# FBI Vault: "Joseph Valachi Part 01"

Canonical: https://mobfiles.org/items/fbi-vault-joseph-valachi-part-01/

A 108-page FBI release from the New York field office file on Valachi, from a 1959 memo opening a "top hoodlum" case to 1962 papers on the Atlanta killing and his interviews.

A search of the FBI Vault for "Valachi" returns one file, "Joseph Valachi Part 01," of 108 viewer pages. This archive read it through the viewer's text layer, which is rough. It read pages 5, 21 to 23, 41, 89 and 91 closely. Most pages carry the New York file number NY 92-1459. A deleted-page sheet records 149 pages withheld under exemptions b6, b7C and b7D, and many duplicates.

The earliest paper is a memo to the SAC, New York (file 92-632), dated June 16, 1959. It says that "The Attorney General's Special Group has advised the Bureau that they are interested in 386 individuals throughout the United States." It recommends that "a pending top hoodlum case be opened" on Valachi. A July 1959 report gives his criminal record.

Later pages are 1962 teletypes and memos after the killing at the Atlanta penitentiary. They include a letter of October 10, 1962 from the U.S. Attorney's office in Atlanta to Assistant Attorney General Herbert J. Miller, Jr. (viewer page 91). It refers to "the recent brutal and apparently unprovoked murder of John Joseph Saupp by Joseph Valachi on June 22, 1962." It states that Valachi was indicted for first-degree murder and on July 17, 1962 "was allowed to enter a plea of guilty to second degree murder." The quotations are corrected only for obvious OCR letter errors. Interview reports from September to November 1962 follow, and this archive has only skimmed them.

The file gives the home addresses of Valachi and his wife. This page does not repeat them. No page image is stored here.
The file gives the home addresses of Valachi and his wife. This page does not repeat them. The page image of viewer page 5 is stored here; it shows no address.

## Sources

- FBI Records: The Vault: https://vault.fbi.gov/joseph-valachi/Joseph%20Valachi%20Part%2001/view