Olive Oil King: Joe Profaci, the Original Godfather, and the Birth of the Colombo Family
About this ebook
Ruthless Giuseppe “Joe” Profaci was hardwired to run an empire. Within a few years after emigrating to America at the age of 25, he was a charter Godfather of one of the Five Families of New York and transformed himself into the Olive Oil King, running a product pipeline from his birthplace of Villabate, Sicily, to kitchens across the country. The front was so successful, it inspired Vito Corleone’s Genco Pura Olive Oil in The Godfather. But Joe’s greed would erode a smooth machine into a corpse-strewn battlefield of escalating Mob wars and the eventual birth of the Colombo crime family.
This is the first-ever biography of a founder of the modern American Mafia, whom Robert F. Kennedy called “one of the most powerful underworld figures in the United States.” And the least known. Until now. Here is Profaci’s legendary 3-decade reign that began with the post-Prohibition monopoly of rackets as well as authentic industry ventures and the profitable capitalization of illegitimate enterprises. The violent retaliation against Profaci by the betrayed Gallo brothers that devastated organized crime. And the eventual transition and takeover by the Profaci family’s top enforcer, Joe Colombo.
With an introduction by Gianni Russo—aka Carlo Rizzi in The Godfather—who would parlay the fictional Corleone Genco line into a thriving real-life business of his own, this is the twisting, violent, and gripping story of Joe Profaci, the business, and the internecine wars that defined him and his blood-soaked legacy.
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About the author
Frank DiMatteo is a lifelong Brooklynite, Mafia “survivor,” and publisher of Mob Candy magazine. He is the author of Mob Candy’s Brooklyn Gangsters and Manhattan Gangsters, and the co-author, along with Michael Benson, of more than half a dozen nonfiction books on the history of organized crime, including his acclaimed memoir, The President Street Boys: Growing Up Mafia. He is a retired gangster and the son of a Mob hit man, with past interviews and appearances that include the New York Post, VICE, Business Insider, Late Night with Johnny P, and One on One with Steve Adubato. He was also an expert source in the HISTORY TV documentary American Godfathers: The Five Families.
Michael Benson is the acclaimed author of nonfiction history and crime books, including Gangsters vs. Nazis, Hollywood vs. Nazis, Evil Season, and Betrayal in Blood, as well as Moguls, co-authored with Craig Singer. He is also one of America’s most accomplished and popular Mafia experts, having co-authored numerous books on the subject, including Carmine the Snake, Mafia Hit Man, Lord High Executioner, Red Hook, Carlo Gambino, and Olive Oil King with Frank DiMatteo and Mafia Secrets with Gianni Russo. He is a regular commentator, appearing on numerous radio and television shows such as 20/20, On the Case with Paula Zahn, and Deadly Sins on the ID: Investigation Discovery channel. A recipient of the Academy of American Poets Award, he can be found on Facebook at /AuthorMichaelBenson.
