Targenmantarian wrote: ↑Sat Dec 28, 2019 11:07 am
I think Mancuso was aggressive enough and wanted the slot.
A lot of the guys who could qualify to run shit for any family simply avoid it so they don't get bagged repeatedly.
Mancuso has shown he can do time and that he's not ever going to rat most likely.
He's probably not a money making visionary or genius racketeer he's just tough, willing, and has stripes.
His early career doesn't seem mega distinguished but that barely matters nowadays. He was a Harlem Purple gang guy which again bodes well for toughness.
Cicale hated him but you can NEVER trust a rat narrative as it's always self serving.
Targenmantarian wrote: ↑Sat Dec 28, 2019 11:07 am
I think Mancuso was aggressive enough and wanted the slot.
A lot of the guys who could qualify to run shit for any family simply avoid it so they don't get bagged repeatedly.
Mancuso has shown he can do time and that he's not ever going to rat most likely.
He's probably not a money making visionary or genius racketeer he's just tough, willing, and has stripes.
His early career doesn't seem mega distinguished but that barely matters nowadays. He was a Harlem Purple gang guy which again bodes well for toughness.
Cicale hated him but you can NEVER trust a rat narrative as it's always self serving.
Not every family has a Bellomo.
Kind of seems like another Rastilli.
To the extent he's a hard ass who has done a lot of time yes.
Rastelli had several monopolistic rackets like storage and moving/roach coaches. So he probably made twenty times more than Mancuso does.
But in the state of the dininished mob and in terms of just holding the line and being tough and able to do time then yeah definitely similar.
Hired_Goonz wrote: ↑Wed Dec 25, 2019 7:46 pm
I thought the Lucchese admin didn't recognize Mancuso - wasn't that why a bunch of Bonanno goons started a ruckus at a Lucchese club? Isn't that what lead to the murder conspiracy that Crea Jr plead out to?
Correct
Well I wonder if they recognized Joe C and those guys instead, or if they had a problem with Mancuso himself. Also I'm curious if the other families held back on recognizing Mancuso at first.
I wonder the same thing. I would think Joe C would be a much better choice. I’m surprised Basciano has not put his 2 cents into this whole deal. I know he about Mancuso whacked. Them again Joe C just got the win of a life time but it is hard to imagine him and porky and the Grialdis just accepting this shelving. I’m surprised there hasn’t been a murder in relation to this shit yet. Knowing the Bonannos I’d say it’s in the works.
I don’t think Basciano has had any say in the Bonanno family’s affairs since Massino flipped. By then Basciano had been in solitary confinement and shortly afterwards he was sent off to adx. I remember reading that Basciano wanted a panel to run the family after his arrest but Mancuso wasn’t fond of the idea and just decided to elect himself as acting boss. From 2005-2009, Mancuso still had been running the family to an extent with Nicky santora and tony rabito serving as acting underboss and acting consigliere, respectively. At the same time, Sal Montagna was believed to be the main guy on the streets, possibly serving as just a street boss. After Sal was deported, it seems that Mancuso became the de facto boss.
What rly intrigues me is what the relationship was between Montagna and Mancuso. Montagna had been close to little Anthony Seccafico, who was clipped almost immediately after Montagna was deported which I’ve always thought was Mancuso’s ppl ‘cleaning house’ so to speak. My apologies for rambling lol.
Great post, Slim. I made a thread ages ago about exactly how long Mancuso has been running the family for, and if he ever really stopped running things after his 2000s arrest, but I never considered his relationship with Montagna. That would be interesting to look at; how close was Montagna to the Bonanno family's Bronx crew? I also want to echo what you're saying about Vincent Basciano; it's very unlikely, and impractical, that he can communicate any organized crime messages. He is allowed one visit a month, which he usually reserves for family. His phone calls and letters are incredibly monitored, because he is treated with the same threat level as a terrorist - that's why he is in Big Sandy, one of the toughest prisons in the country.
Dominick Cicale said Montagna was with the Gerlando Sciascia crew, which was based in the Bronx and Montreal, and when Sciascia was killed Montagna was placed under DeFilippo in the Bronx. Montagna lived on Long Island, had a business in Bushwick, and hung around the Middle Village/Ridgewood Sicilian crowd via his early association with Baldo Amato. It's not clear the extent of his relationships with the Bronx members, but he was a member of the same Bronx crew as Mancuso at the time of Mancuso's promotion to acting admin member.
JD told me a while back that on the Gary Valenti tapes, he recorded Vincent Asaro immediately after Salvatore Montagna's murder and Asaro said something to the effect of, "They killed one of the bosses", in reference to Montagna. Asaro then met with Giacomo Bonventre in relation to the Montagna murder but Valenti was not allowed to attend the meeting. Hopefully I'm not overstepping by sharing this, as he has been open with me sharing similar details he's told me in the past, but I found this very interesting and it only opens more questions. At the very least it shows Montagna's murder was relevant to the Bonanno membership in NYC, which shouldn't be a surprise.
