Joseph Yannone, popular 'selfless' cop

THE SANSOM Street jewelers felt safe when Joe Yannone was around.

But he was not always easy to spot. Sometimes he was dressed in a doctor's lab coat or in a pharmacist's white jacket or as a rabbi - complete with mustache, beard and black hat - or as a blind man, tapping along with a white cane.

Joe, a police detective who ran the Jewelers' Row squad, protecting millions of dollars' worth of silver, gold and gems for almost 20 years, was trying to "blend into the background," as he once put it.

The disguises, combined with Joe's gregarious and somewhat quirky sense of humor, made him what the jewelers fondly knew as a "character."

Joseph Yannone, a native son of South Philadelphia, died Saturday of a cranial hemorrhage. He was 80. He was a 32-year veteran of the force, a crony of Frank Rizzo and a pal of restaurant and bar owners, entertainers and fellow city "characters."

One of the many people who benefited from Joe's passion to help people was "Jimmy the Shoeshine Man," whose real name was Jimmy DiDio.

Joe found a place for Jimmy to live, and helped him set up his shoeshine stand at 8th and Sansom. The corner became a gathering place for city officials, business people and reporters.

Thomas J. Gibbons Jr., retired Inquirer police reporter, recalls that he and the Daily News' Joe O'Dowd often headed there on their lunch break.

"In 45 minutes, you could find out what was going on all over the city," Tom said. "It was fun hanging on the corner with Joe and Jimmy. Mayor [William J.] Green would come down to get his shoes shined by Jimmy.

"Joe was the kind of guy who would give you the shirt off his back," Tom said. "If you were getting married, he'd let you know where you could get a good deal on a ring. Everybody loved him. He was easy to love."

After joining the Police Department in 1955, Joe worked in a number of districts, then in Major Crimes for several years. He eventually landed in the old 19th District, 12th and Pine streets, where Frank Rizzo was the captain.

One day, Joe talked a homeless man out of a building in Society Hill and took him to the station. Outside, the man suddenly went berserk and started choking Joe. Rizzo left the station, saw what was happening, and came to Joe's rescue.

From then on, Joe credited Rizzo with saving his life. He became Rizzo's driver, and they remained friends after Rizzo became police commissioner and then mayor.

"He idolized Rizzo," said Joe's son Ted.

Ted, who designs and makes jewelry for the jewelers on the Row, said that when he was a kid the phone would be ringing at all hours. People whose kids had gotten into trouble needed his father's help, and Joe would be off and running.

"My mother complained, 'You run for this one, you run for that one, and you get nothing in return,' " Ted said.

But that was Joe's way. He enjoyed helping people. It was one of the reasons he became a cop.

Ted said that he and his brother, Joseph, were going through their father's papers, which he kept in Ted's shop on Sansom Street, when they found a drawer that was "just stuffed with thank-you letters."

Asked to sum up his father's character, Ted came up with one word: "Selfless."

Joseph Yannone was born in South Philadelphia to Theodore and Frances Yannone. He attended South Philadelphia High School and worked for a time as a salesman for a foreign-car dealership on Broad Street.

"He was a good salesman," his son said, "but it was the Depression, and he thought the police would be more secure."

He married the former Jewel Sponsler in 1969.

One April evening in 1988, Joe was dining with the singer James Darren at a South Philadelphia restaurant when a woman at a nearby table began choking. Darren and Joe went to the rescue. The singer applied the Heimlich maneuver, and Joe fetched a glass of water, restoring her to life.

Joe used to say that he never pulled his gun or blackjack in his police career. "I don't like violence," he once said.

He received many honors over the years, including "Outstanding Detective of the Year 1985" from the Fraternal Order of Police. He probably got a kick out of the fact that his name was "John Yannone" on the plaque.

Joe and Jewel had a house in Ocean City, N.J., and he enjoyed just chilling out on the beach.

"He'd take the Daily News and Inquirer with him and just sit and read the papers," Ted said.

After retiring from the Police Department in 1988, Joe became head of security for the Police & Fire Credit Union.

He was a founder of the Custodes Pacis Lodge of the Sons of Italy, and became its chaplain in 1966.

Besides his two sons, he is survived by a daughter, Lana Lynn; a brother, Frank, and three grandchildren.

Services: Funeral Mass 10 a.m. Thursday at St. Rita's Church, Broad and Ellsworth streets. Friends may call at 9 a.m.