- Johnny Dio
Infobox Person
name=Johnny Diothumb
image_size=108
caption=
birth_date=birth date|1914|4|28|mf=y
birth_place=East Harlem ,New York , U.S.
death_date=death date and age|1979|1|12|1914|4|28|mf=y
death_place=Lewisburg ,Pennsylvania , U.S.Johnny Dio (born John Dioguardi) (
April 28 ,1914 –January 12 1979 ) was a mafioso and union boss in theLucchese crime family .Childhood & Family Life
Giovanni (John) Ignazio Dioguardi was born on
April 28 in 1913 or 1914 (birth dates conflict depending on the source) in theEast Harlem section ofManhattan , the same neighborhood that produced futureLucchese crime family mob bossAnthony Corallo . He was ofArbëreshë -descent on his mother's side, from the ethnic Albanian community living in southernSicily . UnlikeHenry Hill who was of Irish-Sicilian descent, Giovanni's ethnic background did not affect his position in theLucchese crime family , and he was successfully promoted to the prestigious rank of capo and assigned his own criminal crew. He ran theHotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union andUnion of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees andAmalgamated Clothing Workers of America His father and mother were fromPalermo, Sicily . He had three brothers,Tommaso Dio (October 29 ,1915 - January 1985) and two lesser known brothers namedFrank Dio (March 12 ,1900 -December 15 ,1988 ),Vincent Dio (August 15 ,1917 -September 28 ,1992 ) and at least onebiological sister who can be identified only as "Mrs. Dioguardi-Priziola"." Tommaso would later become acapo in theLucchese crime family until he was arrested for armed robbery and sent to jail for twenty-five years. He is of no relation toJoseph J. DioGuardi orRonnie James Dio , although they do share the same last name. Joseph DioGuardi does share the same family ancestry as the notorious Johnny Dio. In his younger years Giovanni looked like a cross between actorsKeifer Sutherland andRudolph Valentino . He was enrolled inStuyvesant High School for a year and a half, but dropped out in hissophomore year. Johnny Dio and his siblings were brought up onForsyth Street in Little Italy. By the age of fifteen, he was already being groomed and refined to become a consummate mobster. Johnny Dio is known to have had at least twos sons, Phillip Dioguardi a.k.a. "No-Name Phil", who was an associate of theColombo crime family ,Lucchese crime family mob associateDominick Dioguardi andHollywood actor and writerRichard Dioguardi who would later portray City Detective #2 inMartin Scorsese 'sfilm Goodfellas . His son Phillip was involved in extortion, loan-sharking, fraud, gambling and union racketeering withAnthony Colombo , a son ofColombo crime family mob family patriarch founderJoseph Colombo . He died of natural causes when dodging aRICO indictment in March of 2004.Family Heritage
Johnny Dio's maternal
uncle ,Giacomo Plumeri who was theLucchese crime family underboss who served underThomas Gagliano , introduced Dio and his brothers Frank and Tommaso, including theircousin Tommaso Plumeri , into a life oforganized crime andgarment district union racketeering. Johnny Dio also became involved with the infamousMurder, Inc. as one of the few non-Jewish gangsters working for his uncle Plumeri's business associates Louis "Lepke" Buchalter andJacob Shapiro . John worked under union leader and mob associatePaul Dorfman , thestepfather ofChicago Outfit mob associateAllen Dorfman and laterJames R. Hoffa . Johnny Dio became a close associate of Jimmy Burke,Donald Frankos ,Paul Vario ,Henry Hill and mobsterFrank Livorsi who was theson-in-law ofAngelo Meli .Detroit Partnership consigliere Giovanni Priziola married thesister of Johnny Dio making Priziola abrother-in-law to John, Frank and Thomas. Thebest man at the "Dioguardi-Priziola" wedding was mobsterPeter Licavoli . Giovanni Priziola was theuncle of mobsterPeter Tocco 's and relative ofcousins Angelo Meli andVincent Meli who is the "actingunderboss " of theDetroit crime family . He is a cousin to Lucchese crime family mobster Thomas Plumeri. Giovanni was also thebrother-in-law of fellowLucchese crime family capo Giovanni Oremento andRaffaele Quasarano .Battle with the law
Dio got into trouble with the law on more than one occasion. U.S. Attorney
Thomas Dewey considered Dio to be one of most dangerous mobsters in New York City before he reached age twenty-one. In 1937, Dio was sentenced to three to five years in prison atSing Sing inOssining, New York forassault andextortion . Dio was charging truckers $5000 in taxes in thegarment district , plus demanding a premium on every suit and coat made in the area. In 1944, Dio wasindicted for operating an illegal alcoholstill . He later received a 60 day jail sentence for failure to pay stateincome tax on his illegal earnings. In November 1957, Dio received two years inprison for extorting money fromstationery store owners. In 1969 film footage of John was placed in the documentary "Due Kennedy, I" by Gianni Bisiach.Rise in power
