Joe “The Builder” Andriacchi, Alleged Chicago Mafia Boss, Dies at 91 – Theforgegastown

Joe Andriacchi, a high-ranking Chicago mobster for decades, has died. He was 91.

He was known as “The Builder” because of his connections in the construction industry and earlier in his career as “The Sledgehammer” because of his safecracking skills.

According to sources and published reports, Mr Andriacchi died earlier this month.

Speculation that Mr Andriacchi had risen to the highest ranks of the secret organisation emerged in the 1980s and persisted for decades, while other Mafia figures around him died or were imprisoned.

Mr. Andriacchi was not charged in the explosive federal Family Secrets case, which sent several Outfit executives to prison in 2017 and dealt a major blow to the Chicago mafia.

A Sun-Times article published after the trial stated: “Does the sentencing of four top Mafiosi on Monday mean the end of the Chicago Mafia? Certainly not. It is not clear who runs the Chicago Mafia. Among the notorious mobsters not charged in the Family Secrets case but still powerful within the Mafia is Joe “The Builder” Andriacchi.”

The FBI placed Mr. Andriacchi on a list of 16 people who posed a significant threat to Nick Calabrese’s life. Calabrese, who has admitted to killing 14 people, had a target on his back after he became a government informant and testified against the mob in the Family Secrets trial. The list was part of a government application for Calabrese to enter the federal witness protection program.

Mr. Andriacchi was a longtime resident of the western suburb of River Forest and Elmwood Park.

A 1989 Sun-Times article described him as “not just muscular, but intelligent, at least by gang standards.”

Mr. Andriacchi served three years behind bars for burglary, from 1968 to 1971.

In 1958, when Mr. Andriacchi was 25, he and a friend were accused of beating a Chicago police officer when the police officer tried to take Mr. Andiacchi’s friend in for questioning about several burglaries.

The officer suffered a concussion, a cut to his left ear and a pierced tooth on his tongue as a result of the blow.

Mr. Andriacchi’s cousin, Donald Andrich, owned a trucking company that was kicked out of the city’s truck-leasing program after a 2004 Sun-Times investigation revealed the program was rife with Mafia connections.

Mr. Andriacchi was born on October 20, 1932, and grew up in a large family. His parents, Bruno and Angelina Andriacchi, came to the United States from Italy, according to U.S. Census records.

Bruno said he worked as a construction worker and street sweeper for the city’s cleaning department.

Mr. Andriacchi attended Wells High School in North Side.

“He grew up in the Grand Avenue neighborhood, started out as a burglar/robber, specializing in safecracking, and eventually became a member of the Outfit,” said John Binder, a Chicago author and expert on organized crime. “It’s pretty clear he served at least two stints as a deputy sheriff … and the deputy sheriff is the one in charge of the day-to-day operations, the boss’s right-hand man.”

Binder noted that Mr. Andriacchi was a cousin of Joey “The Clown” Lombardo, who was convicted in the family secrets trial and died in prison.

“All of these guys have had some kind of front job since the ’50s for tax purposes, a profession that they claim generates income, but it’s a sham. But Andriacchi actually had a profession, it wasn’t just a sham. He owned a construction company and he was apparently quite good at it. It was a successful construction company,” Binder said, noting that Mr. Andriacchi was reportedly a silent partner in several large Chicago restaurants.

“Andriacchi was at the top of the team for a long time, or almost, and with his death we see a kind of transition from one generation to the next, because now they’re all gone,” Binder said.