Giuseppe "Zi Peppi Jencu" Genco Russo (26 January 1893–16 March 1976) was the Mafia boss of Mussomeli and its mayor from 1943 to 1960 and town councillor from 1960 to 1962. A crude and vulgar mafioso, Genco Russo was disliked by his associates for his frequent appearances in the media and distasteful nature.
Biography[]
Genco Russo was born on 26 January 1893 to a peasant Italian family in Mussomeli. At a young age, he became a cattle thief and highway robber before being drafted into the Army in 1918; he was discharged in 1922 after being noted for his rebellious behavior and impatience to discipline. He consolidated power in the Mussomeli cosca (Mafia clan) by 1929, and was rounded up that year along with more than 300 mafiosi during Benito Mussolini's crackdown on the Mafia, ultimately being sentenced to four years' special surveillance or house arrest in 1934. After the end of his sentence, Genco Russo went about establishing a reputation as a "man of order", a respectable individual with ownership over a portion of two estates and deep political contacts. Despite how he may have wished to present himself, Genco Russo was in fact a vulgar, semi-literate thug who would spit no matter who he was with and kept an outside toilet which was little more than a hole in the ground with a rock for a seat. A close friend of Mafia boss Calogero Vizzini, Genco Russo was likewise put into local office after the invasion of Sicily in 1943 when American authorities were looking for anti-Fascist notables to replace Mussolini's officials. Genco Russo also attended a 1957 Mafia conclave in a Palermo hotel where American and Italian mafiosi met to discuss their illegal narcotics trade. His political career was on the upward when he was elected to town councillor in 1960, but his reputation was decimated after being arrested during anti-Mafia prosecutors' campaign against organized crime in 1964. He was sentenced to five years' confinement to Lovere in northern Italy in 1967. He died of emphysema on 18 March 1976 aged 83.