| |
| Giuseppe Siragusa | |
| Biographical Information | |
| Aliases | Yeast Baron |
| Gender | Male |
| Born | 1892 Caltanissetta, Sicily, Italy |
| Died | September 13, 1931 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Affiliation | LaRocca crime family |
| Title(s) | Don |
Giuseppe "Yeast Baron" Siragusa was a Sicilian Mustache Pete mobster and boss of the LaRocca crime family during Prohibition.
Biography[]
Joe Siragusa was born in Sicily and immigrated to Brooklyn in 1910, before settling in Pittsburgh at the age of 18. He became involved in gambling, loansharking and extortion rackets before supplying yeast to some of the major bootleggers in the business. Siragusa was connected to the Brooklyn-based Castellammarese crime family, led by Salvatore Maranzano. He payed tribute to Maranzano and worked with Joseph Bonanno in establishing whiskey stills in Pennsylvania.
Death[]
Maranzano was shot and stabbed to death on September 10 of 1931 in his Manhattan office by men posing as IRS agents. Three days later Joseph Siragusa was murdered in the basement bathroom of his $35,000 Squirrel Hill home. Police found Joe Siragusa with five bullets in his chest and his prized parrot, Polly shrieking from it's cage "Poor Joe! Poor Joe!" His death was ordered by Charles Luciano, as he was a Mustache Pete and a close ally of Maranzano; the Mustache Petes interfered with the Young Turks' business by preferring the Sicilian traditions rather than the new operations.