Editing Joe Adonis (Giuseppe Antonio Doto) (section)

==Criminal Career and Rise in the Mafia==
Adonis’s criminal ascent began during Prohibition (1920–1933), when he, Luciano, Meyer Lansky, and Bugsy Siegel formed a bootlegging operation in Brooklyn. Supplying alcohol to Manhattan’s Broadway theater elite, the operation grossed $12 million at its peak, employing 100 workers. Adonis, styling himself as a “gentleman bootlegger,” mingled with actors and producers, enhancing his social clout. He operated from Joe’s Italian Kitchen, a Brooklyn restaurant that served as his criminal headquarters.

In the 1920s, Adonis worked as an enforcer for Frankie Yale, a Brooklyn racketeer, briefly meeting future Chicago Outfit boss Al Capone. Meanwhile, Luciano served Giuseppe “Joe the Boss” Masseria, a powerful Mafia leader. By 1930, Adonis joined Masseria’s faction during the Castellammarese War, a bloody conflict against rival Salvatore Maranzano. As Masseria’s fortunes waned, Luciano secretly negotiated with Maranzano to switch sides. When Masseria planned to kill Luciano, Adonis warned his friend, cementing their loyalty. On April 15, 1931, Adonis allegedly joined Luciano, Siegel, Vito Genovese, and Albert Anastasia in assassinating Masseria at a Coney Island restaurant, securing Maranzano’s dominance.

Maranzano reorganized New York’s Italian gangs into the Five Families, declaring himself capo di tutti capi (boss of all bosses). Dissatisfied with Maranzano’s autocratic rule, Luciano learned of a plot to kill him and struck first. On September 10, 1931, Maranzano was killed in his Manhattan office, allegedly with Adonis’s involvement. Luciano then established the National Crime Syndicate, a governing body for organized crime, and appointed Adonis to its “board of directors,” granting him control over Broadway and Midtown Manhattan rackets.