Ianni was born in Calabria, Italy. By 1928, he had come to Dallas from New York City along with his parents. His father was notorious Dallas mobster Frank Ianni. Upon Frank's death in 1958, Joseph inherited his fathers role as syndicate gambling overseer during the 1960s and early 1970s. Joseph was allegedly made a member of the Dallas family in the 1950s, during the height of his fathers power. He owned the Vick's Life, Vesuvio's and Ianni's Italian Restaurants. Ianni's biggest run-in with the law was in 1946 for a liquor law violation. Ianni reportedly had a distant blood tie to a New York mobster by the name of Rocco Pellegrino, but there remains considerable scattering of thought on just how big an operator Ianni himself was. Joseph attended the University of Texas where he was registe