When we discuss Luciano in Italy we also have to look at Joe Adonis.
In 1953 he was expelled to Italy following the discovery that he was not a naturalized American citizen, and settled in a villa outside Naples , from where he continued to maintain close contact with Luciano. In February 1958 he moved to Milan , to an apartment on the seventh floor in Via Albricci. He lived them as a great gentleman, frequenting fashionable venues and night clubs, displaying refined manners and dressing elegantly.
In 1965, in Milan, the Florentine painter Giovanni "Professore" Bruzzi met Joe Adonis during a meeting at the Club Morocco of all the gambling dealers in Italy, to define the strategies of clandestine gambling and on that occasion, the boss accepted to have his portrait taken by the artist (and it is the only portrait in existence).
Over time, the financially struggling Luciano grew angry at the wealthy Adonis for not helping him. On January 26, 1962, Luciano died of a heart attack in Naples at age 64. Adonis attended the funeral service in Naples, bringing a huge floral wreath with the words, "So Long, Pal".
He was summoned to the police station on 1 June 1963 to be heard in relation to the ambush set up for Angelo La Barbera , whom Adonis knew and with whom he had had some contact. Investigations conducted between 1970 and 1971 revealed that Adonis still had the functions of mafia "boss" and that the choice of Milan as his residence had been determined by precise strategic needs: the direction of the international trafficking of precious stones, especially diamonds, with ramifications in France and Switzerland and the coordination of drug smuggling.
In May 1971 Adonis was arrested and sent to Serra de' Conti , a small town in the province of Ancona : despite rigorous surveillance he managed to receive one of his trusted men, who probably continued to report to him about ongoing affairs. He maintained relationships with the mayor and the local parish priest, showing off elegance and generosity.
Adonis was one of 115 suspected mobsters relocated to Serra de' Conti after the assassination in May of Pietro Scaglione, the public prosecutor of Palermo, Sicily. In late November 1971, Italian police forces transported Adonis to a small hillside shack near Ancona, Italy, for interrogation. During the lengthy questioning and some abusive treatment, Adonis suffered a heart attack. He was taken to a regional hospital in Ancona, where he died several days later on November 26, 1971.
Adonis' passion for the musical world was never a mystery. Aside from nightclubs and singers, in the early 1960s there was also a rumor about his attempt to undermine the Sanremo Festival with a competing event.
