Joe Profaci – Continued – Page 2 of 2
Profaci was a devout Catholic who made generous cash donations to the church and Catholic charities.
A member of the Knights of Columbus and other philanthropies, Profaci would often invite priests to his Brooklyn home and New Jersey estate as dinner guests and celebrate Mass in a private chapel he had specially designed in his homes.
In the early 1950s, a thief stole a valuable crown of jewels from Profaci’s beloved parish – Regina Pacis Roman Catholic Church on 65th Street in Brooklyn.
Embarrassed and angered that anyone would dare desecrate the church in this manner, he ordered his troops to find the thief and recover the jewels which were valued at $100,000.
Within several weeks, the crown of jewels was returned intact to his parish…… the same could not be said for the thief, 38-year-old Ralph “Bucky” Ammino, a small-time hoodlum from the area.
Ammino was found in the gutter, reportedly badly beaten — a buckwheats killing — shot and strangled to death with a set of rosary beads wrapped around his throat!
Profaci conducted his whole life as a smart, savvy, shrewd, and calculating mafioso of the first order!
He forged strong alliances early on in his career with Vincent Mangano and Joe Bonanno – two of five NY Family heads, and the Detroit bosses Joe Zerilli and Black Bill Tocco.
They, together with the additional key friendships of Trafficante members and Cerritto members – both of whose borgatas were blood-tied to Profaci’s – formed a nucleus second to none in the underworld for over 30 years.
With his strong alliance to the New England crew, Joe Profaci, at one time, was possibly the single richest and most powerful Family Boss in the United States!
Whether it was the 1928 Commission meeting at the Hotel Statler in Cleveland, Ohio – even before the formal formation of Cosa Nostra – or the infamous 1957 Apalachin Summit meeting of over 100 of the top mafiosi across the country in upstate New York – Joe Profaci was always a pivotal player in the underworld politics of the day!
Joseph Profaci died in 1962 of cancer. He was 64 years old!
His death was during high tensions of the Gallo-Profaci War. And as his underboss, Joe Magliocco automatically inherited the leadership and the problems of gang warfare within his ranks.
Shortly thereafter, he elevated both Joe Colombo and Sonny Franzese to caporegime status trying to bring stability to the rank and file. And for a while it seemed to be working.
Then before anybody knew, Magliocco stepped down, Colombo was elevated to Boss, with Franzese rising to Underboss.
Of course, there was much more than met the eye when that happened.
We’ve all heard the stories of how Magliocco ordered Colombo to assassinate Gambino and Lucchese, allegedly working in tandem and at the behest of Joe Bonanno so as to take over those Families and the New York mob…
…And how Colombo betrayed them to Carlo Gambino thus earning Carlo’s undying gratitude with Colombo later being installed as Boss as his reward.
Somehow, those stories never rang true to me and many others who follow OC. Nonetheless, Magliocco was deposed from leadership, dying under mysterious circumstances within the year.
And I dare say and venture a guess that had Profaci lived through the 1960s, the underworld may not have seen the power plays that it did – and the subsequent Bonanno War.
With Profaci and his troops in his corner, I doubt anybody would have been bold enough to “move” on Bonanno and attempt to usurp his position. Even Magaddino would have been wary.
