Joseph Aiuppa

Infobox Person
name=Joseph Aiuppa

---

image size=200px
caption=
birth_date=birth date|1907|12|1|mf=y
birth_place=Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
death_date=death date and age|1997|2|22|1907|12|1|mf=y
death_place=Elmhurst, Illinois, U.S.

Joseph John Aiuppa (pronounced I-U-PA) (December 1, 1907 - February 22, 1997), also known as "Doves," "Mourning Doves," "O'Brien," or "Joey Doves," was a Chicago mobster who became a leader of the Chicago Outfit criminal organization. Aiuppa got his "Doves" nickname after being arrested for unlawfully transporting mourning doves across state lines.

Early years

During the 1920s, Aiuppa rose through the ranks of the Outfit, operating several gambling establishments in Cicero, Illinois. These clubs included bookmaking establishments and underground casinos with secret entrances. Aiuppa eventually became the perennial number two or three man in the Outfit, working out of the spotlight under leaders such as Sam "Momo" Giancana and Tony Accardo.

Giancana murder

In June 1975, Aiuppa allegedly participated in the Outfit decision to kill Giancana. The FBI suspected that the Outfit killed Giancana because he refused to share his offshore gambling profits from Mexico. Other Giancana allies, such as Filippi "Johnny 'Johnny Handsome' Roselli" Sacco, were also killed around the time of Giancana's death.

Some crime figures claimed that the Central Intelligence Agency killed Giancana due to his role in the failed assassination plots against Cuban President Fidel Castro. However, there is no evidence to substantiate those claims.

Conviction and retaliation

In 1986, Aiuppa was convicted of skimming profits from Las Vegas casinos and received 28 years in prison. It was rumored that Aiuppa ordered the execution of Tony "The Ant" Spilotro in March 1986 in retaliation for this sentence. Spilotro had been Aiuppa's representative in Las Vegas and Aiuppa supposedly blamed him for his skimming arrest. That along with the fact that Spilotro was attracting too much law enforcement "heat" with all his other antics in Las Vegas put him in the hot seat with Outfit higher-ups. Spilotro and his brother Michael, a mob lackey and bit television actor, were found beaten and buried alive in a cornfield only four to five miles away from a large property owned by Aiuppa near Morocco, Indiana.

Aiuppa was released from prison at age 89. On February 22, 1997, Joseph Auippa died of natural causes at Elmhurst Hospital located in Elmhurst, Illinois.

In popular culture

In the 1995 film "Casino", actor Pasquale Cajano's character, "Remo Gaggi", is loosely based on Aiuppa. The cornfield murders of the Spilotro brothers is also recreated in this film.

External links

* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Aiuppa&GSfn=Joseph&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSob=n&GRid=6214738& Joseph Aiuppa] on Find-A-Grave