Bonanno 1980's questions

[Angelo Santino]

Has anyone ever developed a list of who he was around in the Bonannos, Colombos, Trafficantes and Milwaukee?

[cosanostra101]

Wasn't there only like 16 people arrested in the Donnie Brasco investigation? I think all of his 200 plus arrest acredited to him came as a result of him having to testify throughout the US as a Mafia expert witness, He testified on lot of Organized Crime Trials even though he had nothing to do with those actual cases.

[Angelo Santino]

Wasn't there only like 16 people arrested in the Donnie Brasco investigation? I think all of his 200 plus arrest acredited to him came as a result of him having to testify throughout the US as a Mafia expert witness, He testified on lot of Organized Crime Trials even though he had nothing to do with those actual cases.

Agreed his exhibits were over-inflated, same as that 500K contract on his head to his marketing changeover in 1990: "I was an FBI agent assigned to do a job" to 2000's during the Sopranos wave: "If Sonny woulda asked me to do the hit, fuck it I woulda done it, fuhgedddabbouitt" not to mention him popping up in an HBO interview prior to S3's finale and how he came out of hiding to give his opinion on Jackie Junior getting whacked, leather coat, sunglasses and all. Give me a fucking break.

That aside, I'm interested in who he was around. Let me put it this way (and if you follow my corpulent fat ass you're correct in guessing its chart related), if Joe Pistone were reporting back to his handlers what he was discovering on the may-fia and they were trying to chart it, who would be the names, ranks, affiliations of those involved: Jilly's crew, Sonny Black's crew, Mirra, tidbits of the Bonanno admin, Lefty; in Florida there's Trafficante, there's Milwaukee.

----

And kinda off topic a bit, but the Donnie Brasco film script reads much different from the actual film:
1 Boobie Cerasani's name is in the script before it was changed for legal reasons. Rather than being killed in the 3 Capo's murder, he's murdered in the woods in a scene where Brasco's closing his eyes expecting it to be him.
1b Aside from Boobie there's Galante (name not mentioned in film), Santo Trafficante, Steve DiSalvo (who was a real person with Milwaukee not Tampa).
2 Joe Pistone's handlers are confused as to whether he went over to the other side, the Japanese restaurant beatdown was instigated when he grabbed Mr. Moto and took him into the bathroom himself.
3 Jules Bonavolonta is in the script.
4 Rather than Donnie getting arrested while making the decision to kill Bruno Indelicato while Lefty points a gun at him (implying if he don't carry out the hit he's gonna be hit right then and there) they are arrested as Lefty points a gun at Donnie as he slowly comes to the conclusion that he's an agent by asking questions about "dat fuckin boat in Flor-da."

Worth a read if only for the actual names thrown around:
http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Donnie-Brasco.html

[cosanostra101]

Good stuff Chris. Did you ever see this article? it list the following guys from the trial: The five men on trial are Benjamin Ruggiero, Anthony Rabito, Nicholas Santora, Antonio Tomasulo and John Cerasani.

New York Times Archives
A prosecutor told a jury yesterday that it would hear testimony by an undercover agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation about a plot to murder three rival gangsters in ''the Bonanno family of La Cosa Nostra.''

The prosecutor, Louis J. Freeh, described the dramatic case in the Government's opening statement at the trial of five men indicted on racketeering charges in Federal Court in Manhattan.

Mr. Freeh said the defendants were Bonanno family members who had worked with a Florida associate called ''Donnie Brasco.'' However, he added, they had not known that ''Donnie Brasco, the trusted crew member from Florida, was in reality a special agent of the F.B.I.''

''Brasco acted the role of a loyal soldier eager to move up in the ranks of the Bonanno family,'' the prosecutor said, adding that the agent had played the extraordinary undercover role since 1976.

It was the most successful infiltration of a crime family ever carried out by the F.B.I., according to the authorities. They said it had uncovered three gangland murders and many other activities of organized crime.


After the prosecution's opening statement, a team of five defense lawyers told the jury that the racketeering indictment was merely an accusation, that the defendants denied the charges and that the Government lacked credible proof.

