Massino Family

[IrishDave]

I remember reading that Massino hated the Chin. Was there any truth to that? I wonder what caused that friction?

I don't recall reading that anywhere but, if true, it could be because Chin shot down the idea of the Bonannos getting their Commission seat back at the meeting between him, Gotti, etc. As Gravano later explained, Chin realized that if the Bonannos got their seat back, it would improve Gotti's position with the Colombo and Bonanno votes backing him in a 3-2 vote over the Genovese and Luccheses.

It's from The Last Godfather by Simon Crittle.

"Massino made a point of telling the Genoveses personally. He and Sciascia paid Vincent "The Chin" Gigante a visit. When they arrived at his downtown Manhattan social club, Sciasica waited outside while Massino went in to speak go his RIVAL. Gigante's minder asked Massino to sit. "I'm not sitting" Massino replied."

Ok, so I was wrong about hating him, but this does make it seem that there was tension before the commission vote. Or this could just be filler for the book.

[thekiduknow]

Where were you able to find the those transcripts from Massino's testimonty?

If you can access the FBI files section, I posted them there a while back.

Thanks, I don't think have access to FBI files section though.

I believe you gain access after you post a certain number of times.

[AM434]

Gotcha thanks

[NYNighthawk]

The Chin was right to deny the Bonanano's a seat on the Commsision because Gotti controlled them. The Chin was a very sly fox and that's why he lasted on the outside for so long.

[AM434]

The Chin was right to deny the Bonanano's a seat on the Commsision because Gotti controlled them. The Chin was a very sly fox and that's why he lasted on the outside for so long.

So true. Shrewd and smart.

[IrishDave]

Was Massino really that controlled by Gotti? It seems like he was to smart for that. Vitale was flashy and seemed like he was in Gotti's pocket.

[thekiduknow]

The Chin was right to deny the Bonanano's a seat on the Commsision because Gotti controlled them. The Chin was a very sly fox and that's why he lasted on the outside for so long.

What do you mean Gotti controlled them? He was going into prison when Massino was getting out.

[B.]

From Massino's testimony:

- At the meeting where Gotti Jr. and Massino discussed the Uva murder, Gotti Jr. asked him (Massino) what his position was on the Colombo war. Massino said he supported Junior Persico as boss. Gotti Jr. said, "You would never go against my father," so Massino grabbed Gotti Jr.'s arm and said, "That's if your father is right."

Other evidence Gotti and Massino were not always on the same page:

- George Sciascia approached Massino at some point after his release from prison and told him that he was behind him "one thousand percent" and Massino felt Sciascia was "talking funny." Sciascia promised Massino that neither he nor Baldo Amato would ever "make a move" against Massino and were in his corner. Massino later figured out this was a result of Barney Bellomo telling Sciascia about Gotti and Vitale's plot against Massino.

- Massino was later approached by Barney Bellomo in prison and told directly about Vitale and Gotti's plot. Massino felt that if Gotti hadn't been in prison when Massino was released from prison that he (Massino) "wouldn't be here today."

As for the "Massino family" story:

- Massino said that calling the Bonannos the "Massino family" was not an "official" name change, but simply what they told members at their induction ceremonies so that they would know who the boss was. He said all of the families were referred to using the name of their current boss, i.e. Gotti family, but he wanted his members to use the Bonanno family name so that LE wouldn't get a recording of the members identifying Massino as the boss.

- Richard Cantarella is the one who made a big deal about the "Massino family" name in his testimony, but what he said coincides with Massino in that it seems to have been mainly used in induction ceremonies so that members knew who they were taking an oath for. Massino apparently made comments privately to Cantarella about how it should be called the "Massino family", but in reality I think this was overblown and not a huge deal aside from making it clear to new inductees who the boss was.

- The same could be said for "the Ear" nickname. He wanted members to gesture to their ear and avoid using his real name, but of course the media picked up on this because it goes well with "the Chin" and sounds good to call a boss Joey "the Ear" Massino. Not so much a nickname as a code word to avoid LE picking up his name.

Not sure what the other witnesses said about any of this. Massino set the record straight on a lot of the random stories that came out of the big Bonanno busts.

[thekiduknow]

Great analysis B. I wonder if the Gotti/Vitale plot to kill Massino was brought up when Vitale testified, I haven’t been able to find his testimony against Massino, or anyone else for that matter.

[AM434]

From Massino's testimony:

- At the meeting where Gotti Jr. and Massino discussed the Uva murder, Gotti Jr. asked him (Massino) what his position was on the Colombo war. Massino said he supported Junior Persico as boss. Gotti Jr. said, "You would never go against my father," so Massino grabbed Gotti Jr.'s arm and said, "That's if your father is right."

