Seri. Velacei let Marano
10:46
know that he wanted to be part of his
10:47
mandate and as a test he was sent as a
10:50
hired driver for the assassination of
10:52
one of Miseria's top henchmen. After the
10:55
murder, Velace received the call that he
10:57
was going to be a soldier in the mafia.
11:00
Velace then revealed to the committee
11:01
the rituals of his initiation ceremony
11:04
to enter the mafia. He described how he
11:06
had been taken to a farmhouse about 150
11:09
km from New York City. They asked him to
11:12
sit with 30 other members around a
11:14
table. Their boss Don Salvator Maransano
11:17
was not going to conduct the initiation
11:20
and he told them how they were initiated
11:22
into the offer of the code. Ah, and that
11:25
once you became a member, you could
11:26
never leave and you had to either make
11:28
money or be a hitman, killing someone
11:31
just to be considered for initiation.
11:33
Valichi then revealed to the Senate
11:34
committee the secrets of the blood and
11:36
fire initiation ceremony to enter the
11:38
mafia. Ah, he had the knife and gun on
11:41
the table and then explained that you
11:42
live by the gun and knife and you die by
11:45
the gun and knife. Did you fully
11:47
understand what that meant? if the
11:49
effect and what it meant. Well, it meant
11:51
that he expected to die by the gun and
11:53
knife when he made that oath. He assumed
11:55
that one day he would die by a gun or a
11:58
car. That's right. And that's what he
12:00
thought about dedicating himself. That's
12:02
right. Valachi said they asked him to
12:05
place his hands in a cup shape. They put
12:07
a piece of paper inside and lit it. Then
12:09
they asked him to move his hands from
12:11
side to side and told him that he would
12:13
suffer the same fate as the paper if he
12:16
betrayed the secrets of Lacosa Nostra.
12:19
Velace was then introduced to his
12:21
sponsor, his godfather Joe Banano, who
12:23
would be his guide and mentor. Banano
12:26
asked Velace to show him his index
12:28
finger and pricricked it with the pin
12:29
from his tie. Then he pricricked his own
12:32
and placed it on Velachis. Then
12:34
Maranzano announced that they were all
12:36
family. now. All right. What happened
12:38
then? Then we stood up, shook hands, and
12:42
recited some words together that I don't
12:44
remember. Well, also in Sicilian. Do you
12:47
know what they meant? Well, the truth is
12:50
I never asked what they meant. I never
12:52
asked, but they meant that it was some
12:54
kind of organization or something like
12:56
that, but one doesn't pay attention. I
12:59
never bothered. I never bothered to find
13:01
out what they meant, but I can get an
13:04
idea. You can get an idea of what we're
13:06
all tied up. We're all tied up. We're
13:09
all together. We're together. We're
13:11
together. We sing together. We go out
13:13
together. We live together. That's it.
13:15
Velace's revelations explained why the
13:17
secret organization had managed to
13:19
remain hidden for so long. Ah, whoever
13:22
let it slip paid the highest price. Fear
13:25
had preserved silence for 30 years. Now,
13:28
Velacei had broken that silence forever.
13:31
Senator, can I say one thing, Senator?
13:33
Yes. What I am now telling you would
13:35
have to keep quiet and not say anything
13:36
else. What I am exposing to you, to the
13:39
press, and to everyone represents my
13:41
death sentence. I am breaking a promise
13:44
that I should never break. Even if I
13:46
speak, I should never speak about this.
13:48
And yet, I am doing it. And the mafia,
13:51
of course, was horrified. In the past,
13:54
they had managed to kill people who were
13:56
in jail. And they thought that if they
13:58
offered enough money, they would find
14:00
someone willing to kill him. With the
14:03
$100,000 contract offered because
14:06
depending on Velace's head, there were
14:08
wellfounded fears that the mafia might
14:10
attempt to attack the Senate hearings.
14:12
What can you tell us about that threat,
14:14
Gene? Well, over the weekend, we
14:17
received information from the FBI
14:19
referring to the possibility that
14:20
someone could place a bomb in the room
14:22
this morning and also the possible
14:24
presence of one or several armed people
14:26
willing to kill the witness. What
14:29
precautions have you taken? We shouldn't
14:31
comment on that issue. They have
14:33
informed Mr. Velace and we haven't done
14:35
it. It seems that there is information
14:38
that someone intended to shoot him or
14:40
place a bomb in this room. Where did
14:42
they get that information? What did you
14:44
think of it? What do you want me to tell
14:46
you? I'm in the same situation. From the
14:48
beginning, I've been playing the same
14:50
game from the beginning. You know what I
14:53
mean? That doesn't change anything.
14:55
Velace devoted most of his testimony to
14:57
mapping out the hierarchical structure
14:59
of the American mafia. Velace explained
15:02
how the efficient organization that the
15:04
mafia had become had evolved from the
15:06
confrontation between street gangs and
15:08
power struggles in the early 20th
15:10
century. Before the senators, Velacei
15:13
went back to a meeting held in 1931
15:16
where the Sicilian boss Salvatorei
15:18
Maransano took control of the New York
15:20
mafia. Velacei recounted how Maransano
15:23
outlined his ambitious plan. The gangs
15:26
of New York would now be organized into
15:28
five families, each of which would
15:30
control the neighborhoods of the Bronx,
15:32
Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten
15:35
Island. Bal and recounted how Marenzano
15:38
had declared himself the supreme leader.
