Every once in a while, I like to read the Italian Wikipedia articles on well known organized crime figures from the world of mafia. Wikipedia is open source and often incorrect, but in this case it provides the opinion of Italian editors and contributors, not American or what have you. Here is Joe Adonis' Italian Wikipedia entry, it's an interesting read...


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Mug of Joe Adonis
Joe Adonis, the pseudonym of Joseph Antonio Doto ( Montemarano , 22 November 1902 - Ancona , 26 November 1971 ), was a criminal Italian , Italian-American mafia of the powerful Genovese family .

Biography [ edit | edit wikitext ]

Emigrated illegally from Montemarano , in the province of Avellino , he arrived in the US in 1915 and settled in New York . He began making the pickpocket and 20s changed his name to Joe Adonis, starting to work in the band of gangster Frankie Yale , who worked in Brooklyn ; later he tied to gangster Lucky Luciano , where he became a friend and with whom he began to work in the field of prostitution and gambling in Manhattan .

April 15, 1931 at Coney Island Luciano organized the murder of Joe Masseria , who also participated in the same Adonis, along with Bugsy Siegel , Vito Genovese and Albert Anastasia .

With the end of war Castellammarese , Luciano created a new " family ", which replaced that of Joe Masseria , where Adonis was affiliated, being named capodecina . Adonis became one of the most important and trusted lieutenants of Luciano, checking racket like prostitution and gambling in the territory of Broadway and Midtown Manhattan . In Brooklyn he opened a restaurant called Joe's Italian kitchen. The money earned illegally were reinvested in automobile dealerships in New Jersey and in the production of cigarettes.

After the exile of Luciano in Italy , at the end of World War II , Adonis oversaw its main criminal activities in America. In December 1946 he was one of the delegates of the Havana Conference .

In 1953 he was expelled in Italy following the discovery that it 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 , in an apartment on the seventh floor of Via Albricci. Li lived like a lord, attending the premises and fashionable nightclubs, showing refined manners and dressing elegantly.

He was summoned to the police station on 1 June 1963 to be heard about the ambush to Angelo La Barbera that Adonis knew and with whom he had had some contact. Surveys conducted between 1970 and 1971 revealed he still functions as Adonis "boss" mafia and that the choice of Milan as his residence had been determined by specific strategic needs: the direction of the international traffic of precious, especially bright, with ramifications in France and Switzerland and co-ordination of drug smuggling.

Adonis was arrested in May 1971 and sent to stay bound to Serra de 'Conti , a small town in the province of Ancona : despite strict surveillance was able to get his man of confidence, which probably continued to report matters in hand. He maintains relations with the mayor and with the local parish priest, displaying elegance and generosity.

The passion of Adonis for the music world was never a mystery. Aside from nightclubs and singers, in the early 60s also turned on a voice his attempt to unseat the Sanremo Festival with a show in competition.

On October 8, the Court of Appeal of Milan reduced the living obligated to three years and Adonis authorized to use the phone under the control of the police authorities. He died of a heart attack the next November 26, during an interrogation at the police station."


This sentence is peculiar because Google couldn't translate it accurately:

"Surveys conducted between 1970 and 1971 revealed he still functions as Adonis "boss" mafia and that the choice of Milan as his residence had been determined by specific strategic needs: the direction of the international traffic of precious, especially bright, with ramifications in France and Switzerland and co-ordination of drug smuggling."

"The direction of the international traffic of precious, especially bright" comes from "la direzione del traffico internazionale di preziosi, soprattutto brillanti".

A better translation, and anyone else is free to chime in, might be..."The direction of the international traffic of goods supremely valuable".