Latest / Who Did What Now With Katie Charlwood / 39 - Anna Genovese - The Bisexual Mob Queen

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39 - Anna Genovese - The Bisexual Mob Queen · Who Did What Now With Katie Charlwood

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: You're listening to an Airwave Media podcast. Hi everybody, and
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: welcome back to Who Did What Now? The history podcast
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: that's not your history class with me your friendly host,
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Kerry Charlwood, history harlote and reader of books. Well, I've
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: had a fun couple of days, and actually a fun
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: couple of days, not like, oh it's been fun, when
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: actually it's been fucking terrible. So I spently became of
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: my kids and we just kind of chilled out and
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: watched movies and we are currently making our way through
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: lego Jurassic World because my wee girl ended up deleting
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: the entire like the entire like eighty seven percent progress
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: that they had. So now where we're starting from the
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: beginning and we're going to try and we're gonna try
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: and do this. It's gonna be fun. It's gonna be great.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: It's gonna be fine. Anyway, And I was on TikTok,
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: like because I'm on TikTok, Instagram and Twitter, and I
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: started putting a bit more effort into Instagram and Twitter
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: or the last like twenty four hours really, and it's
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: it's already paying off. So yeah, that's what I get
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: for not being fucking lazy for like a day in
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: my life. But yeah, on TikTok, I realized that I
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: had connected with quite a few. I was mutuals with
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: quite a few, like museums and libraries. So I was like,
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: you know what, I was gonna ask for recommendations to
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: see if anybody could like link me up, you know,
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: because currently, whenever I do go somewhere, like when I
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: do leave the county, I generally sort of revolve around
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: like visiting museums and history or go sites. And so
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: I started getting all these recommendations and now I'm friends
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: with like the Dublin City Library and and the Okishawa
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: I've pronounced that wrong, like museum in Canada. And it's
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: just been, uh, it's been fun. It's nice because I
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: think it'll be nice to build this little historical community.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: I mean, I was already friends with the Devil's Porridge
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: Museum just because they were called the Devil's Porridge Museum.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: I'm like, we're friends now, yep. But you know it's
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: it's because like what I've discovered is I have trouble
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: like connecting and finding a lot of stuff because I
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: haven't been so active and because I don't really have
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: a lot of free time either. At the moment, I
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: like I can't get into like new podcasts and stuff
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: like that. So I ended up finding like like a
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: lot of these women's history podcasts, like through Twitter, just
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: by happenstance. Sheer luck really that someone who I was
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: following mentioned something and it linked to another thing, which
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: linked to another thing, which linked to this podcast, and
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: now we're best friends. I'm gonna have me listen later on,
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: probably because I have painting to do. Yeah, if you're
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: wondering why, it's a little bit echoway. I am currently
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: in the process of painting children's bedroom furniture, and I
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: have taken a moment to record the effectively prologue of
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: the podcast. So there's two things happening right now, really
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: because it's February. Three things. One it is the month
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: of all because Valentine's is coming up. Two it is
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: in America it is Black History Month, and then in
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: UK and Ireland it is LGBT History Months. So I
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: was like, oh, I'm gonna I want to like encompass
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: as much of this as possible, so I can't promise
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: the Valentine's one is gonna be romantic. Ah hah. I'm
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: wanna cover some like Black American history, but I also
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: want to cover some like LGBT history. So yeah, fuck it,
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: we're gonna We're gonna cover a bunch of shit this month.
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: And don't forget, of course, we're gonna cover some historical
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: true crime. I'm not gonna let you down like that.
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: We're gonna talk about bisexual women. Although not to be weird.
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: But why why in America is Black History Months in
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: February because it's like the shortest month of the year.
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: Just a thought, Just a thought, I'm just saying. Anyway,
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: So we're gonna cover a few things. I'm gonna cover
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: a few things this month, just gonna just gonna get
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: to it. I had so much fun getting Lucrezia Borgia done.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: Bittysodes are coming back this week as well, so yay.
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: I'm doing stuff just because, like some pieces of history,
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: I couldn't find a lot of information on and I
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: was like, fuck it, I'm telling the story anyway. Script
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: what's happening, I'm doing it. You're not stopping me, bitches,
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: But I know what you're thinking. You're thinking. Quit your
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: jibber jabber in fact me, in fact you, I will.
