Joseph Riccobono was among the last vestiges of the old Murder, Inc., murder for hire organization that operated out of Brooklyn's Brownsville section. Started by Louis Lepke-Buchalter and Jacob Gurrah Shapiro, Murder, Inc. was at once a murder by contract outfit and a gang that provided protection for garment industry management. On occasion Murder, Inc. members also hired themselves out to unions and their members. Riccobono was among the gangsters who attended the notorious upstate New York Mafia meeting at Apalachin in November 1957.