Some people seem very knowledgeable about New YOrk environs and the crews associated, does anyone know who inherited JOe Adonis's rackets, and what neighborhoods he controlled?
I feel like it would go along way just clarifying what family he was with, any thoughts?

Vincent "Jimmy Blue Eyes" Alo

It is debatable of which family Adonis was inducted into, but I feel he was with the Mangano family first, then transferred to Luciano family in the early to mid 30's. Vincent Alo took over most of his rackets in New York, Salvatore Chiri took over his New Jersey rackets.

This is a fair hypothesis.

His link to the Mangano family was pretty strong in the 1930's. I also read that Anastasia took over some of Adonis' rackets.

In an early 1960's wiretap of Gyp Decarlo, GD says he disliked Adonis and Doc Stracher because he believed both were self-important and arrogant. He then went on to say that, years earlier, Frank Costello and Willie Moretti had a sitdown meeting with Adonis to address his alleged arrogance. The purpose of the meeting was to get him to take it down a notch and be a little more humble around the others. Would've liked to have been a fly on the wall for that meeting. I imagine a lot of nervous laughter and stuttering. I see this as proof that Adonis belonged to Costello.

Good post, this is a great example of something I've suspected about this time period, that the genovese were a fractured family, rich, connected, but too much into their own businesses, and it hurt their standing with the other families.
Like I keep wondering, why would lucky make deals with gambino and Biondo?
Cause his two top guys in the streets in NY, gEnovese and Adonis, he nor Costello could fully trust them. And the guy they could trust, Anastasia, was uncontrollable and volatile, hence the need for a new alliance, Gambino.
Also it underscores the jealously between these guys;
See joe Adonis was his own boss really, the Broadway mob, but now he's gotta take orders from Costello, moretti, maybe mangano too. Guys he most likely felt bigger than, just like the situation with Vito....

Huh? In the time period h2t mentioned, ie the early 1960s, Genovese was in prison and Adonis had been deported. There was certainly a fracture between Genovese and Costello but that only lasted until Costello stepped down following the attack on him.

In the fictious Last Testament of Lucky Luciano, Adonis says to Luciano..."You made me, but you can't break me", as if he was a boss in his own right.

That book has more holes than Swiss cheese, but that quote has a lot of credibility when you look how ambiguous Joe Adonis' underworld position was.

Nah, the part where he says years ago they had a sit down...

And I'm talking about the relationship between them from the 40s onward;
Adonis got passed over for Boss of a family, then under, then acting, then under again (moretti), and he really was more powerful than any of those guys I think, he was notoriously vain, he seems like the type to have held a grudge.
Alfa, those little bits,of info, the nuances, those parts of the book do seem credible to me. Like it's obvious just from the style of writing that was definitely a screenplay, not really investigative, it's really dramatized in some parts, and straight up made up shit in some parts.
It's why Adonis is an interesting figure, look at his interest and tell me he was anyone's underling, he was every bit as capable as genovese it seems, COntrolling Brooklyn politics, providing labor peace for Ford, taking over the Jewish end of heroin importation, (until the war I guess) interest in jersey,
It seems clear to me there were clear factions in Lcn at this time, you tell me, am I wrong, seriously, it's interesting...

The idea that Joe Adonis was vain came from reporters who claimed he made up his nickname. After the Dotos came to America they started going by the last name of Adone, and that easily got converted to Adonis. I don't know why they went by Adone, but they did and it started when Adonis was just a boy, so he had nothing to do with it. Many of the nicknames came from their real names, like Chin came from Vincenzo and Lucky came from Lucania. One of the reasons we don't know more about Adonis is because the FBI agents who debriefed him and questioned him didn't do a good job. Plain and simple.

