DPG wrote:What caused him to write the book? Finances? Do you think if events of the 60s had went differently he still writes the book?
Two things Bill taught me:
Bonnano Family never sold drugs
Americanized.....
Not finances, no. My guess would be his own ego. The Bonannos were always in love with themselves, kinda like Mafia Trumps. Read JB's book, then go through the Mary Farrell Magaddino wiretaps to get the other side of events. Bonanno was respected but he wasn't loved, he was probably a prick to have as a boss, same as Joe Profaci or Jack Tocco who once said that members need to pay their dues and if they are broke to go rob a gas station.
I thought it was pretty telling on the DeCavalcante tapes when Joe Zicarelli (who was initially a Bonanno loyalist) is talking about how tough and greedy Galante was with his men, then says something about how Galante learned how to be that way from Joe Bonanno.
Magaddino def confirms some things about Joe Bonanno on those wiretaps, but he also confirms a lot of what Joe Bonanno said about him in his book -- that Magaddino was a paranoid and insecure loudmouth. On those tapes Magaddino claims that Bonanno held such a large and grand wedding for Bill to deliberately insult Magaddino. He makes a lot of other delusional comments like that as well, not to mention he never lets anyone else get a word in.
Also you make a really great point about Giuliani. I personally don't like Giuliani at all so I'm biased against anything he says anyway.
It was also picked up in the Castellano mansion wiretaps:
Castellano: I tried to take ten minutes of that fucking book, I thought it would be interesting, you know, what with knowing a lot of the people. But fuck, I can't read this shit.
Joe N. Gallo: It makes you wonder. Is this son of a bitch senile, or is he a fucking nut?
Frank DiStefano: Well, what I think, what I figure, is it was some kind of a deal, instead of going to jail.
Gallo: What the fuck? This is a new kind of plea bargain or what? Go to the slammer or write your memories and make your friends look lousy?
Castellano: The memory. That's what gets me. The fucking guy acts like he remembers every word ever said to him since 1927.
Bill never denied that the Bonanno Family dealt in drugs. I think he actually describes Galante as a drug dealer in The Last Testament. What you need to keep in mind DPG is what both JB and his son is talking about is that the men who were into narcotics were so without the knowledge of JB. There´s a passage in the book where Bill describes his father banning drug dealing. Gambino did the same some years later. After Galante´s conviction, he was demoted and shelved. And this comes not only from Bill but from a CI. So your statement above is misleading. A boss of a Family can not possibly know what all his members are doing behind his back. especially if he is more of a "hands off" boss JB seems to have been. Castellano was unaware of the Gotti crew´s involvement with drugs. Several CI confirms this. Even if a boss is banning drug dealing, members of his Family are still going to deal.
Bill never denied that the Bonanno Family dealt in drugs. I think he actually describes Galante as a drug dealer in The Last Testament. What you need to keep in mind DPG is what both JB and his son is talking about is that the men who were into narcotics were so without the knowledge of JB. There´s a passage in the book where Bill describes his father banning drug dealing. Gambino did the same some years later. After Galante´s conviction, he was demoted and shelved. And this comes not only from Bill but from a CI. So your statement above is misleading. A boss of a Family can not possibly know what all his members are doing behind his back. especially if he is more of a "hands off" boss JB seems to have been. Castellano was unaware of the Gotti crew´s involvement with drugs. Several CI confirms this. Even if a boss is banning drug dealing, members of his Family are still going to deal.
wasnt Carlo gambino A huge herion dealer ?
"if he's such A sports wizard , whys he tending bar ?" Nicky Scarfo
Bill never denied that the Bonanno Family dealt in drugs. I think he actually describes Galante as a drug dealer in The Last Testament. What you need to keep in mind DPG is what both JB and his son is talking about is that the men who were into narcotics were so without the knowledge of JB. There´s a passage in the book where Bill describes his father banning drug dealing. Gambino did the same some years later. After Galante´s conviction, he was demoted and shelved. And this comes not only from Bill but from a CI. So your statement above is misleading. A boss of a Family can not possibly know what all his members are doing behind his back. especially if he is more of a "hands off" boss JB seems to have been. Castellano was unaware of the Gotti crew´s involvement with drugs. Several CI confirms this. Even if a boss is banning drug dealing, members of his Family are still going to deal.
wasnt Carlo gambino A huge herion dealer ?
Likely he was. But that was before he became boss. Once he became boss, he fobade his members to deal drugs. Was he a hyprocrite in that regard? Sure. But was it a smart move? Absolutely. A smart boss would rather ban his members from dealing, eliminating the risk of him getting in a jam than allow his members into it.
DPG wrote:So what was JB(and Cigars?) doing in Palmero in 57?
He doesn't even mention any meeting in his book. Omits it entirely. BB's Last Testament offers a different version.
Other accounts point to him being there, being involved in drug transactions and one could argue that all the Montreal shit that's gone on in the last ten years and NY's connection to it, are a result of what Bonanno and Galante set out to do in the 1960's which went against other mafia political powerhouses. And inside his own family, he elevated his son to Consig, his son, who in the 1940's was running guns into Mexico with 3 other friends. That was an insult to the veteran family members, some even captains since the 1930's like DiGregorio. To JB's credit he was a traditionalist and probably did things similar with nepotism that many Sicilian mafia bosses would want to do, but that didn't translate too well in circa 1960's NY. Disagreements welcome.
We know other families answered to NY and Chicago, but did any families ever answer to other bosses outside of those realms such as Detroit, Buffalo, Philadelphia (or Cleveland if you include what Gentile stated)?
JB stated that in the 1960's (I forgot when) that Philly and Detroit were added. Fratianno recollects that in 1975 the Commission was reduced to only NY and Chicago. I have to wonder if certain family realignments occured then. Roemer books are laced with implications that Chi and NY divided America east and west between the Mississippi River. While certainly overstated, perhaps it's possible in relation to the final era of the commission, the west reported to Chicago and the east reported to NY. After 1984 the Commission was mostly a NY rendition composed of the occasional inter-family meets. When you read JB and what the commission was in his time and follow it's transformation throughout the years, it tells an additional tale about Italo-American OC as a whole.
Chris Christie wrote:We know other families answered to NY and Chicago, but did any families ever answer to other bosses outside of those realms such as Detroit, Buffalo, Philadelphia (or Cleveland if you include what Gentile stated)?
I believe Rochester answered to Buffalo. Didn't St. Louis answer to Detroit?
Pogo
It's a new morning in America... fresh, vital. The old cynicism is gone. We have faith in our leaders. We're optimistic as to what becomes of it all. It really boils down to our ability to accept. We don't need pessimism. There are no limits.
Chris Christie wrote:We know other families answered to NY and Chicago, but did any families ever answer to other bosses outside of those realms such as Detroit, Buffalo, Philadelphia (or Cleveland if you include what Gentile stated)?
I believe Rochester answered to Buffalo. Didn't St. Louis answer to Detroit?
Chris Christie wrote:
JB stated that in the 1960's (I forgot when) that Philly and Detroit were added..
I'll be damned.
I read an MF doc today when a CI mentions when and where the meeting took place. Fucking burn out over here, but I THINK it was '67, Governor. In New Jersey...again IIRC.
I searching now for it, but it's definitely still up at work. If I cant find it, ill put it up in the morning.
