New LCNBios Update

[B.]

Recommended reading on Bill Bonanno's cooperation:
http://mafiahistory.us/a021/f_bbonanno.html

The blow may have been softened by all of the books, movies, and interviews he did about being in the mafia. When it was finally confirmed that he cooperated it wasn't much of a shock. It did do damage to his already questionable credibility, though, as underneath all of that "bound by honor" BS he was an informant. It's always sad when a guy like Bill Bonanno or even Dominick Montiglio loses credibility because their true story told "warts and all" would be compelling and informative on its own. I would have loved it if Bill Bonanno talked about his cooperation with the FBI, what his motivation was and the impact it had on his life, but he thought it would be better to make up bullshit about the Kennedy assassination.

Joe Bonanno also did a three hour interview with an FBI agent where he went over some of the information that's in his book and talked about the mafia. Obviously he didn't have anything too damaging to offer at that point but it could certainly be seen as a form of cooperation.

[gohnjotti]

Interesting stuff B., but if the elder Bonanno met with the FBI (I’m assuming it was an official, cooperation-style meeting), why did Joe Bonanno refuse to testify for a grand jury about his book, causing him to receive his first and only prison sentence?

[Ivan]

It's always sad when a guy like Bill Bonanno or even Dominick Montiglio loses credibility because their true story told "warts and all" would be compelling and informative on its own.

So Montiglio was discredited, eh? What happened? Is Murder Machine not a reliable narrative I guess?

I did hear a bit about how no one could verify his Vietnam service, but that's all I know.

[B.]

I believe Capeci and Mustain publicly distanced themselves from him after some of his information didn't check out, specifically about his days in 'nam. It's still a great book and the authors do justice to one of the classic mob stories.

Since Murder Machine, Montiglio has also turned into something of a Henry Hill, a total mess and not a reputable source of info. I mean someone on here pointed out that Montiglio put a photo on Facebook of a well-known Chicago mob hit claiming it was a photo of the Roy DeMeo murder. You could see the guy's face and everything.

I still think Montiglio offers rare insight into certain aspects of the Gambino family during that time, but he's got an asterisk next to his name now. Bill Bonanno, again, has great insight into the highest levels of the Bonanno family, but again an asterisk. Lying about inane bullshit is unfortunately the "doping" of gangsters-turned-authors.

Edit: On a positive note, that's why certain books stand up. They may not be perfect, they may be self-serving or have an angle, but books like Blood and Honor stand up because it's Caramandi's story, nothing more and nothing less, and when he says someone did something or drops mob trivia we don't have to weigh it against "...but he also said his best friend killed Jimmy Hoffa and that Vito Genovese made him in a secret ceremony on his 15th birthday the year after he killed Hitler in WWII."

[Ivan]

I believe Capeci and Mustain publicly distanced themselves from him after some of his information didn't check out, specifically about his days in 'nam. It's still a great book and the authors do justice to one of the classic mob stories.

Since Murder Machine, Montiglio has also turned into something of a Henry Hill, a total mess and not a reputable source of info. I mean someone on here pointed out that Montiglio put a photo on Facebook of a well-known Chicago mob hit claiming it was a photo of the Roy DeMeo murder. You could see the guy's face and everything.

I still think Montiglio offers rare insight into certain aspects of the Gambino family during that time, but he's got an asterisk next to his name now. Bill Bonanno, again, has great insight into the highest levels of the Bonanno family, but again an asterisk. Lying about inane bullshit is unfortunately the "doping" of gangsters-turned-authors.

Edit: On a positive note, that's why certain books stand up. They may not be perfect, they may be self-serving or have an angle, but books like Blood and Honor stand up because it's Caramandi's story, nothing more and nothing less, and when he says someone did something or drops mob trivia we don't have to weigh it against "...but he also said his best friend killed Jimmy Hoffa and that Vito Genovese made him in a secret ceremony on his 15th birthday the year after he killed Hitler in WWII."

