Saying Goodbye To The Builder: Longtime Windy City Mafia Leader Joe Andriacchi Dies Quietly In His Sleep

Old-school Chicago mob luminary Joseph (Joe the Builder) Andriacchi passed away over the weekend at the age of 91. His family is trying to keep the news on the down low and has not put out an official obituary. Known as the consummate gentleman wiseguy, Andriacchi oversaw the Windy City’s Rush Street nightlife district for decades and was alleged to have silent ownership interest in the Rosebud restaurant chain.

Soft-spoken and classically understated in his demeanor, “Joe the Builder” held every Outfit administrative post possible in his lengthy career in the rackets and leaves earth as one of the most revered, respected and wealthy mafia leaders in America. Originally making a name for himself in his early hoodlum days as a master safecracker, he did three years in prison for burglary (1968-1971) but stayed out of handcuffs for the rest of his gangland tenure on the streets. He held street boss-acting boss duties in the 1990s, the underboss job in the 2000s and served in the Outfit’s consigliere role in his final years, per federal law enforcement charts.

The FBI still considers Andriacchi a top suspect in the August 31, 2006 kidnapping and murder of Chicago mob underboss Anthony (Little Tony) Zizzo, who vanished on his way to a sit-down on Rush Street purported to be called by Joe the Builder to resolve lingering animosities between Zizzo and then new acting boss Michael (Fat Mike) Sarno regarding video-poker machine routes. Andriacchi’s cousin, Joseph (Joey the Clown) Lombardo, had just got locked up on racketeering and murder charges in the landmark Operation Family Secrets case and Zizzo’s slaying went on to steady a shaky Outfit ship finding its footing under a new administration.

Ninety-year old Lombardo died behind bars in 2019. Sarno, 66, is in the final half of a 25-year federal prison stretch that stems out of a 2010 extortion conviction. According to sources on both sides of the law, the infirmed Sarno often provides advice and sometimes direction for current Chicago mob shot callers on the street via prison phone calls and visits.

well shoot, the mystery of what role he had over the years will continue i guess. at least now his name will stop showing up in outfit charts.

and i know many on here pick on gangster report and the content of the articles, so i might as well too. the bizarre last sentence about sarno, what???? IF, and thats a huge if, sarno indeed continues to give council to remnants of i assume his old crew. and this info is common knowledge to an internet blogger then i imagine the prison officials are aware as well. so then his every interaction with the outside world excluding his lawyer is monitored. further how is it that sarno is allowed to continue to exert any influence on chicago from jail, unlike any other past outfit leader?

sorry post was about andriacchi, got sidetracked.

He was allegedly already out of the game for the last decade or less since he had progressive dementia or alzheimer or something like that. They also probably gave him last rites...

EP guys like DeBiase, the Cerone clan and Andriacchi were the main examples regarding their crew's close connection to the Grand Avenue crew and vice versa (Nicoletti, Salvatore, Lombardo, Eboli, Centracchio), same as the Cicero-Chinatown alliance or "brotherhood". Thats why until we receive some government/informant info regarding a current top admin, Ill continue speculating that the Outfit is possibly divided on two groups, obviously in close alliance, meaning history might repeat itself like it was a century ago with two separate families which still coexisted together in that same city and controlled certain (both) legit and illegal ops, mainly because there were already other powerful crime groups above them in "the food chain" at the time, same as today.

ABC 7 I team report on the life of Joe Andriacchi.

Seems like cancer and dementia got him in the end. Joe had taken up residence in 2014 with family members out in Washington State.

This guy was in the underworld forever from the early 50s till 2024.

Home of Joe Andriacchi in River Forest that he resided in for many years.

https://www.redfin.com/IL/River-For...msockid=318978f684a06b48380471ec85b76a99

According to Bernstein, he was an active shot caller right up to the end.

Scott will say anything for cash like any other paying site

All of these Chicago guys seem to live well. Same goes for Detroit, but then you go to Philly and lol

Nice House !

Joe B's and Nagal's homes were the best.

Joe actually had that house built himself with his own design.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2020...joseph-andriacchi-sells-for-119-million/

Screw his house...I see some peeps saying he was "active until 2024"...well, please check out the development of dementia and how much years it can last (ten years max, something which corresponds with my previous post about he not being active for more than ten years because of the illness) and what are the symptoms, and after that we'll talk about he being "active" until his death in 2024 lol.......DAMN YOU SCOTT! lol lol

I doubt he was active during his last five years, but people love believing that these guys are invincible. That's another incurable illness

His last known address is in Washington State. He was living with family out there and had dementia along with cancer.

You cannot run your life let alone a mafia family in that condition, and I firmly believe he has been out of the game since he put his house on the market in 2019.

