The fascinating lifetime of mafia spouse Anna Genovese is the topic of an upcoming HBO sequence that can discover her function in Manhattan’s drag membership scene, her illicit lesbian romances, and her daring testimony towards her infamous crime boss husband Vito Genovese.
Anna turned the Italian-American mobster’s second spouse just some weeks after her first husband was mysteriously murdered in 1932. The businesswoman ran drag golf equipment and homosexual bars in Manhattan, reportedly having numerous lesbian affairs.
Twenty years after she married into the mob, she reached a new degree of infamy when she left Vito in 1950, in the end breaking the principles of the Sicilian mafia, a.okay.a. Cosa Nostra, by revealing his unlawful legal dealings within the divorce proceedings.
For years, her story was overshadowed by the legal exploits of her ruthless husband, who was additionally her fourth cousin and the top of the Genovese crime household. Little was recognized about her till the discharge of Jessica Bendinger and Michael Seligman’s 12-episode podcast Mob Queens in 2019.
Wild: The lifetime of Anna Genovese (pictured in 1957) is the topic of Lena Dunham’s upcoming HBO sequence Mob Queens, which is being tailored from the 2019 podcast of the identical title
Crime household: Anna was the second spouse of Italian-American mob boss Vito Genovese (pictured), who was additionally her fourth cousin
The writers spent 4 years researching Anna’s life after Seligman found a cache of letters written by drag queens whereas cleansing out the storage unit of an older good friend who had handed away.
‘Anna simply blows us away the extra we be taught,’ Bendinger instructed the Los Angeles Instances. ‘As sophisticated as she is, she’s part of queer historical past.’
Anna, whose maiden title was Petillo, grew up in New York Metropolis because the eldest little one of Italian-Catholic immigrants. Bendinger and Seligman defined within the first episode of their podcast that the earliest point out of Anna that they might discover was in a 1910 census file. She was listed as being 5 years and dwelling on West Houston Road.
At 19, she married her first husband, Gerard Vernotico, within the spring of 1924. Anna’s great-niece instructed the podcast hosts that the longer term mob queen had ‘married for love,’ however the union was ‘not seemed upon kindly’ by her household as a result of he was a ‘younger man of no means.’
The couple welcomed their daughter Marie in 1927, and so they moved to a tenement house on Sixth Avenue. Whereas census information listed Gerard as a carpenter, he was really a baker, in line with Anna’s great-niece.
Court docket information from the time present that Anna labored nights at a membership in Greenwich Village. Vito was working rackets within the neighborhood, but it surely’s unclear if their paths ever crossed.
The mob boss was married to his first spouse, Donata Ragone, and so they lived in Queens with their daughter Nancy. The podcaster’s referenced the out-of-print e-book ‘King of Crime’ by Dom Frasca wherein it was reported that Vito was violent towards his first spouse.
In keeping with the e-book, he as soon as hit her with the again of his hand as a result of she had by accident spilled wine on considered one of his affiliate’s sleeves. Donata died of tuberculosis in September 1931, although there have been rumors that Vito performed an element in her dying.
Rumors: Anna married Vito in 1932, simply two weeks after her first husband Gerard Vernotico was murdered. It has been claimed that Vito ordered the hit as a result of he wished to marry Anna
Historical past: Anna began working drag golf equipment and homosexual bars in Manhattan after Vito fled to Italy in 1937. She would siphon the earnings to the mob and Vito whereas he was in exile
Months later, Anna’s husband Gerard was discovered strangled to dying on the roof of a constructing in March 1932. Nobody was ever convicted of the crime, however informant Joseph Valachi claimed Vito put a success on Gerard as a result of he wished to marry Anna.
Two weeks after her first husband was killed, a pregnant Anna mentioned ‘I do’ to Vito, however in line with her great-niece, she did not have a alternative within the matter.
‘She hated Vito,’ she claimed on the second episode of Mob Queens.
In 1934, simply two years into their marriage, Vito allegedly had fellow mobster Ferdinand ‘The Shadow’ Boccia killed. A yr later, Vito bought ‘Deep Minimize,’ a 1928 mansion in Middletown Township, New Jersey, and moved his household out of New York.
Across the similar time, there was a crackdown on organized crime led by New York Particular Prosecutor Thomas E. Dewey. When Boccia’s physique was pulled from the Hudson River in 1937, Vito stood accused of the mobster’s homicide and different crimes, together with racketeering. He fled to Italy, leaving his spouse to run his crime enterprise.
Anna left New Jersey and moved right into a swank house at 29 Washington Sq., dwelling straight above Eleanor Roosevelt.
Prohibition had resulted in 1933, but it surely paved the best way for ‘Homosexual Prohibition,’ which prohibited members of the homosexual group from consuming at bars and golf equipment.
Bendinger and Seligman defined in episode 5 of their podcast that bars may lose their liquor licenses for serving homosexual patrons on the time as a result of it was thought-about ‘disorderly.’
Coincidence? In 1945, Vito was extradited again to the U.S. and went on trial for homicide, however the fees had been dropped after two key witnesses had been discovered lifeless
Daring: Anna reached a brand new degree of infamy when she left Vito in 1950, in the end breaking the principles of the Sicilian mafia by revealing his unlawful legal dealings within the divorce proceedings
Revenge: Anna, who accused her husband of home abuse, instructed the courtroom: ‘Vito has his sticky fingers nearly all of the rackets’
Anna was elevating three youngsters — her daughter Marie, Vito’s daughter Nancy, and their shared son Phil — when she began working drag golf equipment and homosexual bars in Greenwich Village and Decrease Manhattan.
She used her mob ties to dam police efforts to persecute homosexual patrons and would siphon the earnings to the mob and Vito whereas he was exiled in Italy.
