Why did Joseph Valachi Testify?

[JoelTurner]

While the general circumstances are well-known: Vito Genovese thought that he was a rat, he thought Joseph DiPalermo was going to kill him, and wound up killing the wrong guy; there are some parts that are still confusing.

Here’s a better look at what happened.

Valachi testimony - Narcotics background:

-Claims that he got into narcotics in 1952 when Salvatore "Sally Shields" Shillitani approached him looking for a loan

-Supplier was a millionaire, Dominick TNU (Dominique Albertini?) in Le Havre, France

-In his first deal, he was partnered with Anthony Strollo, Vito Genovese, Alessandro Pandolfo, Vincent Mauro, John Stoppeli, & Pasquale Moccio. Strollo & Genovese pocketed the shares of the last two.

-A few months later, Genovese called him to Dominick “Dom the Sailor” DeQuarto’s house and admonished him for dealing in narcotics

Valachi Timeline:

-21 Mar 1956: Joseph Valachi, his BIL Giacomo Reina, Pasquale Moccio, Pasquale Pagano, and Lawrence Quarterio are convicted on narcotics charges

-Apr 24 1956: All aforementioned are sentenced to max 5-yrs & a $10K fine

-Mar 23 1957: Valachi’s verdict is reversed by an appellate court because of the statute of limitations

-Jun 5 1959: Valachi is indicted on narcotics charges and flees

-Nov 17 1959: Valachi is caught is Thomaston, CT

-Nov 20 1959: Valachi makes bail

-Mar 11 1960: Ralph Wagner, identified as Valachi’s right-hand man, is arrested in Houston, TX. He had jumped bail the week prior

-Dec 28 1961: Valachi’s found guilty

-Feb 14 1962: Valachi’s sentenced to 20-yrs in prison

-Jun 22 1962: Valachi kills John Saupp mistaking him for Joseph “Joe Beck” DiPalermo

-Jun 26 1962: Valachi’s indicted on a murder charge

-Jul 17 1962: Valachi pleads guilty to the murder charge and gets life in prison

-Aug 4 1963: Valachi flips

Valachi Testimony - Incident

-Valachi & Vito Genovese were cell mates

-Vito Agueci, a Canadian Magaddino family member & Valachi’s co-defendant, asks him to make an appointment with Vito Genovese

-Vito asks him to walk around the yard so that he can identify him (I’m confused which Vito he’s referring to Genovese or Agueci). Valachi walked 50ft but went inside because it started to rain.

-Genovese’s attitude changed after the above incident. He said that if an apple is touched, it has to be removed from the barrel and then kissed Valachi’s hand

-In the showers, a man told Valachi that the greaseball (Vito Agueci) had “ruined him”, that is marked him as an informant.

-Valachi goes to solitary confinement and has to be coaxed out by Ralph Wagner

-Johnny Dio asks him when he’s going to shower and he thinks it’s a set up.

-By Jun 22, he hadn’t left his cell for days. He goes to the yard and sees Mike Coppola, Charlie Barcelona, Peter LaPlaca & Joseph DiPalermo; he decides to strike first.

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1)I hadn’t known that Vito Agueci was the one who identified Valachi as an informant.

2)I wouldn’t be surprised if Valachi had been a rat. Even according to his own testimony, his conduct was very bizarre:
He acknowledges that voluntarily going into solitary confinement was the prison equivalent of walking into a police station yet he did it

He had been a solid reliable member for decades. Additionally, he had longstanding relationships with guys like Genovese & Dio. Logically, they’d have no reason to take the word of Agueci whom they would have known literally for a few days.

The Genovese family had a history of sniffing out rats especially among East Harlem drug guys (Giannini, Petrelli, Indiviglio). This combined with his paranoia makes me think he was cooperating

[motorfab]

Regarding narcotics and "Dominique", I also wondered for a long time who it was. In The Valachi Papers, Maas indicates that it is probably Dominique Reissent.

There are 4 Dominique who can match the profile: Albertini, Nicoli, Venturi & Reisent.

-It seems very unlikely that it is Albertini or Nicoli. They were what we call here “caïds”, in other words bosses. No chance that individuals of this caliber would make transactions with someone like Valachi or Shillitani (with their caporegimes or bosses it is however more likely).

-Venturi could possibly correspond, but he was rather connected with Montreal through his brother Jean who worked there officially as a representative of the pastis brand "Ricard". But the Venturis brothers, who worked under the control of Dominique Nicoli, were more connected to The Bonanno Crime Family or the Montreal trafficker Lucien Rivard (among others). At the time of Valachi era, he was not a "nobody" (quite the contrary) but he was perhaps still a little young to be involved in large drug transactions.

-Reissent is the most credible candidate: he was connected to Shillitani and worked for Joseph Orsini who himself worked with the Genovese & Lucchese Crime Families

No idea if he was a millionaire or not, but he was an intermediary between the French/Americans/Italians & Turks to buy morphine base from them

However, Reissent was from Marseille (and not Corsica as Mass says) and was active between there and Paris. But Paris is not very far from Le Havre. The main mobster in Le Havre was Jean Andréani and I don't think I saw any "Dominique" active in Le Havre (according to the FBN in addition to Andréani were active in Le Havre: Antoine Galiano, Alain Leroy & Georges Pontillo)

[Hired_Goonz]

He was cooperating and admits to it in the Valachi Papers. Maas writes that after his final arrest he started giving investigators information about the heroin trade "but never about the Cosa Nostra" which I mean lol. Seems like he was walking a very fine line, unwilling to formally flip but was hoping to get a reduction in his sentence for some info.

[B.]

Yeah, he had given info to the FBN already.