Anna Genovese, The Mob Wife Who Married New York’s Most Powerful Mafioso
Everett Collection Historical / Alamy Stock PhotoAnna Genovese was heavily involved in Manhattan’s drag scene and reportedly had multiple lesbian affairs.
Of all the mob wives on this list, perhaps none were as glamorous as Anna Genovese. She was the second wife of Vito Genovese, one of New York’s most powerful mobsters. The two got married almost immediately after Anna’s first husband was mysteriously murdered in 1932. But Vito Genovese likely didn’t realize how controversial his new wife would be.
Anna Genovese’s life has been the subject of a 12-part podcast called Mob Queens, the hosts of which sat down with the Los Angeles Times in 2019 to share some of the shocking — and often spicy — details of Anna Genovese’s story.
“Anna just blows us away the more we learn,” host Jessica Bendinger said. “As complicated as she is, she’s a part of queer history.”
Giovaninna “Anna” Petillo, as she was known before she became a mob wife, grew up in New York City and was raised by Italian immigrant parents. In 1924, at the age of 19, she married her first husband, Gerard Vernotico, with whom she had a daughter, Marie, in 1927. Gerard worked as a baker, while Anna worked at a nightclub in Greenwich Village.
It’s unclear when she and Vito Genovese first met, but she quickly caught his attention, and he wouldn’t take no for an answer. After his first wife, Donata Ragone, died of tuberculosis in 1931, he set his sights on Anna. Then, in March 1932, Gerard was found strangled to death on the roof of a building. There was no conviction for the murder, but mob informant Joseph Valachi claimed that Vito had put a hit out on Vernotico.
Just two weeks later, Anna accepted Vito’s proposal, and they were quickly married.
Anna was reportedly miserable in her marriage and hated Vito, but she felt trapped. She made the most of her new husband’s money and connections, though.
Although Prohibition ended in 1933, the new alcohol laws didn’t apply to everyone. Specifically, members of the queer community were still prohibited from drinking at bars and clubs — and some bars could even lose their liquor licenses if they served gay patrons.
So, Anna Genovese used her connections to create safe havens for queer people. She began running drag clubs and gay bars, using mob connections to keep the police away and forking over some of the profits to the Mafia in exchange. Her first club, Club Caravan, opened in 1939 and hosted some of the era’s biggest drag queens. She also co-owned the 181 Club, which people referred to as the “homosexual Copacabana.”
Meanwhile, Vito was exiled in Italy. For Anna, this was ideal. It also allowed her to explore her sexuality, and she reportedly had multiple affairs with several women throughout this period. Even when Vito came back to America in 1945, she made it clear she was done with him.
They officially split in the early 1950s, but that wasn’t the end of it. Anna testified against Vito in 1953 — something no other mob wife had ever done — and even implicated other Mafiosos in her testimony.
Despite this, no harm ever came to her. She lived on, running her clubs and raising her family, until she died in 1982 after suffering a stroke.
