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.
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.
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