THE BLACK HAND FORUM

I would say that Michael's Son Mike is as good as it gets and the "Goombata" is more or less what I thought.

According to Mike Genovese (The son), there was no direct blood relation to Genovese in NY…however, they were goombata.

Thank you and your description of "cousins" was what I had in mind

I mean, I’m not an “expert” on either the Genovese family or Pittsburgh, but any direct familial relation seems unlikely to me. Vito Genovese was born in Ricigliano, Salerno province, Campania. His father Felice’s parents were actually from Alia, in Palermo province, Sicily, while his mother Nunziata Alluoto was either from Ricigliano or Monte San Giacomo, Salerno province. Michael James Genovese, on the other hand, was born in Pittsburg in 1919 to Antonio Genovese and Maria Orsola D’Angelo. Antonio Genovese, according to his US naturalization documents, was from Caserta province, while his mother was from somewhere in Campania. So, on the off chance that they somehow actually were related, it wouldn’t even have been through either of their Genovese sides.

Unless someone else has some info that I’m unaware of, I’d assume that the comment about them being “cousins” was tongue-in-cheek, due to them both happening to share a (common) surname, on top of the typical Italian custom of describing a good friend as “cugino mio”.

This has been discussed on more than one occasion but I never asked the Genovese experts here:
Michael Genovese from New York came up to camp one night with a Cadillac trunk full of pastries from Ferrara's'.
Pittsburgh Michael introduced him as his "Cousin from New York". Since I was going to be working in New York He gave me his number.
I was told to call him when I got settled in as you never know who could help you in the construction business in the big city.
I called and he picked me up and took me to dinner and told me to call if needed anything. I stayed out of trouble and never called
When this relationship was discussed here it indicated that Pittsburgh Michael was not related to the N.Y. Genovese's.
Like most Italian families back in the day, if your parents were close with another family, regardless of last name, it was Uncle and Aunt.
Does anyone know for sure if Pittsburgh Michael Genovese was a blood relative of the New York Genovese's?