The Strange Adventures of Lucchese Hoodlum Joseph D’Auria

Joseph D'Auria was a low-key associate of the Lucchese Family, suspected to be "under" Tony Ducks Corallo . He was active in the Queens gambling rackets and labor-union racketeering. He also had a position as an “organizer” for Teamsters Union Local #239 based in Queens. D'Auria led a wild life and was once listed by the Queens County DA as one of 32 top hoodlums and racketeers in that county..

Joseph (Joe D) D’Auria - aka Giuseppe D’Auriav and Joseph Benjamin D'Auria (TN) - was born on January 15, 1915, in Upper Manhattan. He operated as a very low-key, virtually unknown hoodlum who was affiliated with the Gaetano Lucchese family for many years.

For many years, he resided with his wife Rose at 19-44 81st Street in the then-quiet environ of the Jackson Heights section of Northern Queens.

Joe D’Auria was an intimate of many top members of the Lucchese clan including such iconic names as locally-based capos Anthony (Tony Ducks) Corallo , Joseph (Joe Palisades) Rosato, and Joseph (Joe Brown) Lucchese. Other close friends included hoodlums Willy and Rocco (Barney) Fello, and Donato (Danny Narrow) Laratro.

D’Auria was so well “connected” that some in local law enforcement believed he was “in fact” an actual "made” member of the Lucchese family. But at the very least, he was considered a highly-placed “associate member” who was well respected and trusted by their general membership.

Anthony (Tony Ducks) Corallo

Commonly known as "Joe D,” he was active in the Queens gambling rackets and labor-union racketeering. He had a position as an “organizer” for Teamsters Union Local #239 based in Queens. This local typically organized workers in the automobile-related industry - new car dealerships, auto parts suppliers, automobile repair shops, etc.

In January 1961, D’Auria came under fire during his command appearance before a U.S. Senate Hearing called the McClellan Committee that was investigating corruption and impropriety in the labor and management field. Asked by Senator John McClellan about his “ghost” job with the local which paid him weekly, D’Auria quickly clammed up and cited his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination.

He was one of four such mobbed-up Local #239 union officials to do the same. The others were John Spada, notorious labor hoodlum Sammy Goldstein, and Lucchese soldier Anthony (Tony Higgins) Castaldi .

The local was thought to be under the control of Tony Ducks, and D’Auria is suspected to have been “with” Corallo’s crew. Investigators claimed these men had drained the local of over $70,000 in two years through embezzlement.

A Wild Streak

Aside from his labor activities for the Lucchese borgata, dating back a few years, it seems that the otherwise quiet “Joe D” had a bit of a wild streak in him.

In 1958, as he was returning home one evening after dinner out with his wife, the then 42-year-old hood completely lost control of his automobile as he approached his Queens residence. Their car veered wildly off the road and then careened over a 25-foot embankment down into the Bowery Bay across from LaGuardia Airport in Elmhurst.

Luckily for the D’Aurias, a young neighbor of theirs, who was looking out of his window that evening, saw the event and quickly called the police who responded to the scene almost immediately. Good thing, too.

Police pull Joseph D'Auria out of his car after the accident.

During a later interview, after authorities pulled the couple from the icy water, his wife, Rose, who was 39 years old at the time, stated that although she was also badly injured, she held her semi-conscious husband’s head above the water as their car was quickly filling up and sinking further into the abyss. Rose literally saved him from drowning.

In June 1960, Joe was arrested in yet another auto-related incident. This time around, he was charged with the wild hit-and-run of both a woman and a boy in two separate incidents up on E. 105th Street in East Harlem.

He was nabbed by two narcotics detectives on stakeout who happened to witness the two incidents. Besides hit and run, D’Auria was also charged with two more counts of drunk driving and being an unlicensed driver.

In 1962, the Queens gambling squad arrested his mas he was manning a telephone while taking bets inside an apartment on 98th Street in the nearby Corona section. Refusing to plead out, he was later convicted after trial. The court put him on probation and fined D’Auria a whopping $2500.

In 1963, he was nabbed yet again for horse race bookmaking by the feds. Charged with having not purchased a required Federal Gambling Tax Stamp, he once again refused to plead out to the charge and demanded a jury trial.

He was convicted once again and the angry judge decided to whack him with a six-month jail sentence and another huge fine of $3500.

A Dubious Honor

That same year, the Queens County DA's office released a press release to the local media, a list they compiled of who they considered the “Top 32 Hoodlums and Racketeers” living and operating within their county.

Joe had the dubious honor of making the DA’s list. Notorious mafiosi as the aforementioned Anthony Corallo, Joseph Lucchese, and Joe Rosato also made the list.

Others included Sebastian (Buster) Aloi, John (Sonny) Franzese , Frederick (Big Freddy) Bertolotti, John (Buster) Ardito, William (Willy) Fello, Louis (Louie Beans) Foceri, Nicholas (Jiggs) Forlano, Paolo (Charlie the Wop) Fraccacreta, Michele (Mike) Miranda, James (Jimmy Nap) Napoli , Neil J. Migliore, and August (Jerry Ryan) Laietta.

It was a literal “who’s who” list of the local underworld.

D’Auria was in some very lofty Cosa Nostra company, to say the least. It also shows how he was viewed by local law enforcement authorities.

There was no precise date of his passing, but I do believe he lived past the 1960s. If so, then Joseph (Joe D) D’Auria kept an extremely low profile from there on out, because no more was ever publicly heard from him after that time period.

Until next time…”The Other Guy”

The Strange Adventures of Lucchese Hoodlum Joseph D’Auria

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