Ok, cool, that's why I feel like the guy needs his own book, all we got are stories that are half truths and myths.
But an FBI interrogation of the mob, in the Hoover years?
I think it has more to do with his narcotics and union connects, anyone with big time drug connects then seems to exist in Bermuda Triangle when it comes to the history books lol

If anyone does a cursory examination of the history of the making of "Last testament", it's obvious it was just a screen play that got marketed as a book without Lucky Luciano's consent. It was never a bio. Lucky didn't get a warning from the mafia about publishing a bio. He got a warning for attempting to have a movie made. Obviously if you are collaborating on a movie with someone, you will tell some true events...but change the names. You will embellish and exaggerate. You will also white wash to make yourself look better than you would have in a straight bio. So Last Testament IS from Lucky Luciano himself, but it is truth mixed with fiction. Lucky Luciano knew he was already a legend, so things like the term Rum Running originating with his and his cartel's illegal alcohol trafficking activities in the book are believable, because he'd want a movie to announce his proper place in history.

Lucky Luciano wanted to be glorified in a movie. He did not want a fictitious autobiography full of lies published with his name on it as co-author.

All of that said, Adonis had big responsibilities in the mafia, and I think he really answered to the Commission more than to any one boss. This because whatever Adonis was responsible for, and I believe it to be narcotics, was the joint property of the bosses. Therefore Adonis had to be accountable to the Commission as a body.

That's about the best explanation I've heard on the guy, why you always so smart lol

The only syndicate level activity for which there is any evidence (that I'm aware of) are statements by Abe Reles that he brokered peace between disagreeing or warring factions. This sounds like a consigliere type position. Joe Valachi inadvertently corroborated Reles when he mentioned attending a kangaroo court to settle a dispute at a Duke's restaurant, with Anastasia serving as judge. Duke's was Adonis' headquarters at the time.

In the 1930's, when Katzenberg testified, Joey A was under the radar and could get away with more risky ventures, especially when based in Brooklyn.

After an indictment in 1940 he was was forced into the limelight. He began laying low with Lansky in Saratoga Springs etc. and later moved to NJ. Going with the evidence, it seems he began focusing most of his attention to gambling. A single carpet joint (gambling hall) he ran was said to be raking in a couple of million per year (about $24 million today). Fed Bureau of Narcotics tried hard to infiltrate his inner circle unsuccessfully. Manhattan DA had bugs on Adonis and were trying to build a gambling related case.

I could be wrong, but it seems that after 1940 most arrows pointed to his gambling related activity and legitimate business. IMO he may have been trying to emulate Lansky and taking his advice. The idea he was divvying up contraband profits with the five families is pretty ludicrous.

It was Tony, Albert Anastasia brother who a piece, a Lucchese guy in the Bronx got a floating crap game, forgot his name, Detroit got full owner ship of an auto making plant, Tony Lanza, Jimmy Lanza brother got a book worth 100,000 in San Francisco, Los Angeles got a gambling den in their city. In the Genovese family, most of the rackets went to Vincent Alo and Salvatore Chiri, but Frank Terri got a lucrative sports book worth half a million, Catena got a gambling den in Florida, and Tony Pro got a few union members that had belonged to Adonis. This was all before Joe was deported, and it shows that Adonis made sure to keep his friends happy, and to offer an olive branch to the other factions in the family, as to not start a war.

Good stuff as well, a lotta good clarifications made in this thread, shit I've never seen or heard before, Adonis as consigliere sounds just about right, no?

Giacomo, you have GREAT info, thanks a ton...

Adonis being big into gambling is plausible...while he was in the United States. But what about after he was deported? What could have been his main activities while in Italy? What did the Italian authorities want with him? And what does gambling have to do with shipping docks? Just raising some relevant questions.

His link to the docks probably stems from being based in Brooklyn in the 1930's.

In the 1940's, Frank Costello gave Adonis a new sandbox to play in, namely Bergen County, New Jersey, under the watchful eye of Willie Moretti. His known illicit activity was almost exclusively gambling (carpet joints, wire services etc). Many wealthy clients were shuttled in from NYC, wagering large amounts of money.

