Joe is a career criminal and lifelong friend of Vito Scaletta. Brash and unpredictable, Joe can seemingly make trouble out of nothing. As a child, Joe was the neighborhood bully. He met Vito when the younger boy offered to fight him for a place in his gang. Over the next 10 years, the pair of them made a great team: rational Vito keeping wild Joe in check as they enjoyed a life of petty crime. The pair became closer than brothers and trusted each other with their lives. As Joe grew older, he lived larger, with strong booze, fast cars and loose women. Naturally, moving up the criminal ladder was the perfect way for him to feed his vices.