The FBI and the Banana War

[Ed]

My understanding is Joe attempted to set up shop in California in the early 1960s by killing the leader of the Los Angeles Crime Family and absorbing the various Mafia members up and down the state under the leadership of his son. It was to be a mega crime family in Arizona and California. But, of course, they didn't happen after the plot leaked out.

After that, and the troubles with the Commission and his kidnapping, Joe lost interest leading the remaining members loyal to him in Arizona. FBI documents indicate the Arizona membership was pretty inactive in comparison to the East Coast. For example, Bill Bonanno didn't know the membership status of many of the area mobsters suggesting he wasn't close to them.

[davidf1989]

Thanks for your message Ed and could Bompensiero have informed the FBI about Bonanno's plan to set up a mega crime family in California and Arizona?

[Villain]

In addition, I think there was also a problem in AZ between Chicago and the Bonannos....

[Ed]

Thanks for your message Ed and could Bompensiero have informed the FBI about Bonanno's plan to set up a mega crime family in California and Arizona?

Yes. Bonanno tried to manipulate Bompensiero into killing DeSimone by spreading false rumours that the LA boss wanted to kill Bompensiero. A conspiracy participant ratted out Bonanno to Lucchese and the Commission. They forced Bonanno to back down. There is a thread on this some where.

Bonanno was an underworld aristocrat and thought he was more intelligent than everyone else. It contributed to his downfall but also made him who he was.

[thekiduknow]

This is a speculative post.


In June 1967, the FBI complained that informer Bill Bonanno was avoiding his FBI handlers in an internal memo. Bonanno, the son of crime boss Joseph Bonanno, had been sharing Intel with federal agents for a few years, but recently he had been ducking them.

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... pective%22

The memo implied the FBI wanted Bonanno to continue fighting (they don't use those words) because he had the potential "to rise to the head" of the Bonanno Crime Family and could "eventually gain a seat on the 'Commission'." I imagine HQ was salivating at the prospect of a Mafia boss informer.

The memo suggested that Bill Bonanno had lost his enthusiasm for the "Banana War" and was willing to come to some accommodation with his rivals that precluded him from leading the crime family. (Books later written by Gay Talese, Bill and Rosalie Bonanno also suggest Bonanno had lost enthusiasm at this time.)

(To be fair, it's possible to read the document the opposite way, and that Bill Bonanno was avoiding the FBI because he was in war mode and planning attacks against his rivals and didn't want to be hampered by his relationship with the FBI.)

As a result, the FBI wanted Bonanno's former trusted handler, SA Robert Anderson, to meet with him to mend the relationship. The FBI wanted Anderson to "instil in [Bonanno] the proper perspective," and maximize his "optimum effectiveness." In addition, federal agents hoped the meeting would lay the "groundwork for accelerated activity on [Bonanno's] part in the interest of the Bureau."

It's unclear if Bonanno met with Anderson or any federal agent in the period directly after this memo.

However, five months later, in November 1967, mobsters, allegedly on orders of Bill and Joe Bonanno, committed the most egregious violence of the "Banana War" by gunning down three rivals at the Cypress Gardens restaurant.

Did the FBI (inadvertently perhaps) encourage Bonanno's violence by pressuring him to fight for control of the crime family? Or would Bonanno have done it anyways in response to violence from his rivals? (A few weeks earlier, the rebel faction had murdered two Bonanno loyalists.) It's worth exploring what role, if any, the FBI had in prolonging the "Banana War" beyond its natural limit.

Without getting political, I believe you can make a case that certain elements in American federal law enforcement have on occasion encouraged criminal informers to do things that perhaps they otherwise wouldn't have done. Greg Scarpa's actions in Mississippi are a good example.

Did Joe Bonanno's know that his son Bill was informing to the FBI?

It seems that Carlo Gambino was encouraging dissent within the Bonanno crime family from the article below.

https://theblackhand.club/2020/05/15/bo ... anana-war/

Joe Bonanno was also an associate of Frank Bompensiero who would turn out to be a FBI informant. Here is an article about Joe Bonano and his sons below

https://www.altaonline.com/dispatches/a ... ou-peters/

I don't believe that Joe knew what his son was doing. The evidence suggests the FBI persuaded Bill to talk after his father was "kidnapped," and he was emotionally vulnerable and fearful for his own life.

Certain elements on the Commission definitely encouraged dissent within the Bonanno Crime Family.

