Joseph Armone (September 13, 1917 – February 23, 1992), also known as "Joe Piney", was an American mobster in the Gambino crime family of New York City who served as underboss between 1986 and 1990, and consigliere from 1990 until his death in 1992.

Armone was an associate of Joseph Biondo, who controlled the family's part in the French Connection heroin smuggling network.

[5] However, other accounts suggest that Profaci crime family capo Joe Gallo and his crew members were responsible for the Anastasia murder.

In October 1960, a French drug smuggler and the Guatemalan ambassador to Belgium and the Netherlands were arrested by the FBN as they delivered 100 pounds of pure heroin to an associate of Armone, longshoreman Nicholas Calamaris, on Lexington Avenue.

Another 100 pounds of the drug were seized during subsequent raids on stash houses throughout New York City, making it the FBN's largest heroin seizure at the time.

Mob author and journalist Jerry Capeci would cite Armone's success as an example of the American Mafia disregarding its official ban of dealing drugs.

For his part, Armone had a dim view of Castellano as a gangster and saw Gotti's coup as a final chance to rise to a leadership role in the family.

Armone was offered a similar temporary release, but only on the condition that he publicly admit his role in the family and renounce his ties to it.

[15][16] Gotti, however, had banned Gambino members from taking plea deals that acknowledged the existence of the family and refused Armone an exception.

[17] On September 24, 1988, in a separate case, Armone was acquitted by a directed verdict in Florida of extortion, loansharking, and racketeering in Broward County.