Good footage TD.

Giuseppe "Joe Adonis" Doto was definitely one of the more powerful and respected of Luciano's men. He was a half-a-boss in his own right.

After getting deported back to Italy, he was able to partially maintain his influence and NYC rackets through several devoted minions, the most important of which was probably Family soldier Joseph "Joe Shep" Schipani.

Schipani and Adonis' brother Tony were known to have been partners in several Italian restaurants, one in Brooklyn, another in Nassau County on Long Island.

An old Joe Adonis in Milan.

https://nl.pinterest.com/pin/65231894583145432/

Thanks for the additional info bud.

Lots of deported capos from different cities still maintained their connections to their old borgatas. Some Chicago capos like Tommy Morgano even continued to receive their cut, besides being deported to Italy.

I like Lucky Luciano, but he loses points in my book for going broke. Sounds like Joe Adonis was wealthy til the end.

From puparo's compilations.

Adonis
He operated originally out of Brooklyn as did Mangano, and he was on the board of directors of the Democratic Club, as was Mangano. Vincent, and especially Philip Mangano, was very close to Adonis.

Adonis's crew was based in Brooklyn, after deportation, his choice was Jimmy Blue Eyes Alo. Following Alo's retirement, although not an official one, in the late 1970s-the crew was then headed up by Matty The Horse Iannelo and moved to Manhattan, where the Genovese family has long held a presence.Iannello then had Jimmy "The Little Guy" Ida take over as capo. Ida would later serve as consigliere till he was given life. The crew is now headed up by his brother Joey Ida.

Joe Doto Jr. is listed by the FBI as a made member of the Genovese family.

In the footage where Adonis speaks his English is so perfect, he must have come to America when he was a baby. Unless that was a translator.

Article on Joe's only son Joe Doto Jr.

https://northjersey.newspapers.com/article/the-record-westside-soldier-joe-dote-jr/123536028/

Adonis belonged to the so-called Americanized group of mobsters, meaning he spoke english very well. Same as Luciano, Costello, Torrio or Capone (he was born in the US), while some other older immigrants like Ricca and Miranda kept their Italian accent.

Agreed, TD. Many guys continued to receive their cuts for years to come from interests they had stateside, especially the more influential ones.

I completely agree and I think that the best example regarding a deported capo or boss who received his cut for a very long time period might be Dominick Roberto, territorial boss for the Outfits Chicago Heights group. Roberto was deported to Italy sometime around the early 1930s and was constantly visited either by his brother John, or Frank LaPorte or Jim Ammiratto aka Emery or Joe Guzzino. Theres even one famous picture from Luzi's book of Dom Roberto, Emery and Luciano together in Italy (late 40s/early 50s). Roberto was later also visited by Accardo and LaPorte's successor Al Pilotto, until his death (Roberto died during early or mid 70s i think or maybe it was his brother, I dont remember). And in addition, some sources indicate that Roberto and Emery allegedly were important part of the national conspiracy in the dope trade at the time, which obviously also involved Luciano.

It took him 20 days to travel to Italy, unbelievable when you think about it in this day and age it will take about 8 hours.

Luciano arrived in Naples on February 28, avoiding the press as much as possible, commenting only that the voyage was“pleasant.”Rumors of “other” travel plans had begun circulating even before his arrival in Italy. Sure, there were the publicly known jaunts Luciano would make to Rome and Sicily, but law enforcement and the press were far more interested in whispers of a trip to Latin America, specifically Mexico.

LUCIANO HOUNDED BY SURVEILLANCE, PRESS
From the moment he set foot in Italy, Luciano tried to lay pretty low, and dropped out of public view for months. His name finally re-emerged in the same sensationalistic manner as it had back in New York. Stories surfaced alleging Luciano took the reins of a “Robin Hood” band of thieves known as the La Marca Gang, running a human trafficking ring. Gossip columns told of Lucky in Paris, rendezvousing with old flame and former showgirl Gay Orlova. In early September, the New York Daily News broke the story purporting Luciano had acquired passage to Mexico, information allegedly provided by “stool pigeons” within Italy’s underworld. Of all the gangland hearsay, that one turned out to be somewhat accurate. That October, Luciano made his way to Cuba via South America — but that is another story entirely.

