(Dan Tri) – Thanks to the information provided by a notorious assassin in the US in the 50s and 60s, for the first time the public learned about the existence of the mafia in the US, as well as how it operates and organizes its apparatus.

Joseph Valachi during a testimony before US senators in 1963 (Photo: Mafiabookreviews).

As an assassin who once spread terror in New York, fate turned Joseph Valachi into the most famous insider of the US government.

Valachi’s only goal at that time was to destroy the mafia gang that betrayed him and offered a reward of 100,000 USD for his life.

Before Valachi appeared before senators to provide information about the underworld, then-Director of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, J. Edgar Hoover, had never admitted the existence of the mafia in the territory.

`The mafia has no more secrets for the public to learn after Valachi’s stories. He explained everything and named the leaders in the underworld. Before Valachi revealed everything, the mafia was like that

Naughty childhood

Born on September 22, 1904 in New York City, USA, Valachi was the child of an Italian immigrant.

In his teens, Valachi began his path of crime by joining a group of petty thieves.

In 1930, Valachi joined the Reina criminal gang of boss Gaetano Reina.

Just five months after the gang war ended, several of Salvatore Maranzano’s subordinates banded together to murder him.

Journey back to prison and betray the gang

In 1963, Vito Genovese – a person who had a close relationship with Valachi – became the top leader of the Luciano gang thanks to a series of cunning plots.

Vito Genovese, the most powerful tycoon in New York City in the 50s and 60s, once had a close relationship with Joseph Valachi (Photo: mafiabookreviews.com).

On June 22, 1962, Valachi murdered another prisoner in 1962 because he suspected he had received orders from Vito Genovese to take his life.

In October 1963, Valachi testified for the first time before a subcommittee of the US Senate.

When Valachi proposed writing a memoir to expose the underground world, the US Department of Justice initially encouraged him, but then they prevented him from releasing the work.

A heart attack ended Valachi’s life on April 3, 1971, while he was serving a prison sentence in a federal prison in Anthony City, Texas, USA.