Who is Joseph Valachi?
After 33 years of working for the Cosa Nostra, Joseph Valachi, also known as Joe Cargo, Charles Sanbano, and Anthony Sorge, offered to authorities the first ever glimpse into the inner workings of organized crime in America. Born on 22 September 1904 to Neapolitan immigrants in Manhattan’s East Harlem, Joseph Valachi was the second oldest of six children. Consistently in trouble with the law during his youth, Valachi eventually ended up in the New York Catholic Protectory after hitting one of his teachers in the eye with a rock. Released at the age of 14, he returned to school until he attained his working papers at 15 and went to work at a garbage dump with his father. Frustrated with his father confiscating his hard-earned wages, Valachi turned to theft to earn some money of his own. By the time Joseph Valachi was 18, he drove a getaway car for a gang called the Minute Men, who were responsible for hundreds of thefts between 1919 and 1923. During this time he was arrested five times
