As I'm sure many of you know, after Anna Genovese divorced her husband Steve Franse was killed for failing to keep an eye on Anna while Vito was away in Italy. I am looking online for pictures of Anna and Franse, but so far have found nothing. If anybody has anything and is willing to post it here I would be grateful. Thanks in advance.

you can google it, and some pics come up.

Somewhat related... a few years ago, a gal here claimed to be Vito Genovese's grand daughter. She never made a single post but was very active in the shoutbox. Not sure if she really was related, but she made the claim and talked about him a lot... again, in the shoutbox so there is no record. Can't remember her board name but it had Genovese in it somewhere.

I have tried Google search. Unfortunately the only picture of Anna Genovese that comes up is one of those colorized mob souvenir cards, which is no good to me. Nothing comes up for Franse.

What rackets was Steve Franse involved in? Working with a non-Italian was common for Luciano but for Genovese he's the first name I've seen.

Franse was a nightclub owner, specifically of queer and lesbian joints in and around Greenwich Village. He ran the Club 181, at 181 Second Avenue, which was notorious for its cross-dressing staff and floorshows featuring drag kings and drag queens. In the 1940's before he ran the 181, Franse ran a well-known lesbian bar called Howdy's. The 181 closed in 1953 but promptly reopened at 82 East 4th Street as the Club 82. In 1937, Genovese deputized Franse to keep an eye on Anna while he (Vito) was in Italy. This certainly implies that at that time Franse stood very well with Genovese and the organization generally. Given that Greenwich Village vice was his stock in trade, I would guess that Franse was probably one of Tony Bender's men. The story is that Franse allowed Anna to more or less run the 181 as she chose, which allowed her plenty of opportunity to hook up with the club's lesbian staff and performers. I am not sure of Franse's ethnicity. He may have been Italian. (His stone on findagrave.com is clearly Catholic.)