Joe Adonis: The Wise Guy
This assignment will provide the student an opportunity to research an individual that has gained the attention of the American public for his or her criminal behavior For example, Jeffrey Dahmer, Charles Manson, Charles Whitman, Andrea Yates, Ted Bundy, etc. Each student is required to research the individual’s life history to include their childhood, education, work history, criminal involvement, mental history, and overall social adjustment. In addition to this background information, each student is required to use at least three criminological theories. Students should use these theories to help explain the individuals past and criminal involvement. These theories should be presented in a manner that complements one another and provides a logical explanation of their social adjustment and behavior. Students should not only define the theory but explain how the theory is applicable to the person under review.
Topics should be approved by the instructor early in this course and prior to beginning the research for this paper. Topics are on a first come first serve basis. In short, once a topic has been chosen it cannot be used by another student. Students who fail to have their topics approved and complete a paper that focuses on a subject that has chosen by another student will be penalized one letter grade.
This paper should be five pages in length and have at a minimum of five references cited in the body of the paper. Each paper should have a cover page, which should include the student’s name, the title of the paper and the course information. This cover page is NOT the first page of the paper. In addition, there is no need for students to include an Abstract. Abstracts are reserved for lengthy papers and used to summarize the paper content. In addition, the reference page should not be counted as one of the five required pages. What is required for this assignment are five pages of text. Students may use any type of academic source, but not newspapers, magazines, television shows, or Wikipedia (this is not an academic source and is highly unreliable). Students are however encouraged to utilize the electronic resources that are available through the Limestone College Library (http://nlib.limestone.edu) and the services that are available through the online writing lab, which can be accessed at http://www.limestone.edu/OWL/owl.htm.
It is paramount that you cite the outside sources that you use in the proper manner, which for the purposes of this course will be the American Psychological Association (APA) format. There are numerous sites available on the internet, or the APA manual itself that show examples of this format. If you have questions about proper citation, please feel free to contact me. Each paper will be graded on both writing and content. The content grading will be based on the completeness of the topic under review. The writing component of the grading will comprise the proper use of English and punctuation. Communication is the paramount component in all aspects of academic and non-academic life. Therefore, the ideas and information you produce should be in paragraph format (do not include long lists within the text of your paper). Please note that each paper should be developed using Times New Roman with a twelve-point font and the margins should be no more (or less) than one-inch. Also note that the text/paragraphs should be double spaced. Late research papers will not be accepted after the assigned deadline, which is identified within the class schedule at the end of the syllabus. Please note that papers that do not conform to these guidelines will be returned without review. This assignment is worth 25% of the final grade.
Joe Adonis: The Wise Guy
Introduction
Analysis of crime requires a multi-theory approach, as no one criminological theory is all-encompassing. Beyond the individual attributes of opportunism, propensity towards violence and greed, there are larger social conditions that facilitate criminal activity. Joe Adonis is the epitome of the career mobster rising through the ranks to head the national crime syndicate. The name Adonis arose from his vain perceptions of his looks. His charismatic personality helped him minimize enmity within the underworld while creating strategic friendships. His lifelong loyalty to Mobster Lucky Luciano was strategic in Joe Adonis’s rise. To gain a better understanding of his motives, a deeper analysis of organized crime is necessary. Joe Adonis’s social environment introduced him to crime whereas his personality expedited his rise within the La Cosa Nostra organization. The rational choice, the alien conspiracy, and the social learning criminological theories are strategic in understanding Joe Adonis’s life of crime.
Alien Conspiracy Theory
In a period where controversy on immigration is at an all-time high, analyzing the legitimacy of criminological propositions such as the alien conspiracy theory is necessary. It supposes that organized criminal behavior is attributed to a cultural succession of underground norms brought over from Southern Italy that is Sicily and its environs such as Naples (Lilly, Cullen, & Ball, 2018). The code of silence (Omerta) allowed crime to thrive within the Italian immigrant community without consequence. Even law-abiding members chastised those that spoke to the police. The option to report a crime was not available to people like Adonis’s parents who were illegal immigrants; his parents, Michele and Maria Doto, entered the nation as stowaways. Poverty and fear of deportation was the main factor that created high crime tolerance during Joe Adonis’s upbringing.
