After the U. S. Department of Justice first encouraged and then blocked publication of Valachi's memoirs, a biography heavily influenced by those memoirs and by interviews with Valachi was written by journalist Peter Maas and published in 1968 as The Valachi Papers, forming the basis for a later movie of the same title starring Charles Bronson in the title role.

" According to Mafia turncoat and government informant, Joe Valachi, Anastasia ordered the murder of Schuster, who was then shot dead outside his home on March 9, 1952.

After Masseria's murder, Valachi became a bodyguard for Maranzano.

Valachi remained in this position until the time he became an informer.

Then in 1963 Joseph Valachi, a soldier in the Genovese family, under indictment for murderering a fellow inmate, broke the code of omertà.

While incarcerated at a federal prison in Atlanta, Genovese soldier Joseph " Joe Cargo " Valachi believed he was being targeted for murder by the mob on the suspicion that he was an informer.

Valachi told investigators that he thought the victim was Joseph " Joe Beck " DiPalermo, a Lucchese soldier coming to kill him.

* September 22-Joseph Valachi, Genovese crime family soldier, and government informant.

* Joseph Valachi, soldier in the Genovese crime family

In his biography The Valachi Papers, Mafia turncoat Joe Valachi insisted Murder, Inc. did not commit crimes for the Mafia, but this is contradicted by other sources, and Albert Anastasia was also head of a Mafia crime family.

Even with all the growing animosity Lucky Luciano couldn't leave out his old associate, Vito " Don Vito " Genovese who had his group of distributors including Anthony " Tony Bender " Strollo, Vincent " Vinnie Bruno " Mauro, Frank " The Bug " Caruso, Salvatore " Sam " Maneri, Vincent " Chin " Gigante and even Joseph " Joe Cago " Valachi who were all associated with the " Papalia-Agueci Network " of the Magaddino crime family of Buffalo and led by members, John " Johnny Pops " Papalia and Alberto Agueci of Hamilton and Toronto, Ontario.

To avoid a capital murder trial, Valachi agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors against the Genovese family.

Twelve years later, government witness Joe Valachi described a conversation with Genovese crime family boss Vito Genovese about the Moretti murder:

Joe Valachi mentions a mysterious " Sandino " arbitrating disputes as the Genovese family consigliere in the 1940s.

Valachi fought on the side of Salvatore Maranzano, who eventually defeated the faction headed by rival Joseph Masseria.

* The Valachi Papers ( 1972 ) – Luciano was portrayed by Angelo Infanti

* In the 1972 film The Valachi Papers, Maranzano is portrayed by Joseph Wiseman.

* The Dying of the Light: The Joseph Valachi Story by Thomas L. Jones

* Genovese is portrayed in the 1972 film The Valachi Papers by Lino Ventura.

This public accusation against Anastasia was made in 1963 by government witness Joseph Valachi, but many people in law enforcement were skeptical of it.

* The Valachi Hearings on organized crime, initiated by Senator John McClellan

When the American mafioso Joseph Valachi testified before the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the U. S. Senate Committee on Government Operations in 1963 ( known as the Valachi hearings ), he revealed that American mafiosi referred to their organization by the term cosa nostra (" our thing " or " this thing of ours ").

* 1937-1957 — " Sandino " — mysterious figure mentioned once by Valachi

Joe Valachi, a government informer, claimed it was the assassin Buster from Chicago, a character some people believed was invented by Valachi to hide the fact that he was the real killer.

The Valachi Papers, which told the story of Mafia turncoat Joseph Valachi, is widely considered to be a seminal work, as it spawned an entire genre of books written by or about former Mafiosi.

Joseph " Joe Cargo " Valachi ( September 22, 1903 – April 3, 1971 ), Italian American, also known as " Charles Chanbano " and " Anthony Sorge " was the first Mafia member to publicly acknowledge the existence of the Mafia.

He made many films in Europe, including The Poppy Is Also a Flower ( 1965 ), Triple Cross ( 1966 )-a story of Eddie Chapman starring Christopher Plummer, Mayerling ( 1968 ), L ' Arbre de Noel ( US: The Christmas Tree aka When Wolves Cry ) starring William Holden ( 1969 ), and several films with Charles Bronson including Red Sun, Cold Sweat and The Valachi Papers.

Under his leadership, the committee conducted the famous McClellan Hearings, more commonly known as the Valachi Hearings which investigated organized crime activities across America and centered on Teamsters head and mafia associate, Jimmy Hoffa in 1957 and other leading mafia figures of the era such as Sam Giancana of Chicago.

While in prison, Valachi feared that mob boss Vito Genovese had ordered his death as a traitor.

( Valachi and Genovese were both serving sentences for heroin trafficking.

) After time with FBI handlers, Valachi came forward with a story of Genovese giving him a kiss on the cheek, which he took as a " kiss of death ".

A couple of his most famous roles include the portrait of corrupt police chief Tiger Brown in 1963's The Threepenny Opera and mob boss Vito Genovese in The Valachi Papers.

According to mobster Joseph Valachi, Genovese was a murderer with his own set of rules:

In 1962, an alleged murder threat from Genovese propelled mobster Joseph Valachi into the public spotlight.

In June, Genovese supposedly accused Valachi, also imprisoned in Atlanta, of being an informer and condemned Valachi to death.

During this period, though, De Laurentiis produced such films as Barabbas ( 1961 ) a Christian religious epic, Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die, an imitation James Bond film ; Navajo Joe ( 1966 ), a spaghetti western ; Anzio ( 1968 ), a World War II film ; Barbarella ( 1968 ) and Danger: Diabolik ( 1968 ), both successful comic book adaptations ; and The Valachi Papers made to coincide with the popularity of The Godfather.

* September 22 – Joseph Valachi, American gangster ( d. 1971 )

* April 3 – Joseph Valachi, American gangster ( b. 1904 )

Valachi described in detail the organizational structure of the Mafia, unmasked many of the leaders and recalled old feuds and murders.

The Italian-American mafioso Joe Valachi famously broke the omertà code when in 1963 he publicly spoke out about the existence of the Mafia and testified before the United States Congress.

Joseph Valachi was born in East Harlem, New York City, on September 22, 1903.

Valachi was the driver for this band, and his ability to make a quick getaway earned him a reputation as a rising star in the underworld.

In 1923 Valachi was arrested in the aftermath of a botched robbery ; he subsequently pled guilty to attempted burglary and was sentenced to eighteen months imprisonment.

In October 1963, Valachi had testified before Arkansas Senator John L. McClellan's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the U. S. Senate Committee on Government Operations that the Mafia did exist.

Valachi claimed to be testifying as a public service and to expose a powerful criminal organization that he blamed for ruining his life, but it is also possible he was hoping for government protection as part of a plea bargain in which he was sentenced to life imprisonment, avoiding the death penalty for a murder he committed in prison on June 22, 1962.