Alioto was born in San Francisco in 1916. His father, Giuseppe Alioto, was a Sicilian immigrant who owned and operated several fish processing companies.
His career went up, and up and up. He was an attorney who specialized in antitrust, working cases for Walt Disney, the NFL and others. He was a popular politician, and in 1968 gave the speech at the Democratic National Convention nominating Hubert Humphrey.
An article in the September 23, 1969, issue of Look magazine claimed that Alioto had business and personal ties to the Los Angeles Mafia hitman Jimmy “the Weasel” Fratianno. The article was titled “The Web That Links San Francisco’s Mayor Alioto and the Mafia” and subtitled “A Look Report on the Private Joseph Alioto and His Relationship With Or ganized Crime.”
The article said Alioto had provided Mafia leaders “with bank loans, legal services, business counsel and the protective mantle of his respectability. In return he has earned fees, profits, political support and campaign contributions.” They further alleged that when Alioto ran for mayor in 1967, “the Cosa Nostra did its part.” The magazine claims that Alioto, as chairman for the First San Francisco Bank, “personally arranged” loans totaling $105,000 for Jimmy Fratianno. Alioto did not deny this claim.
“Alioto’s law firm, in which he still retains an interest, continues to represent the Marinos and the California Cheese Co. His brother-in-law, Papale, remains in frequent friendly contact with Angelo Marino. The latter talks regularly with (Frank) Bompensiero, who still sees LaPorte. And so on. Mayor Joseph Alioto’s channels of communication with the Cosa Nostra remain open.”
“On the morning of November 5, 1964, Fratianno and Angelo Marino met with Joseph Alioto at his 111 Sutter St. law offices to discuss Fratianno’s finances. Alioto called the bank to set the loan wheels in motion.”
Alioto said he never heard of Mafia members Frank Bompensiero or Frank LaPorte. Yes, he represented Emilio Giorgetti when he testified before a senate hearing on organized crime, but Giorgetti was no longer involved in illegal activity. Yes, he had represented Mafia members Salvatore Marino and son Angelo in a tax case. It was true, he did hold a ten-percent stake in Regal Packing Company, a business owned by his brother-in-law Rudolph Papale. Yes, he was acquainted with James Lanza, the reputed Mafia boss of San Francisco. Yes, he met Jimmy Fratianno while chairman of First San Francisco Bank, but he had not helped Fratianno obtain any loans.
“The Look article is loaded with lies,” he said in a prepared statement. “I have never been associated with the Mafia or with underworld activity, and I am suing the magazine and its publisher, Gardner Cowles, personally for $7.5 million actual damages and $5 million punitive
damages.”
The trial went ahead on April 20, 1970. “Joe Alioto nas become legend in his time,” Maxwell Blecher, the Mayor’s counsel, said in his opening statement. “He is a man of high repute. It is that reputation that the Mayor has come here before a jury of his peers to vindicate.” Blecher said Alioto would testify to refute the Look story he met underworld figures at the Nut Tree restaurant near Sacramento. “These meetings did not occur,” Biecher said. The Mayor will deny ties to Mafia figures, the lawyer said. Blether asserted evidence would show Look was in a financial decline that prompted its editors to print the Alioto story without proper factual investigation.
The trial ended in a partial victory for Brisson, Carlson, and Look. The jury deadlocked in their favor eight to four. As a public figure, the court required Alioto to prove malice, but before he could do that, he had to prove falsity and defamation.
Alioto appealed and in 1971, the case was back in court. This time, after a two-night sequester,
jurors returned a special verdict finding that Alioto had been defamed and that the article had been false in part (the clandestine meetings at the Nut Tree) and, once again, had deadlocked nine to three in favor of Look on the issue of malice.
After years appealing the decision, Alioto would get his third day in court in 1976. Jurors said neither side could provide enough evidence to prove or disprove malice and U.S. District Judge Russell E. Smith disqualified himself from ruling under the rationale that he had failed to properly guide the juries. A fourth trial was automatically granted.
By 1977, Alioto’s suit against Cowles Communications entered its fourth trial, making it one of the longest running and most expensive libel suits in American history and Sacramento Bee reporter Denny Walsh covered the case, finding himself pulled into familiar territory.
This time, Alioto won a $350,000 judgment. In the course of the litigation, Alioto proved that Look, desperate and on the verge of bankruptcy, simply conjured up (with no proof) an alleged mob meeting in Vacaville, California, at the Nut Tree Restaurant. He later claimed he had documents that showed the Nixon administration leaked disinformation to the magazine in order to stall his career.
“We beat the scoundrels,” Alioto said in an issued statement. “How sweet it is. It should help to stop the continuing slanders against Americans of Italian descent. It should also help public officials to get a better deal from sensation seeking reporters. Maybe they will think twice in the future.”
For his part, Fratianno remained silent through Alioto’s extended battle with Look. But in 1981, after defecting from the Mafia and becoming a government witness in several high-profile racketeering trials, the mobster gave a series of interviews for his biography. In the book, Fratianno repeated many of the same allegations about Alioto and the Mob that appeared in Look. But the former gangster said the tale of the meetings at the Nut Tree was a lie concocted by his alcoholic son-in-law and presented to Look as fact.
Next, Cowles Communication sued Alioto for fraud claiming he had perjured himself. The Alioto-Look saga ended in 1981 when Look dismissed its fraud suit and paid the judgment with Alioto’s promise he would not countersue.
Milwaukee: Former mob boss John Alioto hosted a dinner at Alioto’s restaurant in honor of his “nephew”, mayor Joseph Alioto on March 30, 1972. The mayor spoke to approximately 80 of his cousins, and stumped for Hubert Humphrey and his presidential bid. Introducing him was another “cousin,” attorney Joseph Balistrieri, son of mob boss Frank Balistrieri. The newspaper identified John Alioto as the brother of the mayor’s father, saying they grew up together in Milwaukee, which was not correct. The FBI noted that the “brothers” were actually “cousins,” and even this has not yet been proven by genealogy conducted by Gavin Schmitt (me) or Mafia Genealogist Justin Cascio. Joseph Alioto (the father of the mayor) did have a brother John, but this John lived in California. While it seems likely that SOME connection must exist, with all Alioto families coming from Santa Flavia, the link has yet to be found.
A testimonial dinner was held for San Francisco Mayor Joe Alioto on November 11, 1972 at the Marc Plaza Hotel in Milwaukee. It was organized by the Italian-American Men’s Club of Milwaukee. Four hundred people attended the event, including Frank Balistrieri and Steve DiSalvo. (The Marc Plaza was formerly the Schroeder Hotel and is today the Hilton Milwaukee City Center.)
Joseph Alioto’s first wife, Angelina Genaro, was also from a Mafia family. Her father, Lawrence Genaro, uncle John, and grandfather Michelangelo Gennaro were all members. The Gennaros are from Corleone, the same hometown as Dallas Mafia founder, Carlo Piranio.