Joseph Charles Massino (January 10, 1943 – September 14, 2023) was an American mobster. He was a member of the Mafia and boss of the Bonanno crime family from 1991 until 2004, when he became the first boss of one of the Five Families in New York City to turn state's evidence.
Massino was a protégé of Philip Rastelli, who took control of the Bonanno family in 1973. Rastelli spent most of his reign in and out of prison but was able to get the assassination of Carmine Galante, a mobster vying for power, approved in 1979. Originally a truck hijacker, Massino secured his own power after arranging two 1981 gang murders, first a triple murder of three rebel captains, then his rival Dominick Napolitano. In 1991, while Massino was in prison for a 1986 labor racketeering conviction, Rastelli died and Massino succeeded him. Upon his release the following year, he set about rebuilding a family that had been in turmoil for almost a quarter of a century. By the dawn of the new millennium, he was reckoned as the most powerful Mafia leader in the nation. Massino became known as "The Last Don", the only full-fledged New York boss of his time who was not in prison.
In July 2004, Massino was convicted in a RICO case based on the testimony of several cooperating made men, including Massino's disgruntled underboss and brother-in-law Salvatore Vitale. He was also facing the death penalty if convicted in a separate murder trial due to be held later that year, but after agreeing to testify against his former associates, he was sentenced to life imprisonment for both indictments in 2005. Massino testified twice for the government, helping to secure a murder conviction against his acting boss Vincent Basciano in 2011, and was resentenced to time served in 2013.
Early years Joseph Massino was born in New York City on January 10, 1943. He was one of three sons of Anthony and Adeline Massino, both of whom traced their familial origin to the Italian city of Naples.DeStefano 2007, pp. 42–43 Raised in Maspeth, Queens, Massino admitted to being a juvenile delinquent by the age of 12 and claimed to have run away to Florida at age 14. He dropped out of Grover Cleveland High School in tenth grade.Raab, p. 604
Massino first met his future wife Josephine Vitale in 1956, and married her in 1960.Crittle, pp. 49–51 The couple had three daughters.Crittle, p. 211 Massino also befriended Josephine's brother, Salvatore Vitale, who, after briefly serving in the United States Army, became one of Massino's most trusted allies.Crittle, pp. 136–137 While athletic in youth, Massino grew overweight in adulthood, and earned the nickname "Big Joey". During a 1987 racketeering trial, when he asked FBI agent Joseph Pistone who was to play him in a film adaptation of his undercover work, Pistone joked that they could not find anyone fat enough. By 2004, Massino was suffering from diabetes and high blood pressure.
After turning state's evidence, Massino claimed his first murder victim was a Bonanno crime family associate named Tommy Zummo, whom he shot dead in 1969. The killing aroused the ire of Philip "Rusty" Rastelli, a Maspeth-based Bonanno caporegime (captain, or head of a "crew"), but he remained unaware of Massino's participation, and a nephew of Rastelli ultimately helped Massino become his protégé.Raab, p. 605 Rastelli would set Massino up as a lunch wagon operator as part of his "Workmen's Mobile Lunch Association," an effective protection racket; after paying a kickback to Rastelli in the form of membership dues, Massino was assured no competition where he operated.DeStefano 2007, pp. 58–59
Bonanno crime family Rise to power By the late 1960s, Massino was a Bonanno associate.DeStefano 2007, pp. 60–61 He led a successful truck hijacking crew, with the assistance of his brother-in-law Salvatore Vitale and carjacker Duane Leisenheimer, while fencing the stolen goods and running numbers using the lunch wagon as a front.DeStefano 2007, pp. 63–64, 68 Massino also befriended another hijacker, future Gambino crime family boss John Gotti.Raab, p. 606 Increasingly prosperous, Massino opened his own catering company, J&J Catering, which became another front for his activities.
In 1973, Natale Evola, the boss of the Bonnano family, died. On February 23, 1974, at a meeting at the Americana Hotel in Manhattan, the Commission, the American Mafia's governing body, named Rastelli as Evola's successor.DeStefano 2007, pp. 65, 67, 70 On April 23, 1976, Rastelli was convicted of extortion, and on August 27 was sentenced to ten years in prison. In his absence, Carmine Galante, a former consigliere and convicted drug trafficker, seized control of the family as unofficial acting boss.Raab, pp. 203–205
In 1975, Massino and Vitale participated in the murder of Vito Borelli, whom Massino claimed was primarily executed by Gotti at the behest of Paul Castellano of the Gambino family. The Borelli hit was significant for Massino in that he "made his bones"—proved his loyalty to the Mafia by killing on its behalf—and put him close to becoming a "made man" (full member) in the Bonanno family.DeStefano 2007, p. 74 Massino also arranged the 1976 murder of one of his hijackers, Joseph Pastore, after having Vitale borrow $9,000 from him on his behalf. While later acquitted of the crime,DeStefano 2007, pp. 187–188 both Vitale and Massino would admit to participation after turning state's evidence.DeStefano 2007, pp. 75–77
In March 1975, Massino was arrested along with of one of his hijackers, Raymond Wean, and charged with conspiracy to receive stolen goods.DeStefano 2007, pp. 79–82 He was scheduled to go on trial in 1977, but the charges were dropped after he successfully argued that he had not been properly mirandized, disqualifying statements Massino had given to police from being used in trial.DeStefano 2007, pp. 84–86
On June 14, 1977, Massino was inducted into the Bonanno family along with Anthony Spero, Joseph Chilli Jr. and a group of other men in a ceremony conducted by Carmine Galante. He worked as a soldier in James Galante's crew, and later in the crew of Philip "Phil Lucky" Giaccone.Lamothe; Humphreys, p. 87 Massino nevertheless remained loyal to Rastelli, then vying to oust Carmine Galante despite his imprisonment. Fearing Galante wanted him dead for insubordination, Massino delivered a request to the Commission on Rastelli's behalf to have Galante killed. The hit was approved and executed on July 12, 1979; Rastelli subsequently took full control of the family and rewarded Massino's loyalty by promoting him to caporegime.Raab, pp. 607–608
By the beginning of the 1980s, Massino ran his crew from the J&S Cake social club, a property just behind J&J Catering.DeStefano 2007, p. 104 The building was seized in 1988 during a crackdown on the Bonannos' illegal gambling activities.
