Joseph Barbara

Joseph "Joe the Barber" Barbara (born August 9, 1905 in Castellammare del Golfo , Sicily , † June 17, 1959 in Endicott , New York ) was an Italian-American mobster of the American Cosa Nostra and the official head of the 20th century the Pittston Crime Family . He was the father of Joseph Barbara, Jr. , who later became a member of the Detroit Crime Family .

Life

Early years

Joseph Barbara was born under the name Giuseppe Maria Barbara in Castellammare del Golfo ( Sicily ) and emigrated with his family to the United States in 1921 . He soon worked as a "hitman" for the Pittston Crime Family in their northern Pennsylvania Territory .

During the 1930s, Barbara was arrested for several murders; among other things because of the assassination attempt in 1933 on the black marketeer and competitor Sam Wichner from Scranton . Wichner was invited to a business meeting at Barbara's house, at which Barbara allegedly strangled him. However, law enforcement had never been able to collect enough evidence to prosecute Barbara.

Barbara married on May 24, 1936 his beloved Josephine Vivona in Endicott ( New York ) and had three sons named Joseph Maria, Jr., Peter and Angelo, and a daughter, Angela S.

In 1944 Barbara bought 23 acres of land in the rural town of Apalachin, New York, and expanded the property for a total of $ 250,000.

In 1946, Barbara was convicted of illegally buying 300,000 pounds of sugar; this was intended for the illegal production of alcohol. That was Barbara's first and last conviction. Soon after, Barbara got into the lemonade distribution and bought a Canada Dry bottling plant. Eventually, Barbara gained control of the beer and soft drink market in the Binghamton area .

The Apalachin Meeting

At the end of 1957, Vito Genovese organized a meeting of the National Crime Syndicate , which became known as the Apalachin Meeting , in order to subsequently obtain approval to have Frank Costello deposed as head of the Luciano family and thus to legitimize himself. His first choice for the meeting place was Chicago , but Buffalo boss Stefano Magaddino suggested Barbara's estate instead, which had been used for smaller gatherings in the past; Genovese agreed.

Barbara had already drawn the attention of local authorities with his criminal record and refusal to report theft on his property. On November 14, 1957, over 100 people met on this property; the local police drove up and panic broke out among the bosses. The meeting resulted in a mass arrest by local police. 62 mobsters were briefly arrested; including Genovese, Carlo Gambino and Joseph Bonanno . Many of the mobsters arrested told the authorities that they were in Barbara's house to visit him after a heart attack. The organization had suffered incredible damage. US President Dwight Eisenhower publicly campaigned for crackdown on organized crime. No one could now claim that a well-organized criminal organization did not exist.

Aftermath of Apalachin

After this incident, Barbara gained considerable national attention. He put his Apalachin residence and beverage business up for sale and moved to Endicott. New York State established a state commission of inquiry to investigate the Apalachin meeting and sent a subpoena to Barbara. In response, Barbara claimed she was too sick to testify. The commission dispatched a heart specialist to check Barbara's health, and in May 1959 a Supreme Court ruled that Barbara must appear as a witness. In June 1959, however, before he could appear before the commission, Joseph Barbara died of another heart attack.

The Apalachin Conference put the media spotlight directly on the mysterious Cosa Nostra, which sparked both state and federal hearings. As a result, the director of the FBI , J. Edgar Hoover , could no longer deny the existence of the Cosa Nostra in the United States and had to investigate it.

Joseph "Joe the Barber" Barbara was laid to rest in Calvary Cemetery in Johnson City, New York.

Adaptations

• In the 2019 film Mob Town , Barbara is played by Danny A. Abeckaser.

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Joseph Barbara Sr. History of the Mafia in the US
2. ^ "Joseph Barbara" ( Memento of February 6, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Onewal.com
3. ↑ Biography of Joseph Barbara on mafia.wikia.org (accessed Aug. 25, 2019)
4. ↑ ^{a b} "Apalachin Raid on Mafia Reverberates 50 Years Later" ( Memento of the original from February 12, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Mafia News 
5. ^ "On This Day in History: Mafia meeting at Apalachin, New York" ( Memento of the original from January 21, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Mafia Today  
6. ^ "How America Met the Mob" ( February 5, 2009 memento in the Internet Archive ) American Heritage Magazine July – August 2000
7. ^ "On This Day in 1957, the FBI Finally Had to Admit That the Mafia Existed" slate.com
8. ^ Find a Grave - Joseph M. Barbara, Sr (1905-1959) at findagrave.com