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: But first we've got to get our source on.
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: So we have Gangsters, Swindler's Killers and Thieves, The Lives
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: and Crimes of fifty American Villains by Lawrence Block, Notorious
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: New Jersey, one hundred True Tales of Murders and Mobsters.
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: Scandals and Scoundrels by John Blackwell. The Complete Idiot's Guide
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: to the Mafia.
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: A fascinating exploration of the real people who inspired the
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: Sopranos by Jerry Capecchi.
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: Also, I was on Newspapers dot Com a lot for this,
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: so that that subscription is definitely paying for itself at
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: this point. So we have nineteen fifty three, Anna Genovesi
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: testifies against husband via test Morning and Divorce Case reveals
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: secrets on Costello's crime syndicate, The Evening Times, Pennsylvany in
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: nineteen fifty three. We've got Intamous New York, The New
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: York Post, we have Newspapers dot Com. There was a
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: lot of them. There's a lot of scouring guys, a lot,
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: a lot of deep scarring. And finally, of course I
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: have to I have to give big kudos out to
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: the podcast Mob Queens which sent me on this path.
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: And honestly, I'll be giving you basically the cliff Notes
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: version of Anna Jenavezi's history if you really want that full, comprehensive.
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: If you want to learn more about her, absolutely go
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: listen to Mob Queens. It is funny and endearing and
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: full of fantastical fun facts and yeah, lots of things
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: about this bisexual icon a by coon if you will. Okay,
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: so let's get into it, shall we? I said comfortably good,
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: then we'll begin. So I'm gonna apologize now for any
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: poorly pronounced names, because even though we're all Europeans, I'm
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: mainly of Scottish and Irish descent, so I'm I'm more
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: of a milk bottle, you know, from pale blue to milk.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: It kind of me and Italians are what I like
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: to refer to as spicy white, So there's some herbs
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: in there, so there's yeah, anyhow, that's how that is.
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna try, but if I fuck it up, I'm sorry.
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: So.
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: Anna was born Giovannina Patullo on the twenty eighth of
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: October nineteen oh five. Her parents are both Italian Catholic immigrants.
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: Because of course, they are. I mean, what did the
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: Irish and the Italians do? We just fucked off everywhere
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: and we're like, hey, we're here now, you can't stop us.
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: We just slowly invade and then we spread ha. So
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: we don't really know too much about it. Anna's life
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: sort of pre first marriage, just because she she lived
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: through World War One and didn't really do anything too
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: spectacular during that time, and then it goes into the
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: Roaring twenties, so it was not too much happening. But
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: in nineteen twenty four, Anna marries her first husband. Anna
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: marries her first husband, Gerard Vernotico. So their marriage is
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: not exactly approved of by the family because they obviously
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: she's the oldest daughter and the fact is they expect
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: her to marry well and Jerry here he's a baker
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: in Litaly. But they expected her to marry up because
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: you know, she's smart, she's beautiful, she's just fucking cool.
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: They expected big things, but they were like, okay, cool. AnyWho.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: By like three years later, they have a daughter, Marie,
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: and they moved to Greenwich Village, so they're in this
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: tenement building in Greenwich Village. He's a baker he's out
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: early prooven the dough, and Anna she's working evenings in
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: sort of clubs and bars and stuff in Greenwich Village
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: making some dough. So Vero Genevese he had some rackets
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: going on in sort of that area at the time,
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: but we don't really know if they crossed paths too much,
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: but they were fourth cousins. Verro was married to Donatella
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: and it wasn't a happy marriage to say the least,
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: and Viro was known to get violent with her, at
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: least once in front of company. We know that he
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: gave her a smack after she spilled some wine. So
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: Viro and Donepella they were living out Queen's at the time,
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: and Donazella she catches consumption, so she's got tuberculosis and
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: in nineteen thirty one she well, she dies right, but
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: her death is pretty suspicious. She's basically left alone in
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: his apartment. Her like death certificates kind of dodgy and effectively,
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: the theory is that somebody like gave us a morphine
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: or something and just like bumped her off because maybe
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: Vida was sick of waiting for her to die. But
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: a few months later, Jerry was for some reason on
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: the roof of the tennement building and he is strangled
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: to death while his daughter Marie plays on the stairwell nearby.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: And surprise, surprise, Vita was the one who ordered the
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: hit on Jerry. Two weeks later, Anna marries Vito. Weirdly enough,
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: though so partly, Anna didn't want to get married but
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: didn't really have any choice. Matter could probably have something
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: to do with the fact that she was six months pregnant.
