The Notorious History of the Leadership in the Bonanno Crime Family

The Bonnano Crime Family was established in the early 1900s.  Most members of the origins of the family came from the Castallammarese War between the Masseria and Maranzano faction.  The Bonanno family came from the Maranzano faction, and it was originally founded by Sebastiano DiGaetano.  The origins of the family date back to Italy.  The exact location is the town of Castellammare del Golfo a province of Trapani, Sicily. 

Sebastiano Di Gaetano

Di Gaetano was born in Sicily in 1862 and by 1898 he was in New York City.  Around 1909 or 1910 it is believed the Di Gaetano had become boss of a family out of Brooklyn called the Williamsburg-centered mafia.  Di Gaetano eventually gained the temporary title of capo dei capi (boss of bosses).  In 1912 a new boss of bosses was selected and Di Gaetano stepped down as boss of the Williamsburg family.  It is not known what happened to De Gaetano.  However, he was replaced by Nicolo Schiro. 

Nicolo Schiro

Shiro was a Sicilian born gangster.  In 1897 Schiro emigrated to the United States and moved into the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York.  Not much is known about Schiro rose to power in the Williamsburg Syndicate.  Schiro was a boss that kept a very low profile, he preferred to conduct business with other Sicilian mobsters.  Schiro avoided local police and mobsters that were born in the United States.  Schiro had close relationships with local politicians.  In 1914 he became a naturalized US citizen, and this can be attributed to his political friends.  Schiro kept such a low profile that he was never arrested.  In 1930 he was asked to step down as boss by Joe Masseria.  Schiro complied and returned to Italy.  Salvatore Maranzano took over the reins of the Williamsburg mafia.

Salvatore Maranzano

Maranzano took over the family in 1930 and soon the CastallammareseWar began.  The war began because Maranzano wanted to protect the assets he built and acquired from Masseria.  Maranzano was born in Sicily and emigrated to Brooklyn shortly after World War 1 began.  Maranzano operated as a real estate broker.  He used that front to conduct illegal operations such as bootlegging and prostitution.  It was during this period where he met and mentored a young Joseph Bonnano.  On April 15, 1931 Joe Masserria was assassinated.  The murder of Masseria caused Maranzano to become the most powerful mobster in New York City.  Maranzano called for a meeting in Upstate New York where he anointed the bosses of the other families who survived the war.  At this meeting he promoted himself to Boss of Bosses.  This was a surprise to the other families present and created resentment among the other mob figures.  Maranzano opposed other families to deal with non-Italian mobsters.  This created additional resentment among the other bosses.  On September 10, 1931 Maranzano was in his office, mobsters Bugsy Siegel, Samuel “Red” Levine, and two other men posed as tax agents.  They managed to disarm Maranzano’ s bodyguard and stabbed and shot him to death at his office.  The hit was ordered by Lucky Luciano.  Maranzanos’ underboss Joseph Bonanno took over the family.

Joseph Bonanno

At the age of 26, Joseph “Joe Bananas” Bonanno became the boss of the Maranzano family.  Bonanno then took the family into illegal activities such as loan sharking, illegal gambling, and narcotics.  Bonanno restricted membership into the family to only Sicilians from Castallammarese.  He ruled the family in old school ways, very different from the bosses of his generation.  Over the years of his ruling he became very close to the Profaci family boss Joe Profaci.  The relationship was so close that Bonanno’s son married Profaci’s daughter.  This bond prevented the other three families from trying to take their rackets.  Bonanno promoted his son Salvatore Bonanno to consigliere and over capo Gaspar DiGregorio.  This angered many in the family and this split the family into two factions.  Thus, began the “Banana Wars”.  Joe Profaci died in 1962 and by this time the members of his family were complaining that he was spending too much time away from the family in Arizona.  Bonanno and Profaci families conspired to eliminate other bosses.  The commission found out about this and Bonanno went into hiding for several years.  In 1968 he resurfaced the commission allowed him to retire to Arizona because of his contribution to the Mafia.  Bonanno lived to the age of 97 and died in 2002 in Tucson, Arizona.   In 1965 The commission made Gaspar DiGregorio boss of the Bonanno family.  Bonanno ruled the family from 1931 to 1965.