I've read about rumors of narcotics after his deportation to Italy but I've yet to see anything concrete about it. In another thread you said there was nothing in the Agent Vizzini book. Maybe the old FBN files might have something. My feeling is that if he were heavily into it we would know about it. Maybe he was mostly retired or inactive? I've read very little to nothing after his deportation.

Every once in a while, I like to read the Italian Wikipedia articles on well known organized crime figures from the world of mafia. Wikipedia is open source and often incorrect, but in this case it provides the opinion of Italian editors and contributors, not American or what have you. Here is Joe Adonis' Italian Wikipedia entry, it's an interesting read...


"You can improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources according to the guidelines on the use of sources .






Mug of Joe Adonis
Joe Adonis, the pseudonym of Joseph Antonio Doto ( Montemarano , 22 November 1902 - Ancona , 26 November 1971 ), was a criminal Italian , Italian-American mafia of the powerful Genovese family .

Biography [ edit | edit wikitext ]

Emigrated illegally from Montemarano , in the province of Avellino , he arrived in the US in 1915 and settled in New York . He began making the pickpocket and 20s changed his name to Joe Adonis, starting to work in the band of gangster Frankie Yale , who worked in Brooklyn ; later he tied to gangster Lucky Luciano , where he became a friend and with whom he began to work in the field of prostitution and gambling in Manhattan .

April 15, 1931 at Coney Island Luciano organized the murder of Joe Masseria , who also participated in the same Adonis, along with Bugsy Siegel , Vito Genovese and Albert Anastasia .

With the end of war Castellammarese , Luciano created a new " family ", which replaced that of Joe Masseria , where Adonis was affiliated, being named capodecina . Adonis became one of the most important and trusted lieutenants of Luciano, checking racket like prostitution and gambling in the territory of Broadway and Midtown Manhattan . In Brooklyn he opened a restaurant called Joe's Italian kitchen. The money earned illegally were reinvested in automobile dealerships in New Jersey and in the production of cigarettes.

After the exile of Luciano in Italy , at the end of World War II , Adonis oversaw its main criminal activities in America. In December 1946 he was one of the delegates of the Havana Conference .

In 1953 he was expelled in Italy following the discovery that it was not a naturalized American citizen, and settled in a villa outside Naples , from where he continued to maintain close contact with Luciano. In February 1958 he moved to Milan , in an apartment on the seventh floor of Via Albricci. Li lived like a lord, attending the premises and fashionable nightclubs, showing refined manners and dressing elegantly.

He was summoned to the police station on 1 June 1963 to be heard about the ambush to Angelo La Barbera that Adonis knew and with whom he had had some contact. Surveys conducted between 1970 and 1971 revealed he still functions as Adonis "boss" mafia and that the choice of Milan as his residence had been determined by specific strategic needs: the direction of the international traffic of precious, especially bright, with ramifications in France and Switzerland and co-ordination of drug smuggling.

Adonis was arrested in May 1971 and sent to stay bound to Serra de 'Conti , a small town in the province of Ancona : despite strict surveillance was able to get his man of confidence, which probably continued to report matters in hand. He maintains relations with the mayor and with the local parish priest, displaying elegance and generosity.

The passion of Adonis for the music world was never a mystery. Aside from nightclubs and singers, in the early 60s also turned on a voice his attempt to unseat the Sanremo Festival with a show in competition.

On October 8, the Court of Appeal of Milan reduced the living obligated to three years and Adonis authorized to use the phone under the control of the police authorities. He died of a heart attack the next November 26, during an interrogation at the police station."


This sentence is peculiar because Google couldn't translate it accurately:

"Surveys conducted between 1970 and 1971 revealed he still functions as Adonis "boss" mafia and that the choice of Milan as his residence had been determined by specific strategic needs: the direction of the international traffic of precious, especially bright, with ramifications in France and Switzerland and co-ordination of drug smuggling."

"The direction of the international traffic of precious, especially bright" comes from "la direzione del traffico internazionale di preziosi, soprattutto brillanti".

A better translation, and anyone else is free to chime in, might be..."The direction of the international traffic of goods supremely valuable".