Bonanno Admin Succession

[Angelo Santino]

HK, any thoughts on the 1968-1972 discrepancies:

B
Paul Sciacca (1968-1971) Imprisoned.
-Natale “Joe Diamonds” Evola (1969-1971) Became Official Boss.
Natale "Joe Diamonds" Evola (1971-August 1973) Died.
-Official Boss-Vacant (August 1973-November 1974)
-Philip "Rusty" Rastelli (August 1973-November 1974) Became Official Boss.

U
Frank "Musso" Mari (1967-September 1968) Killed.
Natale "Joe Diamonds" Evola (1969-1971) Became Boss.
Philip "Rusty" Rastelli (1971- November 1974) Became Boss.
-Nicholas "Nicky Cigars/Glasses" Marangello (1973-November 1974) Became Official UnderBoss.
Nicholas "Nicky Cigars/Glasses" Marangello (November 1974-July 1979) Demoted.

C
Michael Adamo (1968-September 1968) Killed.
Joseph DiFilippi (1969-1972) Stepped Down.
Nicolimo “Nick” Alfano (1972-1974) Stepped Down.

In 1969, Sciacca stepped down and according to informant, Mari and Adamo made a power move and was killed for it. Evola was made boss, Rastelli was made underboss and Nick Alfano was made consigliere.

That seems correct but I would put Alfano as consigliere and DiFilippi as acting for him. And don´t forget Cannone. He was first acting at the time when DiFilippi was indicted (date unknown). By 1974, Cannone was official consigliere.

There was a ruling panel in place when Galante was imprisoned in Oct 1977 for parole violations (Philly Lucky, Cannone and Zaffarano). Another ruling panel was set up right after the Galante murder in 1979 (Philly Lucky, Sonny Red and Canonne???) I think JD has more info on this.

I was inferring to when Sciacca stepped down and Evola became boss. Was it clearcut or was Evola acting boss and underboss for a 3 year period? Alfano/DiFillipi, what years?

Would you mind going over Pogo's list and offering any addendums/corrections from 1969 until 1990? I'm not into the Galante years yet and dont know how to carry him. I kinda wish I mentioned this before the entire Massino-Vitale info surfaced but back in 2002 I had seen an FBI memo stating the uncertainty of Galante's position and decided to label him Acting Boss. This was before Vitale and I considered it irrelevant. I've since regretted it.

In terms of the Banana War -1964-1968, I check your PM. I'll also PM Pogo and JD with what I've got so far.

[HairyKnuckles]

I was inferring to when Sciacca stepped down and Evola became boss. Was it clearcut or was Evola acting boss and underboss for a 3 year period? Alfano/DiFillipi, what years?

Would you mind going over Pogo's list and offering any addendums/corrections from 1969 until 1990? I'm not into the Galante years yet and dont know how to carry him. I kinda wish I mentioned this before the entire Massino-Vitale info surfaced but back in 2002 I had seen an FBI memo stating the uncertainty of Galante's position and decided to label him Acting Boss. This was before Vitale and I considered it irrelevant. I've since regretted it.

I looked through some of the files I´ve got and it appears that DiFilippi was official consigliere from 1969 til he passed in 1972. The authors of The Sixth Family claimed Nick Alfano was. But I think that was an error of theirs. Alfano may have been only the acting consigliere. Nicholas Marangello is listed by the FBI as consigliere around 1972/1973. That was before he was made underboss in or around 1974. Check PM.

I trust Pogo enough to know that his list should be accurate based on the available info we´ve got. He very often interacts with JD when JD posts new info. I´m not that well versed on the Bonannos related to the stuff from the 1980s and 1990s.

Regarding Galante, check PM.

[B.]

Galante shows up on a lot of lists from the late 1950s and 60s as Bonanno's underboss, but then again it was believed that Giovanni Bonventre had been the underboss before that, too, which now we know wasn't the case.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I remember reading in Gay Talese's book, which he consulted with Bill Bonanno on, that Galante was underboss or a member of the administration. That doesn't mean he got the info from Bill, but it stood out to me when I read it.

