The current 'family' was founded by Charles 'Lucky' Luciano and was known as the Luciano crime family from 1931 to 1957, when it was renamed after boss Vito Genovese. They have generally maintained a varying degree of influence over many of the smaller mob families outside New York, including ties with the Philadelphia, Patriarca, and Buffalo crime families. The Genovese crime family ( pronounced ), also sometimes referred to as the Westside, is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the ' Five Families' that dominate organized crime activities in New York City and New Jersey as part of the American Mafia.
Various gangs in New York City, including their allies Racketeering, murder, labor union infiltration, extortion, illegal gambling, drug trafficking, guns trafficking, loansharking, bookmaking, truck hijacking, fraud, prostitution, pornography, bribery, and assault Italians as ' made men' and other ethnicities as associatesĢ50–300 made members and 1,000+ associates (2004) Primarily New York City, with additional territory in Upstate New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, South Florida, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles.