B. wrote: ↑Sun Dec 29, 2019 2:00 pm
Dominick Cicale said Montagna was with the Gerlando Sciascia crew, which was based in the Bronx and Montreal, and when Sciascia was killed Montagna was placed under DeFilippo in the Bronx. Montagna lived on Long Island, had a business in Bushwick, and hung around the Middle Village/Ridgewood Sicilian crowd via his early association with Baldo Amato. It's not clear the extent of his relationships with the Bronx members, but he was a member of the same Bronx crew as Mancuso at the time of Mancuso's promotion to acting admin member.
JD told me a while back that on the Gary Valenti tapes, he recorded Vincent Asaro immediately after Salvatore Montagna's murder and Asaro said something to the effect of, "They killed one of the bosses", in reference to Montagna. Asaro then met with Giacomo Bonventre in relation to the Montagna murder but Valenti was not allowed to attend the meeting. Hopefully I'm not overstepping by sharing this, as he has been open with me sharing similar details he's told me in the past, but I found this very interesting and it only opens more questions. At the very least it shows Montagna's murder was relevant to the Bonanno membership in NYC, which shouldn't be a surprise.
Valenti was such a sad rat.
Almost fifty years hanging on to a family with close family ties to made guys and he never got his button.
Good call on their part. But yeah he was just so broken down and broke etc. Super cautionary tale of a totally wasted life.
Asaro may be evil or a jerk but at least he's a gangster to the bone. He had a sixty year run.
B. wrote: ↑Sun Dec 29, 2019 2:00 pm
Dominick Cicale said Montagna was with the Gerlando Sciascia crew, which was based in the Bronx and Montreal, and when Sciascia was killed Montagna was placed under DeFilippo in the Bronx. Montagna lived on Long Island, had a business in Bushwick, and hung around the Middle Village/Ridgewood Sicilian crowd via his early association with Baldo Amato. It's not clear the extent of his relationships with the Bronx members, but he was a member of the same Bronx crew as Mancuso at the time of Mancuso's promotion to acting admin member.
JD told me a while back that on the Gary Valenti tapes, he recorded Vincent Asaro immediately after Salvatore Montagna's murder and Asaro said something to the effect of, "They killed one of the bosses", in reference to Montagna. Asaro then met with Giacomo Bonventre in relation to the Montagna murder but Valenti was not allowed to attend the meeting. Hopefully I'm not overstepping by sharing this, as he has been open with me sharing similar details he's told me in the past, but I found this very interesting and it only opens more questions. At the very least it shows Montagna's murder was relevant to the Bonanno membership in NYC, which shouldn't be a surprise.
Man I wish JD still posted on this board. That's some good info.
Not that this was necessarily the case during the entire Mancuso tenure being suggested here - but by 2021, is it at all possible Mancuso is in an Uncle Junior situation, where he wants the title so they just give it to him? Not saying he's a blatant "stooge" or a "puppet", but since the title is important to him - everyone just lets him have it since he isn't that liked anyway?
Everyone that doesn't believe he's boss often either says: He isn't well liked enough to be boss, or he doesn't have the powerbase in the Bronx, or no way Cammarano Jr, Grimaldi etc would just let themselves be shelved like that.
(There are a number of threads on Mancuso/recent Bonanno structure so I just chose one that was somewhat recent. It'd be cool if they get merged at some point).
InCamelot wrote: ↑Mon Feb 08, 2021 7:09 pm
Not that this was necessarily the case during the entire Mancuso tenure being suggested here - but by 2021, is it at all possible Mancuso is in an Uncle Junior situation, where he wants the title so they just give it to him? Not saying he's a blatant "stooge" or a "puppet", but since the title is important to him - everyone just lets him have it since he isn't that liked anyway?
Everyone that doesn't believe he's boss often either says: He isn't well liked enough to be boss, or he doesn't have the powerbase in the Bronx, or no way Cammarano Jr, Grimaldi etc would just let themselves be shelved like that.
(There are a number of threads on Mancuso/recent Bonanno structure so I just chose one that was somewhat recent. It'd be cool if they get merged at some point).
I think Mancuso became of the big power vacuum in the Bonanno’s at the time. He had the authority to appoint acting bosses, panels, etc. Mancuso made the right call just shelving Joe, Porky, and the Grimaldi’s. They know what Mancuso’s capable of and that he has plenty of guys who would put in work. I don’t see anyone challenging Mancuso again, especially since the Bronx has key players like Ernest Aiello, Johnny Skyway, Johney Joe Sr, and Pat Maiorino all on the streets.