Guarino "Willie" Moretti (24 February 1894 – 4 October 1951) was an Underboss of the Genovese crime family and the cousin of Frank Costello. Moretti was known for his comedic behavior at the Kefauver Committee hearings, a move which would lead to his murder by American Mafia gunmen; in cooperating with the committee, he had defied the Mafia's code of silence.
Biography[]
Guarino Moretti was born on 24 February 1894 in Bari, Apulia, Italy, and he moved to the US state of New Jersey with his family. Moretti, known as "Willie" while in America, and he was convicted of robbery in 1913. Starting in 1933, Moretti became a gambling den manager, running dens in New Jersey and upstate New York. In 1939, he forced bandleader Tommy Dorsey to release Frank Sinatra from his contract, and Moretti also knew Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. Moretti was known to be overly talkative, and he sealed his fate when he testified in front of the Kefauver Committee. When asked how long he had been in the American Mafia, he jokingly asked if the senators were asking if he had a "Mafia membership card", and when asked about operating politically, he said, "I don't operate politically, if I did I'd be a congressman." Moretti's jokes led to laughter among the senators and spectators in the room, but the Mafia condemned him to death for breaking omerta, the "code of silence". Vito Genovese told Joe Valachi that Moretti was losing his mind, and that his murder would be a mercy killing. At 11:28 AM on 4 October 1951, Moretti and a few friends headed to the Joe's Elbow Room Restaurant in Cliffside Park, New Jersey for lunch. Moretti joked with the Italian waitress in their native language, and gunmen rushed into the restaurant as the waitress took their order back to the kitchen. The staff rushed into the dining area after gunshots were heard, only to find Moretti dead with bullet wounds in his face and back. His death was shocking to Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin, who had planned to have had lunch with Moretti the next day.