Joel Cacace

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Joel Cacace (b. 1941) was a New York mobster and acting head of the Colombo crime family.

A top enforcer of the Colombo family during the 1980s, Cacace was reportedly ordered by then imprisoned Carmine Persico to murder former federal prosecutor William Aronwald who Persico had felt "disrespected" him during his trial in 1986. Although the murder of public officials, particularly law enforcement and prosecutors, were discouraged by organized crime to be killed (given the likelihood of federal retaliation), Cacace arraigned for brother Vincent and Eddie Carnini to murder Aronwald outside his law office in Brooklyn. However, the two Colombo soldiers mistakenly targeted the 78-year-old George Aronwald, who had shared the Brooklyn office with his son, and gunned him down in a Laundromat near his home.

This error reportedly caused uproar among the heads of the other "Five Families", as rival leaders demanded the deaths of the Carnini Brothers. Cacace, who was particularly angered over the failed hit, ordered a second hit team of Carmine Variale and Frank Santora to eliminate the Carninis. At the Carnini's funeral, authorities claimed, Cacase pointed out Variale and Santora to yet another pair of hitmen who later killed Variale and Santora outside a Brooklyn social club in broad daylight in which he had effectively concealed his involvement.

Following the death of the Carnini brothers, Cacace married the 28-year-old widow of Eddie Carnini. The two eventually separated however and, later remarrying retired police officer Ralph C. Dois, the groom was later found murdered himself.

Despite the Aronwald fiasco, Cacace's brutal reputation gained him a large following among his men as one member stated "With Joe dealing the cards, you never know where the next car is coming from - the top or the bottom or the middle of the deck."

In 2003, Cacace pled guilty to charges of extortion, gambling and murder and convicted on August 14, 2004.