15:41
He would be the chief of all activities,
15:43
and anyone who opposed would be killed.
15:46
Bal then explained that a man had
15:47
disagreed. He revealed how Charles Lucky
15:50
Luciano had had Maranzano executed.
15:53
Luciano then introduced a more
15:55
democratic form of leadership. He
15:57
eliminated the figure of the boss of all
15:59
bosses and created the commission, a
16:01
board of directors for all intents and
16:03
purposes to resolve disputes within the
16:06
mafia. And this led to a time of peace,
16:09
cooperation, and prosperity. Next, Bale
16:12
named the current leaders of the five
16:14
New York families. Veto Genevves, Carlo
16:18
Gambino, Joseph Banano, Joseph Joe
16:21
Bananas Banano, Veto Genevves. These are
16:24
the men, Balac said, to the committee
16:27
that led an enormous organized crime
16:29
network in the city spanning gambling,
16:31
prostitution, usury lending, narcotics,
16:34
and the mafia's infiltration into legal
16:36
businesses. How many soldiers does a
16:38
boss usually command? Well, Invito
16:41
Genovves has about 450, give or take
16:44
400, 450, and about 450, maybe even 500.
16:50
Velacei then revealed the names of more
16:52
than 130 members of the Genevesei crime
16:55
family and identified members of all the
16:57
other New York families, claiming to
17:00
know 289 mafiosos.
17:03
All of this was presented to the
17:04
committee in five huge diagrams of the
17:07
families. What Velace did was provide
17:10
data that the FBI already had but didn't
17:13
know they had. Often mafia members and
17:16
others in criminal activity know each
17:18
other by their aliases. They may know
17:21
each other by sight, but not always by
17:23
their real names. And although law
17:26
enforcement knew their real names, it
17:28
was the first time they realized what
17:29
they truly had. Apart from that, I think
17:32
Velace's testimony stands on its own.
17:35
and over time its veracity has been
17:37
proven. He marked each diagram with a
17:40
star for the individuals he could
17:42
identify from the five families. Those
17:44
who didn't appear he knew by their
17:46
aliases but not their real names. So he
17:49
committed to identifying those members
17:51
of the mafia for whom he could provide
17:54
both their real names and aliases.
17:55
Exactly. Very well. He was the one who
17:58
exposed everything. the families, the
18:01
names of their members, and the levels
18:03
of authority starting from the capo down
18:05
to the soldiers. However, there were
18:08
some critics who doubted Valuchi's
18:10
testimonies, considering that a foot
18:12
soldier would never have been privy to
18:14
information about the core of power
18:16
within the Kosan Nostra. I think it's a
18:18
mistake to consider soldiers as
18:20
insignificant figures. They are
18:22
important people within the mafia. The
18:25
only people above the foot soldier in
18:27
the direct chain of command are the capo
18:28
and the boss. So the soldier holds a
18:31
relevant position simply by being
18:32
admitted as a member. They are given
18:35
access to the secrets of the mafia. They
18:37
are informed about what's going on and
18:39
need to know who's who within the mafia
18:41
because they have permission to
18:43
eliminate anyone outside the
18:44
organization but not within it. So they
18:48
are usually wellinformed. He used his
18:50
testimony to get full revenge. I think
18:52
I've come to this point. Could you
18:54
briefly explain how much power, how much
18:56
authority a boss like Genevves has over
18:58
the family, over the soldiers like you,
19:00
Senator? I know well the power wielded
19:03
by Genevvesi. Not only does he wield
19:05
power within our family, he also
19:07
controls power in the Gambino family and
19:09
in the Lucasi family. In short, his word
19:12
becomes law. It's an authorized act.
19:15
Yes, it is. And he hands down death
19:17
sentences. Well, they hand them down and
19:19
then they tell you he was a rat. He was
19:21
this or that. They tell you what they
19:23
want, so they hand them down. That's
19:25
right. He knows from his own experience.
19:27
Don't doubt it for a moment. Valach's
19:30
testimony was worth its weight in gold.