In 1939, she opened her first membership, Membership Caravan, which featured singers and performers, together with drag king Malvina Schwartz, who was referred to as Buddy ‘Bubbles’ Kent. She later co-owned the 181 Membership, a cabaret venue that was referred to as ‘the gay Copacabana.’
There have been rumors that Anna was bisexual or a lesbian, which her granddaughter confirmed on the Mob Queen’s podcast. She mentioned Anna was romantically concerned with Gwen Saunders, a cashier at considered one of her golf equipment. She additionally opened up about her grandmother’s relationship along with her girlfriend, Jackie, a drag king referred to as Duke.
In 1945, Vito was extradited again to the U.S. He went on trial for Boccia’s homicide, however the fees had been dropped the subsequent yr after two key witnesses had been discovered lifeless. The kingpin moved his household from New York to New Jersey, and Anna’s time within the membership enterprise got here to a halt.
Anna walked out on Vito in 1950, and it was organized in courtroom that he would give her $200 per week in separate upkeep, which was basically alimony and not using a divorce. The upkeep was later dismissed after Vito claimed he could not afford the funds.
She dropped her divorce go well with in 1951, and that very same yr, her beloved 181 Membership was raided by undercover state liquor authority brokers and misplaced its liquor license. At age 46, she was dwelling along with her mom in Little Italy with none cash or enterprise.
Declare to fame: In 1957, Vito took management of the Luciano crime household from Costello and renamed it the Genovese crime household
Busted: After only a yr in cost, he went to jail for possessing and distributing narcotics
Loss of life: Vito died from a coronary heart assault at the USA Medical Heart for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri, in 1969. His funeral was held in New Jersey (pictured)
In 1953, Anna did what no mob spouse had ever performed earlier than: She testified towards her husband in open courtroom. She introduced on the divorce go well with on the grounds of ‘excessive cruelty’ and requested the choose for $350 every week in alimony (about $3,600 in at this time’s cash).
‘Vito has his sticky fingers nearly all of the rackets,’ she she testified on the Freehold County Courthouse in New Jersey.
Anna, carrying a mink coat, mentioned the crime household had been concerned in a myriad of legal actions, together with narcotics trafficking, casinos, labor rackets, and dog- and horse racing.
Finish of her life: In 1982, Anna suffered a stroke and died within the hospital. She was surrounded by her daughter Marie, her granddaughter, and her lover Jackie
She claimed that she managed playing ventures that generated $30,000 per week and acknowledged she was the one one with the mix to the household protected in New Jersey.
Anna namedropped different mob leaders, together with Vito’s rival Frank Costello, in her testimony. She additionally alleged that Vito had been bodily abusive towards her in his marriage, saying she had been afraid to speak about his crime profession up to now as a result of he had threatened her.
Vito filed a counter-suit for divorce on the grounds of desertion. His lawyer tried to discredit Anna by characterizing her as an untrustworthy and hot-tempered lady who was intimate with different ladies. Greater than 20 witnesses took the stand to say Vito was nothing however a loving husband.
Dorothy Kilgallen, a syndicated gossip columnist, reported on the case, writing: ‘If I had been Mrs. Vito Genovese, I might be terrible cautious crossing streets.’
It was later revealed that the journalist was pleasant with Costello, who had gifted her a diamond cross. The podcast speculated that Kilgallen might have issued a public warning to Anna by way of her column on the behalf of Costello.
When it was time for Anna to testify in entrance of a grand jury, it was reported she was too sick to depart her residence.
‘It is a good guess that Mrs. Anna Genovese will proceed to be too sick to speak to any grand jury investigating crime alongside the waterfront,’ Kilgallen wrote, in line with the podcast. ‘All she desires is a divorce and a wholesome settlement from Vito.’
Anna went on to handle Membership 82, the mafia-owned drag efficiency venue within the East Village, as she awaited the choose’s ruling in her divorce go well with.
Meet Anna: British actress Ruth Wilson is about to painting the mafia spouse in a brand new HBO sequence, Mob Queens, on which she may even function an government producer
Taking it to the small display: Dunham is adapting Jessica Bendinger and Michael Seligman’s Mob Queens podcast right into a tv drama of the identical title
In 1953, Vito allegedly had mobster Steven Franse murdered due to Anna. Franse was in control of supervising Anna whereas Vita was in exile in Italy, and the mobster was enraged by her alleged affairs and the lawsuit towards him.
Valachi claimed Vito ordered him to arrange the homicide of Franse, who was strangled within the Bronx, although fees had been by no means introduced towards him.
A choose later threw out their divorce go well with, and the couple remained married however estranged. Anna continued to work at Membership 82 and one way or the other managed to outlive ratting out her ex in courtroom.
In 1957, Vito took management of the Luciano crime household from Costello and renamed it the Genovese crime household. After only a yr in cost, he went to jail for possessing and distributing narcotics.
He died from a coronary heart assault at the USA Medical Heart for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri, in 1969.
Anna left Membership 82 within the late Nineteen Sixties to assist handle her household, however she continued to work. She obtained a job on the swanky Warwick Resort working in visitor relations. In keeping with her granddaughter, she befriended Cary Grant whereas she was there.
In 1982, 13 years after Vito’s dying, she suffered a stroke and died within the hospital. She was surrounded by her daughter Marie, her granddaughter, and her lover Jackie. She was buried subsequent to Vito within the Genovese Household vault in St. John Cemetery, Queens, New York.
Dunham is adapting Bendinger and Seligman’s Mob Queens podcast right into a tv drama of the identical title. She is writing and government producing the HBO restricted sequence with author Dennis Lehane.
The Ladies star is slated to direct the venture starring actress Ruth Wilson, who can be serving as an government producer.