In July 2004, the FBI filed an affidavit in the District of New Jersey in which it outlined an investigation into the Genovese family. The affidavit was prepared by FBI Special Agent Jason T Brown, who had been assigned to the case in October 1999. The target of the investigation was ‘Larry Dentico, an acting capo and purported consigliere of the Genovese LCN family.’
An informant willing to testify was cooperating witness 1 (CW-1), a Genovese associate who had provided the FBI with information for over 10 years. Most of the information CW-1 provided related to associate Joseph Scarborough, but there were a couple interesting titbits to be found:
I found the information about Dentico and Manna interesting, especially that Manna’s wife was still receiving money from Genovese operations as recently as 2004.In March 2004, CW-1 stated that Joseph Scarborough has a $100,000 loanshark loan that was given to LV4 [loanshark victim 4] in Bloomfield, New Jersey. According to Scarborough, LV4 had stopped making payments on the loan and Scarborough wanted to ‘straighten him out’. Scarborough stated that he can’t right now because of recent law enforcement activities. Scarborough also indicated that he was angry with [Genovese member] Michael Crincoli who vouched for LV4. Crincoli has been setting Scarborough up to look bad in front of Larry Dentico, the consigliere of the Genovese LCN family. Scarborough said the next time Crincoli says anything negative about the way he’s handling the loanshark operation, Scarborough will ‘knock him (Crincoli) on his ass.’
[…]
In May 2004, CW-1 recorded a conversation with Joseph Scarborough. Joseph Scarborough stated that he wants to insure that he receives his monthly gambling tribute, because he has to wants to [sic.] continue to pay Larry Dentico and Ida Manna (Ida Manna is the wife of incarcerated Genovese LCN capo Bobby Manna).
Regarding Dentico’s position, I’m a little sceptical about him being consigliere. Looking at member sources who were active around that time, Joe Massino testified that Dentico was ‘a captain on the panel’, and Anthony Arillotta has repeatedly described Dentico as being on a three-man panel (consisting of Dentico, Mario Gigante, and Ernie Muscarella, with Artie Nigro later taking Muscarella’s place). Arillotta in particular would be in a position to know considering he was a Genovese member reporting direct to an administration member.
It's also quite interesting that the affidavit identifies Dentico as being an ‘acting capo’ rather than an official captain. Quite a lot of former members of the West Side regime ended up becoming captains by the 1990s/ 2000s, so perhaps this could indicate some of them were only acting.
The affidavit also describes the history of the Genovese family, including the testimony of Vincent Cafaro. However, interestingly, Brown’s characterisation of the testimony slightly but significantly differs from what Cafaro stated before Congress.
The above reads to me at least as Cafaro saying that Salerno became the official boss prior to his stroke and continued in that titular position while Gigante was the ‘actual boss’ in the background. This gets us back to the operational/ organisational framework.Cafaro testified that he was formally inducted into the Genovese LCN family as a so-called ‘made’ member during the mid-1970s. He served for some years as Salerno’s chief lieutenant and appointment secretary. From that vantage point, he knew that Salerno had served as ‘underboss’ of the Genovese LCN family and was boss until he suffered a stroke in early 1981.
Following Salerno’s stroke, Vincent ‘Chin’ Gigante made a power play and became the actual boss of the family, although Salerno remained active as the titular boss, particularly in representing the Genovese LCN family in the commission. In addition to being boss, Gigante controlled his own regime or ‘crew’ and operated from his headquarters in a social club at 208 Sullivan Street in lower Manhattan.
It’d be interesting to find out more about what Cafaro exactly told the FBI. His testimony before Congress would indicate that Salerno was not the official boss, but it’s unclear whether Brown was referring to that testimony specifically. Cafaro did testify in federal court against Bobby Manna in the 1980s, so maybe his testimony there conflicted with what he said about the administration elsewhere. Or it could also be simply down to Brown garbling or misconstruing Cafaro’s testimony.