19:32
It confirmed that the Kosan Nostra was
19:34
the mafia, revealed the names of the
19:36
bosses and their soldiers, explained its
19:38
structure, rituals, and secrets, and
19:41
exposed its bloody history. But above
19:44
all, Velace's testimony provided the FBI
19:47
with precise targets and led to a change
19:49
in priorities. In 1963, the FBI's New
19:53
York office increased the number of
19:55
agents specializing in organized crime
19:57
from 4 to 140. The following year, the
20:00
FBI used hidden microphones to record
20:03
Teamsters's union boss, Jimmy Hoffa, in
20:06
a series of exchanges with the Detroit
20:07
Mafia. He was sentenced to 8 years in
20:10
prison. For the FBI, electronic
20:13
surveillance was the tool of the future
20:15
to defeat organized crime. As a young
20:18
agent in the early 1970s, we conducted a
20:21
nationwide campaign of wiretapping on
20:23
interstate gambling operations
20:25
controlled by the mafia. We made
20:28
thousands of arrests and dismantled
20:30
hundreds of major gambling networks in
20:32
an effort to cut off one of their major
20:34
sources of income thanks to the
20:36
revelations of the FBI's campaign
20:39
against the mafia took a qualitative
20:41
leap. Although it was only the beginning
20:44
for Attorney General Robert Kennedy, the
20:46
testimony of Joseph Velace and others
20:48
with knowledge of criminal operations
20:50
across the country provided an
20:52
unprecedented understanding of how these
20:54
operations functioned. Velace and was
20:57
the first subordinate of certain
20:58
relevance whose testimony helped to
21:00
bring down and destroy or at least
21:03
injure the mafia in America. Without
21:05
him, it would have taken another 15 or
21:07
20 years because there were no
21:09
informants. Although his rank was
21:11
secondary, he knew enough to cause
21:13
anticipation and to seriously alert and
21:16
warn the public about the threat posed
21:17
by the mafia. As for Joe Velace, he
21:21
returned to the relative comfort of the
21:22
prison in the District of Colombia in
21:24
Washington, where he had remained during
21:26
the hearings. Robert Kennedy, with his
21:29
proverbial shrewdness, believed that
21:31
Valache and had much more to offer.
21:34
Kennedy realized that Velace and was a
21:37
gold mine. It occurred to him that he
21:39
should write his memoirs recounting what
21:41
he could remember about the mafia. For
21:44
13 months, Velacei and wrote diligently
21:47
in his Washington cell, jotting down
21:49
over 300,000 words in notebooks. He had
21:52
been a witness since the early days of
21:54
modern mafia, and his story was a unique
21:57
portrait of the day-to-day life of a
21:58
hitman over a period of 30 years. As
22:02
someone with little education,
22:03
Velaceian's memoirs were not exactly a
22:06
literary masterpiece. They were
22:08
unpublishable and perhaps illeible.
22:11
Kennedy requested that an anonymous
22:13
collaborator be hired. The Department of
22:15
Justice tasked writer Peter Mass with
22:18
working on the memoirs and speaking with
22:20
Velace and about his life. The goal was
22:22
to shape a book that the Department of
22:24
Justice hoped would encourage other
22:26
informants to come forward. The
22:28
department began making plans to reward
22:30
Valache and for his cooperation and even
22:33
considered sending him somewhere to
22:35
relax in the sun. Bobby Kennedy had the
22:37
crazy plan to find him a girlfriend or
22:39
bring his wife and take them to a
22:41
deserted island where he could live the
22:43
rest of his life. And yet, even as he
22:46
contemplated the sentence for killing
22:48
his fellow convict, the wrong man, there
22:51
was another obstacle. The
22:53
Italian-American newspaper Il Progresso
22:56
had obtained Velaceian's manuscript and
22:58
was outraged. They published a scathing
23:01
editorial against the imminent
23:03
publication of the book, claiming that
23:05
it perpetuated the image of criminality
23:07
associated with the multiple Italian
23:09
names mentioned in Valachian's
23:11
testimony. This opinion spread until it
23:14
became a massive protest from lobbying
23:16
groups proclaiming that the book
23:18
denigrated all Italian Americans. The
23:21
White House campaign was forced to
23:23
intervene and halted its publication
23:25
overnight. Valachian's life changed
23:28
drastically and he was returned to the
23:30
harsh federal prison system. He was
23:33
locked in a cold, cramped cell in
23:35
Michigan where he was to serve the
23:37
remainder of his sentence in isolation.
23:39
Velace and was desperate. On the morning
23:41
of April 11th, 1966, he ripped the power
23:45
cord from his radio and headed to the
23:47
shower corner. Well, the pipe couldn't
23:49
bear the weight of Elachi and who a
23:52
guard found shortly after collapsed on
23:54
the floor barely alive. The Department
23:57
of Justice realized that they needed to
23:59
better care for their star witness. They
24:01
removed him from the unpleasant prison
24:03
up north and sent him to the place they
24:05
thought would be best for him, a place
24:07
called Latuna near the Mexican border in
24:10
Texas. They put him in a suite with an
24:12
American kitchen and a more comfortable
24:14
bed, trying to make his life as
24:16
comfortable and pleasant as possible.
24:18
And when the Department of Justice now
24:20
gets a top informant, they send them
24:22
what is called the Velace Suite. In
24:25
1968, 5 years after he had revealed the
24:28
secrets of the mafia to the world,
24:30
Velacei and finally got to read the book
24:33
based on his life. It was titled The
24:35
Velace Papers and became a bestseller.
24:39
Velace and didn't receive a scent. The
24:41
book was made into a movie in 1972 with
24:44
Charles Bronson playing the character of
24:46
Velace. The real Joe Velace died of a
24:49
heart attack in 1971 at the Federal
24:52
Correctional Institution in Latuna,
24:54
Texas. He survived his mafia boss, Veto
24:57
Genevves, by two years. The $100,000
25:00
reward for Velace's head offered by
25:02
Genevvesi was never collected.
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