Episode 1354
Joseph Valachi
Sun, 2021-Jan-17 00:37 UTC
Length - 2:19
Direct Link
Welcome to random Wiki of the Day where we read the summary of a random Wikipedia page every day.
The random article for Sunday, 17 January 2021 is Joseph Valachi.
Joseph Michael Valachi (September 22, 1904 – April 3, 1971) was an American gangster in the Genovese crime family who is notable as the first member of the Italian-American Mafia to, in 1963, acknowledge its existence publicly. He is credited with popularization of the term cosa nostra. Valachi was convicted of drug trafficking in 1959, and sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment. In 1962 while he and Genovese family boss Vito Genovese were in prison together, he murdered an inmate he thought was a hitman sent by Genovese, and was sentenced to life imprisonment. Valachi subsequently became a government witness, and the next year testified before a U. S. Senate committee in what became known as the Valachi hearings. He disclosed previously unknown information about the Italian-American Mafia, including its structure, operations, rituals and membership. His testimony was the first major violation of omertà, the mafia's code of silence, and the first concrete evidence that the Italian-American Mafia existed to federal authorities and the general public. Valachi died in prison on April 3, 1971.
This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:37 UTC on Sunday, 17 January 2021.
For the full current version of the article, see Joseph Valachi on Wikipedia.
This podcast is produced by Abulsme Productions based on Wikipedia content and is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.
Visit wikioftheday.com for our archives, sister podcasts, and swag. Please subscribe to never miss an episode. You can also follow @WotDpod on Twitter.
Abulsme Productions produces the current events podcast Curmudgeon's Corner as well. Check it out in your podcast player of choice.
This has been Brian Standard. Thank you for listening to random Wiki of the Day.
|
|
Buy WotD Stuff!!