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: The idea is that Vero so Verro basically organized his
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: wife's end and Jerry's end so that he could marry Anna.
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: It's like two years later, our Vio allegedly orders a
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: hit on fellow mob star Ferdinand the Shadow Bocia, and this,
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: you know, causes a wee bit of a star and
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: by nineteen thirty five, Vero decides to buy deep Cut,
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: which is an actual name for a mansion. Somebody named
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: a building deep Cut. I'm not saying it's weird, I am.
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: I am saying it's weird. That's a stupid name for
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: a building. Where do you live deep Cut? Who is
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: it supposed to be intimidating? I don't fucking know. Vero
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: buys is fucking mounsioned with a stupid name unless did
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: he name it after he bought it, and a stupid
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: name mansion out in Middleton Township, New Jersey. So he
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: moves his family out of New York. Fun sure, I'm
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: sure that she fucking loved that. So at this point,
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: you know, it's World War two starting to kick off,
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: and back in state there's like big crackdown on like
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: organized crime. And in nineteen thirty seven, Bochia's body is
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: Bokia Bochia, that guy, his body is pulled from the
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: Hudson River, and Vito is basically, you know, accused of
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: murder and not just you know, not just murder. He's
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: accused of like uh, he's that big long list of
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: organized crime shit. And he says and he goes no,
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: thank you, and gets the heck at Dodds. Effectively, he
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: fucks off back to Italy and leaves Anna in charge
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: of all this shit, and Anna, being a completely sensible person,
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: actually decides no, I don't want to stay in New
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: Jersey and she moves into this fucking super luxury apartment
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: at twenty nine Washington Square, So she's quite literally living
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: directly above Eleanor Roosevelt. Yes, like that's how that's how
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: swanky and posha this place was. And at this point
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: as well, Anna's raising three kids. She's got her daughter Marie,
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: Viria's daughter Nancy, and then their son Phil, the one
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: she was pregnant with when they got married. So because
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: Virio has you know, fled the US, Anna is left
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: to try and figure the fuck out how to make
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: some damn money, because not only are you in the
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: middle of the Great Depression, but like in a crazy
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: random happenstance, She's super lucky because like prohibition ends, and
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: pubs and clubs, bars they can all like shoot up again.
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: And the mob they already had like a thing. They
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: had protection rackets and stuff, and they would bribe police
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: and officers and whatever. Effectively, the mob was kind of
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: running all these bars and pubs in New York, so
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: like a round about Lower Manhattan and Greenwich Village. They
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: one of the things they really leaned into was gay
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: bars because when prohibition ended in nineteen thirty three, like
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: you know, bars and clubs, they could sell on alcohol again.
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: But there was effectively like this at this like gay prohibition,
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: so like clubs and bars would be could like get
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: these massive fines, could get raided and they could even
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: lose their liquor license if they served you know, gay people.
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: So if members of the gay community were you know,
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: being served in their bars and they were known so
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: sidebar like, some like cops and stuff would go undercover
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: and do these like sting operations and they would act,
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: you know, what they thought gay person would act like,
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: and they would try and you know, lure a another
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: patron and they would try and like lure like gay
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: people you know, back to theirs for a nightcap and
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: would end up like arresting them or just beating the
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: shit out of them. Sometimes both Anna's like fuck this
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: were gay of soldiers, and Anna uses this opportunity to
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: like she you know, slides in there and she starts
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: running drag clubs and gay bars. And so it's like
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: super super risky for Anna to set up what is
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: effectively like a hen because gay bars, gay bars are
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: not the place for y'all to have your fucking hen
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: nights and shit and for straight people to be absolute
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: cunts just saying no, gay bars were safe spaces for
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: the LGBT community. It was the only place where they
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: get to like they didn't have to look over their
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: shoulder constantly. So Anna Shenevesei. She is quite literally using
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: her mob power, using her mob queen influence to protect
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: the LGBT community, and it's fucking awesome. Basically uses like
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: her mob connections because she's like the first lady of
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: you know, the New York Mafia. You know, she uses
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: like her mob ties to like block the police and
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: stop shit happening. And she like siphons off the prophet
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: with the mob and Viro and all that. Well he's
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: stuck in Naples or whatever. So she opens up her
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: first club, club Caravan in nineteen thirty nine, and like
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: all the wadding stuff would be like drag kings and
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: they would have drag queen performers, and you know, this
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: was sort of like a stepping stone to the one
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: eight one club. Now. The one e one club was
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: I Love Us was known as the homosexual Coba Cabana.
