Sixty years ago: 'The Real Thing'

Sixty years ago...

In May 1964, the FBI distributed to its field offices an English translation of an early version of Nick Gentile's personal Mafia history, Vita di Capomafia. (This version apparently was from a manuscript prepared by Gentile many years before an edited and updated Vita was published in Italy near the end of 1963. See our October 2020 issue for more information.)

Perhaps inspired by that informative Gentile work, the U.S. Department of Justice in June 1964 persuaded its Mafia informant Joseph Valachi to begin writing his own autobiography. Valachi penned a revealing and often bitter memoir of more than a thousand pages, which he called, The Real Thing.

Valachi's handwritten manuscript was typed up by Justice Department staff and became source material for The Valachi Papers by Peter Maas. The manuscript is held by the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. Information is available at jfklibrary.org. The document's text is available online through the American Mafia History website, mafiahistory.us.

Joseph Valachi will be the focus of the November 2024 issue of Informer: The History of American Crime and Law Enforcement.