The charge that the defendants belonged to an organized-crime group was derided by the defense lawyers, who contended that the F.B.I. was trying to justify a long and expensive investigation that had produced ''no evidence of any significance.''

The five men on trial are Benjamin Ruggiero, Anthony Rabito, Nicholas Santora, Antonio Tomasulo and John Cerasani. Their lawyers are Robert Koppleman, Paul Reo Jr., Lewis Cohen, Irwin Klein and David Breitbart.

Judge Robert W. Sweet has told the jury of four men and eight women that the trial is likely to last several weeks. The prosecutors, Mr. Freeh and Barbara S. Jones, are scheduled to present testimony and tape-recorded conversations provided by informers and F.B.I. agents, including ''Donnie Brasco.'' His real name will remain secret until he testifies. Reprisal Fear Noted

Before the trial, the Government asked Judge Sweet to allow the agent and an associate to use their ''undercover names'' when testifying, so their true identities could be concealed to protect them from feared gangland reprisals.

The judge rejected the unusual request, saying it would violate the cross-examination rights of the defense, but said the agents could withhold information about their homes, families and anything else that ''might increase their exposure to risk.''

In the prosecution's opening statement, Mr. Freeh said the evidence would provide ''a clear and simple picture of a criminal enterprise known as the Bonanno family of La Cosa Nostra, an enterprise motivated by greed and power.''

He described the overall organization as ''a large-scale moneymaking enterprise'' with ''a nationwide network'' called ''La Cosa Nostra,'' a phrase the F.B.I. uses for organized crime on the basis of information from informers and wiretaps.

The Bonanno group is based in New York, the prosecutor said, under the leadership of a ''boss,'' an ''underboss'' and various ''captains,'' with ''each captain in charge of a crew of soldiers and associates.'' Bonanno 'Boss' Identified

Mr. Freeh identified the Bonanno boss as Philip Rastelli, who ''assumed control'' in 1979 after the murder of Carmine Galante. He added that a power struggle erupted in 1981 between two rival factions within the group.

In May 1981, he continued, three captains heading one faction were murdered on orders from Dominick Napolitano, a rival captain who was indicted in the case but disappeared. The murdered men were identified as Alphonse Indelicato, Philip Giaccone and Dominick Trinchera.

A week after the murders, Mr. Freeh went on, Mr. Napolitano met in a Brooklyn bar with several ''crew members,'' including a Florida associate known as Donnie Brasco.

According to the prosecutor, Mr. Napolitano told the visiting associate that he had murdered three rivals, but a fourth had escaped, and he wanted Brasco to find the missing man, then ''kill him and leave him in the street.''

The prosecutor noted that Mr. Napolitano and the others did not know that their trusted Florida associate was an F.B.I. agent wearing a concealed device that transmitted conversations to recording equipment operated by other agents.

Over the years, Mr. Freeh said, ''Brasco became such a trusted member of this crew'' that Mr. Napolitano and Mr. Ruggiero ''promised to propose him for membership in the Bonanno family.''

He established his credibility by posing as a Florida gambler and loanshark who shared his profits with the Bonanno group, Mr. Freeh said, adding that his money was actually furnished by the F.B.I. A 'Pattern of Racketeering'

The defendants were portrayed by the prosecutor as gangsters who carried out truck hijackings, armed robberies, gambling operations and narcotics trafficking ''in a pattern of racketeering'' that included the three murders.

The ''pattern of racketeering'' also includes a charge that the defendants conspired to rob a Manhattan town house owned by the sister of the late Shah of Iran in June 1980. Two intruders entered the town house, at 29 Beekman Place near 50th Street, but fled without any money after struggling with a security guard.

A former New York City police detective, Dennis W. Mulligan, was accused of providing inside information to the Bonanno group for the attempted robbery. But the Government dropped the charge against him, saying his prosecution could jeopardize another investigation.

If convicted, the five defendants could each face up to 20 years in prison on the main racketeering conspiracy charge.

https://www.nytimes.com/1982/07/27/nyre ... lings.html

[Hailbritain]

Has anyone ever developed a list of who he was around in the Bonannos, Colombos, Trafficantes and Milwaukee?

