The Bonanno crime family () is an Italian American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City within the criminal organization known as the American Mafia. The family's operations have also extended into New Jersey, Florida, California, Arizona, and Montreal.'Godfather of the rats' has life sentence wiped clean after helping put Montreal mob boss behind bars Adrian Humphreys, National Post (November 7, 2014) The Bonanno family has historically been one of the smallest of the Five Families, and was seen as the most brutal of the New York families during the 20th century.
The family was known as the Maranzano crime family until its founder Salvatore Maranzano was murdered in 1931. Joseph Bonanno was awarded most of Maranzano's operations when Charles "Lucky" Luciano oversaw the creation of the Commission to divide up criminal enterprises in New York City among the Five Families following the Castellammarese War. Under the leadership of Bonanno between the 1930s and 1960s, the family was one of the most powerful in the United States. By the 1960s, the Bonanno family held significant interests in the Fulton Fish Market, the Garment District, and Kennedy International Airport.Bonanno Crime Family Finds Wealth, Turmoil Larry McShane, Los Angeles Times (August 12, 2001) Additionally, the family maintained close ties to the Sicilian Mafia, with whom it orchestrated the importation of billions of dollars' worth of heroin into the United States during the mid-to-late 20th century.
However, in the early 1960s, Bonanno attempted to overthrow several leaders of the Commission, but failed. Bonanno disappeared from 1964 to 1966, triggering an intra-family war colloquially referred to as the "Banana War" that lasted until 1968, when Bonanno was forced into exile by the Commission and subsequently retired to Arizona. Carmine Galante, a former top lieutenant of Bonanno, took control of the family in the mid-1970s. After challenging the Gambino family for control of New York's drug trade, Galante was killed in 1979 in a Commission-approved assassination. During the 1980s, Philip Rastelli headed the organization and put down an insurrection by a competing faction within the family by ordering the massacre of three rival capos—Philip Giaccone, Al Indelicato and Dominick Trinchera—in 1981.
Between 1976 and 1981, the family was infiltrated by Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent Joseph Pistone, who went undercover using the alias "Donnie Brasco". This resulted in the Bonannos becoming the first of the New York families to be expelled from the Commission. Consequently, the Bonnano family was the smallest and weakest of the Five Families during the 1980s.Mafia-Aided Scheme Evades Millions in Gas Taxes Selwyn Raab, The New York Times (February 6, 1989) It took until the 1990s for the family to recover, a process overseen by Joseph Massino, who became the new boss upon the death of Rastelli in 1991. Despite these issues, by the dawn of the new millennium, the Bonanno family had not only regained their seat on the Commission but had also become the second-most-powerful family in New York after the Genovese family.A Mafia Family's Second Wind; Authorities Say Bonannos, All but Written Off, Are Back Selwyn Raab, The New York Times (April 29, 2000) However, a rash of convictions during the early 2000s culminated in Massino himself becoming a government witness in 2004, the first boss of one of the Five Families in New York City to turn state's evidence.No Family Values Sora Song, Time (January 30, 2005)
History
Sicilian origins The origins of the Bonanno crime family can be traced back to the town of Castellammare del Golfo located in the Province of Trapani, Sicily, their boss Giuseppe "Peppe" Bonanno, and his older brother and advisor, Stefano.A Man of Honor: The Autobiography of Joseph Bonanno by Joseph Bonanno p.24-28 The clan's strongest ally was the leader of the Magaddino clan Stefano Magaddino, the nephew of Joseph Bonanno's maternal grandmother. During the 1900s, the two clans feuded with Felice Buccellato, the boss of the Buccellato clan.
In 1902, Magaddino arrived in New York and became a powerful member of the Castellammarese clan.Jerry Capeci The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Mafia pg.49–52 After the murders of Stefano and Giuseppe Bonanno, their younger brother, Salvatore, took revenge by killing members of the Buccellatos.
In 1903, Salvatore Bonanno married Catherine Bonventre and on January 18, 1905, she gave birth to Joseph Bonanno. Three years later Salvatore moved his family to New York City, and began establishing dominance and control in the Castellammarese community of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. While operating in Brooklyn, the Castellammarese leaders were able to secure the criminal organization's future.
In 1911, Salvatore returned to Sicily, where he died of a heart attack in 1915.Organized Crime by Howard Abadinsky pg.104–107 In 1921, Magaddino fled to Buffalo, New York to avoid murder charges and the Castellammarese clan was taken over by Nicolo "Cola" Schirò.The Last Testament of Bill Bonanno: The Final Secrets of a Life in the Mafia By Bill Bonanno, Gary B. Abromovitz pg.57–58
Castellammarese War
In 1930, violence broke out between a faction led by Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria and members of the Castellammareses over the theft of Masseria's bootleg liquor. This soon developed into a full out war known as the Castellammarese War.Raab, Selwyn. The Five Families: The Rise, Decline & Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empire. New York: St. Martins Press, 2005. At the time, the Castellammareses were led by Nicolo "Cola" Schirò, who tried to work with Masseria. Schirò was replaced by Salvatore Maranzano, who wanted to take control over New York's underworld. Under Maranzano's leadership, the bloodshed continued.
