Gambino did make it known that he brought no money for Genovese. (Gambino had cooperated with Genovese in the Anastasia assassination to get control of the latter's crime family, but had no intention of winding up with Genovese in any sort of superior position.)
If Apalachin had been held, there would have been considerable conflict. It could be avoided if the meeting were boycotted or sabotaged. Unless one embraces the theory that the crime leaders from Chicago, Detroit, New Orleans and San Francisco had escaped during the raid or were still en route, their absence was noteworthy. Luciano, from his exile in Italy, was against the meeting and lobbied with those particular cities where his voice was still powerful. Frank Costello did not show; he had explained that he was under constant surveillance since the attempt on his life. Significantly, no one showed up from New Orleans where Costello had strong authority. As essentially the treasurer for the syndicate, Meyer Lansky was supposed to attend but seemed to develop a throat condition that kept him in the warm Florida climes. Doc Stacher, close to Lansky, also did not appear. There was a clear conspiracy against Genovese by three non-attendees—Luciano, Costello and Lansky. Gambino, who since the murder of Anastasia had been in contact with Luciano and made peace with him, became the "inside man" at the conference.
All these absences undoubtedly were not lost on those who gathered at Apalachin and pointed up the lack of unanimity Genovese faced. Then the raid turned the conference into pure fiasco. Nothing as degrading had ever occurred to the Mafia or the crime syndicate before, and it all came down on Genovese.
There was also a lot of posturing. Chicago boss Sam Giancana, who later informed his associates that he'd just avoided the police net (but actually may well have been tipped off that a raid was coming), was particularly irate. The telephone conversation was recorded between Giancana and Stefano Magaddino, the Buffalo crime family boss:
Magaddino: "It never would've happened in your place."
Giancana: "You're fuckin' right it wouldn't. This is the safest territory in the world for a big meet.... We got three towns just outside of Chicago with the police chiefs in our pocket. We got this territory locked up tight."
Magaddino's comments were less than gracious considering it was he who had suggested to Genovese that the meeting be staged at Apalachin. The host, Barbara, was a lieutenant in Magaddino's crime family.
Undoubtedly, Genovese realized he had been set up, but there was nothing, immediately, that he could do about it. Nor were foes going to give him any breathing space. Within half a year Genovese and a number of his loyal associates were nailed in a narcotics conspiracy. The principal testimony against Genovese came from a heroin pusher named Nelson Cantellops, who interestingly enough was known in the past to have worked for Lansky and Giancana, two leading Apalachin no-shows. It hardly seemed likely that on his own a two-bit character like Cantellops could be in a position to get incriminating evidence on Genovese. It appeared the government was being used to frame Genovese, but federal officials were positively gleeful about catching the crime boss and didn't wonder too much how it had come about.
Not long before he died, Luciano revealed the secret behind the Cantellops evidence. The pusher had gotten a $100,000 payoff from Luciano, Lansky, Costello and Gambino. As a fillip for his $25,000 Costello had insisted that Vincent "the Chin" Gigante, the triggerman in the Genovese-ordered attempt on Costello's life, also had to be convicted. He was. In interviews still later in Israel, Doc Stacher confirmed the plot and added that Lansky gratefully put Cantellops on a pension of several thousand dollars a month for the rest of his life—which ended in a night club brawl in 1965. "But as far as I know there wasn't anything sinister about his death."
Apalachin started Genovese's rapid decline and the narcotics conviction finished him off. He went to prison in 1959 for 15 years and died there in 1969. He remained powerful enough to have a number of members of his own crime family killed but when he tried to have Luciano and Lansky murdered, nothing much happened. Vito apparently never figured out that he wasn't named boss of bosses at Apalachin.
See also: Barbara, Joseph, Sr.
Argos Lectionary: Capone Gang "Bible" In 1930 the manager of a Chicago underworld-controlled nightclub offered to sell the University of Chicago what he described as "a Bible with an odd history." When university scholars examined the ''Bible" they were ecstatic. It was a ninth or tenth century Greek manuscript of parchment leaves with a number of biblical excerpts arranged for church services. Called the Argos Lectionary, it was quickly snapped up by the university and recognized as a stunning historical find.
The nightclub manager thought the item valuable for rather different reasons. It turned out that recruits to the Capone Gang took an oath, with their hand on the "Bible," that they would remain loyal to Scarface Al. In that sense, it did have some historical import in that it