Yeah, it's shame about some of these guys discrediting themselves. The saddest in my opinion is Ralph Natale. I was flipping through his book at Barnes and Noble while waiting for my brother to get done with some concert and it had some really great stuff in it about Anthony Ferrante and Felix Bocchino being involved in the Bruno hit and getting rid of the shotgun that struck me as totally plausible. Especially in that there's nothing sexy about Bocchino and Ferrante - nobody except for freaks like me are going to know who those two are and you aren't going to sell any books by unveling bombshells about Little Felix and Tony Meats. But Natale has been so discredited that even this very interesting tidbit ends up being questionable. I personally believe this claim, by the way, even though I think much of what Natale says is garbage. (I am weirdly obsessed with the Bruno hit for some reason, LOL. There's just something eerie about it that I can't put my finger on.)

Nobody is more legit than Nick Caramandi. That's the one Philly "rat book" where I couldn't discern anything phony about it. (Leonetti's book is really good but it has all that "my uncle made me evil" stuff that makes me roll my eyes. I think most things about the behavior of Nicky and his nephew can probably be explained by certain genes that they shared. Previte's book is all right but he bigs himself up in a way that strains credibility. Natale is well you know already. And I'm a bit skeptical of Fresolone's "innocent guy" routine.)

[maxiestern11]

I believe Capeci and Mustain publicly distanced themselves from him after some of his information didn't check out, specifically about his days in 'nam. It's still a great book and the authors do justice to one of the classic mob stories.

Since Murder Machine, Montiglio has also turned into something of a Henry Hill, a total mess and not a reputable source of info. I mean someone on here pointed out that Montiglio put a photo on Facebook of a well-known Chicago mob hit claiming it was a photo of the Roy DeMeo murder. You could see the guy's face and everything.

I still think Montiglio offers rare insight into certain aspects of the Gambino family during that time, but he's got an asterisk next to his name now. Bill Bonanno, again, has great insight into the highest levels of the Bonanno family, but again an asterisk. Lying about inane bullshit is unfortunately the "doping" of gangsters-turned-authors.

Edit: On a positive note, that's why certain books stand up. They may not be perfect, they may be self-serving or have an angle, but books like Blood and Honor stand up because it's Caramandi's story, nothing more and nothing less, and when he says someone did something or drops mob trivia we don't have to weigh it against "...but he also said his best friend killed Jimmy Hoffa and that Vito Genovese made him in a secret ceremony on his 15th birthday the year after he killed Hitler in WWII."

Yeah, it's shame about some of these guys discrediting themselves. The saddest in my opinion is Ralph Natale. I was flipping through his book at Barnes and Noble while waiting for my brother to get done with some concert and it had some really great stuff in it about Anthony Ferrante and Felix Bocchino being involved in the Bruno hit and getting rid of the shotgun that struck me as totally plausible. Especially in that there's nothing sexy about Bocchino and Ferrante - nobody except for freaks like me are going to know who those two are and you aren't going to sell any books by unveling bombshells about Little Felix and Tony Meats. But Natale has been so discredited that even this very interesting tidbit ends up being questionable. I personally believe this claim, by the way, even though I think much of what Natale says is garbage. (I am weirdly obsessed with the Bruno hit for some reason, LOL. There's just something eerie about it that I can't put my finger on.)

Nobody is more legit than Nick Caramandi. That's the one Philly "rat book" where I couldn't discern anything phony about it. (Leonetti's book is really good but it has all that "my uncle made me evil" stuff that makes me roll my eyes. I think most things about the behavior of Nicky and his nephew can probably be explained by certain genes that they shared. Previte's book is all right but he bigs himself up in a way that strains credibility. Natale is well you know already. And I'm a bit skeptical of Fresolone's "innocent guy" routine.)

