Joseph "Joe Lupo" Rulli Part 2: Escape or Execution?

The Vanished Podcast

Wondery

True Crime, Society & Culture, Cold Case, Investigative, Find The Missing, Vanished, Missing Persons, Documentary, News, Disappeared, Exhibit C

4.5 • 15K Ratings

🗓️ 21 April 2025

⏱️ 70 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Last week, we shared Part 1 of Joseph “Joe Lupo” Rulli’s story. You learned about his rise in the boxing world at a young age, his battle with Polio that tragically ended his career too soon, and Joe’s eventual rise within the mafia. For a while, things were looking good for Joe, but by April of 1971, a mafia turf war was raging. Several of Joe’s associates, including his partner, had been murdered. Joe was warned that he was next. He was a marked man.

In the weeks leading up to his disappearance, Joe had a tense encounter at his doorstep. FBI agents, along with his older brother, Dennis, an investigator for the New Jersey State Police, offered Joe a way out: become an informant and receive protection. But Joe refused. He wasn’t a rat.

Not long after, Joe hosted a going-away dinner for one of his higher-ups. This event was supposed to mark a new chapter for him. But before the party even started, Joe stepped out for what he claimed was a quick errand, and he never returned. His wife, Cynthia, arrived at the party only to find her husband missing. A wave of panic washed over her. Cynthia had been at home when the FBI had approached Joe, offering him protection. She understood the gravity of the situation and the danger her husband was in.

In the days that followed, Cynthia reported Joe missing. His car was later found riddled with bullets and soaked in blood. It looked like a textbook mafia hit. When Joe’s brother, Dennis, arrived on the scene, he assumed he would find Joe’s body in the trunk, but all he found were Easter baskets filled with melted candy. There was no body. And the blood? It wasn’t Joe’s. It was animal blood.

This discovery turned the case on its head. It was no longer a simple mafia hit. The possibility emerged that Joe had orchestrated his own escape. Had he secretly taken the FBI’s offer to start a new life? Did a family member help him slip away undetected while everyone else partied? Or had Joe been murdered, and someone staged the scene with animal blood?

These questions have haunted Joe’s son for decades. By bringing his father’s story to light, he hopes someone with answers will finally step forward and help solve this decades-old mystery.

If you have any information regarding the disappearance of Joseph "Joe Lupo" Rulli, please contact the New Jersey State Police Missing Persons Unit at (609) 882-2000 ext. 2554 or email [email protected]. You can also reach out to Joe directly at [email protected].

If you have a missing loved one that you would like to have featured on the show, please fill out our case submission form.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	There was a lot of turmoil in the family before 1971.
0:14.0	When you have two brothers on opposite sides of the law and really defining time like one of them going missing.
0:23.6	There's life from March 8, 1932 when my uncle Joe was born, to April 20, 1971.
0:33.6	There's enough other pieces of information after that date in 1971 that makes it sound like he did not die in that parking lot in 1971.
0:43.6	He reached out to the guy who investigated it for the state police.
0:48.9	The guy was retired.
0:50.4	He was living out of state.
0:52.0	And he called him and said, hey, I hope you're enjoying your retirement.
0:55.9	I have a quick question for you.
0:57.7	Joe Lupo, and the guy said, did they find him?
1:01.4	That was his immediate response almost 30 years later.
1:04.8	And he says, no, what can you tell me about that case?
1:08.8	And he said, it was one of the biggest mysteries that I've ever investigated.
1:15.8	Last week we shared part one of Joseph Joe Lupo Ruley's story.
1:20.7	You learned about his rise in the boxing world at a young age,
1:24.2	along with Joe's battle with polio that tragically ended his career far too soon, and
1:29.2	Joe's eventual ties to the mafia. For a while, things were looking good for Joe, but by April of
1:35.4	1971, a mafia turf war was raging. Several of Joe's associates, including his partner,
1:42.0	had been murdered. Joe had been warned that he was next.
1:45.3	He was a marked man. In the weeks leading up to his disappearance, Joe had a tense encounter
1:50.6	at his doorstep. FBI agents, along with his older brother Dennis, an investigator for the New
1:56.2	Jersey State Police, had stopped by to offer Joe a way out, become an informant and receive protection.
	...

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