Joseph Amato
The traditional history, as told by the FBI in later years, says that Joseph Amato succeeded Pete Guardalabene as boss of the Milwaukee crime family in 1924. A more likely explanation is that they shared power, as Guardalabene seems to have not been reduced in stature. Amato ruled over the city’s underworld until his death from natural causes on March 28, 1927.
Amato was employed at the Milwaukee Steel Foundry on South Water Street.
Birth: June 13, 1880 (or 1884).
– His grave stone reads 1884, while his World War I draft card reads 1880. They are consistent on the birth day.
– In many records, the family’s last name is spelled D’Amato instead of Amato.
- He died at age 41 from double-lobar pneumonia at Mt. Sinai Hospital on March 28, 1927.
- Buried at Holy Cross Cemetery and Mausoleum, Milwaukee
- Married Stefana Pizzo in Milwaukee on September 18, 1910.
- Daughter of Ignatius Pizzo and Rose Amato.
- Witnesses: Anthony D’Amato (Joseph’s brother, 279 Jefferson St, Milwaukee) and Anthony Machi (271 Jackson St, Milwaukee)
- Stefana’s Petition for Naturalization (1944): Witnesses: Joseph Alioto (3946 N. 16th St, Milwaukee) and Rosemarie Carlson (524 E. Detroit St, Milwaukee)
Note: Stefana’s married last name is either Amato or D’Amato on documents.
- Joseph and Stephena had three children: Josephine in 1913, Jack in 1916, and Charles (Ignatius) in 1919.
- Antonino Amato and Giuseppa Pizzo Amato
(Note: some documents show their last name as D’Amato)
1910 Census
Joseph is listed as being born in 1880 in Sicily, entering the US in 1901, and his occupation was a railroad laborer. His name is listed as “Giacomo”.
He and his family lived at 279 Jefferson Street, Milwaukee
- Joseph’s parents: Antonino and Giuseppa
- Joseph’s 4 brothers: Pippino, Ignazio, Antonino, and Manuelo (and his wife, Maria, and children, Giuseppa and Antonino),
- Boarder: Santa Amato, born ~1885
Notable Events
- Crime, particularly murder, was lower in Milwaukee during the Guardalabene-Amato years than it was in Chicago.
- February 27, 1926: Detective Louis Dieden sent a telegram to his chief telling him that “Gina [Portero] states she was ordered out of Milwaukee by Guardalabene and Joe Amato”, and that there was no New York connection to the murder after all. Portero was the mistress of Alberto Speciale who had recently been slain in Milwaukee; she was nowhere to be found after the killing.
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- Decades later, an informant told the FBI that this murder was personal and not business, and was ordered by mob chieftain Joseph Amato who wanted Speciale “out of the way”. The informant identified the gunmen as mobsters Vito Balestrere and Joseph Gumina.