Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio Was An All-American Hero – But Some Say He Was In Deep With The Mob

When a journalist tells the world that he has secrets to share about Joe DiMaggio, people may not believe him. After all, what more can be said about the Yankee Clipper – perhaps the greatest baseball player of all time? Well, an author made some stunning allegations regarding Joltin’ Joe and the mob. And they may put the legend in a whole new light.

The journalist was Richard Ben Cramer, and his 2000 biography of the New York Yankees superstar showed a side of DiMaggio that had remained hidden until its release. The New York Times was clear that this book would do a lot more than smear the hero. In reality, it would “tarnish the American myth.”

DiMaggio was well known for keeping secrets close to his chest. And when you learn about his alleged ties to the mafia, that’s not a surprise. When Cramer began his quest to pen the book – Joe DiMaggio: The Hero’s Life – he believed that the intensely private star would not be sharing anything with him.

The journalist was not willing to give up hope, though, as he explained in 2000 to The New York Times. He said, “I would vacillate between the naive assumption that when [DiMaggio] saw my smiling face perhaps he would relent and the idea that given enough time and obsessiveness, it didn’t matter if he spoke to me.”

Cramer was certainly obsessive, too. The author took five years to write the biography, and he’d pester DiMaggio for comment in that time. But Joltin’ Joe had other ideas and only once even gave the writer so much as a word – and not a kind one. Cramer told the story of what DiMaggio apparently said when he phoned the baseball star at his home to The New York Times.