On this day, Nov. 14, 1957, law enforcement officials discovered a national convention of gangsters at the home of Joseph “Joe the Barber” Barbara in upstate Apalachin, N.Y. State trooper Sgt. Edgar Croswell was taking a report for a bad check at a hotel when he overheard Barbara’s eldest son reserve rooms for “soft-drink people.” Suspicious, Croswell checked with a butcher, who said the mobster had ordered 200 pounds of meat.
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Croswell and federal agents drove to Barbara’s estate, where 40 luxury cars from around the country were parked.
Dozens of powerful mobsters fled into the woods but 58 men were detained, including Vito Genovese, who was vying for the position of boss of bosses, and gangsters from Canada and Italy.
The Apalachin Summit proved the existence of an organized crime syndicate in the United States.
— Scott McCabe
