Joseph Mario Barbara (;
born Giuseppe Maria Barbara, ; August 9, 1905 – June 17, 1959), also known as "Joe the Barber", was an Italian-American mobster who became the boss of the
Bufalino crime family. He led the organization from 1949 until 1959, and hosted the abortive
Apalachin meeting in 1957. Barbara died on June 17, 1959.
Early life
Barbara was born on August 9, 1905, in
Castellammare del Golfo
Castellammare del Golfo (; scn, Casteddammari; la, Emporium Segestanorum or ) is a town and municipality in the Trapani Province of Sicily. The name can be translated as "Sea Fortress on the Gulf", stemming from the medieval fortress in the h ...
, Sicily, to Giuseppe Barbara and Angela Galante. He immigrated to the United States in 1921, at the age of 16
[ ] and became a naturalized citizen in 1927. He was soon working as a
hitman
Contract killing is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or persons. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of payment, monetary or otherwise. Either party may be ...
for the
Northeastern Pennsylvania crime family. During the 1930s, Barbara was arrested for several murders, including the 1933 murder of rival
bootlegger Sam Wichner. Wichner had gone to Barbara's house for a business meeting, where Barbara allegedly strangled Wichner to death.
However, law enforcement never obtained enough evidence to prosecute Barbara. Though some mistakenly believe he ascended to the top of the Bufalino family in 1940 through the murder of John Sciandra, Barbara was more than likely a caporegime in the Buffalo Maggadino Family. John Sciandra passed away in 1949 of natural causes.
Barbara married Josephine Vivona on June 24, 1933, in
Endicott, New York
Endicott is a village in Broome County, New York, United States. The population was 13,392 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Binghamton Metropolitan Statistical Area. The village is named after Henry B. Endicott, a founding member of the En ...
,
and fathered two sons, Joseph Jr. and Peter, and two daughters, Angeline, who died at the age of two, and Angela.
Country estate
In 1944, Barbara bought a parcel of land in the rural town of
Apalachin, New York
Apalachin ( ) is a census-designated place within the Town of Owego in Tioga County, New York, United States. The population was 1,131 in the 2010 census. The CDP is named after Apalachin Creek. ''Apalachin'' means "from where the messenger retur ...
, and built an estate on 625 McFall Road for a total of $250,000. Barbara soon involved himself in local business circles and
philanthropy
Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...
. When Barbara applied for a New York handgun permit, the police chief of Endicott, New York, served as a reference.
["How America Met the Mob"](_blank)
American Heritage Magazine July–August 2000 In 1946, Barbara was convicted of illegally purchasing 300,000 pounds of sugar (intended for the manufacture of bootleg alcohol).
Soon after this, Barbara entered the
soft drink
A soft drink (see § Terminology for other names) is a drink that usually contains water (often carbonated), a sweetener, and a natural and/or artificial flavoring. The sweetener may be a sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, fruit juice, a su ...
distribution business, buying a
Canada Dry
Canada Dry is a brand of soft drinks founded in 1904 and owned since 2008 by the American company Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Dr Pepper Snapple (now Keurig Dr Pepper). For over 100 years, Canada Dry has been known mainly for its ginger ale, though ...
bottling plant
A bottling company is a commercial enterprise whose output is the bottling of beverages for distribution.
Many bottling companies are franchisees of corporations such as Coca-Cola and PepsiCo who distribute the beverage in a specific geographic ...
. Barbara eventually gained control of the beer and soft drink market in
Binghamton, New York
Binghamton () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, and serves as the county seat of Broome County. Surrounded by rolling hills, it lies in the state's Southern Tier region near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the conflue ...
. In 1956, a conference between dozens of mobsters was held at Barbara's estate; Barbara also suffered a heart attack that year.
The Apalachin meeting
In 1957, after taking control of the
Luciano crime family
The Genovese crime family, () also sometimes referred to as the Westside, is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City and New Jersey as part of the American Ma ...
from boss
Frank Costello
Frank Costello (; born Francesco Castiglia; ; January 26, 1891 – February 18, 1973) was an Italian-American crime boss of the Luciano crime family. In 1957, Costello survived an assassination attempt ordered by Vito Genovese and carried out by ...
, boss
Vito Genovese
Vito Genovese (; November 21, 1897 – February 14, 1969) was an Italian-born American mobster who mainly operated in the United States. Genovese rose to power during Prohibition as an enforcer in the American Mafia. A long-time associate and ch ...
wanted to legitimize his new power by holding a national Cosa Nostra meeting. Genovese elected
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...
boss and
Commission member,
Stefano "the Undertaker" Magaddino, who in turn chose his caporegime Joseph Barbara and his Northeastern Pennsylvania boss
Russell Bufalino
Russell Alfred Bufalino (; born Rosario Alfredo Bufalino, ; September 29, 1903 – February 25, 1994) was an Italian-American mobster who became the crime boss of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Italian-American Mafia crime family known as the Bu ...
to oversee all the arrangements.
