reporter from a rival newspaper, he said, decided to make the story even better. He surveyed things and then picked up the ace of diamonds from the floor and stuck it in Joe's hand. He reported the extra-added ingredient to his newspaper."
Adonis, Joe (1902–1972): Syndicate leader One of the most powerful members of the national crime syndicate, Joe Adonis had been a longtime associate of such stalwart racket bosses as Lucky Luciano, Frank Costello and Meyer Lansky. He headed up the Broadway Mob, the most powerful Prohibition bootleg gang in Manhattan.
While Adonis always claimed to have been born in the United States, he was, as the law finally determined in deportation hearings, actually born in Montemarano, Italy, on November 22, 1902. He had entered the country illegally and taken the name of Adonis (his real name was Doto) to pay himself proper homage for what he regarded as his handsome looks.
Like many of his youthful associates—Luciano, Vito Genovese and Albert Anastasia—he soared up the criminal ladder of success during the get-rich-quick days of Prohibition. By the late 1920s Adonis had moved the center of his operations to Brooklyn. He became the virtual boss of much of that borough's criminal activities, taking over the Frankie Yale interests after that leading gangster was assassinated in 1928. The key to Adonis's success appears to have been his loyalty and modest ambitions. He was one of the gunners who killed Joe the Boss Masseria, the murder that put Luciano only one killing away from becoming the foremost Italian-American syndicate leader in the nation.
In Brooklyn, Adonis moved on two fronts. He was a trusted member of the board of the syndicate, settling disputes between various criminal factions and issuing murder contracts. While Albert Anastasia, Lord High Executioner of Murder, Inc., carried out tasks assigned by Louis Lepke, Adonis was also Anastasia's superior and kept a tight rein on him. Otherwise the mad-hatter murder boss could well have run amok, ordering too many hits. Abe Reles, the informer in the Murder, Inc., case, told authorities: "Cross Joey Adonis and you cross the national combination."
While Adonis was active in purely criminal matters, he was also becoming a very influential figure in Brooklyn's political life. A restaurant he owned in downtown Brooklyn, Joe's Italian Kitchen, became a rendezvous point for the most eminent political figures in Brooklyn—as well as members of the underworld. Among those he courted was a county judge, William O'Dwyer, later district attorney and mayor of New York. Adonis was often seen conferring with O'Dwyer and James J. Moran, a venal assistant, later regarded as O'Dwyer's bagman.
Joe Adonis, longtime power in organized crime and sidekind of Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky, takes "voluntary deportation" to Italy in aftermath of revelations at Kefauver hearings. He abandoned his real name. Joseph Doto, for the Adonis moniker in honor of his self-proclaimed good looks.
When Luciano was sent away in prison, he left Frank Costello in charge of his own crime family and Adonis in nominal charge of the combination's affairs, but he told Adonis, "Cooperate with Meyer." Meyer was Meyer Lansky, who was to become the guiding genius of the syndicate. Adonis understood both his role and Lansky's and proved smart enough to take orders.
After the end of Prohibition, Adonis extended his interests over waterfront rackets both in Brooklyn and New Jersey and became a power in syndicate gambling enterprises as well. Despite the fact he had moved up to multimillionaire class, Adonis also masterminded a string of jewelry thefts. For a man in his position, it was foolhardy and an activity his bigwig associates viewed with considerable amusement. But Adonis was a thief at heart and happiest when handling an old-fashioned heist.
In 1944 Adonis moved the center of his activities to New Jersey and there presided over the affairs of the syndicate in what was to become a famous mob
