Joseph Biondo (April 16, 1897,
Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto
Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto (; Sicilian: ''Baccialona Pizzaottu'') is a town and '' comune'' of about 50,000 inhabitants in the north coast of Sicily, Italy, from Messina towards Palermo. It belongs to the Metropolitan City of Messina.
Hi ...
, Italy – June 10, 1966,
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
; pronounced "bee-ON-doh") also known as "JB", "Joe Bandy", "Joe the Blonde", and "Little Rabbit", was a New York City mobster with the
Gambino crime family who was heavily involved in gambling activities. Biondo was also the family
underboss
Underboss ( it, sottocapo) is a position within the leadership structure of certain organized crime groups, particularly in Sicilian, Greek, and Italian-American Mafia crime families. The underboss is second in command to the boss. The under ...
for approximately eight years.
Career
Born in
Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto
Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto (; Sicilian: ''Baccialona Pizzaottu'') is a town and '' comune'' of about 50,000 inhabitants in the north coast of Sicily, Italy, from Messina towards Palermo. It belongs to the Metropolitan City of Messina.
Hi ...
in
Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
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, demographics_type1 = Ethnicity
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, demographi ...
, Biondo emigrated to
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
. He lived on New York's
Lower East Side, where he became involved with future top
Cosa Nostra
The Sicilian Mafia, also simply known as the Mafia and frequently referred to as Cosa nostra (, ; "our thing") by its members, is an Italian Mafia-terrorist-type organized crime syndicate and criminal society originating in the region of Sicily ...
members. Biondo stood at 6'4" and weighed 180 pounds. Biondo lived in the
Jackson Heights section of
Queens
Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
and owned a stately summer cottage in
Long Beach, New York. He was married to Louise Volpe.
Biondo's early criminal record included arrests for
extortion
Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence; the bulk of this article deals with such cases. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, ...
,
homicide, and illegal
firearms possession. He was known to be a soldier in the
Salvatore D'Aquila mafia family and was a bootlegging confederate of
Umberto Valenti
Umberto "The Ghost" Valenti (August 14, 1891 – August 11, 1922) was a Sicilian-born New York City gangster and prominent member of the D'Aquila crime family during the 1910s. He is frequently confused with Rocco Valenti, a Camorra gunman of th ...
.
In 1919, Biondo was convicted on a
narcotics charge. In August 1922, Biondo was indicted on murder charges from a gang fight in which another gangster died, but the charge was later dismissed. In 1930, he was convicted of possessing a
revolver and received a sentence of
probation
Probation in criminal law is a period of supervision over an offender, ordered by the court often in lieu of incarceration.
In some jurisdictions, the term ''probation'' applies only to community sentences (alternatives to incarceration), such ...
.
During the
Prohibition era
Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic be ...
, Biondo became involved in
bootlegging. Biondo became close associates with bootlegger
Dutch Schultz
Dutch Schultz (born Arthur Simon Flegenheimer; August 6, 1901October 24, 1935) was an American mobster. Based in New York City in the 1920s and 1930s, he made his fortune in organized crime-related activities, including bootlegging and the n ...
and mobster
Charles "Lucky" Luciano
Charles "Lucky" Luciano (, ; born Salvatore Lucania ; November 24, 1897 – January 26, 1962) was an Italian-born gangster who operated mainly in the United States. Luciano started his criminal career in the Five Points gang and was instrument ...
, and frequently served as an intermediary between them.
In 1931, Biondo assisted Luciano in the assassination of Cosa Nostra boss
Salvatore Maranzano
Salvatore Maranzano (; July 31, 1886 – September 10, 1931) was an Italian-American mobster from the town of Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily, and an early Cosa Nostra boss who led what later would become the Bonanno crime family in New York City. ...
.
With the repeal of
Prohibition
Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcohol ...
, Biondo moved into labor
racketeering in the taxi cab industry. During the 1930s, Biondo was close to the top, but stayed away from top position. Biondo owned a shipping business in
Queens
Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
, a real estate office in
Long Beach
Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California.
Incorporate ...
, and an
automobile dealership in
Flatbush, Brooklyn
Flatbush is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood consists of several subsections in central Brooklyn and is generally bounded by Prospect Park to the north, East Flatbush to the east, Midwood to the south, ...
.
In early 1938, Biondo was indicted on charges of extorting payments from taxicab companies. On July 13, 1938, a
New York Police Department (NYPD) detective arrested Biondo in Queens after observing him driving with a female companion. Biondo cooperated in the arrest and was sent to jail.
On June 24, 1942, a judge dismissed Biondo's 1938 indictment because none of the indicted men had been brought to trial.
In 1957, Biondo and underboss
Carlo Gambino conspired to assassinate family boss
Albert Anastasia
Umberto "Albert" Anastasia (, ; ; September 26, 1902 – October 25, 1957) was an Italian-American mobster, hitman, and crime boss. One of the founders of the modern American Mafia, and a co-founder and later boss of the Murder, Inc. organizat ...
in a
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
barber shop. When Gambino took over after Anastasia's death, he appointed Biondo as underboss.
In 1965, Gambino became dissatisfied with Biondo's independence and replaced him as underboss with capo
Aniello Dellacroce. Working with mobster
Sam DeCavalcante
Simone Rizzo "Sam" DeCavalcante (March 3, 1912 – February 7, 1997), known as "Sam the Plumber", was an Italian-American mobster who was boss of the DeCavalcante crime family of North Jersey. Claiming descent from the Italian royal family, DeCava ...
of the
DeCavalcante crime family
The DeCavalcante crime family, also known as the North Jersey Mafia, is an Italian-American Mafia organized crime family that operates mainly in northern New Jersey, particularly in Elizabeth, Newark, West New York, and various other North Jer ...
, Biondo had gained a share of revenues from a sanitation landfill in
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
. However, Biondo had hid this new revenue from Gambino to avoid sharing it with the family. DeCavalcante later revealed the deception to Gambino, who then removed Biondo from power.
Death
Joseph Biondo died in New York of natural causes on June 10, 1966. He is buried at the
Maple Grove Cemetery in Queens.
Family
Joseph Biondo married Louise Vope in 1934. They went on to have two kids Vincent Joseph Biondo and Drew Dean Biondo, both Drew and vincent followed in their father's footsteps in the Gambino crime family. Drew moved between Philadelphia and Boston while being the head boss of the Patriarca crime family while Vincent stayed in Queens to run his father's businesses. Living members of the Biondo family consist of only few, Drew Dean Biondo(64) Vincent Joseph Biondo(60) Dustin Joseph Biondo(41) Vincent Joseph Biondo JR(39) Joseph's life long best friend Anthony Ruggiano was Vincent and Drews godfather as was Joseph to Anthony Ruggiano Jr who both Drew and Vincent looked at like a little brother.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Biondo, Joseph
1897 births
1966 deaths
People from Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto
Italian emigrants to the United States
Gangsters from the Province of Messina
Gambino crime family
Criminals from New York City