Gaspar DiGregorio

DiGregorio took over the family in 1965 until 1968.  DiGregorio had a difficult time reuniting the family after the banana Wars.  SalvatoreBonanno opposed the decision and the family was still split into two factions.  In 1968 the Commission replaced DiGregorio with Paul Sciacca.  DiGregorio was excommunicated from the mafia and spent his final years living on Long Island.  He passed away in 1970 from lung cancer. 

Paul Sciacca

Sciacca ruled the family from 1968-1971.  By 1968 the Bonanno family had become very weak because of all the infighting during the Banana wars.  The internal struggled between the DiGregorio-Sciacca faction and the Bonanno loyalist continued.  To gain peace within the family soldiers that refused to get with the program were eliminated.  Sciacca then promoted Natale Evola a Bonanno loyalist to underboss and Phil Rastelli who gained a lot of respect during the Banana wars from the younger Mafiosi to consigliere.  In 1971 Sciacca was arrested on Heroin charges and this elevated Natale “Joe Diamonds” Evola to boss. 

Natale Evola

Natale Evola the Bonanno family from 1971-1973.  Evola was a Bonanno loyalist whose rule of the family was ended because cancer killed him.  Philip Rastelli was elevated to Boss of the family.  Natale Evola once served as an usher for Joseph Bonanno’s wedding in 1931.  Evola was one of the mobsters arrested at the Appalachin meeting in 1957. 

Phillip Rastelli

Rastelli took over the Bonanno Crime family in 1973, it was made official by the commission on February 23, 1974.  Rastelli was from Queens, and this made the first time that the Bonanno family was ruled by someone that was not from Brooklyn.  Rastelli had named Carmine Galante consigliere of the family.  It is believed that Galante ruled the family. In 1976 Rastelli was imprisoned and Galante made a power grab for the family.  Galante ordered hits and took over drug operations from most of the families in the NYC area.  Galante would not share the profits from the drug trade with the other families.  This angered the commission and they wanted him removed.  In 1979, Rastelli gave the order to eliminate Galante.  Rastelli was scooped up by federal agents in 1985 following an investigation conducted over the previous 18 months.  Rastelli died in prison at the age of 73 from liver cancer on June 24, 1991.  Acting bosses during Rastelli’s imprisonment were Carmine Galante, Salvatore Farragia, and Anthony Spero. In 1991, Joe Massino became the boss of the Bonanno crime family.

Joseph Massino

Massino ruled the family from 1991-2004.  In the early 60s Massino ran a truck hijacking crew.  During his hijacking days he met future Gambino Family Crime boss John Gotti.  In 1975 Massino assassinated Vito Borelli at the request of the Gambino Crime Family.   On June 14, 1977 Massino was inducted into the Bonanno crime family along with future acting boss Anthony Spero.  Massino was responsible for delivering the message from Rastelli to the commission to eliminate Carmine Galante.  On July 12, 1979 Galante was assassinated and because of his loyalty to Rastelli he was promoted to capo.  After Galante was taken out, a faction of capos from the Bonanno family wanted to take over the family.  In 1981 Massino received information that Alphonse “Sonny Red” Indelicato, Dominick” Big Trin” Trincera, and Philip Giaconne were stocking up on weapons.  They were going to take out Rastelli loyalists and take over the family.  Massino sought counsel with Carmine Persico boss of the Colombo family and Paul Castellano boss of the Gambino family, they informed him to react as soon as possible.  Massino aligned himself with Dominick “Sonny Black” Napolitano, and Gerlando Sciascia a Sicilian born capo from the Montreal family.  They ambushed the three capos in a basement of a social club.  Two men escaped that day, Capo Frank Lino and Anthony “Bruno” Indelicato.  Massino managed to convince Lino to make peace with the Rastelli faction.  The contract for Bruno was given to Sonny Black, who in turn gave it to Donnie Brasco and undercover agent from the FBI.  Sonny Black was going to use this contract to have Donnie Brasco earn his button.  Brasco never got a chance to conduct this hit, he was an undercover agent and it would have never been authorized.  Agent Joe Pistone has said in multiple interviews that he spent a week down in Florida looking for Bruno Indelicato.  Pistone said if he found him, he would set it up with the FBI to make it look like a hit.  Nonetheless, the week went by in Florida and Pistone never did find Bruno.  Operation Donnie Brasco was ended, the FBI pulled the plug.  Because of this Sonny Black was assassinated for allowing an undercover agent to infiltrate the family.  Frank Lino carried out the hit in a Bonanno family associate’s home.  The Brasco investigation brought out indictments against a few members of the Bonanno family.  In March of 1982, Massino was given information that he was going to be indicted and he went on the run.  With the aide of Angelo Ruggiero a John Gotti associate, he was able to get help from defense counsel. 

