Joseph was one of the seven Porrello brothers who migrated to the U.S. from Licata, Sicily. The Porrello brothers became partners with the Lonardo brothers and first established themselves as legitimate businessmen. The two groups dabbled in various criminal activities, such as robbery and extortion, before prohibition, but were not yet considered major organization. At the start of Prohibition, "Big Joe" Joseph Lonardo was the Boss of the Cleveland crime family. He was the second oldest of four Lonardo brothers. He and his brothers began by supplying Cleveland's bootleggers with the corn sugar they needed to produce liquor. Joe Porrello was his top lieutenant and supervised various bootlegging and other criminal operations throughout the early to mid-1920s.