Everything about Joe Adonis totally explained
Joe Adonis (
November 22 1902 -
November 26 1971) was a New York mobster who was an important participant in the formation of the modern
Cosa Nostra crime families.
Early years
Adonis was born
Giuseppe Antonio Doto in the small town of
Montemarano,
Italy, near
Naples. In
1915, Doto stowed away on an ocean liner to the United States and settled in
Brooklyn, New York. Doto started supporting himself by stealing and picking pockets. During the course of his criminal pursuits, he met another few young thugs looking to make it big:
Charles "Lucky" Luciano and
Settimo "Big Sam" Accardi. The three men became fast friends and Doto developed a strong loyalty towards them both that would last for years. Both Luciano and Doto involved themselves in petty rackets such as
prostitution and
gambling. There is a persistent rumor that Giuseppe fathered a son named Frank Adonis who went on to become a
Hollywood actor,
writer and
director whose most memorable role was portraying
Anthony Stabile in the
1990 film
Goodfellas. This is incorrect. Joe Adonis did in fact have one son, but his son's name was Joseph A. Doto, Jr.
In the early
1920s, Doto changed his name to
Joe Adonis, from the Greek god of love,
Adonis. This was due to his liking the title after it was first given to him by a chorus girl, enamoured of him, who he was having a sexual affair with at the time. Extremely vain, Adonis spent a great deal of time in personal grooming. One time, Luciano saw him combing his thick, dark hair in front of a mirror and asked him,
"Who do you think you are, Rudolph Valentino? Adonis replied,
"For looks, that guy's a bum!" Sexually promiscuous, Adonis was jailed during this period for raping a woman who resisted his advances.
During the 1920s, Adonis became an enforcer for
Frankie Yale, the boss of Italian-American rackets in
Brooklyn. While working for Yale, Adonis briefly met future
Chicago Outfit boss
Al Capone, who was also working for Yale. Meanwhile, Luciano became an enforcer for
Guiseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria, who ran an organization loosely based on clans from
Naples and
Southern Italy.
Castellammarese War
During the late 1920s, Masseria became embroiled in the vicious
Castellammarese War with his arch rival,
Salvatore Maranzano. Maranzano represented the Sicilian clans, most of which came from
Castellammare del Golfo in Sicily. As the war progressed, both bosses started recruiting more soldiers. By
1930, Adonis had joined the Masseria faction. As the tide of war started to turn against Masseria, Luciano secretly contacted Maranzano about switching sides. Since Adonis' loyalties were to Luciano, he was quick to join the plot. On
15 April,
1931, Adonis,
Benjamin "Busgy" Siegel,
Vito Genovese, and
Albert "Mad Hatter" Anastasia, all part of the Masseria organization, ambushed Masseria at restaurant in the
Coney Island section of Brooklyn, killing him.
With the death of Masseria, the war ended and Maranzano was the victor. To avoid future wars, Maranzano reorganized all the Italian-American gangs into families with him as the "boss of all bosses". Luciano quickly became dissatisfied with Maranzano's power grab. When Luciano discovered that Maranzano had ordered a murder contract on him, Luciano struck first. On September 10, 1931, several gunmen attacked and killed Maranzano in his
Manhattan office.
Criminal empire
With the murder of Maranzano, Luciano was now the most powerful criminal in the country. However, rather than declare himself the new top boss, Luciano instead established a
National Crime Syndicate that united all the Italian-American gangs across the country under its authority. For his part in the attack on Masseria, Adonis was given a seat on the Syndicate's "board of directors". Many politicians and high-ranking police officers were on his payroll. Adonis used his political influence to assist the criminal rackets of members of the
Luciano crime family, such as Luciano and Genovese, and associates such as
Meyer Lansky and
Louis "Lepke" Buchalter, the head of
Murder, Inc..
Adonis came to control the area around
Broadway and
Midtown Manhattan. He ran this empire from
Joe's Italian Kitchen, his restaurant in
Brooklyn. Adonis made large profits from illegal alcohol sales and prostitution, building himself a criminal empire worth millions of dollars. Adonis bought car dealerships in
New Jersey. When customers bought cars from his dealerships, the salesmen would intimidate them into buying "protection insurance" for the vehicle. Adonis soon moved into
cigarette manufacturing, buying up machines by the hundreds and hijacking factory products, and made a 100% profit. By 1932, was also a major criminal power in Brooklyn.
Government scrutiny
In the late 1930s, Luciano had achieved great notoriety and U.S. Attorney
Thomas E. Dewey started looking for ways to break his power. In 1936, Dewey succeeded in prosecuting Luciano on pandering charges and sent him away to prison in Upstate New York for 30 years. Adonis remained relatively untouched by this crackdown because he was a relative unknown to
Uncle Sam. In Luciano's absence, Adonis took over as chairman of the Board of Directors of the Syndicate.
After spending 10 years in prison, Luciano was able to walk out of jail in 1946. During World War II, the U.S. Government had agreed to reduce Luciano's prison sentence in return for his help controlling possible
Nazi sabotage in U.S. East Coast ports. However, as a condition of this deal, Luciano was to be permanently deported to Italy at the end of hostilities. In December
1946, after the deportation, Adonis and Luciano were briefly united at the famous
Havana Conference in
Cuba. It was Luciano's goal to take over active control of his crime family from Cuba and Adonis willingly relinquished power to him. However, the U.S. soon discovered Luciano's presence in
Havana and pressured the Cuban government to deport him back to Italy.
By the late
1940s, the government had begun watching Adonis. During this period, prosecutors had successfully recruited
Abe "Kid Twist" Reles, the second-in-command of
Murder, Inc., as a government witness. Reles provided them with valuable information on Adonis and his power. Called before the
U.S. Senate Kefauver Committee hearings on organized crime, Adonis repeatedly refused to testify, citing his right against
self-incrimination under the
Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. No charges were filed against Adonis.
Deportation
In August
1953, after the U.S. government discovered Adonis was an
illegal alien, they immediately deported him to Italy. Adonis moved to a luxurious villa outside
Naples, very close to Luciano. However, the two men never again spoke to each other after Luciano was deported. It was speculated that Luciano was angry at his old friend for ceding too many New York City rackets to Genovese. On January 26, 1962, Luciano died of a heart attack in Naples at age 64.
On November 26, 1971, Italian police took Adonis from his villa and transported him to a small hillside shack for interrogation. The police were on a campaign against all known mafiosi. During the lengthy questioning, Adonis suffered a
heart attack and died.
Adonis had a quiet funeral attended only by his immediate family. He was buried in
Madonna Cemetery in
Fort Lee, New Jersey.
In popular culture
Further Information
Get more info on 'Joe Adonis'.
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