Joe Cataldo was a long-time, well-documented member of the old Luciano/Genovese Family. He served for years as a “soldier” within the regime of capo Anthony (Tony Bender) Strollo.
A well-versed mafioso in nearly all street rackets, Cataldo nonetheless seemed to gravitate to and be most comfortable operating in a wide variety of bars and nightclubs, B-girl clip joints, homosexual bars as well as popular music venues throughout Manhattan. His main bailiwick was the Greenwich Village section on Manhattan’s Lower West Side. Over the years, Cataldo also bought into or infiltrated several top-named venues in Midtown Manhattan around the Times Square area as well.