The Bonanno Family: Betrayal and Ambition

Retired Intelligence Detective Gary Jenkins brings you the best in mob history with his unique perception of the mafia. In this podcast episode, we delve into the intriguing life story of Joe Bonanno, a prominent figure in organized crime. Joe Bonanno’s life was intertwined with the Mafia’s tumultuous history from his early days migrating to the United States from Sicily. We witness his rise through the ranks of the New York City Mafia families, navigating through turbulent times marked by power struggles and alliances. Bonanno’s escapades take us through significant events such as the Castellammarese War and the infamous Appalachian Conference. His ambitious nature leads him to orchestrate intricate plots, including a scheme to eliminate rival mob bosses, ultimately resulting in a betrayal that shatters loyalties within the Mafia commission. As the podcast delves deeper, we witness Joe Bonanno’s retreat to Arizona, where retirement beckons after a series of family wars and power struggles. His legacy, marked by contradictions of honor and treachery, is explored in detail, shedding light on his involvement in the heroin trade and his untimely demise in 2002. Throughout the narrative, the complexities of Bonanno’s character and his role in shaping the New York City Mafia landscape are articulated with admiration and criticism. The episode concludes with reflections on the lasting impact of Joe Bopnanno’s actions, painting a picture of a man whose life danced on the edge between honor and treachery, leaving behind a legacy etched in the annals of crime history.
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Transcript
[0:00]
Introduction to Mob Figure Biographies
[0:00]Well, hey, guys, back here in the studio, Gangland Wire. This is retired intelligence detective Gary Jenkins. I got another one of my short bios or biographies of famous mob people. I think I mentioned this before I’ve been doing these because, you know, we mention these names all the time, but everybody doesn’t know everything.
[0:20]And so I’ll get these out. I’ve been putting them out on my Facebook or my podcast Facebook page, just a short short bio of these really famous mob guys. And so this is another one of them. This is Joseph Charles Bonanno. Joe Bonanno is a really interesting guy. And matter of fact, his family, the Bonanno family, Bonanno family, I think it’s Bonanno. Bonanno family is still known as the Bonanno family today. Nobody’s ever taken it over. Rusty Restelli had it for a while. He died and And Joe Messino had it, and he went into witness protection and justified against everybody as the boss of the Bonanno family. So go figure. Now, so in the vast realm of organized crime, which especially in New York, it is vast because it extends all up to New York. I mean, Buffalo and into Montreal and way outside of New York City down into New Jersey is huge. And these guys all connected to each other and did a lot of business with each other. And Joe Bonanno was right in the middle of all that. There’s a man whose life was forged in that fiery crucible we know as Sicily, where a lot of these guys came from.
[1:34]And he was born Giuseppe Carlo Bonanno on a cold winter’s day, January 18th, 1905. And he was in the village of Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily, which that’s, I don’t know how many mob guys came from Castellammare del Golfo. And it’s like, it’s right on the ocean. I had to put a picture of it up once. It’s like a big bay. And then there was a little whitewashed with red tile roof apartments or homes go up the hillside. And it’s a fishing village, kind of like our friend Giuseppe Amato came from. He came from Serrini. A lot of Mafia history from Castellammare del Golfo. His destiny will be intertwined with his treacherous path through the ranks of the New York City Mafia families. At an early age, there were whispers about his future known to a lot of different people. And they knew him as Joe Bananas. And he’ll go on to become a symbol of authority and ruthlessness. At the tender age of three, fate guided him to the shores of the New World. So he and his family came across the ocean, sought refuge in the Lower East Side, the bustling streets of New York City, the Little Italy area. 20 years later, so 10 or 15, 20 years later, he will go back to Italy, to Sicily for a while, but he doesn’t stay long and destiny had other plans.
[2:59]In 1920, there was a fateful decision that altered the course of his life. He comes back to the United States, clandestine slips back in. You know, a lot of these guys back in those days, there wasn’t all kinds of hoops to jump through. He just came here and started working. And he did come through Cuba, which a lot of guys did. A lot of them went from Sicily to Cuba. And then there was a lot of illegal traffic going between the island of Cuba and the United United States and will be for a long time after that. He’s in the belly of a Cuban fishing boat. He arrives in Tampa, Florida. It’s a land of opportunity, but it’s also the land of danger. During this time, 1924, the winds of change are shifting in New York City. He comes back to New York. The Castellan-Mrize War is raging, raging. I mean, people are getting killed all over the place. The old mustache Pete’s are getting knocked off. And first they fight between themselves. Joe Morello and Salvatore Maranzano are fighting between themselves.
[4:02]Alliances are shifting all the time. Depends on who’s in power, who goes down. Maranzano falls victim to his own insatiable hunger for power. He wants to be the Capo di Tutti di Cappi and the boss of all bosses. And it’s during this time that Joe Bonanno sees the moment and he He started making his moves. He aligned himself with Salvatore Maranzano against this rival group, Joe Masseria and Giuseppe Morello. I mentioned Morello before, but Masseria was maybe, he was a little more important in this war. He’s part of a secret group of young mafioso from both sides known as the Young Turks, which Lucky Luciano and Vito Genovese and Tommy Lucchese and all these more modern guys, you know about in more modern times and Joe Bonanno were part of these young Turks. They were dissatisfied with the old world mentality of just going around and doing black hand letters on other Italian immigrants and that kind of thing. The prohibition has shown them that you need to organize, you need to modernize, you need to make a lot of money, and there’s a lot of money to be made. Secret Agreement with Maranzano, Luciano orchestrates the assassination of Joe the Boss Masaria in 1931.
[5:20]Lucky Luciano becomes Maranzano’s second-in-command off Tolstoy. He becomes disillusioned with Maranzano’s greed and his rigid kind of leadership. And Luciano will arrange for the murder of Maranzano in September 1931. And Luciano then is the boss of bosses in a way, but he knows better than to just say, hey, you know, I’m the boss of bosses. That’s when he starts organizing. As a fallout for Maranzano’s death, he becomes the boss of the old Maranzano family.
[5:50]At the age of 26, he becomes the youngest ever boss of a crime family. He must have really had it business-wise and organizational-wise, and he must have been a natural leader among men. I don’t really know if he had much to do with Maranzano’s death. Giovinano will claim that he was unaware of Luciano’s plans to kill Maranzano,
[6:15]
Family Life and Leadership Transition
[6:12]but it doesn’t really matter what it was. Two months after Maranzano’s assassination, Joe Bonanno marries Faye Labruzzo, had three kids together over the next 20 years or so, Salvatore Bill Bonanno, who will become the consigliere of the Bonanno family, brings his son in. There’s Catherine and Joseph Charles Jr. In the shadows of the mafia’s power, the penumbra, as we say, the shadow of that.
[6:39]His name echoes with whispers of intrigue and treachery. He was a treacherous dude.
[6:48]
Secret Meeting in Palermo
[6:44]Wait till I tell you about some of these next stories coming up. The year was 1957, and rumors are spreading like wildfire about a clandestine gathering at the opulent Grand Hotel in De Palma, Palermo. It was said that Joe Bonanno, who’s a key player in the New York City mob world, was among those who attended and he helped secretly shape the destiny of the Cosa Nostra over the ne