![]() Joe is soon cleared of suspicion and, with the blessing of Genovese, his new boss, becomes engaged to Maria. While hiding out, Joe spends time with Reina's daughter Maria, and the two fall in love. ![]() Worried that he may now be suspected of betraying his boss, Joe asks Reina's widow to hide him in her attic. Before Joe and Gap can carry out the deed, however, Genovese and Luciano arrange for Maranzano's murder. Ignoring his own rules, Maranzano orders Joe and Gap to kill Genovese, whom he suspects is plotting against him. The well-read Maranzano then picks Joe to be his driver. ![]() Soon after, Maranzano, now the undisputed boss of the New York underworld, brings all the mobsters together and spells out rules of conduct for his new "family." After demanding that his men "forgive and forget," Maranzano stipulates that no family member may attack another. Maranzano refuses, and two months later, Masseria is slain by Luciano and Genovese, another one of his lieutenants. During Reina's funeral, Charles "Lucky" Luciano, one of Masseria's lieutenants, shows up and offers to make peace with Maranzano. Over the next few months, the war rages, until Reina is gunned down. Maranzano then declares that Masseria must be eliminated, as he has refused to make a deal that would end the gang war. Maranzano announces that Gaetano Reina has been chosen as Joe's personal goombah, or crime mentor, and assigns Joe to be Reina's driver. Joe pledges his loyalty, burning a piece of paper in his hand to symbolize his commitment to omerta, the vow of silence. Soon after, during a meeting with his many underlings, Maranzano formally invites Joe to join his organization. Ferrigno is slain, and Maranzano, while acknowledging Bender's unquestioning obedience, commends Joe for his initiative. Bender refuses, however, saying that Maranzano ordered only one murder. One night, when several members of Masseria's gang show up at Ferrigno's apartment, Joe tries to convince Bender to have them all killed at once. Joe rents an apartment near Ferrigno's, and with Bender, Gap and a hired gunman, watches his comings and goings. Impressed by Joe's quick thinking, Maranzano engages him in a plot to eliminate Steven Ferrigno, one of rival gangster Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria's men. Joe disguises himself as a waiter and, with Maranzano's help, avoids arrest. He then shows up, dripping wet, at the Italian restaurant where Gap, Bender and Cosa Nostra boss Salvatore Maranzano are dining. During the ensuing chase with police, Joe drives his getaway car into the nearby river. When one of his men tries to rob some unsuspecting passersby, Joe berates him, delaying his own escape. Upon his release, Joe returns to crime and leads a small gang of thieves in a silk shop break-in. Sharing his cell are tough mobsters Tony Bender and Dominick "The Gap" Petrilli, who tell him about the sprawling criminal enterprise called Cosa Nostra and the warring Italian gangs that dominate the Eastern seaboard. There, Joe, now serving a life sentence, shares his past with Ryan: In 1929, Joe, who grew up poor in New York, lands in Sing Sing following a botched robbery. Hurt and enraged by Genovese's lack of trust, Joe finally agrees to talk with FBI agent Ryan and is transferred to another prison. The don, who is treated like royalty by the prison guards, is disbelieving when Joe insists that he did not set Genovese up and, after giving Joe the "kiss of death," puts a $20,000 price on his head. Although prison authorities threaten to remove him from solitary confinement if he does not cooperate with federal investigators, Joe remains silent and again demands to see Genovese. Later, Joe beats another convict to death, mistakenly believing the man was about to ambush him. Joe's request is refused, however, and after thwarting would-be assassin Salerto in the prison showers, Joe is sent to solitary confinement for protection. Furious over the charge, Joe asks to speak with his longtime Mafia boss, Don Vito Genovese, who is serving time for the same drug charges that landed Joe in prison. In 1962, soon after his arrvial at the Atlanta State Penetentiary, New York mobster Joseph Valachi is accosted by fellow inmates and accused of being a police informant.
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