Joey Scianti was a member of the Scianti crime family, which included his father Albert, his sister Julia Scianti, and his cousin Sal Castelli. In 1982 Joey's father Albert masterminded an art theft that involved a 15th century triptych The Madonna of the Spirits, worth millions, and in 1989 Joey and Castelli were planning to move the paintings for cash or drugs to a Greek buyer named Nikos Plato. However, during a drug raid by Metro-Dade police, two of the three paintings were taken by the police and only the Madonna was in possession of Scianti, who thought their friend Stanley Costa had the two side paintings, but Costa was killed during the raid. Nikos backs off the purchase after hearing news of the paintings' possession by the police, so Scianti and Castelli decided to sell their painting to Jeffrey Whitehead, a NYPD Detective posing as a buyer, for drugs, angering Julia, but Whitehead pulls a double-cross, taking the Madonna and knocking both Scianti and Castelli out. Scianti gave chase (Castelli was arrested) and finds Whitehead in the Miami Cruiseport, but Whitehead shoots Joey dead when confronted.