Bill started informing, I believe, to try and get the government to only sentence Joe to one year for Obstruction of Justice. If they promised to do that, Bill stated he could “produce Joseph in five days” according to one report.( I can share a screenshot later tonight)

So, in my opinion there’s a chance Joe could have known Bill was informing since Bill seemed pretty confident he could get Joe to reappear if he was only sentenced to a year.

Speaking of which, after Joe reappeared in May 1966, do we know if Bill kept informing? I originally thought that he kept informing until the move to Tucson until your original post.

[Ed]

The evidence I saw indicated Bill started talking at the end of December 1964, a few months after his father was kidnapped and still missing. So if Bill was secretly in touch with his father during this period, it's possible they were in cahoots from the start, but I haven't seen any evidence for that.

It's also possible that Bill decided to cooperate on his own and later owned up to it to his father after he reappeared.

Someone I respect theorized Joe authorized Bill's so-called cooperation as a temporary strategy to regain control of the crime family. It would be in keeping with Joe's Machiavellian ways. As Scarpa and Bulger allegedly showed, mob informers can sometimes manipulate their handlers.

I tend to think the FBI took advantage of Bill in a moment of weakness and fear, and it wasn't a strategy, at least early on.

As I recall, the MF doesn't have reports showing Bonanno cooperating after 1966, but I tend to think he did in one fashion or another. I believe sitting down with the FBI fed his ego.

[PolackTony]

In addition, I think there was also a problem in AZ between Chicago and the Bonannos....

Good info on the longer standing tensions between Chicago and Bonnano (who, at least in his later book account, seems to have harbored a personal grudge against Chicago going back to the Castellammarese war).

Given that Bonnano was plotting to take over CA and AZ entirely, this would’ve certainly caused a major issue with Chicago, regardless of the pre-existing tensions. Since Bompensiero was close to both Bonnano and several Chicago members (Roselli, LaPorte), I wonder if Bomp gave word to Chicago about Bonanno’s machinations as well.

[Villain]

Good info on the longer standing tensions between Chicago and Bonnano (who, at least in his later book account, seems to have harbored a personal grudge against Chicago going back to the Castellammarese war).

Given that Bonnano was plotting to take over CA and AZ entirely, this would’ve certainly caused a major issue with Chicago, regardless of the pre-existing tensions. Since Bompensiero was close to both Bonnano and several Chicago members (Roselli, LaPorte), I wonder if Bomp gave word to Chicago about Bonanno’s machinations as well.

Well we all know that Chicago contributed a lot in their elimination and no wonder if Bonanno felt bad about it. Later it seems that Accardo had some respect for Bonanno because he appeared at Bonannos son's wedding and also, while giving away his throne to Giancana, Accardo also advised his successor that Bonanno was one of the commission bosses who was trusted. Maybe thats why Accardo was badly surprised when he heard about Bonanno proclaiming himself as boss of AZ and wanted to ask him if he was right in the head.

It seems that lots of backstabbings occurred at the time between Bonanno, Giancana/Accardo, Bompensiero, Balistrieri etc. and Im not sure if AZ fell under one group but all I can say is that years later Chicago still had interests with the help of their own crews which were located all around the same state, same as Bonanno together with some ex-Bonanno members, although the so-called "cold war" was still present between the two groups. I dont remember it clearly but i think that once or during the 70s one alleged Bonanno associate publicly called out the Outfit Lol Besides that, some guys from both groups together were involved in the control of an extensive network of massage parlors.

[PolackTony]

Good info on the longer standing tensions between Chicago and Bonnano (who, at least in his later book account, seems to have harbored a personal grudge against Chicago going back to the Castellammarese war).

Given that Bonnano was plotting to take over CA and AZ entirely, this would’ve certainly caused a major issue with Chicago, regardless of the pre-existing tensions. Since Bompensiero was close to both Bonnano and several Chicago members (Roselli, LaPorte), I wonder if Bomp gave word to Chicago about Bonanno’s machinations as well.

Well we all know that Chicago contributed a lot in their elimination and no wonder if Bonanno felt bad about it. Later it seems that Accardo had some respect for Bonanno because he appeared at Bonannos son's wedding and also, while giving away his throne to Giancana, Accardo also advised his successor that Bonanno was one of the commission bosses who was trusted. Maybe thats why Accardo was badly surprised when he heard about Bonanno proclaiming himself as boss of AZ and wanted to ask him if he was right in the head.

