Anna Vernotico: What Happened To Vito Genovese’s Wife?

Anna Vernotico was an Italian-American businesswoman in the Italian mob and the wife of Vito Genovese. Anna’s husband Vito was an Italian-born American mobster who mainly operated in the United States. He rose to power during Prohibition as an enforcer in the American Mafia. He was one of the most powerful American crime syndicate bosses from the 1930s to the 1950s.

Anna Vernotico: Bio Summary

Who Was Vito Genovese’s Wife, Anna Vernotico?

Anna Vernotico also known as Giovannina “Anna” Petillo Genovese was born on 28 October 1905. She was born Giovaninna Petillo as the eldest child of Italian-Catholic immigrants, Aniello Vincenzo Petillo and Concetta y Cassini Genovese. Her siblings were Nicolas, Peitra, Ferdinand, and Mario Petillo.

Anna Vernotico was erroneously said to be a sibling to mobster David Petillo but they were cousins. There isn’t much information about Anna’s early life available. Her educational details are not known. She was 19 years old when she got married to her first husband, Gerard “Gerry” Vernotico. She became Gerard’s wife in 1924.

Anna and Gerard gave birth to a daughter, Marie Vernotico Genovese. Anna is said to have been a housewife while her husband Gerard was a carpenter, though Gerard was in fact a baker at a bakery in Little Italy and “had nothing.” Per Court records, at the same time, Anna had been working evenings in one of the clubs in the Washington Square Park neighborhood, near or in Greenwich Village.

Reports have it that, mobster Vito Genovese who would later marry Anna was either responsible for or involved with the murder of Anna’s husband Gerard Vernotico. Vito was married to Donata Ragone who passed away in 1931. After his wife’s death, Vito showed interest in marrying Anna, who was still married to Gerard Vernotico.

On March 16, 1932, Anna Vernotico’s husband Gerard Vernotico was found strangled to death on a Manhattan rooftop. On March 28, 1932, Vito Genovese married Anna. Anna is said to be Vito’s cousin via her mother, Concetta y Cassini Genovese. Anna and Vito had a son Philip Genovese. Vito had a daughter Nancy Genovese with his late wife.

Anna Vernotico became a businesswoman in the Italian mob. She played a key role in Manhattan’s drag bar scene in the middle of the 20th century. Two years into Anna’s marriage to Vito Genovese, Vito killed gangster Ferdinand “The Shadow” Boccia. New York Special Prosecutor Thomas E. Dewey started cracking down on organized crime and Boccia’s body was found.

One of the hitmen Vito Genovese hired for the job admitted to police that the commission had come from Vito. Vito who was accused of killing Boccia and committing other crimes such as racketeering, fled the U.S., leaving the bulk of his business up to Anna. Anna was left to help formulate a source of revenue for the crime family at a time when most in the nation were struggling severely, as it was mid-Great Depression.

ALSO, READ: Donata Ragone: How Did Vito Genovese’s First Wife Die?

Anna Genovese also ran nightclubs and gay and drag bars in Lower Manhattan and was reportedly having several lesbian affairs. Eventually, Vito was extradited to the States and was placed in custody, standing accused of the 1934 murder of Ferdinand “The Shadow” Boccia. Two key witnesses were found dead which led to the authorities freeing Vito, under which circumstances he was reunited with Anna.

Vito Genovese instigated a move from Manhattan to Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey, where they lived luxuriously, but Anna’s club career came to an end. Anna walked out on Vito in 1950, and it was arranged in court that he would give her $200 per week in separate maintenance, which was essentially alimony without a divorce. The maintenance was dismissed after Vito claimed he couldn’t afford the payments.

Anna reportedly dropped the divorce suit in 1951. She had moved out of the family home in New Jersey. She decided to testify to Vito’s involvement in criminal rackets, an unheard-of action by the wife of a mob figure. She asked the judge for $350 per week. Vito filed a counter-suit for divorce on the grounds of desertion.

Anna revealed that Vito ruled the Italian lottery in New York and New Jersey, bringing in more than $1 million per year, owned four Greenwich Village nightclubs, a dog track in Virginia, and other legitimate businesses. Anna worked at the upper-crust Warwick Hotel in guest relations, later in life. She is the subject of the 12-episode podcast Mob Queens (2019), hosted by writers Jessica Bendinger and Michael Seligman.

What Happened To Vito Genovese’s Wife?

Anna Vernotico suffered a stroke and was hospitalized at St. Vincent’s, where she died. She died in January 1982, at age 76, in New York, USA. Anna was buried next to Vito Genovese, in the Genovese Family vault in St. John Cemetery, Queens, New York. Vito who was convicted on narcotics conspiracy charges and sentenced to 15 years in prison, died on February 14, 1969, at age 71. He died of a heart attack at the United States Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri.