Joseph (Joe Ross) DeNegris was born in 1894 in Potenza, Italy in the Campania region. He was raised and resided for many years at 215 Sullivan Street in the downtown Greenwich Village area on Manhattan’s Westside.
In later years, he may have relocated to Queens.
DeNegris immigrated to the U.S. when he was 10 years old. Law enforcement attempted to deport him, but by the early 1960s, De Negris successfully lobbied for permanent resident status despite his record.
FBI # 286227 NYCPD # E-39491
Joseph DeNegris was an original veteran and inducted soldier in the old Luciano/Genovese Family.
He was believed to be a member of the “Napolitano” regime of the borgata, and close to and trusted by Vito. In addition, he also served for a time under Anthony Strollo.
Joe Ross DeNegris maintained a very low-key profile his entire life. His activities included counterfeiting (U.S. currency) and policy.
He was actually involved directly with Vito Genovese and several others as a young mafiosi in Brooklyn in 1930. DeNegris was surveilled by the Secret Service over several months until they eventually raided an apartment at 1726 84th Street in Bay Ridge.
There, the agents found a hub of sophisticated printing equipment, $1,000,000 in freshly printed nice new bills in denominations of $50, $20, and $10, and another nearly $3,000,000 forged currency in half-completed form.
Four hoodlums were arrested besides D Negris, who was 36 at the time. His accomplices were named as Pericles Mannerini, Matteo Mattera, and Joseph Piscopo. All were charged with conspiracy to commit counterfeiting and possession of counterfeit money.
Joseph DeNegris’ criminal record started in 1914 when he was just 20 and included arrests for:
1914- petty larceny (served 15 months at Elmira)
1929 – suspicion of counterfeiting
1930 – conspiracy and counterfeiting (served 2.6 years in Atlanta)
1940 – alien registration (AR)
1958 – robbery
1960 – immigration violations
His close associates included Vito Genovese, Antonio (Tony Bender) Strollo, Peter DeFeo, Joseph (Joe the Wop) Cataldo, Giovanni (Johnny the Bug) Stoppelli, and Paolo Fraccacreta.
Although well known to the guys downtown and others who needed to know, Joe was not a publicly known hoodlum. And not much was ever known about his activities…… another typical old line “soldato” of this Family.
With little fanfare, Giuseppe “Joe Ross” DeNegris died in 1967 at the age of 73.