True he became so desperate at the end he got into contact with an American producer about making a movie about his life lol.

One thing I’ve never heard about is luckys dealings with Camorra in Naples. Obviously this would’ve been extensive but we only hear about cosa nostra ties he had out there.

And why did he live in Naples of all places?!! I’ve been all over Italy and Sicily and although Naples done the best food (my opinion) all the other places were miles better.

There was a story about how some guy slapped lucky at a race track in Italy and he was whacked for the lack of respect (or was he just hurt badly?)

But I think that was a cosa nostra guy not a cammorista

Good question Adonis settled in the North, Milan was way better as Naples when it comes to La Bella Vita.

In the 1950s, Naples was still in the middle of the post-war recovery. Before the Second World War, the city had already been poor, but the socioeconomic situation became even worse afterward. Education was considered a luxury at the time: only two children out of ten actually made it to middle school, even though schooling was compulsory until the age of 14. The city, while rich in culture, was also a place of deeply-rooted organize crime. Violence was a daily thing to many people, both at home and outside.

Good info Hollander and it again highlights the question why did he settle in Naples?!!! Just a thought it may of been to get away from the cosa nostra ties?

Marseille was another tough city he visited. Luciano joined forces with the Corsican-Marseille clans to resume the heroin trade.

The 50s (especially the early 50s) seemed to be a busy time for lucky. Great point about the Corsican connection. Do you think the Camorra just wasn’t a strong enough entity for him to even
deal with let alone worry about?

He had the meeting at the hotel in Palermo (I’ve been there, some random woman thought I was photographing her lol) but this was all with CN and LCN. No Camorra considering he was living in Naples?

My guess he would stay in Naples because of the port. A lot was going there like smuggle cigarettes, the "blondes" as they were called in Naples. The smuggling of cigarettes originated in the post-war period, to revive local economies.

Good point actually. The port is massive. Last time I stayed there I actually had views of the port from the hotel. Long term though especially when he’s in his 60s all settled down with his chihuahua and long term girlfriend why didn’t he go to Sicily where he was from! Cefalu is beautiful on the coast and that’s one of many beautiful coastal places. I suppose when you’re old you sometimes stay where you know especially if he’s 10 years+ deep.

Did he see Joe Adonis out there? I’ve seen pictures where he met up with frank scalise and others but not Adonis

Also Vito Genovese was from Naples after the war in 1946 Genovese took part in the Havana Conference , where he clashed with Luciano and broke three ribs.

The alleged clash between Vito and Lucky is a myth.

IDK I know Luciano and Genovese were close back in the days In NYC, why would they fight?

Thats the point and the alleged "agendas" on that meeting are mainly based on the situations that occurred after that, meaning its all speculations.

If it were true, you'd figure a CI would've reported it. That's the kind of news that travels.

I agree and I think theres one nice video on youtube about it.

In 1946 old time Chicago Outfit associate and informant Paul Roland Jones gave the following info on Lucky....

Interesting TD what do you think about this?

On December 20, during the conference, Luciano had a private meeting with Genovese in Luciano's hotel suite. Unlike Costello, Luciano had never trusted Genovese. In the meeting, Genovese tried to convince Luciano to become a titular boss of bosses and let Genovese run everything. Luciano calmly rejected Genovese's suggestion:

There is no Boss of Bosses. I turned it down in front of everybody. If I ever change my mind, I will take the title. But it won't be up to you. Right now you work for me and I ain't in the mood to retire. Don't you ever let me hear this again, or I'll lose my temper.[45]

I think thats taken from one of those old fictional books about Luciano such as the Last Testament. Theres no shred of info regarding what they talked about, and even the Cubans who worked at the hotel at the time and understood English, werent able to hear a word on what went down while serving food and drinks.

My GUESS is that one of the agendas was probably Costello officially taking over as boss, while Genovese had to take a low profile or a step back because of his absence and also because all of the heat that was on him when he returned to the US at the time and remained as capo of his crew, and I personally believe that Vito had no problems with it.