Giuseppe "Joe the Baker" Catania was a Sicilian-born American mobster murdered during the Castellammarese War of 1931 in New York City.
Early life
Giuseppe was born October 1, 1902, in Palermo, Sicily to Antonio Catania and Francesca La Scala.Birth records of Palermo, Italy, vol. 455, no. 108. He emigrated to New York City with his parents and older brother in 1903.Passenger manifest of S.S. Trojan Prince, departed Palermo, Sicily, on April 15, 1903, arrived New York on May 1, 1903. By 1905 the family consisted of his parents, older brother Calogero (aka "James"), younger brother Andrew, grandparents Calogero Catania and Anna Montala' Catania, and aunts Antonette Catania and Josephine Catania.New York State Census of 1905, New York County, Assembly District 32, Election District Special no. 3. His father ran a Manhattan bakery, and Giuseppe became known as "Joseph" and "Joe the Baker" in later years.Critchley, D. (2008). The Origin of Organized Crime in America: The New York City Mafia, 1891–1931. United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis.
Organized crime
Giuseppe and Calogero became followers of their uncle Ciro Terranova and the Morello crime family. During Prohibition he took control of the Italian bread industry in the BronxCinotto, S. (2013). The Italian American Table: Food, Family, and Community in New York City, p. 109. United States: University of Illinois Press. and achieved some level of notoriety when it was revealed a judicial officer "had been friendly with Terranova and Joseph Catania for years and socialized with them...through the Tepecano Club"Hunt, T. (2016). Wrongly Executed? - The Long-forgotten Context of Charles Sberna's 1939 Electrocution, p. 84 Google Books and may have been a middleman in judicial corruption.Landolfi, F. (2022). Politics, Police and Crime in New York During Prohibition: Gotham and the Age of Recklessness, 1920–1933. United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis.
In 1930 two separate organized crime factions began attacking each other. Known as the Castellammarese War, it pitted mobsters allied to Salvatore Maranzano against those allied with Joe Masseria.Van`t Riet, Lennert, David Critchley and Steve Turner. (2013). "Gunmen of the Castellammarese War - Part 5: A lifetime of tangling with the law: Salvatore 'Sally Shields' Shillitani," Informer: The History of American Crime and Law Enforcement, April 2013. Catania was allied with the latter,Valachi, Joseph. (1968). The Real Thing - Second Government: The Expose and Inside Doings of Cosa Nostra by Joseph Valachi, Member Since 1930, unpublished manuscript, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, p. 323-328. had been hijacking Maranano's liquor trucksCook, F. J. (1966). The Secret Rulers: Criminal Syndicates and how They Control the U.S. Underworld. United States: Duell, Sloan and Pearce. Google Books and ultimately was shot by Maranzano loyalists in front of a candy store in the Bronx on Feb. 3, 1931.May, A. R. (2009). Gangland Gotham: New York's Notorious Mob Bosses, p. 372-373. United States: ABC-CLIO. His death may have been engineered to bring a speedy conclusion to the Castellammarese War,Cawthorne, N. (2009). The Mammoth Book of the Mafia. United Kingdom: Little, Brown Book Group. and he died two days later at Fordham Hospital in New York City.Landolfi, F. (2022). Politics, Police and Crime in New York During Prohibition: Gotham and the Age of Recklessness, 1920–1933. United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis. Terranova funded an elaborate funeral, with forty cars to carry the floral displays.10,000 at funeral of 'Joe the Baker,'" New York Times, p. 30. New York, New York. Feb. 8, 1931.Miley, Jack. (1931). "$35,000 funeral puts thug in last spot," New York Daily News. p. 6. New York, New York. Feb. 8, 1931. He is buried at old St. Raymond's cemetery in the Bronx.Dress & Vanity Fair. (1935). United States: Condé Nast.
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