A
made man by the time he was forty, Dio soon became acapo in the family. Known as a "ferocious earner", he generated over $100,000 in income each week. Dio's usualChristmas present to his wife was a shoe box stuffed with $50,000 in currency and a note such as "buy yourself some nice clothes, honey". Dio lived the lifestyle of a celebrity, dining at the best restaurants and hotels. He kept Sundays for his family and friends and prepared lunch or dinner. He loved to cook and entertain at his house on Freeport Avenue in Point Lookout,Long Island , which he purchased for $75,000 in the early 1960’s. Dio'slegitimate businesses included many highly profitable clothing factories and Jard Products inManhattan , which sold promotional items to commercial establishments. The retail chain,Waldbaums was one of Jard's biggest customers. Johnny Dio is the basis for the Lee J. Cobb character "Johnny Friendly". Dio's legendary skill as a union manipulator came in handy many times. On one occasion,Thomas Lucchese asked Dio to aid an old friend,Jack Dragna , the boss of the Los Angeles crime family. Dragna's scheme of hiring non-union, cheapMexican labor for his factories was being questioned by theILGWU . Dioguardi’s expertise made sure thatwaivers occurred on every important project set up and foiled the union’s attempt. Senate investigations in the early 1950s showed Dio as a big player in the unions operating out of Idlewilde airport, later renamedJFK airport .Hoffa involvement
As notorious
Teamsters boss,Jimmy Hoffa was preparing to take his throne as president of the teamsters in 1957, Hoffa remembered someone, Johnny Dio. Whether or not New York locals actually liked Hoffa is unknown. Their vote would matter ifMidwest locals would vote for him or not. For help with that, theChicago Outfit could persuade a "couple" voters. Creating more locals was the answer, enough to swing the election to his favor. Dio constructed seven teamster unions which would be used to support Hoffa. The members of the unions weren't even workers; they were relatives and friends of Dioguardi. The winner of the nomination was, of course Hoffa. Hoffa was later finished by his war with Attorney General Robert Kennedy, his arrest, trial and presumed death.The man who blinded Victor Riesel
On
April 5 1956 , the mob attackedVictor Riesel , a news columnist who exposed corruption and mob influence in labor unions and was published in 93 newspapers, including the New YorkDaily Mirror . Riesel had just finished a late interview and was planning to have supper with his secretary. As they approached the secretary's car, a man walked up to Riesel, threwsulfuric acid in his face, and then vanished. Riesel was rushed to the hospital, but doctors were unable to save his eyesight.A federal investigation identified the attacker as twenty-two-year-old
longshoreman Abraham Telvi . Dio had allegedly paid Telvi $1,175 to blind Riesel. As the media and law enforcement started focusing on Telvi, he tried to extort $50,000 more from Dio. OnJuly 28 1956 , Telvi's body was found on Mulberry Street inLittle Italy, Manhattan with two bullets in the head. Dio was charged, but never convicted for the Riesel assault; the only two witnesses refused to testify and the charges were dropped in May 1957. But the crime backfired on Dio; he was permanently branded as "The man who blinded Victor Riesel".Merkel meat incident
On
November 14 1964 Dio engaged in a telephone conversation with Norman LoKietz, the president of Merkel Meat Company. Unknown to Dio, the conversation was being recorded through a bug planted by twoNYPD detectives. The conversation revealed that Dio and the Lucchese family were selling substandard and sometimes even rotten meat in the retail marketplace. Dio and his associates were not only making large profits from such sales, but also endangering the public health. The tape of this conversation provided enough evidence to build a case against Dio.Later, when Dio was leaving the
US Senate Committee hearing room, he punched one of the pressphotographers . His most notorious photograph was taken at that time and published in newspapers everywhere. It shows Dio with acigarette dangling out of one corner of his mouth and a snarling expression on his face.In 1967 the law finally caught up to him. He was sentenced to five years in prison and fined $10,000. In 1969 an employee of Merkel Meat testified that when he delivered the meat, it was "sometimes light green and sweaty and often was an atrocity to perpetrate on our customers." By this time Dio had already been in the Lucchese family for over thirty years. Further charges were brought against him while he was in prison. He was due for parole in 1979, but would die in prison that same year, prior to his release.