All the players who were involved at the time are detailed in the back of the Donnie Brasco book

[Angelo Santino]

Has anyone ever developed a list of who he was around in the Bonannos, Colombos, Trafficantes and Milwaukee?

All the players who were involved at the time are detailed in the back of the Donnie Brasco book

I had the book but cant seem to locate it now, I'll repurchase it on kindle.

Anyone have any honest opinions about Unfinished Business? I skimmed it awhile back and he seems to have "updated" things like labeling Nick Rizzuto Montreal's capo or calling Sonny Black the eventual 'Acting Street Boss' whereas in his first book he was a Capo who had everyone reporting to him after the 3 capo thing and was using Lefty as his acting and hoping for Consig once Rastelli got out.

[HairyKnuckles]

Has anyone ever developed a list of who he was around in the Bonannos, Colombos, Trafficantes and Milwaukee?

All the players who were involved at the time are detailed in the back of the Donnie Brasco book

I had the book but cant seem to locate it now, I'll repurchase it on kindle.

Anyone have any honest opinions about Unfinished Business? I skimmed it awhile back and he seems to have "updated" things like labeling Nick Rizzuto Montreal's capo or calling Sonny Black the eventual 'Acting Street Boss' whereas in his first book he was a Capo who had everyone reporting to him after the 3 capo thing and was using Lefty as his acting and hoping for Consig once Rastelli got out.

How can somebody be "Acting Street Boss"? It´s either Street Boss or nothing. An "Acting Street Boss" implies there´s an acting for an acting boss. If the acting boss (a street boss, in its truest meaning) can not fulfill his duties for the sitting boss, he will be replaced by another street boss. There can only be one street boss.

Chris, Sonny Black was part of a ruling panel that was installed right after the 3 capo´s murder and Lefty acted as his crew leader, I have no clue why Pistone labeled it that way in Unfinished Business.

I made a list of Sonny Black´s known crew members a while ago. You can find the thread in the Mafia Chart section. And while I have you on the line, so to speak. Have you decided what to do about the Bonanno chart of 1963?

[Angelo Santino]

Has anyone ever developed a list of who he was around in the Bonannos, Colombos, Trafficantes and Milwaukee?

All the players who were involved at the time are detailed in the back of the Donnie Brasco book

I had the book but cant seem to locate it now, I'll repurchase it on kindle.

Anyone have any honest opinions about Unfinished Business? I skimmed it awhile back and he seems to have "updated" things like labeling Nick Rizzuto Montreal's capo or calling Sonny Black the eventual 'Acting Street Boss' whereas in his first book he was a Capo who had everyone reporting to him after the 3 capo thing and was using Lefty as his acting and hoping for Consig once Rastelli got out.

How can somebody be "Acting Street Boss"? It´s either Street Boss or nothing. An "Acting Street Boss" implies there´s an acting for an acting boss. If the acting boss (a street boss, in its truest meaning) can not fulfill his duties for the sitting boss, he will be replaced by another street boss. There can only be one street boss.

Chris, Sonny Black was part of a ruling panel that was installed right after the 3 capo´s murder and Lefty acted as his crew leader, I have no clue why Pistone labeled it that way in Unfinished Business.

I made a list of Sonny Black´s known crew members a while ago. You can find the thread in the Mafia Chart section. And while I have you on the line, so to speak. Have you decided what to do about the Bonanno chart of 1963?

I'm interested in it but there's such a lack of photos that a Valachi style chart would be impossible, we don't even have pics of half of the captains. So it might be better as a 'typed' chart than a bunch of empty boxes. The 2002 chart just barely made it thanks to the amount of photos, but had we been missing even 5 more I couldn't have done it.

I'm trying to bang out a 1979-1980 chart with Pogo and JD, there's carry over with the '02 chart and there will be carry over with the 1963 era one. But as it stands lack of photos is the main problem for 63. Perhaps as I do this I may be able to obtain some. But then another problem is using someone's photo for a chart which was taken 3 decades after the charts' era, I've done it but if I have to do it for half of the people it would suck.

A few things I found interesting with all 3 eras- 63, 79-80's, 2002 is:
1 The Underboss has a soldier under him
2 The Family's use of ruling panels which seemed to exist even during times of tranquility. Massino was regarded as acute by installing a ruling panel while he was on the street but that might be a continuing trend. Or it may not. I'm curious.