As Adonis—born Giuseppe Antonio Doto in Montemarano near Naples— is an Italian immigrant, the legitimacy of this theory must be evaluated, though with caution. The alien conspiracy theory has regained popularity with the drug war being attributed to infiltration of the country by Latino drug barons. As the United States (US) is an immigrant country, it is a consequence of mixed influences. Using extreme elements as representative of an immigrant category is counterproductive as it does not address the underlying causes of criminal behavior (Weisburd, 2018). A deeper analysis of the Italian-specific criminal tendencies is necessary instead of suggesting that Joe Adonis and his kin were predisposed to crime because of their immigrant status. Criminal elements exploited existing corruption in native social institutions rather than organized crime being a foreign innovation. For instance, the Prohibition era laws were loosely enforced allowing the Joe Adonis’s bootlegging business to thrive. Similarly, at the height of his power, Adonis had political connections yet he was not the one that made the leadership corruptible. Before the 19th and early 20th-century wave of Italian immigration, organized crime was well established in the US.
The Bell’s queer ladder of mobility theory, different from alien conspiracy theory, takes a less judgmental tone. It asserts that the legitimate paths to socioeconomic success were already taken when Italian immigrants like Adonis arrived (Bell, 2017). They had to become street smart to position themselves for success. Jews replaced Irish in crime when they advanced up the economic ladder, in turn, the Italians filled the vacuum Jews left; black Americans and Latinos are repeating the trend.
Rational Choice Theory
Joe Adonis chose to participate in criminal behavior; he was not a victim of circumstance. Stealing for survival can only be justified in the early stages. This offender’s background had a bearing on his introduction to crime. While Adonis started stealing and pick-pocketing in the New York streets during his formative years, he persisted even after getting relatively wealthy (Woodiwiss, 2018). In the streets, he met Charles Luciano and Settimo Accardi who introduced him to illegal gambling and later to bootlegging. Even when he became the head of the crime syndicate, he participated in jewelry heists as a pastime ‘for old times’ sake’; Adonis enjoyed the street life. He weighed the benefits and consequences before deciding that the former surpassed any risks. Mob life afforded him the flashy lifestyle complete with expensive suits and interactions with celebrities in Broadway. He had distinguished himself as a persuasive and well-spoken individual hence, was assigned as the point man when dealing with elites during his bootlegging days. Adonis’s behavior aligns with the rational choice theory. Unlike his more impulsive peers, he was level headed in his approach to mob life. To him, it was business not personal. In fact, His demeanor gave him a special role in the national commission of arbitrating personal and territorial disputes.
As the pleasure-pain principle informs punishment in the rational choice theory, had joe Adonis been imprisoned while young he might have changed his ways. However, the effectiveness of the punishment approach would depend on the ability of the US criminal justice system to reform inmates. Currently, rather than come out rehabilitated, they come out hardened; its punitive nature makes usually makes the punishment disproportionate crime. Prison is used by organized crime syndicates as a recruitment camp.
While financial incentives were the overarching motive for his criminal behavior, to gain trust and respect he had to be an enforcer occasionally. During the Castellammarese War, Adonis exposed a plot to kill his friend Luciano. He killed the culprit Giuseppe Masseria, then head of a conglomeration of clans descend from Naples and Southern Italy. Luciano who was Masseria’s enforcer was accused of collaborating with his boss’s archrival Salvatore Maranzano, the head of clans originated from Sicily (Weisburd, 2018). Adonis recognized that preserving the life of a close relation with leadership potential was more strategic relative to working under a person who only had a business relationship with him. This rational choice to murder was pivotal as it elevated his status giving Adonis a seat at the table and decision-making privileges in the national crime syndicate that subsequently formed to unite Italian American gangs.
