Vito Genovese

Vito Genovese was a Mafia kingpin allegedly engaged in the trafficking of narcotics and slitting of throats. That didn’t necessarily make him a bad guy, Granbury resident Billie Sol Estes said. “He didn’t kill anybody that didn’t need killing, and I say that in a kind way.”
Estes believes Genovese saved his skin in Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary in 1965.
“I considered him a friend. If he hadn’t been, I’d be dead. They tried to kill me. They put a contract out on me. Nobody fooled with me in prison because of Vito.”
Genovese, who died in prison in 1969, was appreciative of Estes’ loyalty.
“The ring his mother gave him to come from Italy that he loved and cherished, he left it to me.”