Meade Esposito

Amadeo "Meade" Esposito was born in the subsection of Ocean Hill, Brooklyn (alternatively characterized as part of Bedford-Stuyvesant or Brownsville) in 1907.[11] He was the son of Giuseppe and Felicia Esposito. His grandfather came to America from Italy in 1885. His father followed his grandfather in 1900 and arrived in America at the age of 18. Giuseppe became a saloon owner. Meade lived with his two sisters above the saloon. Meade claimed to have been working since he was child.[12]

Esposito grew up in Brownsville (then a predominately Jewish neighborhood with smaller Irish and Italian populations) and received his nickname "Meade" during elementary school. He briefly attended Park Slope's Manual Training High School, now known as the John Jay Educational Campus, but dropped out at the age of 14. He married at the age of 18 and became a father by 19.[12]

After dropping out of high school, Esposito found employment at an insurance business operated by Jim Powers, a former United States Marshal and local Democratic leader. There, Esposito met Hyman Schorenstein, another Brooklyn Democratic leader who went on to secure the presidential nomination for Al Smith at the party's 1928 Democratic National Convention. Schorenstein's blunt, transactional management style would profoundly influence Esposito. At the age of 18, Esposito "got a couple of dozen of the guys together" and started the Progressive Democratic Club on Fulton Street.

During the Great Depression, he worked as a beer salesman and bail bondsman. He met many of his future connections through his bondsman business. Esposito cultivated ethnic and community ties that encouraged more Italian Americans to move into politics. He launched the career of Abe Stark (who served as New York City Council President from 1954 to 1961 and Borough President of Brooklyn from 1962 to 1970) and assisted in electing longtime New York State Assembly member Alfred Lama (best known for co-founding the Mitchell-Lama Housing Program). In 1958, Esposito ran for district leader and co‐leader in Canarsie with Shirley Weiner. They narrowly lost; however, Esposito's surreptitious influence continued to grow.[12]

Throughout the 1960s, Esposito personally selected many judges and politicians in Brooklyn. In 1969, he became chairman of the Kings County Democratic Committee. Robert F. Wagner Jr. called him a "new breed of party leader". Herman Badillo, a critic of Esposito, called him "an old-line boss". Esposito's connections with known Mafia members was common knowledge. He grew up with Mafia associates and bailed many of them out during his years as a bail bondsman. In 1972, during a federal investigation into the Lucchese crime family, Esposito's name was frequently mentioned in a bugged junkyard trailer used as an office by Paul Vario.[13]

Politicians traded favors and gifts with Esposito for political influence and positions. By 1983, investigations into his activities were growing. Despite claiming he would never retire, Esposito left his position as leader of the Kings County Democratic Committee in January 1984, leaving the position to incumbent Brooklyn Borough President Howard Golden.[10]

Nevertheless, Esposito continued to retain tremendous "behind-the-scenes" influence in New York City politics after his retirement. In the fall of 1985, during an FBI investigation into the Genovese crime family, Esposito was heard speaking with gangster and lifelong friend Federico "Fritzy" Giovanelli. This led to a direct wiretap of Esposito's phone.[14] Later in 1985, Esposito was recorded speaking with Bronx Rep. Mario Biaggi, claiming to have "made" 42 judges in Brooklyn. Esposito was found to be involved in bribery with Biaggi, having given him a Florida vacation in return for government assistance in a financially troubled drydock firm that owed Esposito's insurance company $280,000. Esposito was found guilty in 1988, put on probation, sentenced to community service and fined $500,000. Biaggi was sent to jail and lost his seat in Congress. In 1989, Esposito faced additional charges of bribery and tax fraud; however a federal judge determined Esposito was too sick and elderly to maintain a proper defense.[15]

Esposito was known for his "blunt, warm and earthy" nature.[12] He frequently smoked cigars and kept a baseball bat under his desk to symbolically enforce power.[16] Donald Trump, whose family's real estate business frequently interlocked with elements of the Brooklyn Democratic machine, respected Esposito and his management style.[17] Esposito had a daughter, Phyllis.[8]