He is known for being involved in the acid attack which led to the blinding of newspaper columnist Victor Riesel,[2] and for his role in creating fake labor union locals to help Jimmy Hoffa become General President of the Teamsters.
[7] Dioguardi's uncle, James "Jimmy Doyle" Plumeri, was a member of the gang run by Albert Marinelli[8] and his patron, Charles "Lucky" Luciano, head of the rapidly forming Genovese crime family.
[4][10] At the time, labor racketeering in the garment district was controlled by Luciano and Tommaso "Tommy" Gagliano, head of the Lucchese crime family.
[12] With Plumeri and another gangster, Dominick Didato, Dioguardi established and ran a protection racket in New York City's garment district.
[19] He was appointed Regional Director of the United Auto Workers-AFL (UAW-AFL),[20] and received 12 charters for paper locals in the garment industry.
Although Dioguardi was never convicted for this labor racketeering incident, he was removed from his post in February 1953 by the UAW-AFL and ejected from the union in April 1954.
He became acquainted with New York City Teamsters leaders Martin T. Lacey and John J. O'Rourke in 1934, when Dioguardi represented the employers in a trucking strike.
[28] O'Rourke, a Hoffa ally, was planning to challenge Lacey (a Beck supporter) for the presidency of the 125,000-member New York City Teamsters Joint Council.
[33] Beginning in 1955, the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the U.S. Senate Committee on Government Operations began holding hearings into labor racketeering.
The select committee was directed to study the extent of criminal or other improper practices in the field of labor-management relations or in groups of employees or employers.
In February 1957, the Select Committee released Federal Bureau of Investigation wiretaps which showed Hoffa and Dioguardi allegedly discussing the establishment of a paper local to organize New York City's 30,000 taxi cab drivers and then use the charter as a means of extorting money from a wide variety of employers.
[3] The Select Committee accused Hoffa of being behind the "Dio locals", and of arranging for a $400,000 loan to the graft-ridden International Longshoremen's Association in a bid to take over that union and gain Teamsters control of the waterfront as well as warehouses.
"[44] The photograph was widely published in American newspapers, and became an iconic image of Dioguardi, mafioso in general, and the way in which chic dress and charm conceal brutality and thuggery.
[47] In the midst of the Teamsters paper locals scandal, Dioguardi was indicted for planning the acid attack on crusading newspaper columnist Victor Riesel.
[2][49] On August 29, 1956, Dioguardi was arrested for conspiracy in the Riesel attack, pleaded not guilty, and was released on $100,000 bond even though prosecutors later publicly linked him to the Telvi murder.
[54] When the trial finally began, Carlino and Miranti recanted their pre-trial statements and courtroom testimony, claiming they did not know who had ordered the attack on Riesel.
[56] Dioguardi's legal troubles worsened during his trial for the Riesel attack, when he was indicted in October 1956 on extortion and conspiracy charges.
The indictment alleged that Dioguardi and others had extorted money from truck drivers in the New York City garment industry, and received bribes from employers in exchange for refusing to call strikes.
[57] Dioguardi's trial was due to begin in January 1957, but key government witnesses either refused to testify or recanted earlier statements implicating Dio in the labor rackets.
[58] Dioguardi sought lengthy delays once again prior to his trial, but the court refused to permit them and empanelled a special jury to try him.
[61] The special jury considered the case for nine days, but nonetheless found him guilty on July 25, 1957, and he was sentenced in September to two years in prison.
[62] As Dioguardi was awaiting sentencing in his extortion case, a federal grand jury indicted him on tax evasion charges.
[17] Rose died in July 1964, and soon Dioguardi and the Genovese crime family, in control of American Kosher, agreed to merge the two companies.
[78] According to prosecutors, Dioguardi and Anthony Di Lorenzo, heir-apparent to the Genovese crime family, conspired to purchase 28,000 shares of Belmont Franchising Corporation, a substantially worthless over-the-counter stock.
[79][80] Lucchese crime family member Michael Hellerman, who was part of the conspiracy, turned state's evidence and entered the federal witness protection program.
[81] Midway through the trial, a high-level aide to Senator Hiram Fong (R-Hawaii) pleaded guilty to charges he had attempted to quash the federal government's inquiry into the case.
[79][85] Under the scheme, prosecutors said, Dioguardi and the others bribed securities dealers to sell the stock and then pocketed the money paid by investors.
[88] The second time was in December 1967, when he testified extensively before the New York State Investigation Commission regarding labor racketeering, theft, sabotage, and assault at John F. Kennedy International Airport.