Joseph D Massei, or Joe Massey, was an American gangster of Italian-Irish origins.
25 Facts About Joe Massei
1.
2.
Joe Massei was involved in the Detroit bootleg liquor trade in the Prohibition era and was arrested many times, but was only imprisoned once.
3.
Joe Massei was a consiglieri of the mob, and helped resolve disputes between the gangsters.
4.
Joe Massei acted as the Detroit mob's money man, funneling illegal earnings into legitimate businesses in Miami.
5.
Joe Massei died at home in Miami Beach at the age of 71.
6.
Joe Massei was born in 1899 to Daniel Massei, an Italian immigrant, and Margaret Daisey from Ireland.
7.
Joe Massei was arrested in Detroit on charges of armed robbery on May 24,1920, and August 11,1921, but was discharged on both occasions.
8.
Joe Massei was arrested for suspected involvement in a murder on August 31,1925, but was discharged.
9.
Joe Massei was arrested for murder again on February 3,1933, but was dismissed by the court on May 15,1934.
10.
In 1933 Joe Massei was convicted by a jury of carrying concealed weapons.
11.
Joe Massei was sentenced to 60 days for contempt of court in September 1933, which he served in the Wayne County Jail, Detroit.
12.
On October 4,1934, Massei, Charles Bracco, and Joe Bommarito left a Detroit club at 2:30am with the gambling kingpin Gerald Jimmy Hayes.
13.
Joe Massei moved to Miami Beach and in March 1936 registered with the police as a convicted felon.
14.
Joe Massei seems to have maintained his links with Detroit mobsters running the numbers racket such as Peter Licavoli, William Tocco and Joe Zirilli.
15.
Joe Massei was arrested for vagrancy in January 1937 and again in February 1940, but in both cases was quickly released.
16.
Joe Massei then moved to the Grand Hotel in Miami Beach, a haunt of hoodlums and gambling operators such as Joe Adonis, Anthony Carfano, Charles Fischetti, Jake Guzik and Ralph Buglio from Chicago.
17.
Joe Massei lived in a penthouse on the Grand Hotel on 23rd street, and owned property on Flamingo Waterway.
18.
Joe Massei was known in Miami as "the leader of the Detroit Purple Gang".
19.
Joe Massei was a friend of Moe Dalitz, but the two denied any business relationship.
20.
Joe Massei used to joke with Dalitz, offering to make him a member of the Mafia if Dalitz would make him a member of the Purple Gang.
21.
In 1946 Joe Massei was one of the regular visitors to Al Capone's estate on Palm Island, as were Lansky, Tony Accardo, Jimmy Doyle and Joseph Fischetti.
22.
Joe Massei was arrested for the last time in a downtown Detroit motel in 1952 when police broke up a formal meeting of leading gambling operators.
23.
Joe Massei was on the scene, and greeted the six policemen who turned up to investigate.
24.
On June 18,1971, the FBI confirmed that Joseph D "Little Joe" Massei had died at his Miami Beach home.
25.
Joe Massei's funeral had been attended by many members of the underworld including William Tocco of Detroit and George Joseph Angersola of Cleveland.