There is this pic from him (5+ years ago and was given to me by another poster) possibly taken while watching some sport game and he was skinny as hell, completely white hair and almost didnt look like himself at all.

the outfit it is alleged, removed or forced out the BOSS john difronzo when he had similar health problems around 2014, with some sources claiming this happened even earlier. so i cant see leaving andriacchi in any role at all being a viable option. further to that for a functioning, structured organization such as the outfit to be constantly switching roles of senior members in administration makes no sense. think of all the titles/roles andriacchi was glossed with over the years; capo, street boss, underboss, consigliere, boss. possible he did indeed hold one of these positions, but not all of them. i believe this comes from a gross misunderstanding of the outfits structure to begin with and a preference by some to compare the outfit to other american mafia families in structure and membership. to some it is inconceivable that a high ranking member could be both a underboss and still run a street crew while also acting as a senior advisor or 'consigliere'. this was very common in chicago, think jackie cerone, aiuppa, john monteleone, carlisi etc. possible for a time andriacchi did the same.

lets take 2006 period of chicago before murder of anthony zizzo. i bring it up because it appears to be the last time andriacchis name has shown up in really anything criminal and likely before onset of health issues. its possible andriacchi was at this time...underboss, a link to his cousin joe lombardo and a senior member tasked with resolving high level outfit disputes between crews. possible he also was leader of a small street crew (unlikely as there are very few names linked to andriacchi aside from other senior admin members). there is no evidence of this i know it is only a possible scenario and best to focus on the multiple roles and responsibilities senior admin members had.

my last point, there is also not a stitch of proof that andriacchi or any other member of the outfit was consigliere. i do not think this role has ever existed in the outfit in the same sense as say the 5 families. i have stated this before i know but there is nothing i know of where this role and who filled it was caught on a wire, cofirmed by a cooperating member or associate or shown up in a single indictment. when the fbi announced op. family secrets in 2005 and the indictment of the then alleged 'consigliere' joe lombardo, nowhere in that indictment or subsequent trial states anywhere that lombardo was it. the media however proclaimed as much despite the total lack of proof.

but again why couldnt it be possible and if we use tony accardo as an example that the TOP BOSS could also serve as a senior advisor when needed to say aiuppa and cerone which i believe was the case. going down the line aiuppa would be tasked with not only running the outfit at the street level but to also act as advisor to his faction in order to resolve diputes etc. within it and to keep smaller matters out of accardos hair. cerone by extension for his faction would have done the same.

as i have stated on other threads some of these crime groups take time to finally reveal important information. the outfit is one of these groups.

Could you share that if possible? Would be much appreciated! I am curious to see it.

Also I do believe that Joe was pretty much a CAPO his entire career up to 2006 and he left his legacy and career behind after he was involved in the disappearance of Tony Zizzo. I do believe that was the breaking point that he pretty much retired and decided to just focus on his construction business full time. Then he eventually got sick and eventually moved out to Washington state to live out his final years with his immediate family.

Believe me bro, so many hard disks of mine died since then and I lost many rare pics and files during the process. Maybe we can find it with a simple google search?!

As for Joe's positions, I personally believe that he reached his highest point during the time when DiFronzo had to give his boss position to Monteleone, meaning it is possible that Andriacchi took the number two position, mainly because the Elmwood Park and the Cicero-South Side crews were the most powerful at the time (both the Chi Heights/Indiana and North Side crews were extinct at by that time, followed by the imprisoned Aiuppa/Carlisi/Marcello leadership or the Cicero/MP crew). Some sources say that previously there was allegedly some type of conflict and DiFronzo kept the peace by making Monteleone the new boss.

No Idea when Alzheimer really kicked in, but the FBI put out a reward to solve the murder of Zizzo in 2016 that's only 8 years maybe he fled to Washington state.

That shit is rough on folks, my Uncle had it and my cousins would have to rush over there at 2am because he’d wander out into the road (very dangerous here where everyone does 60 down country roads) and they’d have to steer him back inside because my Aunt was too small to manhandle him as he was like 6’4” 260 in his day. By the time he died he was 125lbs. Sad shit

What is his story? Him and Lombardo, are they some of the few guys alive or in old age who were around the old timers? Possibly they began their 'career' in the 50s?

Maybe Toodoped can do a little write up on Joe to give us a little bit of a history lesson on his life & career in the Outfit.

Good idea

He was born in October 1932. He attended Wells High School. His parents came directly from Italy. His father was a construction laborer and a street cleaner. Joe began his career as burglar and thief, he was noted as an efficient safe opener. Andriacchi was allegedly placed as the Outfit underboss at least twice. OC 'expert' John Binder said he was the cousin to Joe The Clown Lombardo. He was also noted as having been a silent partner in several restaurants in Chicago, and he also owned a construction company.

'In 1958, when Mr. Andriacchi was 25, he and a friend were accused of beating a Chicago police officer who was trying to take Mr. Andiacchi’s friend in for questioning about several burglaries. The beating left the officer with a concussion, a cut left ear and a tooth-punctured tongue.'

Milwaukee Phil's house in Riverside is incredible - like an Italian / Miami mansion inside (I know the owners). Also, Rocky Infelise had a massive mansion on the Water Front in Key Biscayne if I am not mistaken.

Andriacchi has a nephew named 'Don Andrich' who is still around and runs trucking companies. He used to hang with his uncle and I wonder if he is still around these guys. Andriacchi really did things right - grew up in Grand Avenue served a little time and stayed out - him and Pete DiFronzo were two guys who did time on the same case in the 60s and were cellmates I believe - both get out and become multi multi millionaires in construction by the late 1980s. Both leave millions to their families and die peacefully. Shows the mob actually did work for a few guys - albeit, they are in hell now.