Joe and Bill of course were very clear on who held what positions. Lilo was acknowledged as a "group leader", so they didn't completely distance themselves, but it may have been easier for them to say he was simply a captain who broke the rules than someone who was actively representing the boss. The incentive to downplay his role would be that he was everything they were trying to avoid with their "Godfather-esque" marketing strategy -- he was a cruel, violent, drug dealing thug and represented the CRIME in organized crime. That said, there isn't enough reason to think they were lying and we know Galante was at the very least a top captain with possibly the largest, most sprawling crew in the family. He might be worth putting on the chart as a person of interest without a specific position.

Also, for his years as "acting boss", I had made this topic a while back exploring the possibility that a large number of the family was supporting him as "the" boss during that time: viewtopic.php?f=29&t=2001
We know he wasn't Commission sanctioned or recognized by the whole family, but I thought it was a good discussion.

[Antiliar]

Galante is a problem for a chart. I don't believe he was ever an official underboss, but he was a powerful capo. After he came out of prison there was a faction that recognized him as the boss, but officially Rastelli was the boss and Massino was his "street boss" and messenger. So when Donnie Brasco was associated with the Bonannos, the faction he associated with had the understanding that Galante was their boss. He was making new members and the others were afraid of him. So I guess I would call him the unofficial faction boss or something similar.

[Angelo Santino]

Well going through everything it appears to me that the "Bonanno faction" never truly fell into the "recognized administration" of Sciacca-Evola-Rastelli. Is it possible that Galante is the continuation of the 1964 "Bonanno faction?" and that this division carried on into the 1970's when he was murdered? If that's the case I'll show two lineages, one with Galante as a faction boss and Rastelli as the official boss.

Thoughts HK, Antiliar, B.?

[Antiliar]

Well going through everything it appears to me that the "Bonanno faction" never truly fell into the "recognized administration" of Sciacca-Evola-Rastelli. Is it possible that Galante is the continuation of the 1964 "Bonanno faction?" and that this division carried on into the 1970's when he was murdered? If that's the case I'll show two lineages, one with Galante as a faction boss and Rastelli as the official boss.

Thoughts HK, Antiliar, B.?

Galante was only "boss" after Rastelli went to prison on August 27, 1976, so there was no continuation. From 1974, when Galante was released, to August 26, 1976, he operated as a regular member of the crime family. He was still a capo. Not only that, Rastelli had been a Bonanno supporter (according to the Anthony DeStefano bio on Massino). No, Galante managed to sway some of the other capos to follow him and throw a coup d'etat after Rastelli went to prison, but not all the capos recognized Galante, Rastelli never stepped down, and the Commission only recognized Rastelli.

[B.]

Rick is on the money. Like I mentioned in the Galante thread, though, a number of the captains + underboss who fell in line under Galante had been soldiers in his decina in the 1950s. You have to figure up to five crews in the late 1970s could trace their origins to the Galante crew (DeFilippo, Pollastrino, NJ, Montreal, plus whatever had happened to the Notaro crew by then, which may have even split into multiple crews). So there were a number of key leaders who had been subordinates of Galante when they came up.

Side note, but would love to know more about Galante's activities before he became acting boss and what his captain title entailed. Don't want to distract too much from the point of this topic though.

"I'm gonna build a wall, and the other families are gonna pay for it!" - Carmine Galante

[Angelo Santino]

Rick is on the money. Like I mentioned in the Galante thread, though, a number of the captains + underboss who fell in line under Galante had been soldiers in his decina in the 1950s. You have to figure up to five crews in the late 1970s could trace their origins to the Galante crew (DeFilippo, Pollastrino, NJ, Montreal, plus whatever had happened to the Notaro crew by then, which may have even split into multiple crews). So there were a number of key leaders who had been subordinates of Galante when they came up.

Side note, but would love to know more about Galante's activities before he became acting boss and what his captain title entailed. Don't want to distract too much from the point of this topic though.