Three capos and Napolitano murders
Following the Galante hit, Massino began jockeying for power with Dominick "Sonny Black" Napolitano, another caporegime and Rastelli loyalist. Both men were themselves threatened by another faction seeking to depose the absentee boss, led by capos Giaccone, Alphonse "Sonny Red" Indelicato and Dominick "Big Trin" Trincera.DeStefano 2007, pp. 99, 101–103 The Commission initially tried to maintain neutrality, but in 1981 Massino got word from his informants that the three capos were stocking up on automatic weapons and planning to wipe out the Rastelli loyalists to take complete control of the family. Massino turned to Colombo family boss Carmine Persico and Gambino family boss Paul Castellano for advice; they told him to act immediately.
Massino, Napolitano and Gerlando Sciascia, a Sicilian-born capo linked to the Montreal Rizzuto crime family, arranged a meeting at a Brooklyn social club with the three capos for May 5, 1981. They had four gunmen, including Vitale and Bonanno-affiliated Montreal boss Vito Rizzuto, hiding in a closet to ambush them.Raab, pp. 610–613 When Trinchera, Giaccone and Indelicato arrived with Frank Lino to meet Massino, they were shot to death, with Massino himself stopping Indelicato from escaping. Lino escaped unscathed by running out the door. The hit further improved Massino's prestige, but was marred by both Lino's escape and the discovery of Indelicato's body on May 28.Crittle, pp. 86, 92DeStefano 2007, pp. 114–115
Massino quickly won Lino over to his side,Raab, p. 615 but Indelicato's son, Anthony "Bruno" Indelicato, vowed revenge.DeStefano 2007, pp. 112, 117 Napolitano assigned associate Donnie Brasco, who he hoped to induct as a made man, to kill the younger Indelicato. "Brasco," however, was in fact an undercover FBI agent named Joseph Pistone; shortly after the hit was ordered, Pistone's assignment was ended and Napolitano was informed of the family's infiltration.DeStefano 2007, pp. 118–120
Already skeptical of Napolitano's support of "Brasco," Massino was deeply disturbed by the breach of security when he learned of the agent's true identity.Crittle, pp. 98–99 Vitale would later testify that this was the reason Massino subsequently decided to murder Napolitano as well; as he would later quote Massino: "I have to give him a receipt for the Donnie Brasco situation." In his own testimony, Massino instead claimed Napolitano was targeted for trying to take over the family himself.DeStefano 2013, p. 207 On August 17, Lino and Steven Cannone drove Napolitano to the house of Ronald Filocomo, a Bonanno family associate, for a meeting. Napolitano was greeted by caporegime Frank Coppa, then thrown down into the basement by Lino and shot to death.Raab, pp. 617–620 Napolitano's body was discovered the following year.Crittle, pp. 102–104
Benjamin "Lefty" Ruggiero, who helped Pistone formally become a Bonanno associate, was also targeted, but was arrested en route to the meeting where he was expected to be murdered. On February 18, 1982, Anthony Mirra, the soldier who first "discovered" Pistone, was assassinated on Massino's orders. Mirra had gone into hiding upon Pistone's exposure but was ultimately betrayed and murdered by his protégé and cousin, Joseph D'Amico.
Fugitive and Bonventre murder On November 23, 1981, based on information gained by Pistone's infiltration, six Bonanno mobsters, including the then-missing Napolitano, were indicted on racketeering charges and conspiracy in the triple hit on Giaccone, Trincera and the elder Indelicato.DeStefano 2007, p. 136
In March 1982, Massino was tipped off by a Colombo-associated FBI insider that he was about to be indicted and went into hiding in Pennsylvania with Leisenheimer.DeStefano 2007, pp. 140–142 On March 25, 1982, Massino was also charged with conspiracy to murder Indelicato, Giaccone and Trinchera and truck hijacking. In hiding, Massino was able to see the prosecution's strategy and better plan his defense as well as eventually face trial without association with other mobsters.Pistone; Brandt, p. 122DeStefano 2007, p. 167 Pistone later speculated Massino also feared retaliation upon the revelation that his associate, Raymond Wean, had turned state's evidence.Pistone; Brandt, pp. 103–104 Massino was visited by many fellow mobsters, including Gotti,Crittle, p. 114 and Vitale would secretly deliver cash to support him.
On April 21, 1983, Rastelli was paroled, and he and Massino immediately ordered the murder of Bonanno caporegime Cesare Bonventre, the leader of the family's Sicilian faction.Raab, pp. 626–627 Still a fugitive, Massino summoned Vitale, Louis Attanasio and James Tartaglione to his hideout and gave them the order.DeStefano 2007, pp. 160–163 By this time, even though Rastelli was still officially head of the family, Massino was considered by most mobsters to be the family's street boss in all but name, as well as Rastelli's heir apparent.Pistone; Brandt, p. 317 According to Vitale, Massino had Bonventre killed for giving him no support when he was in hiding.Lamothe; Humphreys, p. 150