Joe_Barboza

Joseph "The Animal" Barboza  (September 20, 1932 – February 11, 1976) was a Portuguese-American mafioso and one of the most feared mob hitmen during the 1960s. He is reputed to have murdered at least 26 men in his lifetime, but that has not yet been proven.

Barboza, also known as "The Animal", "The Wild Thing", "Joseph Donati", and "The Joe Valachi of New England", was born to Portuguese-American emigrants from Lisbon, Portugal who settled in the old whaling city of New Bedford, Massachusetts. He was born on September 30, 1932, the son of a middle-weight boxer and a mother who was a seamstress. Joseph's father was a constant womanizer who eventually abandoned his wife and four children when Joe was only twelve. He had one older brother who became a minor criminal in New England, and a younger sister and younger brother. He was somewhat unattractive and quite burly, yet many women had to put up with his violent nature due to their financial dependence on them. Joe was fluent in Portuguese, Italian and Spanish and was self-educated because of a lack of formal schooling. He was a skilled chef who cooked, for his family and members of his crew, authentic Portuguese cuisine dishes and later, after graduating from cooking class as a sauce, vegetable and roast chef, learned how to cook French cuisine, mostly with wines. Barboza had rugged good looks and thick, dark brown naturally wavy hair, and dark eyes. He was married to a Jewish woman. He fathered a daughter in 1965 and also a son and lived in Chelsea, Massachusetts while employed by thePatriarca crime family.He was a close friend of Joseph Amico and Arthur Bratsos, both of whom would later be murdered for trying to avenge his incarceration.

Earning the nickname "The Animal"He earned the nickname "The Animal" after an altercation at a Revere, Massachusetts club that was patronized by figures of organized crime and Patriarca crime family underboss Henry Tameleo. Barboza was at the nightclub drinking when an older Italian patron who did not enjoy Barboza's crude behavior told him so. Barboza approached the man and slapped him hard across the face. Tameleo, who was seated not far away, shouted angrily, "I don't want you to ever slap that man. I don't want you to touch anybody with your hands again." Barboza, now brooding at the bar, suddenly leaned over and bit the man's ear. "I didn't touch him with my hands", he snarled at Henry Tameleo. It is stated by other sources that he chewed off the man's cheek, but this was never verified nor proven.