"I'm gonna build a wall, and the other families are gonna pay for it!" - Carmine Galante

You won't be distracting from anything. Your thoughts/shares are always appreciated. As can be seen I'm pretty damn ignorant of alot of details post 1930 and find everyone's input fascinating. Sounds like Galante was more of a capocentiniao rather than of a decina though.

[Pogo The Clown]

What the hell is a capocentiniao?


Pogo

[B.]

He was living in Montreal by the early 1950s where he became the capodecina of the Montreal guys once they were inducted, but it's not clear when NY/NJ members were assigned to him. Many well-known Bonanno members who were made in the mid-1950s would be in his crew, so maybe his NY/NJ crew came about after those inductions. Joe Zicarelli was made in the 1940s I believe so would be interesting to find out who he originally reported to.

He was more like a higher level supervisor than your average captain, almost like what we've theorized about many Genovese captains from the early periods. If you factor in the Montreal crew having up to 20 members by the late 1950s (they were said to have 20 by the mid-1960s, though there is reason to speculate that JB allowed inductions there when the books were closed in NY), he easily could have had a decina of 50 men before he went to prison.

[Angelo Santino]

Ok so maybe just a capocinquanta then.

I'm still not entirely clear on the positions in 1969-1971. One source claims Sciacca retired in 69, another source says Sciacca remained boss but then retired a few years after with Evola as acting boss and underboss before moving into official boss. i'm at a bit of a loss on how to proceed.

[Antiliar]

I think the majority of sources say that Sciacca was boss until 1971. I can't guarantee it's a fact, but I think the best evidence points in that direction.

[Angelo Santino]

Didn't Mari disappear in September of 1968? This FBI memo says otherwise.

[B.]

That "capodecina of capodecinas" thing is very interesting because Lefty Ruggiero told Pistone that the family "always" has a top captain and the context made it sound identical to what the above report says. I believe he says Napolitano was holding that spot at the time. I started a topic asking about it on the Real Deal years ago but nothing came of it.

So we have two instances of it between 1969 and the late 1970s or early 80s. Maybe that explains Carmine Galante's role in the family in the late 1950s too and why he was mistaken for the underboss?

[Angelo Santino]

I'm still incredibly confused on who the fuck was boss during the three year period.

Sciacca went to prison in 1971. Evola is carried as an acting boss from '1969-1971 and I'd like to know the source for this. And why so if Sciacca was on the street? And according to the above by 1969 Sciacca was no longer boss and Mari was, despite many onine sources claiming he and Adamo disappeared one year prior. This seems not to be the case. I think we kinda all need to reevaluate things because every internet source has Mari disappearing in 68 when he clearly did not. According to the newspapers it was 9/18/69 so if people had that mistaken, what else could be mistaken?

Sciacca, Mari, Adamo were all DiGregorio guys whereas Rastelli and Evola were Bonanno guys. It seems more probable that Sciacca stepped down, Mari took over for a very short time, disappeared and then Evola become official boss in 69 until 1973.

What are the sources that claim Sciacca remained boss until 1971? I can't progress on this chart until this entire 1969-1971 cluster is rectified. If JD is reading perhaps he can clear thngs up.

That "capodecina of capodecinas" thing is very interesting because Lefty Ruggiero told Pistone that the family "always" has a top captain and the context made it sound identical to what the above report says. I believe he says Napolitano was holding that spot at the time. I started a topic asking about it on the Real Deal years ago but nothing came of it.

So we have two instances of it between 1969 and the late 1970s or early 80s. Maybe that explains Carmine Galante's role in the family in the late 1950s too and why he was mistaken for the underboss?

I was thinking the same thing, having read that in the Pistone book... Coincidently Detroit apparently had something similar under what Scott labeled a "streetboss" which supposedly goes back to the 30's where captains were answerable to another captain, in Detroit's case it was a Giacalone's for quite some time. I bring up Detroit because there is the Milazzo connection from the 1920's.