Editing Joe Adonis (Giuseppe Antonio Doto) (section)

==Criminal Empire and Influence==
As a caporegime in the Luciano (later Genovese) crime family, Adonis expanded into gambling, cigarette distribution, and waterfront rackets in Brooklyn and New Jersey. He bought car dealerships in New Jersey, where salesmen coerced customers into purchasing “protection insurance.” Despite his wealth, Adonis masterminded jewelry thefts, reflecting his early street-crime roots, which amused his syndicate peers. He ran operations from Duke’s Bar and Grill in Cliffside Park, New Jersey, a mob meeting place likened to Broadway’s Lindy’s. Adonis bribed politicians and police, protecting Luciano, Genovese, Lansky, and Louis “Lepke” Buchalter, head of Murder, Inc., and may have assigned murder contracts as a syndicate board member.

In 1936, prosecutor Thomas E. Dewey convicted Luciano on pandering charges, sentencing him to 30 years. With Vito Genovese fleeing to Italy in 1937 to avoid a murder charge, Luciano left Adonis in charge of the Syndicate and Frank Costello to lead the Luciano family. In 1940, Adonis faced indictment in Brooklyn for kidnapping, extortion, and assault in the 1932 Juffe/Wapinsky case, but charges were dismissed in 1941 for lack of evidence.

During World War II, Adonis aided U.S. Navy intelligence by connecting them with Italian immigrants for Sicily invasion planning, via Lansky, demonstrating his strategic value. In 1946, Luciano was released and deported to Italy for wartime cooperation. Adonis attended a Havana meeting with Luciano and other mob leaders. The meeting, in October 1946, was requested by US intelligence agents. Lucky Luciano, Frank Costello, Vito Genovese, Albert Anastasia, and Meyer Lansky were the primary players. They were there to discuss Paul Helliwell's plan. Helliwell's plan entailed using the Luciano network in the US to distribute the heroin that the CIA had controlled using the KMT, [[Chiang Kai-shek]] network in southeast Asia.

According to Paul Williams' [[Operation Gladio]] "The Helliwell plan also required Vito Genovese's return to the United States for the creation of a system of heroin distribution to the nightclubs of Harlem. This posed a problem, since Genovese was a fugitive wanted for the murder of Ferdinand Boccia, a fellow mobster. Measures had to be taken to ensure Vito's freedom. On June 2, 1945, the day after his arrival in New York harbor, Genovese was arraigned in court and pled not guilty. One week later, Peter LaTempa, a key witness for the prosecution, took some medicine for his gall stones and was found dead in his solitary cell, where he had been placed for protection. An autopsy later revealed enough poison in his system "to kill eight horses." On June 10, Jerry Esposito, the second witness, was found shot to death beside a road in Norwood, New Jersey. All charges against Genovese were dropped. In a memo date June 30, 1945, Brigadier General Carter W. Clarke wrote that the records regarding Genovese from military intelligence were so 'hot' that they should be 'filed and no action taken.'

Joe Adonis, along with Mike Miranda, Joseph Magliocco, Tommyu Lucchese, Joe Profaci, Willie Moretti, the Fischetti brothers (hearis to Al Capone) and Santo Trafficante were all present at this planning meeting. The conference was held at the Hotel Nacional where Frank Sinatra made his Havana singing debut in honor of Luciano. The discussions to target, specifically, the black neighborhoods in Harlem took place at this meeting.