I'm not jumping to conclusions but I wonder if these were common practices and if so how far do they date back to? Maybe related, probably not but in 1911, Bonanno Boss (and Boss of Bosses) Sebastiano DiGaetano summoned Genovese member Clemente and put him on a "committee of one" to ascertain whether or not a Cesoli was an informant. Not the same thing as the later examples but does show an ongoing usage of committees and panels in this Family's history.

[HairyKnuckles]

Has anyone ever developed a list of who he was around in the Bonannos, Colombos, Trafficantes and Milwaukee?

All the players who were involved at the time are detailed in the back of the Donnie Brasco book

I had the book but cant seem to locate it now, I'll repurchase it on kindle.

Anyone have any honest opinions about Unfinished Business? I skimmed it awhile back and he seems to have "updated" things like labeling Nick Rizzuto Montreal's capo or calling Sonny Black the eventual 'Acting Street Boss' whereas in his first book he was a Capo who had everyone reporting to him after the 3 capo thing and was using Lefty as his acting and hoping for Consig once Rastelli got out.

How can somebody be "Acting Street Boss"? It´s either Street Boss or nothing. An "Acting Street Boss" implies there´s an acting for an acting boss. If the acting boss (a street boss, in its truest meaning) can not fulfill his duties for the sitting boss, he will be replaced by another street boss. There can only be one street boss.

Chris, Sonny Black was part of a ruling panel that was installed right after the 3 capo´s murder and Lefty acted as his crew leader, I have no clue why Pistone labeled it that way in Unfinished Business.

I made a list of Sonny Black´s known crew members a while ago. You can find the thread in the Mafia Chart section. And while I have you on the line, so to speak. Have you decided what to do about the Bonanno chart of 1963?

I'm interested in it but there's such a lack of photos that a Valachi style chart would be impossible, we don't even have pics of half of the captains. So it might be better as a 'typed' chart than a bunch of empty boxes. The 2002 chart just barely made it thanks to the amount of photos, but had we been missing even 5 more I couldn't have done it.

I'm trying to bang out a 1979-1980 chart with Pogo and JD, there's carry over with the '02 chart and there will be carry over with the 1963 era one. But as it stands lack of photos is the main problem for 63. Perhaps as I do this I may be able to obtain some. But then another problem is using someone's photo for a chart which was taken 3 decades after the charts' era, I've done it but if I have to do it for half of the people it would suck.

A few things I found interesting with all 3 eras- 63, 79-80's, 2002 is:
1 The Underboss has a soldier under him
2 The Family has ruling panels.
I'm not jumping to conclusions but I wonder if these were common practices and if so how far do they date back to?

Ruling panels ate very common and probably dates back to the early modern LCN. Hard to say when and by whom a first ruling panel was installed. Joe Bonanno had one in the early 1960s. I think they were more common than what we would think back in the day but to my knowledge, there are none reported prior to when the FBI started to investigate the Mafia. And that's probably due to lack of intelligence work.

Bosses, underbosses and consiglieres often had soldiers or captains directly assaigned to them for various reasons. John Tartamella had at least four or five soldiers directly under him. Joe Colombo, as a boss, had close ro a domen soldiers directly assaigned to him. Funzi Tieri had Mike Clemente, a soldier directly assaigned to him and so on. That's an extremely common practise used by the top guys.

Right, a chart without pictures won't do. We will have to skip that project.

[Angelo Santino]

We will have the skip the 1963 Valachi style chart, we can do something else with 1963, typed form with perhaps I few pictures. I have an idea.

I'm aware panels existed but it's a broad statement, such as ceremonies being known to occur without the props. What I'm wondering is if the examples I cited are traits specific to any ongoing Bonanno Family structure. The general hierarchy is pretty much chiral in every LCN hierarchy, but for instance in some families a Boss can't have anyone directly under him (DeCavs late 90s), whereas in others a boss has "soldiers direct" (Scarfo late 80's.) These rules can change over time and new things implemented (panels became very popular in the 90's more so than earlier eras) so it could all be coincidental. Or perhaps it's been common place for select Bonanno members to hold senior positions beyond just a capo but below the admin. It's worth asking because the Bonannos spat out Milazzo, Magaddino, Sabella, Lanza, Messina and probably others who went to other cities and became boss. And this was at a time when Schiro was traveling frequently, we don't know who, maybe Vito Bonventre or Benny Gallo at various times, but someone or some guys had to be holding down Brooklyn and the city.

