Gerardo Catena

Gerardo "Jerry" Catena (January 2, 1902 – 2000) was a New York mobster and a top member of the Genovese crime family during the 1950s and 1960s, along with Thomas "Tommy Ryan" Eboli, Philip "Benny Squint" Lombardo and Michael "Big Mike" Miranda.

Catena was born in 1902 in South Orange, New Jersey, and subsequently became familiar with legendary mobsters Guarino "Willie" Moretti, Thomas Greco, Cosmo "Gus" Frasca, and Abner "Longy" Zwillman in the early 1910s. Later, it has been confirmed that Catena moved to New York City to join the forces of Charlie "Lucky" Luciano and Meyer Lansky during the early 1920s, when the rise of two Mafia dons named Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano, began fighting a bloody internal battle called the Castellammarese War.

Little is known of Catena in his early days of the Luciano crime family, but reportedly he was a soldier in the crew that became the powerful Genovese crew during the late 1920s, headed by later underboss Vito "Don Vito" Genovese. As the time passed, and Charles Luciano went to prison and later deportation in the 1940s, Genovese organized the shooting of the boss of the Luciano crime family, Frank Costello, in 1957, which forced Costello to retire. Apparently, Catena is to have risen through the ranks, as he was listed as the underboss in the late 1950s, heading the New Jersey faction of the Genovese crime family, under the leadership of Vito Genovese.

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