Genovese had proven that he could thrive in hostile situations when he fled to Italy in 1937 to avoid a murder rap in the United States. Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini had mounted a campaign to rid Italy of the Mafia, but Genovese managed to befriend Il Duce and even supply drugs to the dictator's brother-in-law. As a token of his friendship with the dictator, Genovese arranged a hit on radical journalist Carlo Tresca who had long been a thorn in Mussolini's side. But when Il Duce's regime started falling apart, Genovese simply switched sides, helping the American Army clean up the black-market trade in southern Italy, secretly taking over those operations for himself. Genovese had a knack for landing on his feet.
In 1944 Genovese returned to New York where he chafed under the leadership of Frank Costello while managing to maintain the demeanor of a loyal soldier. Genovese felt that he, not Costello, should have been named boss of the Luciano family, and he intended to right that wrong. He slyly argued for the execution of New Jersey boss Willie Moretti in 1951, reasoning that Moretti, who was suffering from dementia as a result of untreated syphilis, was a liability and had to be eliminated before his loose lips got everyone into trouble. This may have been true, but Moretti's Jersey boys also provided the muscle behind Costello, and eliminating Moretti would weaken Costello. But Costello stayed one step ahead of Genovese and made a pact with Albert Anastasia to provide the same services Moretti had.
Genovese had been outmaneuvered, but he bided his time until 1957, when he ordered the failed hit on Costello and then a successful hit on Anastasia, ostensibly to help Carlo Gambino take over Anastasia's family. With Costello's power severely diminished, the stage was set for Don Vito's ascendancy.
On November 14, 1957, just 20 days after the attempt on Frank Costello's life, 58 mobsters from across the country assembled in the rural upstate New York town of Apalachin. Vito Genovese had pushed for the Apalachin Conference, as it later became known, and it's generally believed that this was where he planned to have himself crowned boss of all bosses.
At this time the syndicate still hadn't made up its mind about narcotics. On the one hand, mobsters saw almost limitless profit potential in dealing drugs, but many of the bosses also recognized the risks. Authorities could look the other way when it came to gambling or prostitution, but government officials�at least the ones who hadn't already been corrupted by the mob�were hell-bent on squashing illegal drug use in the United States. Lucky Luciano, among others, felt that the narcotics trade would result in prosecutions and convictions that no amount of bribery could prevent and eventually the syndicate's dominance over the underworld would erode
Don Vito Genovese, however, could not resist the riches that drugs produced, and he, more than any other mob leader, wanted to expand the syndicate's involvement in narcotics. Luciano and Lansky felt that this would destroy all that they'd built, so together with Frank Costello, who was hungry for a taste of that cold delicacy called revenge, they plotted to bring down Genovese. They invited Carlo Gambino, who now headed the family formerly controlled by Albert Anastasia, into their conspiracy. Genovese mistakenly thought of Gambino as a solid ally because he had helped the foxy Gambino eliminate Anastasia.
The gangsters invited to the Apalachin Conference, most of them supporters of Genovese, gathered at a stone mansion owned by a local businessman named Joseph Barbara who had sent his wife out the day before to pick up enough steaks to feed a small army. Shiny luxury cars jammed the driveway and lined the road outside Barbara's 58-acre estate. Inside the house the mobsters were getting comfortable, settling in for their meeting.
Suddenly, a cadre of New York State troopers raided the house. The mobsters fled in panic, some running across the fields that surrounded the house in their fancy suits and shiny wingtips, desperate to get to the woods where they hoped they could escape. Others, like Genovese, jumped into their cars and sped off only to be stopped by police road blocks. Dozens of ex-cons and known criminals were apprehended. Many accounts of the incident credit the diligent efforts of a perceptive state trooper named Edgar Croswell who had noticed suspicious cars coming in and out of the area, but it was more likely that the authorities were tipped off by individuals hired by Luciano, Costello, and Lansky, none of whom appeared at the conference. Luciano was forbidden from entering the country. Costello claimed that he was under constant police surveillance and couldn't slip away undetected. Lansky called in sick and stayed home in Florida. Vito Genovese and Carlo Gambino were among the mobsters arrested.
Genovese had been dealt a blow, but he was by no means out of the picture, and now that his enemies had kicked the hornet's nest, they had to eliminate the problem before they got stung. Luciano, Lansky, and Costello knew that Genovese would be gunning for them, so they put together another plot, hoping to eliminate him before he eliminated them, and they used the bait that Genovese just couldn't resist.