In popular culture
*The 1990 film "
Goodfellas " features actorFrank Pellegrino as Johnny Dio in prison with Henry Hill andPaul Vario .
*One of his alleged relatives, Richard Dioguardi would later have an uncredited brief role inGoodfellas as "City Detective No. 2" or referred to in the film as "Detective Silvestri" who helps serve a search warrant toKaren Hill , played byLorraine Bracco . Richard is one of the several reputed mob associates who appeared in the film includingJohn Manca as the fictional mobster at theCopacabana "Nicky Eyes andTony Sirico as "Tony Stacks".
*Dio was portrayed in the 1994 television movie "Getting Gotti " by actorRino Romano .
*Heavy metal singerRonnie James Dio , (born Ronald James Padavona), took up the name "Dio" after Johnny Dio.Further reading
*Pizzo, Stephen; Fricker, Mary; and Muolo, Paul. "Inside Job: The Looting of America's Savings and Loans". New York: Harpercollins (April 1991) ISBN 006098600X.
*Kwitny, Jonathan. "Vicious Circles: The Mafia's Control of the American Marketplace, Food, Clothing, Transportation, Finance". New York: W.W. Norton, 1979 ISBN 0393011887.
*Moldea, Dan E. "The Hoffa Wars". S.P.I. Books (December 1992) ISBN 1561712000
*Neff, James. "Mobbed Up: Jackie Presser's High-Wire Life in the Teamsters, the Mafia, and the FBI". New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1989 ISBN 087113344X
*Casillo, Robert: "Gangster Priest: The Italian American Cinema of Martin Scorcese"
*Russell, Thaddeus "Out of the Jungle: Jimmy Hoffa and the Remaking of the American Working Class"
*Sloane, Arthur A. "Hoffa"References
* Edwin Guthman and Kennedy, Robert F. "The Enemy Within: The McClellan Committee's Crusade Against Jimmy Hoffa and Corrupt Labor Unions"
* Hilty, James W. "Robert Kennedy: Brother Protector"
*Kelly, Robert J. Encyclopedia of Organized Crime in the United States. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2000. ISBN 0-313-30653-2
*Devito, Carlo. "The Encyclopedia of International Organized Crime". New York: Facts On File Inc., 2005. ISBN 0-8160-4848-7
*Sifakis, Carl. "The Mafia Encyclopedia". New York: Da Capo Press, 2005. ISBN 0-8160-5694-3
*Sifakis, Carl. "The Encyclopedia of American Crime". New York: Facts on File Inc., 2005 ISBN 0-8160-4040-0.
*Scott, Peter Dale, "Deep Politics and the Death of JFK", University of California Press (June 22, 1996) ISBN 0520205197
*Kwitny, Jonathan, "Vicious Circles: The Mafia in the Marketplace"External links
* [http://www.crimelibrary.com/gangsters_outlaws/family_epics/lucchese2/2.html Lucchese Crime Family Epic: Descent into Darkness - Part II, Johnny Dio] at the
Crime Library
* [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,809877,00.html Time.com: Pushcart Upsetter] ,16 September 1957
* [http://www.ipsn.org/court_cases/us_vs_dioguardi-1970-04-21.htm United States of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. John Dioguardi]
* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=6236834 John "Johnny Dio" Dioguardi] atFind-A-Grave
*http://www.ipsn.org/court_cases/us_vs_dioguardi-1970-04-21.htm
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