 The trial exposed American organized crime to the world through Valachi's televised testimony.After the Justice Department first encouraged and then blocked publication of Valachi's memoirs, a biography, heavily influenced by the memoirs as well as interviews with Valachi, was written by journalist Peter Maas and published in 1968 as "The Valachi Papers", forming the basis for a later film of the same title, starring Charles Bronson in the titular role.On April 3, 1971, Valachi died of a heart attack while he was serving his sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution, La Tuna, in Anthony, Texas.