It seems that lots of backstabbings occurred at the time between Bonanno, Giancana/Accardo, Bompensiero, Balistrieri etc. and Im not sure if AZ fell under one group but all I can say is that years later Chicago still had interests with the help of their own crews which were located all around the same state, same as Bonanno together with some ex-Bonanno members, although the so-called "cold war" was still present between the two groups. I dont remember it clearly but i think that once or during the 70s one alleged Bonanno associate publicly called out the Outfit Lol Besides that, some guys from both groups together were involved in the control of an extensive network of massage parlors.

In “A Man of Honor”, at least, Bonnano makes it seem as if Chicago was always opposed to the Bonannos as members of the “Americanized” bloc of the Commission. It wouldn’t surprise me, of course, if Bonanno’s somewhat negative opinion of Chicago in the book narrative was colored by the events of the 1960s (notwithstanding the Cast War and the fact that Capone was a Napolitan’ and former pimp) and that there had been more cordial relations between them prior to the AZ takeover.

Nice info on Chicago/Bonnano cooperation in the massage parlors in AZ. We know that years later Elmo Amarante was operating a strip club in South Suburban Chicago (and the Heights crew of course had interests out West back in the day), so it also wouldn’t surprise me if there were some deeper connections around associated rackets implicated there.

[thekiduknow]

The evidence I saw indicated Bill started talking at the end of December 1964, a few months after his father was kidnapped and still missing. So if Bill was secretly in touch with his father during this period, it's possible they were in cahoots from the start, but I haven't seen any evidence for that.

It's also possible that Bill decided to cooperate on his own and later owned up to it to his father after he reappeared.

Someone I respect theorized Joe authorized Bill's so-called cooperation as a temporary strategy to regain control of the crime family. It would be in keeping with Joe's Machiavellian ways. As Scarpa and Bulger allegedly showed, mob informers can sometimes manipulate their handlers.

I tend to think the FBI took advantage of Bill in a moment of weakness and fear, and it wasn't a strategy, at least early on.

As I recall, the MF doesn't have reports showing Bonanno cooperating after 1966, but I tend to think he did in one fashion or another. I believe sitting down with the FBI fed his ego.

FC16E0E9-15B5-4E48-8E8E-8F8CA94BDA02.jpeg

C7C71A0D-EB8C-4668-9F49-17A11AD8B919.jpeg

Here is some more info on Bill trying to negotiate Joe’s sentence in January 1966. It’s redacted, but i saw in another file it’s SA Richard Anderson, so it’s definitely Bill.

I think you’re right, that Bill started talking before he got back into contact with his father, likely told him and tried to use the preexisting relationship to negotiate for the sentence. There’s another file that says that Bill and a lawyer, I think it was their Tucson lawyer D’Antonio(if I remember the name right) were also trying to get the potential sentence reduced.

Not sure if we’ll find a definite answer to if Joe knew, but I’d guess that he knew at some point, and encouraged it to try and get a lighter sentence.

[Villain]

Good info on the longer standing tensions between Chicago and Bonnano (who, at least in his later book account, seems to have harbored a personal grudge against Chicago going back to the Castellammarese war).

Given that Bonnano was plotting to take over CA and AZ entirely, this would’ve certainly caused a major issue with Chicago, regardless of the pre-existing tensions. Since Bompensiero was close to both Bonnano and several Chicago members (Roselli, LaPorte), I wonder if Bomp gave word to Chicago about Bonanno’s machinations as well.

Well we all know that Chicago contributed a lot in their elimination and no wonder if Bonanno felt bad about it. Later it seems that Accardo had some respect for Bonanno because he appeared at Bonannos son's wedding and also, while giving away his throne to Giancana, Accardo also advised his successor that Bonanno was one of the commission bosses who was trusted. Maybe thats why Accardo was badly surprised when he heard about Bonanno proclaiming himself as boss of AZ and wanted to ask him if he was right in the head.

It seems that lots of backstabbings occurred at the time between Bonanno, Giancana/Accardo, Bompensiero, Balistrieri etc. and Im not sure if AZ fell under one group but all I can say is that years later Chicago still had interests with the help of their own crews which were located all around the same state, same as Bonanno together with some ex-Bonanno members, although the so-called "cold war" was still present between the two groups. I dont remember it clearly but i think that once or during the 70s one alleged Bonanno associate publicly called out the Outfit Lol Besides that, some guys from both groups together were involved in the control of an extensive network of massage parlors.

