Mob FilesPublic-domain archive of American organized crime
Joseph Valachi testifying at a Senate subcommittee hearing, 27 September 1963.
Warren K. Leffler, 27 September 1963. U.S. News & World Report Magazine Photograph Collection, Library of Congress (LC-DIG-ppmsca-72982). Rights advisory: "No known restrictions on publication."

Joseph Valachi

Testified in public before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations in September and October 1963 that he had been a member of "Cosa Nostra" since 1930. A federal docket in Atlanta records his 1962 guilty plea to second-degree murder at the U.S. Penitentiary.

Born
1903-09-22
Aliases
Joseph Cargo, Charles Charbano, Anthony Sorge, Joseph Siano, Joseph Valechi, Joseph Michael Valachi
Family
Vito Genovese ("I was with Vito Genovese, that is the family, or our borgata, in Italian"), his own testimony, 27 September 1963
Role
Soldier ("For instance, I am a soldier"), his own testimony, 2 October 1963
Source
Organized Crime and Illicit Traffic in Narcotics, Senate hearings, Part 1 (1963), NCJRS scan NCJ 119303
Rights
Biography on this page is limited to what the cited federal records state. His sworn testimony is labelled as his own testimony, and police records as police records. Nothing here is taken from the 1968 book "The Valachi Papers."

On the record

  • 22 September 1903 — His own testimony (Part 1, printed page 78): asked where he was born, he answered "In New York City," on September 22, 1903, and said his parents were born in Italy, "In Naples."
  • 1923 and 1925 — The criminal record printed in the hearings (Part 1, printed pages 133 to 135), read in by NYPD Sergeant Ralph Salerno, lists Sing Sing commitments in 1923 and 1925, the second as "Joseph Valachi, No. 77100." It is a police identification record, and many of the arrests it lists were dismissed.
  • 1930 — His own testimony (Part 1, printed page 80): asked when he became a member, he answered "In 1930," and named the organization "Cosa Nostra": "That is "Our Thing" and "Our Family" in English."
  • 18 May 1956 — A U.S. Penitentiary, Atlanta index card (NARA, NAID 351263171) records him as No. 77320-A, alias Anthony Sorge, for "Conspiracy to sell narcotics," S.N.Y., 5 years and a $10,000 fine, received 5-18-56, and stamped "Released on bail."
  • 16 June 1959 — An FBI memo to the SAC, New York, in the Vault file "Joseph Valachi Part 01," recommends that "a pending top hoodlum case be opened" on him.
  • 17 June 1960 — The Atlanta index card No. 82811-A gives 6-17-60 as the date he was committed to a federal institution, on a sentence beginning 6-3-60. The printed criminal record lists "No. 82811, 6-17-60" for violation of the narcotics laws, 15 years.
  • 22 June 1962 — A U.S. Attorney's letter of October 10, 1962 in the FBI Vault file refers to "the recent brutal and apparently unprovoked murder of John Joseph Saupp by Joseph Valachi on June 22, 1962," at the Atlanta penitentiary. In his own testimony of 27 September 1963 he said: "I hit him on the head with a pipe," and that he had taken the man for someone else.
  • 26 June 1962 — Criminal docket No. 23273 (NARA, NAID 348023476): "Criminal indictment in one (1) count filed," charging "First degree murder on a Government reservation. U. S. Penitentiary, Atlanta, Ga."
  • 17 July 1962 — The same docket: "Arraignment: Plea of guilty to the Lesser included offense of murder in the second degree," and "Judgment: Custody Attorney General for the rest of his natural life."
  • 16 August 1962 — Atlanta index card No. 82811-A, "Revised computation: corrected, 8-16-62," gives the crime as "Murder, 2nd deg.: Viol. Narc. Laws" and the sentence as "Life" and 21 years, 8 months, 10 days.
  • 27 September 1963 — His first public day before the subcommittee. His own testimony gave the ranks as boss, underboss ("sotto capo"), "caporegima which is a lieutenant," and soldiers, and said "They used to have the boss of all bosses." Asked about his own group, he said: "I was with Vito Genovese, that is the family, or our borgata, in Italian" (Part 1, printed pages 80 and 81).
  • 1 October 1963 — His own testimony (Part 1, printed pages 181 to 184) described the ceremony at which he said he was made a member, with Salvatore Maranzano speaking: "they lived by the gun and by the knife and you die by the gun and by the knife."
  • 2 October 1963 — His own testimony (Part 1, printed page 238), on how members are proposed: "For instance, I am a soldier. I introduce this man ..."
  • 8 October 1963 — Charts A to E were presented. Asked about men he knew who were not on the charts, he said he knew "Most of them by aliases" (Part 1, printed page 273). On October 9 the chairman stated a chart total of 338 persons, 289 of them identified by Valachi.
  • 29 October 1963 — His executive-session testimony, made public on July 28, 1964 (Part 3, printed pages 629 to 640): "I had one deal in 1952, Mr. Adlerman."

