Mob FilesPublic-domain archive of American organized crime
Scan of an FBI letter from the Director to the Newark office about Vito Genovese, with a struck-through typed date and a handwritten correction.
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FBI letter, Director to SAC Newark, January 1958: Genovese's presence at Apalachin and the anti-racketeering investigation

FBI Director's letter to the Newark office about its anti-racketeering investigation of Vito Genovese. It says his presence at Apalachin "undoubtedly contributed immeasurably to the publicity this meeting received" and lists investigative steps.

Date
1958-01
Kind
case-file
Source
FBI Records: The Vault
Retrieved
2026-10-12
Rights
A record of the Federal Bureau of Investigation released under FOIA through the FBI Vault. A work of the United States government, public domain under 17 U.S.C. § 105. Redactions on the page are the FBI's. The page scan is stored here.

Part 01 of the FBI Vault’s Vito Genovese file, scan 24, with the reference “Newark (92-380)” at the top. The typed date “January 10, 1958” is struck through and a handwritten “13” is added; an FBI communications stamp reads JAN 31 1958. This archive therefore dates the letter only to January 1958. A handwritten serial beginning 92-2709 is stamped on this page; the New York number 92-658 appears on later pages of the same file (scans 238 and 293).

The letter says: “He is without doubt one of the most notorious of the country’s hoodlums and his presence at the meeting in Apalachin, New York, 11/14/57 undoubtedly contributed immeasurably to the publicity this meeting received. It is realized that since the Apalachin meeting, Genovese has received a great deal of attention from other law enforcement agencies as well as reporters that may have hampered your office in setting up active investigation such as surveillances.” It then lists steps the Bureau wanted the Newark office to take.

“Notorious” and “hoodlums” are the FBI’s words and are quoted, not adopted. Genovese is named in the Second Circuit’s account as a passenger in Bufalino’s car at the roadblock.

itemFBI Newark report, 12 December 1958: Genovese "was in attendance at the Apalachin, New York, meeting"First page of an FBI Newark field-office report (investigative period 29 September to 3 December 1958) in the Genovese anti-racketeering case. Its administrative note says Genovese was in attendance at the Apalachin meeting.itemFBI airtel, 16 June 1959: Genovese before the New York State Commission of Investigation on the Apalachin meetingFBI airtel summarizing Genovese's 16 June 1959 appearance under subpoena before the New York State Commission of Investigation, which granted him immunity and questioned him about Apalachin, with the FBI's account of how he said he came to go.itemUnited States v. Bufalino, 285 F.2d 408 (2d Cir. 1960)Second Circuit opinion reversing the convictions of Russell Bufalino and nineteen others for obstructing justice and perjury after the 14 November 1957 gathering at Apalachin, New York. The court says the government offered no evidence of the meeting's purpose.