In “A Man of Honor”, at least, Bonnano makes it seem as if Chicago was always opposed to the Bonannos as members of the “Americanized” bloc of the Commission. It wouldn’t surprise me, of course, if Bonanno’s somewhat negative opinion of Chicago in the book narrative was colored by the events of the 1960s (notwithstanding the Cast War and the fact that Capone was a Napolitan’ and former pimp) and that there had been more cordial relations between them prior to the AZ takeover.

Nice info on Chicago/Bonnano cooperation in the massage parlors in AZ. We know that years later Elmo Amarante was operating a strip club in South Suburban Chicago (and the Heights crew of course had interests out West back in the day), so it also wouldn’t surprise me if there were some deeper connections around associated rackets implicated there.

I agree and theres also a great possibility that Bonanno was also closely connected to the old North Side mob from the 30s and 40s which later was eliminated during the second conflict (that cheese company, remember?). So I think I know which group Bonanno supported at the time but it seems that during the 50s Accardo tried to keep the peace but still, Giancana was different.

Joe Tocco and Paul Schiro were allegedly in joint operations with some of those ex-NY or ex-Bonanno mobsters, and together they allegedly also "fed" many AZ politicians and judges with high class prostitutes in return for protection.

[davidf1989]

The evidence I saw indicated Bill started talking at the end of December 1964, a few months after his father was kidnapped and still missing. So if Bill was secretly in touch with his father during this period, it's possible they were in cahoots from the start, but I haven't seen any evidence for that.

It's also possible that Bill decided to cooperate on his own and later owned up to it to his father after he reappeared.

Someone I respect theorized Joe authorized Bill's so-called cooperation as a temporary strategy to regain control of the crime family. It would be in keeping with Joe's Machiavellian ways. As Scarpa and Bulger allegedly showed, mob informers can sometimes manipulate their handlers.

I tend to think the FBI took advantage of Bill in a moment of weakness and fear, and it wasn't a strategy, at least early on.

As I recall, the MF doesn't have reports showing Bonanno cooperating after 1966, but I tend to think he did in one fashion or another. I believe sitting down with the FBI fed his ego.

FC16E0E9-15B5-4E48-8E8E-8F8CA94BDA02.jpeg
C7C71A0D-EB8C-4668-9F49-17A11AD8B919.jpeg

Here is some more info on Bill trying to negotiate Joe’s sentence in January 1966. It’s redacted, but i saw in another file it’s SA Richard Anderson, so it’s definitely Bill.

I think you’re right, that Bill started talking before he got back into contact with his father, likely told him and tried to use the preexisting relationship to negotiate for the sentence. There’s another file that says that Bill and a lawyer, I think it was their Tucson lawyer D’Antonio(if I remember the name right) were also trying to get the potential sentence reduced.

Not sure if we’ll find a definite answer to if Joe knew, but I’d guess that he knew at some point, and encouraged it to try and get a lighter sentence.

This is really interesting information about Joe and Bill and could Joe have authorized his son to talk to the FBI to remove all their enemies within the crime family and in the Commission?

[Ed]

It's common practice for dry snitches. According to Jimmy Fratianno's memoir, he fed the FBI incriminating Intel about his underworld rivals to take them down and move up the hierarchy. I'm sure federal agents were aware of what he was doing. (Wily Afghanis would allegedly rat out their tribal or ethnic rivals by falsely claiming that they were Taliban. Then, American and Canadian soldiers would often promptly arrest or kill them.)

[thekiduknow]

It's common practice for dry snitches. According to Jimmy Fratianno's memoir, he fed the FBI incriminating Intel about his underworld rivals to take them down and move up the hierarchy. I'm sure federal agents were aware of what he was doing. (Wily Afghanis would allegedly rat out their tribal or ethnic rivals by falsely claiming that they were Taliban. Then, American and Canadian soldiers would often promptly arrest or kill them.)

Come to think of it, from what I’ve seen, I don’t think Bill gave anything incriminating. He mostly just have biographical, and hierarchical information on the DiGregorio/Commission side. Honestly, the most incriminating thing was telling the feds Joe was in hiding in Canada(if that’s where he was).

[davidf1989]

It's common practice for dry snitches. According to Jimmy Fratianno's memoir, he fed the FBI incriminating Intel about his underworld rivals to take them down and move up the hierarchy. I'm sure federal agents were aware of what he was doing. (Wily Afghanis would allegedly rat out their tribal or ethnic rivals by falsely claiming that they were Taliban. Then, American and Canadian soldiers would often promptly arrest or kill them.)

Thanks for your explanation Ed and there was probably a lot of snitching among mobsters in those days to remove rivals.

Who won the Banana War?