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: I had the Golba Goba Cabana. I love it. I
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: love it so much. And that was where she met
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: her girlfriend Jackie. Jackie was also like a drag king
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: known as Duke, and they would go out driving in
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: Duke's car. So duke. You know, they had the short hair.
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: They drove about in this beautiful white car and and
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: like even like the performers who were at the club.
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: They often like referred to Jackie as like Anna's boyfriend.
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: But like Jackie isn't the only female relationship she had.
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: She also dated one of her like cashiers in one
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: of her clubs. You know, it wasn't considering she kept
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: spending quite a lot of her time in Greenwich Village.
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: Can we really be surprised? So while Viros in Italy
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: key supporting fascism, he he is, I fucking kid you
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: not if you did not already despise this man for
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: being a wife beater and just a piece of shit.
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: He invests in Missolini's party, Like he gives money to
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: the Fascist party of Missolini, one of the ax's forces
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: in World War Two. Hitler's buddy, Like, what the actual fuck, Viro?
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: You're a mobster.
• 18:59
  Speaker 4: I don't expect you to be, you know, a fucking angel,
• 19:03
  Speaker 4: but I don't expect you to be like, let's exterminate Jews,
• 19:07
  Speaker 4: you fucking pace of shit.
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: Anyway, Basically the end of the war nineteen forty five,
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: Viro is extra nited back to the USA, he goes
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: on trial for Bokhia Bocia's you know, fucking assassination. The
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: charges are dropped because the two main witnesses, in a
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: move that surprises absolutely no one, turn up dead. What
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: you don't say, so Viriro Jenavese, He's like, I don't
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: like y'all being in New York.
• 19:47
  Speaker 5: We're moving back the fuck out to New Jersey because
• 19:51
  Speaker 5: he decides he wants his wife to be like a
• 19:53
  Speaker 5: good little wifey and get the fuck back to you know,
• 19:57
  Speaker 5: being a mobster's wife as supposed to actually having any
• 20:01
  Speaker 5: autonomy in her life.
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: That being said, their relationship is tempestuous at best. Like
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: we all know, Vidro has no problem lay in his
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: hands on a woman, but it's so much worse than
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: you think. And he does what is probably one of
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: the most terrific things you can do. And Vido, being
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: of completely saying mind and shit, sets fire to her hair,
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: like hair is very important for women. There's a whole
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: speech and flabag about it, how it's not just hair,
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: but like she had such long, beautiful locks, they were gorgeous,
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: and he like he did it to shame her, embarrass
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: her and too like just dominate her. Who the fuck
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: sets fire to someone's hair? What the fuck is wrong
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: with you? I'm mad, clearly, I'm angry, like of course,
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: and you've got some family members who are like, oh no,
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: they really loved each other. They just had passion. There's
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: a difference between like ripping someone's clothes off and setting
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: fire to their hair. I feel like I shouldn't have to,
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: you know, explain that to anybody, But there you go.
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: So Anna, after all of the abuse she's continuously suffering,
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: decides to say fuck this for a game of soldiers
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: and she walks out on Vero. In nineteen fifty so
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: she wants a divorce, you know, nice and simple, and
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: they go to court and he's supposed to pay her
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: like two hundred dollars per week in maintenance. It's kind
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: of like alimony, but like alimony before you get divorced.
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: This gets dismissed because Viro's.
• 21:58
  Speaker 6: Like, I can't pay, I have no money, because you know,
• 22:02
  Speaker 6: he's a prick. Nineteen fifty one, she drops a divorce
• 22:06
  Speaker 6: suit because reasons.
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: And around this time, her one eight one club gets
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: raided by undercover State Liquor Authority agents and loses it's
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: liquor license before disorderly conduct. Which disorderly conduct, I hear
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: you ask it had gay people, they are LGBTQ plus patrons.
