PA PA - Joseph Bertone, 50, McKeesport, 15 June 1985

[Gardener1850]

Joseph Bertone
Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
50 year old white male

Height (inches)

Weight (pounds)

[TD="class: view_field"]70.0 to 74.0[/TD]

[TD="class: view_field"]180.0 to 185.0[/TD]

Black Hair
Brown Eyes

Scar on abdomen, chest, left eye, upper lip

Tattoo right forearm

possible fracture of right hand

Jewelry: 10 & 24 inch gold rope necklace, 15 diamond ring-Joey INSC in diamonds on wedding bacnd




Circumstances:
http://gangsterreport.com/the-joe-b...oodlums-death-disappearance-remains-unsolved/

Regarding what happened the night he disappeared the next month several theories emerged. At 10:00 p.m. June 17,1985, Bertone called his wife from the car phone in his Cadillac and told her he was going to stop off at Jordan’s trucking company in Duquesne before returning home with groceries. He called Rosa immediately thereafter and told Rosa to meet him at Jordan’s office. This is where things become hazy.

Rosa claims that when he arrived at Jordan’s office, he saw Bertone’s Cadillac being driven off the premises by someone he didn’t recognize and upon asking Jordan if he had seen Bertone at his office, Jordan denied Bertone was ever there. Jordan died in a truck accident in 1988. He told investigators and Bertone’s wife and daughter that Bertone was at his office that night but left after receiving a phone call.

Bertone’s new-model Caddy was discovered abandoned at a suburban motel parking lot on June 27, 1985. His widow Louise was summoned to Chucky Porter’s house and given $20,000 in cash. Rosa told authorities Porter and Chiarelli ordered Bertone dead and that Porter only gave his widow the money to avert suspicion away from him in her mind.

Speculation and assertions surrounding Rosa’s possible involvement in the Bertone murder are bolstered by allegations of Rosa’s own braggadocio. Pittsburgh mob associate-turned-informant Marvin (Babe) Droznek testified in court that Rosa bragged of killing Bertone and knowing where his body is buried. Droznek told jurors that rumors were swirling that Bertone’s days were numbered and that Porter had placed a contract on his head in the weeks leading up to him disappearing. Two Porter confidants spoke to Droznek of Porter issuing orders for Bertone to be killed during the first two weeks of June 1985.

Rosa allegedly told other underworld associates that he shot Bertone twice in the back of the head with a 9 millimeter pistol. When Rosa was arrested, FBI agents confiscated a 9 millimeter pistol from the house he shared with his aging grandfather Sica.

Johnny Vento, a Rosa drug courier, testified that he saw Rosa’s cousin, Anthony Bacco shoot Bertone to death in Jordan’s trucking company garage as Rosa looked on and that Rosa himself told him that he and Bacco took and buried Bertone’s body in the Westmoreland County town of Level Green. Per Vento’s testimony, Rosa said that Bertone was being clipped because he was “cheating people he shouldn’t be in drug deals.”

Babe Droznek cooperation, earned by the FBI in 1988, led to Rosa’s decision to join Team America the same year. U.S. Prosecutors believed that Chiarelli provided the murder weapon in Bertone’s slaying and Porter set it in motion – neither were convicted of the homicide counts in the RICO case. Under cross examination at trial in 1990, Rosa admitted to bragging about committing the Bertone murder, but explained he was lying to enhance his gangland standing.

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Dental information / charting is currently not available





DNA Status: Initial inquiry underway

Fingerprint information is available and entered

https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/42374/

 

[CastlesBurning]

Joseph Bertone – The Charley Project

• Missing Since: 06/17/1985
• Missing From: McKeesport, Pennsylvania
• Classification: Endangered Missing
• Sex: Male
• Race: White
• Age: 49 years old
• Height and Weight: 5'10 - 6'2, 180 pounds
• Clothing/Jewelry Description: A ten- and twenty-four-inch gold rope necklace and a wedding ring with the name "JOEY" inscribed in fifteen diamonds on the band.
• Distinguishing Characteristics: Caucasian male. Black hair, brown eyes. Bertone has scars on his abdomen, chest, eye and upper lip. He has a tattoo on his right forearm.

Details of Disappearance
Bertone was last seen in McKeesport, Pennsylvania on June 17, 1985. He lived in the 400 block of Diehl Drive. His wife stated he left home at 9:30 p.m. and she asked him to bring Pepsi and milk when he came home. He called her at 10:00 p.m. from his car phone, and said he was at the Jordan's truck garage in Duquesne, Pennsylvania. He has never been heard from again.

Bertone had been the owner of Joey's Restaurant and Lounge. The restaurant had been controversial and was initially refused a liquor license, as Bertone had a criminal history and alleged ties to organized crime. In 1978, it was damaged by a bomb. In 1982 it was bombed again, and this time it was destroyed.

According to court testimony at the 1990 racketeering trial of Charles J. "Chucky" Porter, Bertone was involved in the cocaine trade and on the day of his disappearance, he was supposed to fly to Florida for a drug deal. He told his business partner, Joseph F. "Joey" Rosa, to meet him at the truck garage with $1,000, and to come quickly.

When Rosa arrived between 10:00 and 10:30 p.m., he saw Bertone's 1985 Cadillac Seville leaving the garage, but Bertone wasn't driving. A man with glasses was. Rosa followed the car in his own vehicle, but the Cadillac was running stop signs and red lights and he was unable to catch up to it. This is the last time anyone saw Bertone. The Cadillac was found in a Holiday Inn parking lot near Harmar, Pennsylvania ten days later.

Authorities believe Bertone was killed because of his criminal connections, but his body has never been found and no one has ever been charged in his case.
Investigating Agency

• McKeesport Police Department (412) 675-5016

Source Information

• NamUs
• The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

 

[Pennysmom2]

Bertone Part 5 - full story

Clipping found in Pittsburgh Post-Gazette published in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on 10/10/1990. Bertone Part 5 - full story

www.newspapers.com

Joey's fire blamed on owners Bertone missing PP 11-10-85

Clipping found in The Pittsburgh Press published in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on 11/19/1985. Joey's fire blamed on owners Bertone missing PP 11-10-85

www.newspapers.com