Adonis’s Personality Traits
Joe Adonis possesses elements of a sociopath, an intelligent and sociable individual who justifies murders eventually losing any remorse. While Adonis was not aggressive and rarely murdered people in person, he was not hesitant to open assassination contracts usually enforced through Murder Inc. (Akers & Jennings, 2015). No delusions, anxiety or irrational thinking lent themselves to Adonis’s decision-making. Rather, he had considerable poise, was well-spoken and had superficial charm. Sociopathy is a trait common in most criminals with their high self-esteem based on fickle accomplishments. Such self-esteem is unstable and needs constant validation. For instance, Adonis orchestrated the kidnapping and brutal beating of Issac Wapinsky and Isidore Juffe due to the small interest he earned on some money he had lent them. The former would die from the injury. His loyalty that can be perceived as a redeemable quality was superficial as was evidenced in his later decisions. When in Italy with his former boss Luciano and the power dynamic had shifted, he did not share his wealth with his proclaimed long-life friend; it was no longer convenient. He was nonetheless not a fully-fledged sociopath.
Sociological Learning Theory
Adonis’s social environment was strategic in maintaining and enhancing his criminal pursuits. His deviant values were refined within the context of friends and family. The accommodations Adonis’s community made of organized crime rather than viewing it as inherently evil made it a viable career to pursue (Akers & Jennings, 2015). Surrounded by compatriots and relatives in the illegal trade helped him deal with the emotional consequence of criminal activities. For instance, Al Bono the Capo Regime of the Luciano crime family was his cousin. Though leadership succession was facilitated through merit, the mafia was otherwise run like a family business. “Joey A” was socialized to view criminality as normal, a means to an end. Adonis conformed to the values prevalent in his surroundings. Constant interactions with law-abiding citizens would have exposed him to legitimate alternatives.
Further, Adonis’s participation in illicit gambling gangs with Luciano and Accardi was training ground for his role at the echelons of organized crime. Without social learning, Adonis would have remained a petty thief. Adonis learned the values necessary to succeed in the underground world from his interactions (Vaccaro & Palazzo, 2015). When he worked under Brooklyn racketeer, Frankie Yale, he learned the importance of having high-ranking police officers and politicians on his payroll. These connections would help increase his value to the syndicate often using his influence to Help his mob associates and their crime families when they had problems with the law. The strength of one’s criminal associations increases the innovativeness of an offender. Luciano was the most influential friend and together controlled bootlegging in midtown Manhattan and Broadway. An operation that was worth $12 million a year complete with 100 employees. These experiences gave him the best practices so he would violate the law more efficiently.
Conclusion
The criminological theories that explain the life and times of Joe Adonis in the criminal underworld of New York and later New Jersey intersect. His ability to create strategic relationships within the mafia organization and within the US governance structure was vital in his success. Adonis possessed the complexity and contradictions inherent to most high-level criminals. His sociopathic tendencies are evidenced by the thrill he drew from criminal pursuits despite having a calm temperament and being refined in person. Joe Adonis’s criminal behavior was a rational choice further validated by his environs. Everyone in his neighborhood that was successful was engaged in crime validating his career choice. Crime is a learned behavior implying that strategic rehabilitation can provide more sustainable lessons. Adonis was not criminal solely because he was an Italian albeit the socio-economic status of his ethnicity had an impact. Joe Adonis’s background influenced his descend into the criminal underworld but he was not a victim of his circumstance. He contributed to his situation and enjoyed the status of the path gave him. A corruptible leadership and bad decisions by the governance such as prohibition led to organized crime. Akin to the tolerance of the mafia within the Italian American community, the entire United States was complicit in the emergence of men like Adonis. People saw bootlegging as a harmless vice and supported it.
References
Akers, R. L., & Jennings, W. G. (2015). Social learning theory. The Handbook of Criminological Theory, 4, 230-240.
Bell, D. (2017). Crime as an American way of life: A queer ladder of social mobility. In Transnational Organized Crime (pp. 25-48). Routledge.
Lilly, J. R., Cullen, F. T., & Ball, R. A. (2018). Criminological theory: Context and consequences. Sage publications.
Vaccaro, A., & Palazzo, G. (2015). Values against violence: Institutional change in societies dominated by organized crime. Academy of Management Journal, 58(4), 1075-1101.
Weisburd, D. (2018). Crime and social organization. E. J. Waring (Ed.). Taylor & Francis.
Woodiwiss, M. (2018). Underworld as servant and smokescreen: Crimes of the Powerful and the evolution of organized crime control. In Revisiting Crimes of the Powerful (pp. 82-94). Routledge.
