Giuseppe (Long Joe) Bommarito

Giuseppe (Long Joe) Bommarito became one of the more notorious underworld figures in Detroit, Michigan. By the 1930s, Detroit's local law enforcement agencies viewed him as a member of the city’s Mafia.

Giuseppe(Long Joe) Bommarito -- aka Jack Luckas, Joe Russo, and Joseph Bommarito -- was born to Isadoro and Gracia (nee’ Lucido) Bommarito on February 17, 1909, in Palermo, Sicily.

He immigrated to the United States with his family as a teenager and eventually settled in Detroit, Michigan. On July 7, 1958, the then 49-year-old Bommarito was naturalized as a U.S. citizen in Detroit.

Long Joe Bommarito

In 1947, at the age of 38, he married a fellow immigrant Italian girl named Maria. They had three children together: two girls they named Grace and Geraldine and a son named Theodore after his grandfather.

Bommarito bought a new house for his growing family at 4117 Kensington in Detroit.

Bommarito was a nice-looking fellow who stood 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighed about 180 pounds; hence his nickname of “Long Joe.”

He had a medium build and complexion, dark brown hair and eyes, and two facial scars: one across his right eyebrow and another longer scar running vertically on the left side of his upper lip.

FBI #563534, Detroit-PD #29317

Bommarito's first arrest was in 1927, at the age of 18, for armed robbery.

In the coming years, Joe Bommarito was picked up numerous times with subsequent arrests for U.S. Tariff Act violations, several liquor bootlegging arrests in violation of the National Prohibition Act, assault, kidnapping, state gambling law violations, suspicious persons, and murder.

By the 1930s, he was viewed as a member of the city’s Mafia by Detroit’s local law enforcement agencies.

After tracking his activities over several years, the FBI and Detroit Police Department labeled him “a chief lieutenant in the Licavoli-Scarface Bommarito gambling combine at Detroit.”

Although law enforcement authorities had used somewhat odd jargon, in truth, they weren’t that far off.

Joseph (Long Joe) Bommarito served as a longtime soldier who was later thought to have been elevated to a “capo di decina” status in what later became known as the Zerilli-Tocco crime family of Detroit.

He was on par in Cosa Nostra status with other top Zerilli crime family members, such as Michele (Mike) Rubino , Joseph Massei, and Michael (Big Mike) Polizzi .

And Bommarito was a trusted intimate of bosses Joe Zerilli and William (Black Bill) Tocco, John (The Old Man) Priziola and such top members as his cousin Joseph (Scarface Joe) Bommarito, Frank Meli, Angelo Meli, Peter (Horse Face) Licavoli, Anthony Teramine, Anthony (Tony Jack) and Vito (Billy Jack) Giacalone, and Samuel (Little Sammy) Lucido.

“Long Joe” Bommarito was also said to have been related as a brother-in-law to Peter Licavoli and Sam Lucido. Licavoli married the former Grace Bommarito, Joe’s sister.

Joe reportedly listed ownership in the Prince Michigan Manufacturing Company and Del Ray Scrap Metal Company, both of Detroit.

Listed among his favorite hangouts and eateries were Al Green’s Restaurant and The Rooster Tail Supper Club.

As far as the rackets went, he was said to have been very active in a large numbers-lottery operation, liquor bootlegging, smuggling, shakedowns and extortion, and strong-arm work.

Joseph (Long Joe) Bommarito passed away on July 31, 1987, in Nevada.

Until next time..."The Other Guy"

Giuseppe (Long Joe) Bommarito

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