On November 14, 1957, Barbara's estate in Apalachin was used again to hold a large meeting—over 100 mafiosi from the United States, Italy and Cuba. Cuba was one of the Apalachin topics of discussion, particularly the gambling and narcotics smuggling interests of La Cosa Nostra on the island. The international narcotics trade was also an important topic on the Apalachin agenda. The New York garment industry interests and rackets, such as loansharking to the business owners and control of garment center trucking, were other important topics on the Apalachin agenda.
A local state trooper named Edgar D. Croswell had been aware that
Carmine Galante
Carmine Galante (; February 21, 1910 – July 12, 1979) was an American mobster. Galante was rarely seen without a cigar hanging from is mouth, leading to the nickname "The Cigar" and "Lilo" (a Sicilian term for cigar). Galante had a long career ...
had been stopped by state troopers following a visit to Barbara's estate the previous year.
A check of Galante by the troopers found that he was driving without a license and that he had an extensive criminal record in New York City. In the time preceding the November 1957 meeting, trooper Croswell had Barbara's house under occasional surveillance.
He had become aware that Barbara's son was reserving rooms in local hotels along with the delivery of a large quantity of meat from a local butcher to the Barbara home.
That made Croswell suspicious, and he therefore decided to keep an eye on Barbara's house.
When the state police found many luxury cars parked at Barbara's home they began taking down license plate numbers. Having found that many of these cars were registered to known criminals, state police reinforcements came to the scene and began to set up a roadblock.
Having barely started their meeting, Bartolo Guccia, a Castellammare del Golfo native and Barbara employee, spotted a police roadblock while leaving Barbara's estate. Guccia later said he was returning to the Barbara home to check on a fish order. Some attendees attempted to drive away but were stopped by the roadblock. Others trudged through the fields and woods ruining their expensive suits before they were caught.
Many Mafiosi escaped through the woods surrounding the Barbara estate.
Up to 50 men escaped, but over 60 were apprehended, including Commission members Genovese,
Carlo Gambino
Carlo Gambino (; August 24, 1902 – October 15, 1976) was an Italian-American crime boss of the Gambino crime family. After the Apalachin Meeting in 1957, and the imprisonment of Vito Genovese in 1959, Gambino took over the Commission o ...
,
Joseph Profaci
Giuseppe "Joe" Profaci (; October 2, 1897 – June 6, 1962) was an Italian-born New York City Cosa Nostra boss who was the founder of what became the Colombo crime family. Established in 1928, this was the last of the Five Families to be organi ...
and
Joseph Bonanno
Joseph Charles Bonanno (born Giuseppe Carlo Bonanno; ; January 18, 1905 – May 11, 2002), sometimes referred to as Joe Bananas, was an Italian-American crime boss of the Bonanno crime family, which he ran from 1931 to 1968.
Bonanno was born ...
. Virtually all of them claimed they had heard Joseph Barbara was feeling ill and that they had visited him to wish him well.
Aftermath of Apalachin
Barbara found himself investigated by law enforcement and indicted for not testifying to a grand jury about what transpired at his home on November 14, 1957.
In 1959, he was also charged with income tax evasion and submitting fraudulent corporation tax forms. On April 27, 1959, Barbara pleaded innocent to income tax charges before the Federal District Court in
Syracuse, New York
Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffa ...
.
Barbara's business interests declined, as he lost his lucrative bottling contract with Canada Dry. Barbara's health continued to deteriorate, suffering a
heart attack
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...
on May 27, 1959, and another on June 17, 1959, at Wilson Memorial Hospital in
Johnson City, New York
Johnson City is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in Broome County, New York, Broome County, New York (state), New York, United States. The population was 15,174 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Binghamton, New York, Bin ...
, killing him.
[ Following his death, Barbara's Apalachin estate was sold for $130,000, and, for a time, was used for sightseeing tours. Barbara is buried at Calvary Cemetery in Johnson City, New York.]
The Apalachin meeting put the media spotlight directly on the secretive 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 a ...
, triggering both state and federal hearings. As a result, Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...
(FBI) director J. Edgar Hoover
John Edgar Hoover (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972) was an American law enforcement administrator who served as the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He was appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation � ...
could no longer deny the existence of the Cosa Nostra in the United States.
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barbara, Joseph
1905 births
1959 deaths
American crime bosses
American gangsters of Sicilian descent
Bufalino crime family
Burials in New York (state)
Italian emigrants to the United States
People from Broome County, New York
People from Castellammare del Golfo
People from Endicott, New York
Prohibition-era gangsters