Other evidence Gotti and Massino were not always on the same page:

- George Sciascia approached Massino at some point after his release from prison and told him that he was behind him "one thousand percent" and Massino felt Sciascia was "talking funny." Sciascia promised Massino that neither he nor Baldo Amato would ever "make a move" against Massino and were in his corner. Massino later figured out this was a result of Barney Bellomo telling Sciascia about Gotti and Vitale's plot against Massino.

- Massino was later approached by Barney Bellomo in prison and told directly about Vitale and Gotti's plot. Massino felt that if Gotti hadn't been in prison when Massino was released from prison that he (Massino) "wouldn't be here today."

As for the "Massino family" story:

- Massino said that calling the Bonannos the "Massino family" was not an "official" name change, but simply what they told members at their induction ceremonies so that they would know who the boss was. He said all of the families were referred to using the name of their current boss, i.e. Gotti family, but he wanted his members to use the Bonanno family name so that LE wouldn't get a recording of the members identifying Massino as the boss.

- Richard Cantarella is the one who made a big deal about the "Massino family" name in his testimony, but what he said coincides with Massino in that it seems to have been mainly used in induction ceremonies so that members knew who they were taking an oath for. Massino apparently made comments privately to Cantarella about how it should be called the "Massino family", but in reality I think this was overblown and not a huge deal aside from making it clear to new inductees who the boss was.

- The same could be said for "the Ear" nickname. He wanted members to gesture to their ear and avoid using his real name, but of course the media picked up on this because it goes well with "the Chin" and sounds good to call a boss Joey "the Ear" Massino. Not so much a nickname as a code word to avoid LE picking up his name.

Not sure what the other witnesses said about any of this. Massino set the record straight on a lot of the random stories that came out of the big Bonanno busts.

Awesome stuff B.

[B.]

Great analysis B. I wonder if the Gotti/Vitale plot to kill Massino was brought up when Vitale testified, I haven’t been able to find his testimony against Massino, or anyone else for that matter.

I've seen testimony from Vitale but haven't seen the Gotti plot mentioned.

[thekiduknow]

Thanks B.

[IrishDave]

Didn't Massino lie on the lie detector test? And that's why he wore a wire? Could the Gotti plot to kill him come from that?

[Dapper_Don]

Feeling his oates after taking out his own boss in the Gambino family, the late John Gotti also plotted to take out the head of the Bonanno family.

Ex-Bonanno boss Joseph Massino testified Monday that he learned of the plot against him - involving Gotti and Massino's treacherous brother-in-law Salvatore Vitale - years later from a wiseguy in another mob family.

The scheme was apparently hatched in the late 1980s while Massino was still in prison and Vitale was serving as his hand-picked underboss on the street. The coup was never carried out because Gotti was arrested by the feds in 1990 on racketeering and murder charges.

"If he [Gotti] wasn't arrested, I probably wouldn't be here today," Massino said in Brooklyn Federal Court at the trial of former Bonanno acting boss Vincent Basciano.

Massino was secretly recording Basciano when he related the never-before-disclosed plot.

Shortly after Massino was sprung from prison in 1993, one of his captains received a vague message from Genovese gangster Barney Bellomo that his crime family was not going to tolerate "another Paul situation," according to the tape. Gotti had ascended to Gambino boss after engineering the infamous murder of then-boss Paul Castellano outside Sparks Steak House in midtown in December 1985.

He made the brazen move without the approval of the Mafia's Commission - the heads of New York City's five crime families.

"The other families weren't going to go for it if I got killed. There would be war," Massino testified.

Gotti and Massino were neighbors in Howard Beach, Queens, and committed several gangland murders together.

Massino said he did not fully understand the ominous message to his captain until he spoke to Bellomo in jail in 2004 when they were both awaiting trial and he "put the pieces together."

"He [Vitale] would have killed me in a f---ing heartbeat," Massino told Basciano.

Vitale, whose sister Josephine is married to Massino, has testified at several mob trials since he became a government witness and never stated that he was planning a coup d'état.

One of Vitale's most memorable lines was that Massino, whom he had known more than 40 years, had "taught me how to swim and how to kill." Vitale previously testified that Massino disapproved of how Gotti seized control of the Gambinos and complained Gotti "set us back 100 years" with his flamboyant style and reckless blabbing.

Defense lawyer Richard Jasper appeared pleased when he got Massino to acknowledge that gangsters lie to each other all the time.

https://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/ ... e-1.113191

[Dapper_Don]

"Basciano pulled a power play 30 years later, angering Bonannos and other crime families.

A Genovese gangster approached Massino in jail and complained that Basciano was strutting around the Bronx like John Gotti and causing friction.

Genovese capo Barney Bellomo said, “You need help? We’ll get rid of him,” Massino recalled. “I said, ‘No, let him go. Let him run the family.’ ”"