Editing Joe Adonis (section)

==Early life==
Adonis was born Giuseppe Antonio Doto on November 22, 1902, in the small town of [[Montemarano]], [[Province of Avellino]], Italy, to Michele Doto and Maria De Vito. He had three brothers, Antonio, Ettore and Genesio Doto.<ref name="adonis dies"/><ref name="birth data">{{cite news|last=Wright|first=George Cable|title=ADONIS BIRTH DATA PRODUCED BY U. S.; Documents Purporting to Show Racketeer Was Born in Italy Entered at Deportation Trial|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1953/06/03/archives/adonis-birth-data-produced-by-u-s-documents-purporting-to-show.html|access-date=March 19, 2020|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=June 3, 1953}}{{subscription required}}</ref>

In 1909, Adonis and his family immigrated to the United States, in New York City.<ref name="birth data" /> As a young man, Adonis supported himself by stealing and picking pockets. While working on the streets, Adonis became friends with future mob boss [[Lucky Luciano|Charles "Lucky" Luciano]] and mobster [[Settimo Accardi]], who were involved in [[illegal gambling]]. Adonis developed a loyalty to Luciano that lasted for decades.

At the beginning of [[Prohibition in the United States|Prohibition]], Luciano, Adonis, [[Meyer Lansky]] and [[Bugsy Siegel]] started a bootlegging operation in Brooklyn. This operation soon began supplying large amounts of alcohol to the show business community along [[Broadway (Manhattan)|Broadway]] in Manhattan. Doto soon assumed the role of a gentleman bootlegger, socializing with the theater elite.

In the early 1920s, Doto started calling himself "Joe Adonis" ([[Adonis]] was the [[Greek mythology|Greek]] god of beauty and desire). It is uncertain as to what inspired his nickname. One story states that Adonis received this nickname from a [[Ziegfeld Follies]] [[chorus girl]] who was dating him.<ref>{{cite book|last=Lewin|first=Sam|title=How to Win at the Races|year=1969|pages=50|isbn=0-87980-244-8}}</ref> Another story says that Adonis adopted the name after reading a magazine article on [[Greek mythology]].

Extremely vain, Adonis spent a great deal of time in personal grooming. On one occasion, [[Lucky Luciano]] saw Adonis combing his thick, dark hair in front of a mirror and asked him, "Who do you think you are, [[Rudolph Valentino]]?" Adonis replied, "For looks, that guy's a bum!".<ref name=Chiocca>{{cite book|last=Chiocca|first=Olindo Romeo|title=Mobsters and Thugs: Quotes from the Underworld|year=2000|publisher=Guernica|location=Toronto|isbn=1-55071-104-0|page=[https://archive.org/details/mobstersthugsquo0000chio/page/59 59]|url=https://archive.org/details/mobstersthugsquo0000chio|url-access=registration|quote=Joe Adonis.}}</ref> Adonis was a cousin of [[Luciano crime family]] capo Alan Bono, who supervised Adonis's operations in [[Greenwich Village, Manhattan]].

Adonis married Jean Montemorano,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://gangstersinc.ning.com/photo/joseph-doto-aka-joe-adonis-marriage-certificate-lucky-as-witness?context=latest |title=Joe Adonis' marriage certificate |access-date=March 19, 2020 |archive-date=March 19, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200319160203/https://gangstersinc.ning.com/photo/joseph-doto-aka-joe-adonis-marriage-certificate-lucky-as-witness%3Fcontext%3Dlatest |url-status=dead }}</ref> and he had four children; Joseph Michael Doto, Jr., Maria Dolores Olmo, Ann Marie Arietta, and Elizabeth Doto.<ref name="funeral services"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lacndb.com/php/Info.php?name=Joe%20Adonis|title=La Cosa Nostra|website=Lacndb.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180615214208/http://www.lacndb.com/php/Info.php?name=Joe%20Adonis|archive-date=June 15, 2018|access-date=August 21, 2017}}</ref> His son [[Genovese crime family New Jersey faction#Past members|Joseph Doto, Jr.]], became a made member of the Genovese family and operated criminal rackets in Bergen county, New Jersey.<ref name="Doto Jr">{{cite book |last1=United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary |title=Organized Crime in America Hearings Before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, Ninety-eighth Congress, First Session, on Organized Crime in America |date=1983 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |page=231 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4oxMIUskYbEC&dq=genovese+family+Joe+Adonis+son+Joe+Doto+jr.&pg=PA231 |access-date=21 February 2022}}</ref><ref name="Doto Jr. and Tino">{{cite book |last1=United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Governmental Affairs. Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations |title=Waterfront Corruption Report |date=1984 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |page=99 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y2Nx88yQOOEC&dq=genovese+family+Joe+Adonis+son+Joe+Doto+jr.&pg=PA99 |access-date=21 February 2022}}</ref>