Lucchese Family: John “Johnny Dio” Dioguardi 

Johnny Dio was born Giovanni Ignazio Dioguardi on April 29th, 1914 in the Lower East Side of Manhattan to parents Giovanni Dioguardi Sr. and Rose Plumeri. Both of Johnny Dioguardi’s parents were Sicilian immigrants with them hailing from Baucina in Palermo. As well as this, Johnny had two brothers, Francesco Frank Dioguardi and Tommaso Thomas Dioguardi.

 The Dioguardi family had ties to the Mafia in America. On August 4th, 1930, Giovanni Dioguardi Sr. was found shot to death in Coney Island in Brooklyn. The alleged perpetrator, Salvatore Giordano, was a known bootlegger and gangster. As well as this, it was also reported that Giovanni had been tried and acquitted in 1929 for the robbery and murder of a woman he was living with.

 Aside from his father, Johnny Dio’s uncle, James Plumeri, was a known member of Tommaso Gagliano’s family with him possibly holding the position of capo within the family. James Plumeri was a respected and feared gangster who was heavily involved in industrial labor racketeering. Plumeri was also possibly involved in the extortion of the garment industry in New York acting as a partner to powerful Gagliano family capo, Tommy Lucchese.

When Johnny Dioguardi eventually got involved in criminal activity, he would find himself associated with the Gagliano family. During this time, gangsters, mainly organized criminals, were beginning to expand their businesses due to the imminent repeal of prohibition. Aside from selling alcohol, the two most lucrative businesses were narcotics and labor racketeering.

 And just like his uncle, Johnny Dioguardi would get involved in the latter. On May 10th, 1933, Johnny Dio, James Plumeri, and an associate of theirs, Dominic Didato, were arrested on coercion and assault charges after the three men attempted to extort the head of a trucking company. When the man, William M.

 Brown, refused to pay out to the men, they allegedly beat his brother up and vandalized his trucks. Although DioGuardi, Plumeri, and D’Aquila were charged, they were released soon after. Also around this time, DioGuardi joined his uncle in extorting the New York garment industry. As well as this, the two men, alongside Tommy Lucchese, were making a great amount of money through industrial racketeering.

 When the three men took control of trucking unions, they were able to call for strikes whenever anyone in the garment industry gave them trouble. When the truck drivers went on strike, materials couldn’t be transported and the entire industry would be disrupted. This operation ran smoothly until 1937. That year saw both DioGuardi and Plumeri indicted on charges of extortion, conspiracy, and assault stemming from their attempts to strong-arm heads of trucking companies to join their newly established illegal recruitment agency

or ghost employer company that was established as a way to take control of several unions at a time in order to allow DioGuardi and Plumeri to take full control of trucking in New York. The indictments were brought down by special prosecutor Thomas E. Dewey. During this time, Dewey was on a crusade against organized crime in New York, with him having only recently sent Luciano family boss Charles “Lucky” Luciano to prison for 30 years.

 On July 29th, 1937, after the two men plead guilty, a judge sentenced Plumeri to 5 years in Sing Sing prison, with DioGuardi receiving a sentence of 3 years. >> [music] >> Upon his release from prison in early 1940, DioGuardi would leave New York and relocate to Allentown, Pennsylvania, where he started up a garment manufacturing company.

 The company he ran had no labor union involvement, allowing him to ignore the rights of his employees. For example, if there was any union involvement in his company, he would have been held to a certain standard in terms of pay and working conditions. It’s also important to note that before Dioguardi sold his company, he allegedly accepted an $11,000 bribe to keep the unions out of his company.

After selling the company, Dioguardi likely returned to New York to continue his association with his uncle, James Plumeri, and by extension the Gagliano crime family. Over the next few years, Dioguardi and Plumeri continued their industrial racketeering operations, making millions for the family. On February 16, 1951, family boss Thomas E.

Gagliano would pass away due to natural causes at his home in Long Island. As a result, Tommy Lucchese, who was Gagliano’s underboss, would succeed him in leading the family. Lucchese was also close with Dioguardi and Plumeri. Also during this time, Dioguardi would be appointed to the position of regional director of the Auto Workers Union, one of the largest unions in the country representing workers in many different sectors.

 In 1952, Dioguardi would be linked to an extortion conspiracy stemming from an incident where two union official working under him attempted to extort $5,000 from an importer, with them threatening to put him out of business if he didn’t pay. Dioguardi would not be charged in relation to this. However, this incident would be one of many factors that led to an investigation into certain labor unions.

 During these investigations, many unions were found to have organized crime involvement. Dioguardi’s name frequently came up as he held a very high position in the New York chapter of the Auto Workers Union. As well as this, New York state authorities began investigating his finances as they believed they could build a case against him for tax evasion.

