Vito Genovese was born on November 27th in Risigliano near Naples, in Italy. When Genovese was 15 his family emmigrated to New York City in 1913 and settled in Little Italy, Manhattan. Genovese soon began hanging out with local gangs and running errands for mob members.
Buchalter was born in the Lower East Side section of Manhattan on February 6th 1897. His mother, Rose Buchalter, called him "Lepkeleh" (‘Little Louis’ in Yiddish), which later became ‘Lepke’.