Joe Porrello
July 15, 1889, to July 5, 1930.
"Big Joe"
Porrello succeeded Joe Lonardo as boss of the Cleveland Mafia in fall of 1927. As the most visible beneficiary of Lonardo's murder, Porrello is often blamed for the deed.
Many believe that Lonardo's killing was the result of treachery on the part of Salvatore "Black Sam" Todaro. Todaro was a key member of the Lonardo Mafia and also the later Porrello gang.
Like Lonardo, Porrello's major source of income during his reign was the sale of corn sugar, a necessary ingredient for Prohibition Era moonshine operations.
Porrello is best remembered as host of the ill-fated 1928 Unione Siciliana convention at Cleveland's Hotel Statler. Police raided the gathering, arresting two dozen attendees as "suspicious." The Mafiosi from New York, Chicago and elsewhere were photographed, creating a damaging historical record of the Sicilian underworld.
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