The Bonanno family was excommunicated from the commission, therefore investigations that were conducted by federal, state, and local agents concentrated on illegal activities conducted by the families on the commission.   This would go on to show how the Bonanno family became one of the strongest families in the early 90s.  Its leadership was kept intact and Massino was the main reason.  Massino got rid of social clubs, forbade his family to mention him by name. 

Massino was a close friend of John Gotti and with his help the Bonanno family was granted a seat on the commission.  Effectively making him the person in charge of the commission.  Massino implemented some rules such as requiring full blood Italians can only be proposed for membership.  He also added that associated who were facing drug charges could not be inducted into any family. 

The Bonanno family had been banned from the commission because it let an undercover agent infiltrate the mafia.  This helped the family because a few years later in on a cold day in late February of 1985.  The main bosses of the major crime families were arrested, the US attorney’s office in New York classified this as the arrest of the men who allegedly make up the commission.

Massino’s reign atop the Bonanno family lasted from 1991-2004.  Near the end of his tenure he was convicted of murder and racketeering charges.  His brother in law/underboss testified against Massino.  Massino turned states evidence because he was facing murder charges in an upcoming trial, and if convicted he was facing the death penalty.  For his cooperation he was given a life sentence.  Massino went on to testify against his former associates of the Bonanno Crime Family.  Soon after Massino was sentenced the Bonanno family was turned over to Vincent Basciano.

Vincent Basciano

Vincent “Vinny Gorgeous” Basciano was the acting underboss under Massino after the current underboss testified against Massino.  Bassiano was boss of the family from 2005 to 2011 when his former boss Massino testified against him.  Basciano earned his nickname Vinny Gorgeous because he owned a beauty salon at one point in his life. On May 16, 2004 he was convicted for the murder of Randolph Pizzolo, and given a life sentence.  The evidence used to convict him was a recording made by fprmer boss Massino where Basciano admits to ordering the hit.

Current Boss-Michael Mancuso

Michael Mancuso became boss of the family in 2013.  In 2008 former boss Massino testified against Mancuso during his murder trail.  Mancuso was convicted of the murder of Randolph Pizzolo, acting underboss when Bassiano and Mancuso where both in prison.  Sciascia was murdered in 1999 after Massino gave the order. 

Mancuso came into the Bonanno Family as an associate in the early 1980s.  Mancuso killed his wife in the early 80s and as a result he spent 10 years in prison on a manslaughter conviction.  In 2005 Basciano promoted him to underboss.  In 2008 Mancuso was sentenced to 15 years in prison and he is scheduled for release on March 12, 2019. Mancuso is controlling the family from prison through a streetboss.

The Bonanno Crime Family has been around for over a century.  In the mid 70s they let the family get infiltrated by an undercover agent.  The familyt was shunned by the other families in New York.  they turned to drugs to keep the family afloat while they where exiled from commission rackets.  Ironically the FBI took down the bosses of the other families as a result of the Donnie Brasco operation.  The government believed that the Bonanno family was done.  They came out of the 1980s as the strongest family in La Cosa Nostra.  They continue to roam the streets of New York conducting illegal activities.