Joseph DiGiovanni
April 23, 1888, to Aug. 1971.
"Joe Church"
DiGiovanni is among the earliest known Mafia bosses of Kansas City, MO. His family roots extend back to Chiusa Sclafani in Sicily.
Once settled in Kansas City, Joseph and his brother Pietro reportedly engaged in Black Hand extortion within the local Italian communities. An attempt to firebomb a building in order to collect on its insurance resulted in an unexpected explosion that left Joseph permanently scarred.
Black market opportunities presented themselves during the First World War, and the DiGiovannis - who ran a wholesale grocery - took full advantage.
Joseph DiGiovanni became partners with James Balestrere in a Prohibition Era bootlegging operation.
The U.S. Senate's Kefauver Committee concluded in the early 1950s that DiGiovanni and Balestrere still served as the top men in the Kansas City underworld.
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