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: That's what I had and as such, fuck it, yeah,
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: that's what they did. They closed it down. It's almost
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: as if Veto arranged it just to spite her, because
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: he's a vindictive cunt. AnyWho. Anna at this point is
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: forty six years old and living with her mother in
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: little Italy without any money because there's no like maintenance
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: coming in and no business because the club that she
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: was a hostess at and would probably have returned to
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: is shut down by you know, bicketed cops. I was
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: about to be like, are there any other kind? Uh haha,
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: says me, currently working on my acab like embroidery. I'm
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: cool like that. Not to be outdone. In nineteen fifty three,
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: Anna does what no mob wife has done before. She
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: testifies against her husband in open court. So getting divorced
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: in the past is was a lot more difficult than
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: being divorced now, especially considering that even back then a
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: woman was expected to be you know, subservient and be
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: the property effectively of her husband. So she, you know,
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: applies for applies for divorce, sue as for divorce su
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: as for divorce on the grounds of extreme cruelty, probably
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: citing the fact that he set.
• 24:05
  Speaker 3: Fire to her hair.
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: So she asks for like three hundred and fifty dollars
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: in alimony, which in today's money would be just over
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: three and a half grand. It becomes more than just
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: like a general divorce proceeding because there she is, sitting
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: in her fucking mink coat in her finery, starts listing
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: off all of these criminal activities that her husband ex
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: husband is involved in. So there are you know, you've
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: got the gambling shit, You've got the tracks, the bookies,
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: the protection and of course drug trafficking because like once
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: prohibition ended, you know, which was the mob was making
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: so much money, like just getting booze in the country
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: that when prohibition ended, they were looking for new so
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: horses of revenue, and one of the things they did
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: was traffic drugs in one of the things again, you know,
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: like the kind that Virio gave to Missolini's son. Oh
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: my god, Vio was Miscellini's son's fucking dealer. She's talking
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: about all the shit she's giving names, she's giving places,
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: she's given dates. So like she's talking about like you know,
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: the Italian lottery that she's running, like the numbers games,
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: and she's brother they're like earning like thirty grand a week,
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: and that she was the one with the combination of
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: the family seven New Jersey Like if that's not that's
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: that's glorious. So she's like naming all of these like
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: other mob leaders, like including Frank Costello and which is
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: going to be important in a wee second. And she's
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: talking about how like Vio was like physically abusive and
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: that she and the reason she didn't like come forward,
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: well missus Genevie's why didn't you come through and tells.
• 26:04
  Speaker 4: This before because I was fucking scared he was gonna
• 26:07
  Speaker 4: kill me, like that time he set fire to not
• 26:09
  Speaker 4: fucking hair.
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: Like of course, Vido being the fucking pricky is, he's
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: counter suing. He's like she's a bitch who's too emotional.
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: She's always like hot tempered and angry, and and she's
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: a degenerate who has been intimate with women, and like
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: you've got like twenty witnesses coming forward, going he's such
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: a good husband, like like that time Beata's previous wife
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: like then huh okay. Also in addition, furthermore, there's this
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: gossip columnist called Dorothy kilgollan and who just so happens
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: to be friends with Frankie Costello, the rival mob boss
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: who Anna mentioned in her suit. Well, in her column
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: she writes, if I were missus Via Genevese, I would
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: be the avul careful crossing streets, which is speculated to
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: be some kind of public warning like on behalf of
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: Costello to Anna, Now, was this a warning because he
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: was name dropped and he was telling her to shut
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: her mouth? Or was it a warning because he was
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: Vitro's rival and he was trying to protect her. Whom's
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: to say? What we do now? But like when it
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: comes time, so like everybody else testifies and does their
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: shit in court, but when it's Anna's turned to testify,
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: she's suddenly under the weather. She's too sick to you know,
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: come to court. Like in fact, she's so ill that
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: she cannot leave her home. And and Dorothy's like it's
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: a good bed that missus Anna GENOVESI will continue to
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: be too sick to talk to any grand jury investigating
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: crime along the way front. All she wants is a
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: divorce and a healthy settlement from Vito. So at this point,
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: Anna moves on to Club eighty two out in the
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: East Village, waiting for waiting for the ruling and their divorce,
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: and while she's there, the judge just throws out the
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: divorce suits. So they're still married, but they're just a
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: straight So like Vito and Anna are still married, but
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: they're now like this estranged. So she's there at Club
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: eighty two and she cultivates this fucking the gay scene.