Note: IMO a very accurate and good account of NYC mob life for the era 1940-1980 was Al D'Arco's........ I thought pretty much everything he said was on point accurate and not BS like so many other books previously written...... just my two cents

[bert]

It's always sad when a guy like Bill Bonanno or even Dominick Montiglio loses credibility because their true story told "warts and all" would be compelling and informative on its own.

So Montiglio was discredited, eh? What happened? Is Murder Machine not a reliable narrative I guess?

I did hear a bit about how no one could verify his Vietnam service, but that's all I know.

A book called Stolen Valor had a section on his lying about serving in a Green Beret unit in Vietnam, I think that is the book where not a single guy who was in that unit could remember him, and no record of him serving existed. He was also a junkie.

[SonnyBlackstein]

Wish Massino would write a book.

[bert]

Wish Massino would write a book.

He is staying very low profile, I think the last thing he wants is publicity, same for the FBI regarding him. They had all his top captains and his underboss, they had little to gain from turning him. They just wanted to for selfish reasons, he only gave them Basciano and walked. Between his underboss and those captains, plus soldiers who ratted, there couldn't be much left.

[Super]

That's the thing Bert vinnie didn't do five percent of what joe and his top Capos done.

[slimshady_007]

Wish Massino would write a book.

Now that would be an awesome book. I’d love to hear how it was like in the Bonannos from 1993-1998, when Massino rebuilt the family.

[Ivan]

Wish Massino would write a book.

Now that would be an awesome book. I’d love to hear how it was like in the Bonannos from 1993-1998, when Massino rebuilt the family.

The Massino-worship on the boards back in the day (it was a while ago - you might not have been born yet) was hilarious. People were acting like he was going to bring the mob back to its heyday and they actually thought - and I swear I'm not making this up - this restoration of the good old days would be permanent. I was only like 20 at the time and even I knew that the feds would crack down on this and crack down on it hard.

[Ivan]

Recommended reading on Bill Bonanno's cooperation:
http://mafiahistory.us/a021/f_bbonanno.html

The blow may have been softened by all of the books, movies, and interviews he did about being in the mafia. When it was finally confirmed that he cooperated it wasn't much of a shock. It did do damage to his already questionable credibility, though, as underneath all of that "bound by honor" BS he was an informant. It's always sad when a guy like Bill Bonanno or even Dominick Montiglio loses credibility because their true story told "warts and all" would be compelling and informative on its own. I would have loved it if Bill Bonanno talked about his cooperation with the FBI, what his motivation was and the impact it had on his life, but he thought it would be better to make up bullshit about the Kennedy assassination.

Joe Bonanno also did a three hour interview with an FBI agent where he went over some of the information that's in his book and talked about the mafia. Obviously he didn't have anything too damaging to offer at that point but it could certainly be seen as a form of cooperation.

I think the Bonanno's had a kind of snooty, elitist attitude that Harry Riccobene had and they thought that the life was essentially over so their ratting wasn't "really" ratting. That's the impression that I get from them (and Harry).

[Pogo The Clown]

The Massino-worship on the boards back in the day (it was a while ago - you might not have been born yet) was hilarious. People were acting like he was going to bring the mob back to its heyday and they actually thought - and I swear I'm not making this up - this restoration of the good old days would be permanent. I was only like 20 at the time and even I knew that the feds would crack down on this and crack down on it hard.

I remember. People use to say that Massino was so smart and so old school that the Feds would never get him.


Pogo

[Lupara]

The Massino-worship on the boards back in the day (it was a while ago - you might not have been born yet) was hilarious. People were acting like he was going to bring the mob back to its heyday and they actually thought - and I swear I'm not making this up - this restoration of the good old days would be permanent. I was only like 20 at the time and even I knew that the feds would crack down on this and crack down on it hard.

I remember. People use to say that Massino was so smart and so old school that the Feds would never get him. [emoji38]


Pogo

He was smart and oldschool but the feds still got him. He never had much of a change with Fredo as a brother-in-law.

Only Barney knows how to beat the system, and ofcourse Buffalo who are still a powerhouse flying under the fed's radar.