Peter LaTempa

Peter LaTempa (1904-January 15, 1945) was a New York mobster and associate of the Genovese crime family, who later agreed to become a government witness against Vito Genovese.

A local Brooklyn hoodlum, LaTempa was pressured to support the testimony of hitman Ernest "The Hawk" Rupolo in the government's case against Vito Genovese for the murder of the 1934 murder of gambler and Luciano crime family soldier, Ferdinand "The Shadow" Boccia. Shortly after Genovese's escape to Sicily, LaTempa would eventually agree to cooperate with authorities apparently believing, like many in the underworld, of the federal government's inability to prosecute him.

With Genovese's capture and subsequent return to the United States while in military custody at the end of World War II , LaTempa immediately went to the Brooklyn district attorney's office demanding to be put in protective custody following news of Genovese's arrival on January 8, 1945. Placed under protective custody at the Raymond Street jail, less than a week after Genovese's return, LaTempa was found dead in his cell after taking medication for his gallstones. A later autopsy revealed enough poison was in his system "..to kill eight horses." LaTempa's murder, specifically how his medication had been tempered with, remained unsolved, but underworld rumors have close Vito Genovese associate and fellow mafia Boss, Frank Costello arranging for LaTempa to be poisoned by using his high level political and law enforcement contacts.

With LaTempa's sudden death, the federal prosecutors were forced to rely on Rupolo's testimony and the case easily fell through with all charges against Genovese being dropped at the start of trial. The presiding judge however, stated before the court:

"By devious means, among which were the terrorizing of witnesses, kidnapping them, yes, even murdering those who give evidence against you, you have thwarted justice time and again."

References

• Sifakis, Carl. The Mafia Encyclopedia. New York: Da Capo Press, 2005. ISBN 0-8160-5694-3
• Sifakis, Carl. The Encyclopedia of American Crime. New York: Facts on File Inc., 2005. ISBN 0-8160-4040-0