HBO: 'Rare 1988 HBO Undercover- Mafia Documentary On NJ Genovese Crime Family'

Source:HBO- a man who was interviewed for this documentary.

"The  investigation at the center of Confessions begins by chance, when a retired East Orange, New Jersey cop named Mike Russell is driving down Bloomfield Avenue in North Newark and sees two young guys attacking an older one. Russell goes to the aid of the older man, driving off the attackers. He discovers that the guy he's helped is Andrew "Andy" Gerardo, now head of Boiardo's old gang. Gerardo invites Russell into his hangout, a coffee shop on the avenue just a few steps from a monument to Christopher Columbus and the Italian American contribution to America. There, Russell meets other key members of the crew, who treat him like a hero and befriend him.

Russell then contacts a friend in the state police, who asks him to begin surveillance on the crew. Incredibly, the mobsters invite Russell to move his oil delivery business into a storefront adjoining their Newark headquarters, figuring he's friendly, and from there the investigation takes off. But unbeknownst to the state police, Russell enlists a cameraman and begins his own videotaping of the Jersey crew, which provides most of the material for the HBO documentary."

From HBO

The Genovese Crime Family, is one of five New York City Italian-American crime families. The entire Genovese Family obviously aren't criminals and mobsters and I'm not even implying that. So that is not about ethnic bigotry towards Italian-Americans. 

The crime family was renamed after Italian mobster Vito Genovese. This crime family was run by Charlie Lucky Lucianao, who originally was from Italy, later run  by Vincent Gigante. The Genovese's are the largest of the New York five crime families. The Genovese's obviously, the Gambino's, the Columbo's, Bonnanno's, and the Lucchese's.

The Genovese's similar to other crime families whether they're Italian, Irish, or Jewish, operated like successful businesses. Except their tactics and policies were illegal. The way they would eliminate the opposition was to eliminate them. Make sure they didn't exist if and when they saw potential rivals as a threat and believed it was in their interest to physically eliminate them. 

You don't screw over the Genovese's and then see them report you to the police. You screw with them and they'll simply eliminate you by physically eliminating you. 

One of the big reasons why New Jersey has such a bad reputation as being a corrupt state, is because of the influence of the Genovese's and other Italian crime families in New Jersey. They were very powerful and owned politicians and sometimes states.