Record

Hearing

1963-09-27

National Criminal Justice Reference Service, scan of the printed hearings (NCJ 119303)

Senate narcotics hearings, 27 September 1963: Valachi on Vito Genovese's gambling interests 'like Las Vegas and Havana, Cuba, when it was there' (p. 116)

Asked by Senator Javits how Vito Genovese made his money, Joseph Valachi named an Italian lottery, slot machines, and 'lots of interests in gambling like Las Vegas and Havana, Cuba, when it was there.'

Date: 1963-09-27
Kind: hearing
Source: National Criminal Justice Reference Service, scan of the printed hearings (NCJ 119303)
Retrieved: 2026-10-12
Rights: A work of the United States Senate, printed by the Government Printing Office. Public domain in the United States. 17 U.S.C. § 105.

Printed page 116 of Part 1 (NCJRS PDF page 121), from Valachi’s testimony of 27 September 1963. The same day’s opening pages and his account of the Atlanta penitentiary are filed as separate records. Senator Jacob K. Javits asked: “How did he make all this money?”

Valachi answered that Genovese “had a big lottery of his own, Italian lottery,” that it was “very, very big” in those days, and that he had slot machines. He went on: “Vito Genovese has lots of interests in gambling like Las Vegas and Havana, Cuba, when it was there, and he has legitimate businesses.”

The answer gives no dates, places or particulars. It is a cooperating witness’s own account under oath, not a finding, and it is not evidence of any particular Havana interest. Javits read the sentence back to him on 1 October.

itemTestimony of Joseph Valachi, September 27, 1963Valachi's first public day before the Senate subcommittee. He gave his birth date and sentences, said he joined "Cosa Nostra" in 1930, and set out its ranks.itemSenate narcotics hearings, 1 October 1963: Valachi, 'Anywhere where Meyer Lansky is, Vito Genovese is,' and 'I knew in Havana' (p. 159)Asked about Genovese's establishment in Las Vegas, Joseph Valachi said 'Anywhere where Meyer Lansky is, Vito Genovese is,' that he knew the places in Havana but not in Las Vegas 'since they went out of Havana,' and that Lansky and Genovese 'do everything together.'

itemOrganized Crime and Illicit Traffic in Narcotics, Part 1 (September 25 to October 9, 1963)The first printed volume of the 1963 Senate hearings: Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy's opening testimony, Joseph Valachi's public testimony, New York police witnesses, Exhibit 8 and Charts A to E.