CRIME HUNTER: Chicago mafia’s Joe ‘The Builder’ Andriacchi last of his kind

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Published Sep 07, 2024  •  4 minute read

SMARTER THAN YOUR AVERAGE WISEGUY: Joe "The Builder" Andriacchi. Photo by Handout / Files /Chicago Police

Chicago has organized crime hard-wired into its DNA.

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Other than the ostentatious Al Capone, the Second City’s mobsters may have garnered fewer headlines and docs than their New York cousins but have been just as deadly.

Thousands of gangland rubouts remain ice cold. That’s the way The Oufit wanted it. Down low, hush-hush and here’s a stuffed envelope for your troubles, copper.

And for some bizarre reason, an impressive roster of The Outfit’s crime kingpins have lived long lives.

Chicago gangster Al Capone has his photo taken while in custody in Philadelphia, May 18, 1929, on charges of carrying concealed weapons. (AP file photo)

Joe “The Builder” Andriacchi, known as “The Sledgehammer” in gangland, pegged out in August. He was 91.

“Andriacchi had a long run in The Outfit at or near the top, and, with his death, you’ve sort of got a passing from one generation to the next because now they’re all gone,” longtime Outfit watcher and author John Binder said.

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Anthony “Big Tuna” Acardo, Joey “Joey Doves” Aiuppa, and Joseph “Joey the Clown” Lombardo (Andriacchi’s cousin) are all gone now.

Andriacchi was born on Oct. 20, 1932, and grew up in a large family on Chicago’s North Side. His parents, Bruno and Angelina Andriacchi, were hard-working Italian immigrants. His father worked as a construction labourer and, later, a street cleaner for the sanitation department. His mother cooked and kept after her brood.

The future gangster attended Wells High School in the old neighbourhood.

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“He grows up in the Grand Avenue area, starts out as burglar/thief, with some specialty in opening safes [hence Sledgehammer], and from there he ends up becoming an Outfit guy,” Binder told the Chicago Sun-Times.

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“It’s pretty clear he served as an underboss at least twice …. An underboss is the guy who ran things on a day-to-day basis, the top guy’s right-hand guy.”

SMARTER THAN YOUR AVERAGE WISEGUY: Joe “The Builder” Andriacchi. CHICAGO POLICE

The Sledgehammer also seemed to possess that rarest of criminal attributes: He stayed out of jail except for a three-year jolt for burglary in the late 1960s.

“[He’s] not only a muscleman but smart as well, at least by gangland standards,” the Chicago Tribune said of him in the late 1980s.

That’s not to say there weren’t troubles along the way. In 1958, Andriacchi — 25 at the time — and a buddy were busted for severely beating a Chicago cop who had the temerity to haul the friend for questioning in a string of burglaries.

For doing his duty, the cop was left with a concussion, a slashed ear and a tooth-punctured tongue.

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Doomed Boss of the Chicago Outfit Sam Giancana. GETTY IMAGES

But as the Trib noted, Andriacchi had some brains. Ever since Capone went down, not on murder, bootlegging, dope or prostitution, but dodging his taxes, Windy City mobsters have been wary of the IRS. Most had jobs — at least on paper.

Andriacchi was different. He earned the nickname “The Builder” because of his construction company.

“All these guys since the ’50s have had some sort of front job for tax purposes, some occupation they claim their income is from that’s a sham, but Andriacchi actually had a real occupation,” Binder told the Sun-Times.

“It wasn’t just a sham. He owned a construction company, and he apparently was pretty good at that. It was a successful construction firm.”

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In addition, the mobster was a silent partner in several Chicago restaurants.

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Like my friend, former Gambino underboss Salvatore “Sammy the Bull” Gravano, who was virtually unknown until publicity-loving godfather John Gotti turned the spotlight on HIGH, Andriacchi kept it on the down low.

But by the 1980s, the OldFellas inhabiting the top ranks of The Outfit were either dead or eyeing long prison sentences.

The Builder’s name was suddenly being whispered in the early ’80s as one of The Outfit’s powerbrokers. And he stayed on top, even as the feds squeezed the organization sending scores of gangsters to prison.

The Builder is the main suspect in the disappearance and murder of Anthony “Little Toes” Zizzo. It was the last sanctioned hit in Chicago.

Time and cancer took care of the others.

But it was the explosive 2007 Operation Family Secrets probe that delivered a body blow to The Outfit, sending the top tier to prison.

Snitch Nick Calabrese — who admitted icing 14 people at the behest of Outfit bosses — flipped and became a prosecution informant and testified. Among the FBI’s list of 16 mobsters who wanted to put a bullet in Calabrese’s noggin was Joe “The Builder” Andriacchi.

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Andriacchi was now eyed as the kingpin, or kingmaker depending on how you looked at Byzantine mob politics.

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“Does Monday’s conviction of four top mobsters mean the end of the Chicago Outfit? Hardly. Who runs the Chicago mob isn’t clear,” the Sun-Times asked at the end of the trial.

“Reputed mobsters not charged in the Family Secrets case who are still powerful in the Outfit include Joe ‘The Builder’ Andriacchi.”

Maybe the Chicago-born gangster wasn’t going to make the cover of People magazine but the feds now knew exactly who The Builder was.

Anthony “Little Toes” Zizzo, 71, certainly did. Andriacchi remains the prime suspect in the 2006 disappearance and presumed murder of the Chicago underboss.

Zizzo was reportedly the last sanctioned hit committed by The Outfit.

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