The family and role lines above are his own sworn testimony to the Senate subcommittee, labelled as such. They are not a court finding, and they are not taken from the charts. The 1963 police charts mark names “identified by Joseph Valachi.” Those charts are filed as exhibits, and no name on them is copied onto this page or onto a family page.

The aliases are the ones the printed criminal record and criminal docket No. 23273 use. The FBI’s history page says that he survived three attempts on his life in prison, and that FBI agents recruited him before he testified. That is the Bureau’s narrative, not a record of either event.

No death record has been opened for this archive, so the death date is left empty. No opened record names where he was held after the 1963 hearings. The FBI file and the hearing record both give the home addresses of members of his family. This page does not repeat them.

Records

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.itemValachi's account of the June 1962 killing at the Atlanta penitentiary (testimony, September 27, 1963)Valachi testified that he struck a man in the Atlanta penitentiary yard with an iron pipe, believing him to be someone sent to kill him, and was then shown he had hit the wrong man.itemTestimony of Joseph Valachi, October 1, 1963: the initiation ceremonyValachi described the ceremony at which he said he was made a member, with Salvatore Maranzano speaking. The same day, staff presented Exhibit 8, the Masseria-Maranzano war chart.itemHearing of October 2, 1963: Valachi's testimony and police recordsValachi continued his account of the 1930 to 1931 gang war. Police witnesses from Hartford and New York testified to records the subcommittee set beside his statements.itemHearing of October 8, 1963: the five New York family charts presentedNew York police Deputy Chief Inspector John J. Shanley presented Charts A to E, and Valachi answered questions about the men on them. McClellan directed that the charts be printed "exactly as they appear."itemHearing of October 9, 1963: final day of Part 1The last day of Valachi's public testimony, with further New York police and staff witnesses. The chairman stated a chart total of 338 persons, 289 of them identified by Valachi.itemValachi's executive-session testimony of October 29, 1963, released July 28, 1964Closed-session testimony on narcotics, made public in 1964. Valachi described one heroin deal in 1952 and going to Anthony Strollo, "Tony Bender," for money.itemCriminal record of Joseph Valachi, as printed in the 1963 hearing recordThe police and FBI identification record of Valachi, read into the record by Sergeant Ralph Salerno: arrests from 1921, Sing Sing sentences in the 1920s, federal narcotics cases from 1944, and Atlanta penitentiary entries.itemCriminal docket No. 23273: The United States vs. Joseph Valachi (Atlanta, 1962)The federal criminal docket for the June 1962 killing at the U.S. Penitentiary, Atlanta. It records the indictment of June 26, 1962, and Valachi's plea of guilty to second-degree murder on July 17, 1962.itemAtlanta penitentiary index card: Valachi, Joseph, No. 77320-A (1956)Prisoner index card from the U.S. Penitentiary, Atlanta: conspiracy to sell narcotics, Southern District of New York, five years and a $10,000 fine, received May 18, 1956, and stamped "Released on bail."itemAtlanta penitentiary index card: Valachi, Joseph, No. 82811-A (revised computation, 1962)Prisoner index card headed "Revised computation: corrected, 8-16-62": murder in the second degree and narcotics violations, sentence "Life" and 21 years, 8 months, 10 days.itemFBI 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.itemLa Cosa Nostra (FBI history page)The FBI's history essay on the Genovese family. It says that Valachi survived three attempts on his life in prison and testified before the Senate subcommittee on September 27, 1963.itemTestimony of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, September 25, 1963Kennedy opened the 1963 hearings. His prepared statement says that Joseph Valachi was "an insider" who had "broken the underworld's code of silence," and that "Cosa Nostra is run by a commission."itemJoseph Valachi testifying, 27 September 1963 (Library of Congress)U.S. News & World Report photograph by Warren K. Leffler of Joseph Valachi testifying before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (McClellan Committee) on 27 September 1963. A copy is stored here.itemJoseph Valachi testifying beside a chart, 1 October 1963 (Library of Congress)U.S. News & World Report photograph by Thomas J. O'Halloran of Joseph Valachi testifying before the Senate subcommittee on 1 October 1963 while a man points to a chart. A copy is stored here.itemJoseph Valachi testifying, 8 October 1963 (Library of Congress)U.S. News & World Report photograph by Marion S. Trikosko of Joseph Valachi testifying before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations on 8 October 1963, with organizational charts hanging in the room. A copy is stored here.itemS. Hrg. 100-906: opening of the 1988 hearings on Joseph Valachi's 1963 testimony (11 April 1988)Senator Sam Nunn opened "Organized Crime: 25 Years After Valachi" by recalling Valachi's 1963 testimony before the same subcommittee, with the 1963 charts hung in the hearing room. An FBI witness called Valachi the first member informant the Bureau developed.itemOrganized Crime: 25 Years After Valachi (S. Hrg. 100-906, 1988)Hearings of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, April 1988, in which FBI officials compared the 1963 Valachi charts with the Bureau's 1987 charts of the families. FBI testimony about its own intelligence, not court findings.