Hello there,
you need to pay off the debt, either through mario and then letting Josef know, or giving Josef 1m.
There was an older version where you could give Josef money little by little to pay off his debt, but in the last version I played (1.8), Josef told me it wasn't necessary and I couldn't give him any money. Do I have to gather all the money at once, or will an option to pay appear once I have it all?