Joseph Biondo

Joseph Biondo (April 16, 1897 – 1973), also known as "Joe Bandy", "Joe the Blonde", and "Little Rabbit", was a New York mobster with the Gambino crime family who was heavily involved in smuggling narcotics. Biondo was also the family underboss for approximately eight years.

Born in Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto in Sicily, Biondo emigrated to New York City. During the Prohibition era, Biondo became involved in bootlegging. Biondo became a close associate of mobster Charles "Lucky" Luciano and was involved in Luciano's 1931 assassination plot against boss Salvatore Maranzano. With the repeal of Prohibition, Biondo moved into labor racketeering in the taxi cab industry. During the 1940s, Biondo made frequent trips to Sicily and was involved in the narcotics trade. Biondo owned a shipping business in Queens and a real estate office in Long Beach. Biondo lived in the Jackson Heights section of Queens and owned a summer cottage in Long Beach, New York on Long Island. He was married to Louise Volpe, but had no children. Biondo's criminal record included arrests for extortion, homicide, possession of narcotics, and illegal firearms possession.

In 1957, Biondo and mobster Carlo Gambino conspired in the assassination in a Manhattan barber shop of then family boss Albert Anastasia. When Gambino took over as family boss, he appointed Biondo as underboss. In 1965, Gambino became dissatisfied with Biondo's independence and replaced him with Aniello Dellacroce. Working with mobster Sam DeCavalcante of the DeCavalcante crime family, Biondo had gained a share of revenues from a sanitation landfill in New Jersey. However, Biondo hid this new revenue from Gambino to avoid sharing it with the family. DeCavalcante later revealed the deception to Gambino, who removed Biondo from power. Luckily for Biondo, he escaped with his life.

Joseph Biondo died in New York of natural causes in 1973. He is buried in Saint John Cemetery in Queens.

References

• Bureau of Narcotics, U.S. Treasury Department, "Mafia: the Government's Secret File on Organized Crime, HarperCollins Publishers 2007 ISBN 0-06-136385-5

External links

• Find a Grave