THE BLACK HAND FORUM

I lived in Ridgewood for a few years.. you can see Navarra and Grimaldi names on a number of different billboards/businesses in the area.. the neighborhood is very gentrified now

Navarra had many blood relatives who were important members in the Bonanno Family and Sicilian mafia. He's also related to Sal Catalano through marriage.

moneyman wrote: ↑Thu Dec 17, 2020 1:57 pm Philip Navarra comes to mind as a Bonnano member with an active Facebook profile. He’s friends with Catalano relatives which is interesting.

Was made at 27 years old according go lcnbios. Must of done something or know someone to get made that young imo.

Valenti is a fascinating character in that he should have been killed at least 10 times over. Asaro was protecting him, sure, but actual members get clipped for less. A lot of these guys are degenerates, sure, but Valenti took being a POS to a true art form. The one photo of Valenti and Asaro seated together is like the original “Virgin vs Chad” meme.

Also, the dog story and the image of Vinnie Asaro literally jumping up and down in rage will never not be hilarious.

Thanks, I assumed there had to be a relation somewhere but the Bronx threw me off as I associate the Asaro’s with that whole East NY/ Ozone Park/ Howard Beach area.

The Joseph Asaro in Montreal was Vinny's uncle.

Asaro really is an OG seen it all going all the way back to the 60’s. Anyone know if the Asaro picked up on the lam by the RCMP outside of Montréal in the 60’s and out of the Bronx is related to Vinnie or just a coincidence?

Kinda glad this one got bumped. All of the notes/writeups have been fantastic, but I forgot about this one. I loved reading about how much of a scumbag this Valenti was. Lying about giving the money to the Spero crew was hilarious. Seems like a lot of money went through Vinny Asaro's hands too...Jesus.

Damn, Eaton made Burke mad .

Same here. All I can figure is maybe someone from the Bronx faction had interests there, like we've seen in other families.

None off the top of my head. We know about the Patriarca, Gambino, Genovese and even the Colombos and DeCavalcante being active there in the past but this may be the first time I've even read about the Bonnanos being active in the area.


Pogo

Pogo The Clown wrote: ↑Tue Dec 29, 2020 12:36 pm Interesting that he included places like Connecticut and LV but didn't mention Florida.


Pogo

Yeah, it was in his testimony and was def not meant to be comprehensive, the prosecutor just asked generally where the Bonanno family operated and he casually rattled off these places and they moved on.

He specifically said "Queens, New York, Brooklyn" about NYC -- he may have meant Manhattan by "New York" but he didn't mention the Bronx.

Can you think of any members, associates, or activities in Connecticut? I know they had a made member in upstate NY, but I can't remember ever hearing about a Bonanno presence in CT so it's weird he would casually throw that out there, especially because it was a low-stakes question. The prosecutor was just trying to establish the Bonanno family's general geography.

Interesting that he included places like Connecticut and LV but didn't mention Florida.


Pogo

Related to the Vegas question, Joe Massino testified that the Bonanno family was active in the following areas when he was boss:

New York
Montreal, Canada
Las Vegas
New Jersey
Connecticut

Tommy Ferreri is from Ozone Park like his relatives, but is/was living full-time in Las Vegas. Gasper Valenti spent years in Vegas and maintained regular phone contact with Ferreri after Valenti returned to NYC. No clue who Ferreri reported to, maybe Jerry Asaro like the other relatives unless the west coast guys were with other captains. He may have been made in the 1990s like many Asaro relatives.

Asaro relatives who were members during this general period:

Vincent Asaro
Jerry Asaro
Nana Bonventre
Jack Bonventre
Thomas Ferreri
Sammy Valenti
Ronald Giallanzo

Gasper Valenti was proposed twice but screwed up so badly and repeatedly that he didn't get in. He easily could have been yet another made Asaro relative if he had cleaned up his act slightly.

While Asaro was an abusive tyrant who lorded over Valenti (and others), you get the impression from Valenti's testimony and tape transcripts that Asaro was fond of Valenti and wanted him to do better. The defense used this to their advantage and I believe it helped Asaro win the case, as it made Valenti a less sympathetic character.

It's actually incredible what Valenti got away with, by his own admission:

- Stole money owed to Anthony Spero and lied, saying one of Spero's own men stole it, resulting in a major controversy.
- Borrowed money from Vic Amuso and never paid any of it back.
- Borrowed money from other ranking mafia members in various families, never paid it back.
- Used Asaro's name in order to borrow more money despite his reputation for shirking on payment.
- Stole extra money from the stash of Lufthansa cash he was tasked with hiding, lied to Asaro about it.
- Fled to Las Vegas without approval to avoid retribution for all of his unpaid loans and misconduct.
- Repeated his earlier habits after returning to NYC, borrowing more money from Bonanno members that went unpaid.
- Fled to Vegas a second time, this time telling Asaro a fake story about going on the lam after committing a double murder related to a drug deal.

That's just off the top of my head. Valenti likely would have been maimed or even killed for some of his behavior had it not been for Asaro's protection. It's surprising Asaro put his neck out as much as he did.

Valenti even showed personal disrespect to the Asaros:

- Valenti was close to his uncle, Vincent Asaro's father Jerry, who as mentioned Valenti was originally on record with in the Bonanno family. When the elder Jerry Asaro died, his car was given to Valenti. Vincent Asaro also had a custom ring made for Valenti that was modeled after Jerry Asaro's signature cuff links.

- Valenti never made a single payment on the car and it was repossessed. After receiving the custom ring, Valenti almost immediately pawned it. It's not clear if Asaro knew about the ring, but he would have been aware of the car disappearing.

That said, Valenti is honest about his own degeneracy on the stand. You could tell he knew he was a piece of shit and didn't try to hide it. While I found him a pathetic character who won't achieve Nirvana in this soul cycle, I believe most of his testimony was truthful, especially when it came to background info on the Asaros and Valenti's activities with them.