Born in 1904 in New Jersey, Eugene (Gene) Catena was an early member of what became known as the Vito Genovese Family. Along with his more notorious brother Gerardo, called Jerry, the Catena brothers were recognized as important members of the New Jersey wing of the Family.
By the early 1960s, Jerry Catena had risen from a “caporegime” to the Family’s new “acting boss” after boss Vito Genovese was convicted in a highly-publicized trial and received 15 years in prison for narcotics conspiracy. He soon elevated Catena to serve as his eyes and ears over the borgata. Two other key aides were Thomas (Tommy Ryan) Eboli and Michele (Mike) Miranda, who rounded out a triumvirate serving as the “acting underboss” and “consigliere,” respectively.
Catena, Eboli, and Miranda became the caretakers for Vito as he served out his sentence. By the time Genovese died in jail in 1969, Catena was under assault by law enforcement authorities. He was jailed in 1970 for contempt of court after he repeatedly refused to testify before a New Jersey State grand jury probing the underworld. Jerry served over five years at Yardville State Prison for his silence. After his release in 1975, he relocated down to Boca Raton, Florida but continued to maintain control over the Family from “behind the scenes” for the next few years until capo Philip (Cockeyed Phil) Lombardo was eventually named the next “official” boss.
With Jerry’s ascension to the hierarchy, he elevated his brother Gene to serve as the new “capo di decina” over his former “crew.” From that point forward, Gene Catena ran one of the most important regimes in the Genovese Family. The crew was deeply enmeshed in bookmaking, floating dice games, the policy racket, shylocking, extortion, jukebox and coin-machine rackets, and many other criminal activities typical of the Mafia. But the Catena regime’s real strength came from their deep penetration and stranglehold over numerous labor unions operating throughout New Jersey and elsewhere.