 After the state had indicted him on April 27, 1953, Dioguardi would plead guilty to the charge of failing to report more than $20,000 of income. It wouldn’t be until March 26, 1954 that he would be sentenced, with him receiving 60 days in jail. Sometime in around 1954, likely after his release from jail, Dioguardi would finally be inducted into the Lucchese family and placed into the crew of family capo Anthony Tony Ducks Corallo.

That same year, Dioguardi would become acquainted with an associate of the Chicago Outfit, Paul Dorfman. Dorfman had many ties to union leaders and would frequently act as a middleman for the Chicago Outfit, allowing them to communicate with labor unions all over the country. As well as this, Dorfman was a long-time associate of the vice president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, James Jimmy Hoffa.

 Jimmy Hoffa was the vice president of the largest trucking union in the United States. Hoffa was also preparing to take over as president of the union, with him approaching many significant union leaders all over the country to help him. When Hoffa was eventually introduced by Dorfman to Dioguardi and his capo, Tony Corallo, they would decide to throw their support behind him.

 The two men would go on to create several fake union branches as a way to get more votes for Hoffa. A fake union branch was also known as a paper local. It was known as this because most of the time these fake labor unions existed only on paper and were used in this case to allow Hoffa to create fake union delegates and ultimately win the election.

 It’s also alleged that Dioguardi and Hoffa, with the help of Corallo, were responsible for creating up to 15 of these paper locals. >> [music] >> Since 1937, journalist Victor Riesel had been writing about the infiltration of organized crime in the New York labor unions. By 1956, he had been writing a column on the subject that was included in almost 200 newspapers throughout the country.

 As well as this, Riesel and other journalists had been called to appear before a grand jury to testify to the mafia’s involvement in the unions. Johnny Dioguardi began to consider how he could silence Riesel. Initially, it’s alleged he considered ordering someone to beat him up before he was approached with another idea.

 Lucchese family soldier, Charles Tourine allegedly gave Dioguardi the idea to use sulfuric acid, arguing that it was quicker and more effective than a beating. D’Algardi agreed and recruited a family associate, Joseph Carlino, to find an enforcer to carry it out. Carlino would ultimately be able to recruit a young Jewish gangster named Abraham Telvi, who was willing to carry out the attack.

 Carlino gave Telvi a bowl of sulfuric acid and promised him $500 upon the completion of the attack. In the early morning hours of April 5th, 1956, Reisel was leaving Lindy’s Restaurant on Broadway in Manhattan with his secretary, Betty Nevins. When the two were standing outside the front entrance, Telvi, who was waiting in an alleyway, would emerge.

 Telvi allegedly shouted Reisel’s name before approaching him and throwing the acid into his face. When Reisel went down, Telvi pulled the bottle back and accidentally splashed himself, mainly burning his clothes. Telvi would flee the scene and Reisel would be taken to hospital. Reisel’s injuries were severe as he sustained horrific burns on his face and was left fully blind in both eyes.

 After the attack was carried out, Telvi received the $500 as promised, alongside an additional $675 as compensation for the burning of his clothes. Despite receiving a total of $1,175, Telvi, who was beginning to realize the significance of what he had done, would begin demanding more money from Carlino and D’Algardi.

 After a while, D’Algardi began to feel that keeping Telvi around was more trouble than it was worth. Ultimately, D’Algardi would elect to have Telvi killed, and on July 28th, 1956, the body of Abraham Telvi was discovered on Mulberry Street in Manhattan with several gunshot wounds. D’Algardi most likely believed that the attack on Reisel would silence him.

However, it would completely backfire. Reisel would only become more popular, being given his own radio show, and even making several television appearances. As well as this, the US Senate would step in as a direct result of the attack, creating a subcommittee that would investigate the influence of organized crime on the labor unions.

 The chairman of this subcommittee was Senator John L. McClellan, and the chief counsel was Senator Robert F. Kennedy. From 1957, the subcommittee would hold several hearings in Washington where they questioned several union and organized crime figures. Some of those subpoenaed to testify before the subcommittee were Jimmy Hoffa, who by this point had been elected to the position of president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Dioguardi’s capo Tony Ducks Corallo, and Johnny Dioguardi. However, by the time

he appeared before the subcommittee, Dioguardi had already been convicted in a bribery case. During his testimony, Dioguardi would refuse to answer any questions, with him responding by invoking the Fifth Amendment. Corallo also invoked the Fifth Amendment during his testimony. On September 5th, 1957, after testifying before the Senate subcommittee, Johnny Dioguardi was sentenced to 2 years in state prison stemming from his earlier bribery conviction.