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: It's the Club Eity two. It's in Manhattan, Clubbity two.
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: It's in Manhattan. It's run by it's run by the mafia.
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: It's another mob place, and it's the tagline of the
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: club is Who's No Lady? And so like it's got
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: like drag kings and drag queens and it becomes like
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: the hot spot, like you've got like politicians and celebrities.
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: They're all like hanging out in this glamorous, fun, vibrant
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: spot like dragon. Like the place wasn't just drag. I
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: had like cabaret and stuff, and like even Barbas streussand
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: played there like that, like that's how cool this place was.
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: So like Anna actually ends up testifying against it, being like,
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: oh no, I didn't own this club which was full
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: of disorderly whatnots. It was gang owned, so it's nothing
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: to do with me. I was but a hostess. Blah
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: blah blah blah. When she was at the one eight
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: one club, she was working alongside Stephen Franz and he
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: was supposed to be keeping an eye on Anna. Will
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: Viro was away like prevering cocaine for the Fascist Party
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: in Italy during World War Two, and France, in a
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: crazy random happenstance, manages to be strangled in the Bronx.
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: Allegedly the hit was like put out by Viro, which
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: wouldn't be surprising because it's very much his m O,
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: because you know, that's how Jerry was off, That's how
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: Franz was off. You know, will Anna is continuing to
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: work at Clubbery two and suspiciously surviving, testifying and somehow
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: surviving literally ratting out a mob king, which is quite
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: interesting because but the theory is there. It's very strange though,
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: because like there should be like a ton of documentation
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: on Anna, like as as a mob queen as the
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: wife of like the head of the mafia, like as
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: like this mafia being like the wife of you know,
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: the mafia chief, like, she should have like a fuck
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: ton of information on her, but a lot of the
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: information is either missing or redacted. So like, it is
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: highly probable that Anna ended up turning informant for like FBI,
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: and that's why she managed to be so protected. So like.
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: By nineteen fifty seven, Vito ends up absorbing and taking
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: over the Luciano crime family from Costello and obviously being Viro,
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: he renames it the Genovez the Qum family, surprisingly enough,
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: and a cruel twist of fate for poor Viro here,
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: he ends up going to prison for possessing and distributing
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: narcotics after just a year in charge. Oh dearie me
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: lips a daisy. Okay, So, one of my favorite stories
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: about Anna is like at her daughter's wedding, she shows up,
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: like obviously her and Viro are estranged, and she shows
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: up in a fucking lures gown. I don't know if
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: you've ever seen lyrics in general, but it is it is.
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: It is not it is not something a wallflower wears.
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: It's very much a fuck you dress. Look at me,
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: I'm so hot, get to fuck. I'm here, I'm queer,
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: I'm sexy as fuck, and you didn't kill me, motherfucker,
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: which is very much a good for her. And I
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: bet her hair looked fucking fabulous too. She's like, you
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: tried to burn off my hair. Look at how gorgeous
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: malicious looks, and my magnificent mane is now motherfucker. AnyWho. So,
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: up until like the late sixties, she's still working in
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: Club eighty two, and she leaves to kind of take
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: care of family. She doesn't quit working, but she gets
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: more of a daytime job. She ends up in the
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: very fancy Warwick Hotel in guest Relations, where I shit
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: you not. She manages to befriend Carrie fucking Grant because
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: of course she does, because it's Anna Genovesi and she
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: can do whatever the fuck she likes. And she manages
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: to get another stroke of good luck, which is in
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: nineteen sixty nine, Vito dies from a heart attack at
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: the United States Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri.
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: Ba ba ba ba.
• 33:25
  Speaker 3: Skip forward to nineteen eighty two, so Anna is in
• 33:30
  Speaker 3: Saint Vincent's hospital, in New York, and her end is
• 33:34
  Speaker 3: it's very close, and she's there with her daughter Marie,
• 33:38
  Speaker 3: and from her first husband and her granddaughter Mia, and
• 33:41
  Speaker 3: they're you know, they're there and they want to share.
