Joseph Mario Barbara[1][2] (/bɑːrˈbɛərə/;[3] born Giuseppe Maria Barbara, Italian: [dʒuˈzɛppe maˈriːa barˈbaːra]; August 9, 1905 – June 17, 1959), also known as "Joe the Barber", was an Italian-American mobster who became caporegime of the Southern New York Tier territory of the Buffalo crime family, and hosted the abortive Apalachin meeting in 1957.

[8][9] Barbara married Josephine Vivona on June 24, 1933, in Endicott, New York,[6] and fathered two sons, Joseph Jr. and Peter, and two daughters, Angeline, who died at the age of two,[10] and Angela.

[11] In 1944, Barbara bought a 58-acre (23 ha) parcel of land in the rural town of Apalachin, New York, and built an estate on 625 McFall Road for a total of $250,000.

[18][19] Cuba was one of the Apalachin topics of discussion, particularly the gambling and narcotics smuggling interests of La Cosa Nostra on the island.

[23] When the state police found many luxury cars parked at Barbara's home they began taking down license plate numbers.

[26] Barbara found himself investigated by law enforcement and indicted for not testifying to a grand jury about what transpired at his home on November 14, 1957.

[28] On April 27, 1959, Barbara pleaded innocent to income tax charges before the Federal District Court in Syracuse, New York.

Barbara's health continued to deteriorate, suffering a heart attack on May 27, 1959, and another on June 17, 1959, at Wilson Memorial Hospital in Johnson City, New York, killing him.

[31] The Apalachin meeting put the media spotlight directly on the secretive Cosa Nostra, triggering both state and federal hearings.

As a result, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director J. Edgar Hoover could no longer deny the existence of the Cosa Nostra in the United States.