Valachi/ Persico

Did Valachi testify against Carmine Persico?

Remember reading it in a book. Might of been Valachi papers.

Never seen it mentioned anywhere else, though.

He’s listed as a Genovese member on the 1963 charts, but aside from this I don’t believe anything else was said

Yes he did. Valachi said that perisco was “always everywhere” on the streets when things were going down and a rising star if I remember correctly. I think he also mistakenly said he was a member of the genovese family. This was when they were trying to lock persico up over the hijacking case and called on valachi to testify that perisco was a dangerous mafia guy. How much valachi actually knew about persico is questionable as he had been locked up for years at this point (since the late 50s I believe?) and valachi was a seasoned old time westsider, not sure how much he is running into a 20 something year old Colombo button who ran with the gallos at the time they were both on the streets?

That was it - that hijacking case was a record long case that kept getting delayed and mistrialed as persico kept chucking money at top lawyers. So by the time they convicted him the judge gave him a serious amount of time. Really he should’ve taken a few years at the start. At the same time though, those years he stayed out the can fighting the case were integral to him becoming boss and building his power base - and that’s what matters most to these sociopaths so - swings and roundabouts

Valachi knew little of Persico, only that he was close to certain guys in the Genovese family and was a rising star. Valachi labeled him as a Genovese member with the Greenwhich crew.

Correct again Giacomo.

In fact, before he was prepped by the feds for trial, I don't think that Valachi had ever even heard Persico's name before, let alone had ever actually met him.

Valachi was from another generation. More importantly, he was a East Harlem guy, a Manhattan guy. Joe Valachi couldn't find Brooklyn with a map if his life depended on it.

Despite his testimony before the 1963 Senate Hearings (which, by the way, was extremely accurate by comparison,) Valachi knew little outside of his small realm. And if you notice, with the exception of the Persico hijacking trial he took the stand for, Valachi never again served as a trial witness in any other case. The Persico case was the only case the feds tried using him in because his dismal, lack-luster performance convinced them to put Valachi out to pasture.