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: Their last moments with her. And a very glamorous woman
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: in a pant so kind of like Marlena Dietrich sort
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: of sort of vibe, she comes in and she sits
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: with Maria and me. It's Jackie, her partner after all
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: these years, still there in January nineteen eighty two. In
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: January nineteen eighty two, Jackie made sure she was there
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: with the love of her life, Anna Jenovese, and Anna
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: passed away surrounded by the women in her life that
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: she loved, Marie, her daughter, Maya or granddaughter, and Jackie,
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: her partner. And so ends the story of Anna Genovese,
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: the bisexual mob queen. Her history conveniently forgot. So what
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: have we learned today? We learned that, oh my god,
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: oh my god, oh my god, go good, I I forgot.
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: I forgot a bit. Okay, so appendices So, so this
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: is absolutely fantastic. So, according to Anna's grandchildren, when Anna
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: wasn't you know, too flush with cash a man came
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: to visit her and she was telling him information regarding
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: you know, the crime family is the Mafia, the Mob,
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: And that man who was sitting at her kitchen table
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: taking notes was Mario Pozzo, the man who wrote The Godfather,
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: the book it was a book before it was like
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: a trilogy movie. That it is quite possible that Don
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: Corleon was based on fucking Vio Geno Vase, Like but yeah,
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: there you go. Also, in addition, furthermore that you go,
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: there's some extra bit and I can retally forgot about
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: that and tomic right now. But also what have we
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: learned today? That art often imitates life. We learned that
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: if a man set fires to your hair, you have
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: absolutely every right to try and destroy his life and
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: take all of his money. I think that's fair. I
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: think that's fair. Lorex gowns are perfect for any dramatic entrance,
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: and if it seems like it's a suspicious death, it
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: is quite definitely a suspicious death. We also learned that
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: the Mob was heavily involved in the gay scene from
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: like the nineteen twenties on like what cool. So yeah,
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: if you liked my retelling of this story, please go
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: into Apple podcasts going to Spotify rate and review five stars.
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: If you go into Apple podcasts, if you write anything
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: in like the review spot it really really bumps me
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: up the algorithm and it means more people say this
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: and it will be It just helps me go up
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: the Apple podcast charts. And I think I told you
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: all that, Like I was charting simultaneously in like five
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: countries like like the US, Canada, Mexico I think as
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: well at one point Germany and like the UK or
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: something like that. But it was, it was really really awesome.
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: I'm so like like wow, yeah, if you if you
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: want to support me, like please like follow me on
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: Twitter and Instagram. I know a lot of you have
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: me on TikTok, but if you want, please please please
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: follow me on the on Twitter and TikTok. I'd love
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: to like grow this community. Like I just if the
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: pandemic has taught as nothing else it is that we
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: need connection and I want to connect. I really do.
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: I am currently working on a website. It's just very
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: slow because I'm one person and I am not technologically gifted.
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: But it is on its way. It is coming and
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: I'm very excited. And you know what actually yes, it
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: is recommendation time. I am gonna for reading my first
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: fiction book and a long time actually I started reading
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: was Crazy Rich Asians.
• 38:14
  Speaker 7: I mean, the movie is glorious, but the book, the
• 38:17
  Speaker 7: book is so good, so good watching. You know what,
• 38:22
  Speaker 7: Seeing as it's Black History Months in the US, I
• 38:24
  Speaker 7: think you should go onto Netflix and just watch all
• 38:27
  Speaker 7: the seasons of Dear White People just because you may
• 38:30
  Speaker 7: as well watch some Jordan Peele really just you know,
• 38:35
  Speaker 7: and you're here's also just so you know, you don't
• 38:37
  Speaker 7: have to wait till Black History Month to watch stuff
• 38:41
  Speaker 7: with black people on it.
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: You can watch it anytime of the year. I'd actually
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: recommend that in general. Now for listening. This is going
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: to be a huge surprise for you all, but I'm
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: going to suggest the podcast Mob Queens because because it
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: is far more informative and probably funnier than me. Yeah,
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: it's funnier than me. You should definitely definitely go check
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: that out. And yeah, so why don't you go do
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: that and I will see you all next time. I'm
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: going to bid you for a while Adios or revoir
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: of what does then my friends? Ah, bye bye,