The Castellammarese faction was more organized and unified than the Masseria clan. Maranzano's allies were Buffalo family boss Stefano Magaddino, Detroit family boss Gaspar Milazzo and Philadelphia family boss Salvatore Sabella, all Castellammarese. The family included mobsters Joseph Bonanno, Carmine Galante, and Gaspar DiGregorio. Maranzano was also close to Joseph Profaci, future boss of the New York Profaci family. Finally, they established a secret alliance with the Bronx Reina family boss Gaetano Reina, a nominal Masseria ally.
After Reina's murder on February 26, 1930, members of the Masseria faction began to defect to Maranzano. By 1931, momentum had shifted to the Castellammarese faction. That spring, a group of younger Mafiosi from both camps, known as the "Young Turks", decided to switch to Maranzano and end the war. This group included future mob bosses Charles "Lucky" Luciano, Vito Genovese, Frank Costello, Tommy Lucchese, Albert Anastasia and Joe Adonis. As leader of the Young Turks, Luciano concluded a secret deal with Maranzano and promised to kill Masseria. The war finally came to end when Masseria was killed on April 15, 1931.
Maranzano's murder and the Commission
After Masseria's death, Maranzano outlined a peace plan to all the Sicilian and Italian Mafia leaders in the United States. There would be 24 organizations (to be known as "families") throughout the United States, each of which would choose its own boss. In New York City, Maranzano established five Cosa Nostra families: the Luciano family under Lucky Luciano, the Mangano family under Vincent Mangano, the Gagliano family under Tommy Gagliano, the Profaci family under Joseph Profaci, and the Maranzano crime family under himself. Maranzano created an additional post for himself, that of capo di tutti capi, or boss of bosses.
Although Maranzano was more forward-looking than Masseria, at core he was still a "Mustache Pete". It did not take long for Maranzano and Luciano to come into conflict: Luciano was not pleased that Maranzano had reneged on his promise of equality, and soon came to believe he was even more hidebound and greedy than Masseria had been. At the same time, Maranzano had grown uncomfortable with Luciano's ambitions and growing power and secretly plotted to have him killed. When Tommy Lucchese alerted Luciano that he and Vito Genovese had been marked for death, Luciano felt he had to strike first.
On September 10, 1931, gangsters hired by Luciano, who were not known to Maranzano or his men, murdered Maranzano in his office. Luciano had become the dominant crime boss in America and replaced the "boss of bosses" title with The Commission to regulate the Mafia's national affairs and mediate disputes between families. He also awarded Joseph Bonanno leadership of the Maranzano family.
The Bonanno era
After Maranzano's death, Joseph Bonanno was awarded most of Maranzano's operations. At 26 years old, Bonanno was the youngest Mafia leader in the nation.
Years later, Bonanno claimed not to have known about the plot to eliminate Maranzano, and only learned later that Maranzano had planned to kill Luciano due to a falling-out over influence in the Garment District. By Bonanno's account, he believed a renewed war with Luciano would serve no purpose, since Luciano only wanted to run his own rackets.Bonanno, pp. 137–141 However, mob expert Anthony Bruno has argued that it was very unlikely that Luciano would have allowed him to live had he still backed Maranzano.
Bonanno directed his family into illegal gambling, loansharking, and narcotics. The family also built significant criminal interests in California and Arizona. With the support of Buffalo crime family boss Stefano Magaddino, Bonanno also expanded into Canada.
Like Maranzano before him, Joseph Bonanno embraced the Old World Mafia traditions of "honor", "tradition", "respect" and "dignity" as principles for ruling his family. He was more steeped in these traditions than other mobsters of his generation. For instance, he considered himself the "Father" of his family, as Maranzano had before him.Bonanno, pp. 137-141 The Bonanno family was considered the closest knit of the Five Families because Joseph tried to restrict membership to Castellammarese Sicilians. He strongly believed that blood relations and a strict Sicilian upbringing were the only way to uphold the traditional values of the Mafia.The Last Testament of Bill Bonanno: The Final Secrets of a Life in the Mafia By Bill Bonanno, Gary B. Abromovitz pg.241
Over the years, Joseph became a powerful member of the Commission, owing to his close relationship with fellow boss Joe Profaci. The bond between the two became even stronger when Joseph's son Salvatore "Bill" Bonanno married Profaci's niece Rosalie in 1956.Bonanno, Joe. A Man of Honor: The Autobiography of Joseph Bonanno. New York: St Martin's Paperbacks., 1983. The Bonanno-Profaci alliance deterred the other three families from trying to move in on their rackets.
The stable power relationship between the families collapsed with the death of Profaci in 1962. Joseph Bonanno was now threatened by an alliance of Tommy Lucchese and new boss Carlo Gambino, and rising discontent within his own family. Many of the family members had begun to complain that Joseph spent too much time at his second home in Tucson, Arizona.
In 1963, Bonanno made plans to assassinate several rivals on the Commission—bosses Tommy Lucchese, Carlo Gambino, and Stefano Magaddino, as well as Frank DeSimone.Staff (September 1, 1967) "The Mob: How Joe Bonanno Schemed to kill – and lost" Life p.15-21 Bonanno sought and got the support of Profaci's successor, Joseph Magliocco. Not only was Magliocco bitter at being denied a seat on the Commission, but Bonanno and Profaci had been close allies for over 30 years prior to Profaci's death. Bonanno's audacious goal was to take over the Commission and make Magliocco his right-hand man.