 And although he was now serving time in prison, things would only get worse. On January 8th, 1958, after being convicted of extorting thousands of dollars from two New York retail stationery firms on December 12th of the previous year, Dioguardi would be sentenced to an additional 15 to 30 years in Sing Sing prison. Although it appeared as though Johnny Dioguardi would spend years in prison, his conviction would end up being reversed.

 On June 23rd, 1959, after Dioguardi had spent over a year in prison, the appeals court would rule in favor of reversing his conviction. With that, he would be released from prison. However, he wouldn’t be back on the streets for very long. On April 7th, 1960, after being free for less than a year, Johnny Dioguardi would be convicted on federal tax evasion charges stemming from his failure to report more than $60,000 of income from 1950 On April 28th, he would be sentenced to 4 years in federal prison and fined $5,000.

When Dioguardi was released from federal prison in 1963, he would find himself getting involved in another scheme. He took control of a kosher meat company called Consumers Kosher Provision. After taking control of this company, he was able to take control of another larger kosher meat company, American Kosher Provisions.

 DioGuardi was able to take over this company using his significant influence over the unions. He would strategically organize workers strikes in order to disrupt his competitors and take control of their companies. After taking control of American Kosher Provisions, he would merge it with his original company, Consumers Kosher Provision.

 Once the merger was up and running, DioGuardi would appoint his cousin, Thomas Plumeri, to the position of director, with him also making his son, Dominic DioGuardi, the company treasurer. Although it appeared DioGuardi was running a successful business, it turned out just to be the front for a massive insurance scam.

 After a while, DioGuardi and his associates would execute their plan. They were able to collect a total of 25,000 lb of meat from more than 20 separate creditors. After this, they would begin stripping the business entirely, selling every single one of the machines. Once they sold the machines and the 25,000 lb of meat, they would officially declare bankruptcy, reporting a total of only $2,900 in assets.

 Allegedly, the three men were able to make at least $333,000 from this scheme. After a while, the FBI would begin investigating the company. They were able to discover that DioGuardi, his son Dominic, and Thomas Plumeri had concealed their assets and transferred a significant amount of money to various shell companies. Once the FBI had gathered enough evidence, they would be able to indict the three men.

 On April 21st, 1966, DioGuardi and his two co-conspirators were indicted on federal bankruptcy fraud charges. After the three men were arraigned, they would all be able to post bail. While DioGuardi was out on bail, the Lucchese crime family would undergo a huge change. On July 13th, 1967, family boss Tommy Lucchese would pass away at his home in Lido Beach, dying of a brain tumor.

 With that, someone would need to succeed him. Supposedly, Lucchese wanted Tony Corallo to take over the family. However, Corallo was dealing with legal troubles during this time. Initially, Lucchese’s lifelong associate, Joseph Rosato, would be appointed to the position of acting boss. However, Rosato decided to step down, with him being replaced as acting boss by Ettore “Eddie” Coco.

 However, like Corallo, Eddie Coco was having his own legal issues during this time, and he would be sent to prison after being convicted on bribery charges. Finally, the family would settle on an official boss to succeed Lucchese, with family capo Carmine Tramunti being appointed to the position of boss. Meanwhile, on November 10th, 1967, Johnny DioGuardi would be convicted on federal bankruptcy fraud charges, with his cousin Thomas Plumeri also being convicted.

 Dominic DioGuardi was acquitted. On December 11th, DioGuardi and Plumeri would receive their sentences. DioGuardi was sentenced to 5 years in federal prison, with Plumeri receiving 3 years. However, DioGuardi was able to appeal, allowing him to remain free while his appeal was being reviewed. But unfortunately, his appeal was denied, and on October 2nd, 1970, DioGuardi would officially begin serving his sentence.

 A few years later, just as DioGuardi became eligible for parole in 1973, he would be indicted on more charges. Federal prosecutors alleged that DioGuardi had participated in a major stock fraud scheme, alongside powerful Colombo family member Vincent Aloi, and Lucchese family boss Carmine Tramunti. DioGuardi and Aloi would go on to be convicted, and on December 23rd, 1973, Johnny DioGuardi would be sentenced to 9 years in federal prison, with Vincent Aloi receiving the same sentence.

While serving his sentence, DioGuardi would be placed in the Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary in Pennsylvania. During this time, powerful Bonanno family member Carmine Galante was incarcerated there. As well as this, Lucchese family capo Paul Vario and his associate Henry Hill were also incarcerated there. Dioguardi would ultimately spend the rest of his life incarcerated here with him passing away on January 12th, 1979 after serving just over 5 years of his 9-year sentence.