[Pogo The Clown]

but for instance in some families a Boss can't have anyone directly under him (DeCavs late 90s)

Was this a DeCavalcante rule? During the 60s Sam DeCavalcante had a Soldier directly under him (Lou LaRasso, possibly others). In the late 90s John Riggi was in prison but Vinny Palermo had a Soldier under him (Anthony Capo).


Pogo

[Angelo Santino]

but for instance in some families a Boss can't have anyone directly under him (DeCavs late 90s)

Was this a DeCavalcante rule? During the 60s Sam DeCavalcante had a Soldier directly under him (Lou LaRasso, possibly others). In the late 90s John Riggi was in prison but Vinny Palermo had a Soldier under him (Anthony Capo).


Pogo

I read that in Made Men, a book with errors and I believe it said Palermo's crew wasn't to have direct contact with him. But I do recall Anthony Capo and not sure how the book explained it. It also said one soldier had been reduced to associate, which I've never heard of.

[rayray]

Wasn't there only like 16 people arrested in the Donnie Brasco investigation? I think all of his 200 plus arrest acredited to him came as a result of him having to testify throughout the US as a Mafia expert witness, He testified on lot of Organized Crime Trials even though he had nothing to do with those actual cases.

Agreed his exhibits were over-inflated, same as that 500K contract on his head to his marketing changeover in 1990: "I was an FBI agent assigned to do a job" to 2000's during the Sopranos wave: "If Sonny woulda asked me to do the hit, fuck it I woulda done it, fuhgedddabbouitt" not to mention him popping up in an HBO interview prior to S3's finale and how he came out of hiding to give his opinion on Jackie Junior getting whacked, leather coat, sunglasses and all. Give me a fucking break.

That aside, I'm interested in who he was around. Let me put it this way (and if you follow my corpulent fat ass you're correct in guessing its chart related), if Joe Pistone were reporting back to his handlers what he was discovering on the may-fia and they were trying to chart it, who would be the names, ranks, affiliations of those involved: Jilly's crew, Sonny Black's crew, Mirra, tidbits of the Bonanno admin, Lefty; in Florida there's Trafficante, there's Milwaukee.

----

And kinda off topic a bit, but the Donnie Brasco film script reads much different from the actual film:
1 Boobie Cerasani's name is in the script before it was changed for legal reasons. Rather than being killed in the 3 Capo's murder, he's murdered in the woods in a scene where Brasco's closing his eyes expecting it to be him.
1b Aside from Boobie there's Galante (name not mentioned in film), Santo Trafficante, Steve DiSalvo (who was a real person with Milwaukee not Tampa).
2 Joe Pistone's handlers are confused as to whether he went over to the other side, the Japanese restaurant beatdown was instigated when he grabbed Mr. Moto and took him into the bathroom himself.
3 Jules Bonavolonta is in the script.
4 Rather than Donnie getting arrested while making the decision to kill Bruno Indelicato while Lefty points a gun at him (implying if he don't carry out the hit he's gonna be hit right then and there) they are arrested as Lefty points a gun at Donnie as he slowly comes to the conclusion that he's an agent by asking questions about "dat fuckin boat in Flor-da."

Worth a read if only for the actual names thrown around:
http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Donnie-Brasco.html

[rayray]

For something so historically done he kind of ruins it with his over-the-top video clip exaggerations. Enough with the disguises and that 500k hit that he's been saying for years and years.

As far as Boobie's character being killed in the movie...it wasn't Boobie's character it was Nicky's character that was killed with the 3 capo's.

On a side note, a Pistone's relative, I think his brother (I forget, brother or cousin) lives in my area, this guy was also an FBI agent. A buddy of mine use to golf with the guy years ago.

[Bruno187]

I find it interesting that the account of the 3 capos murder as recounted by Pistone (which he was not there for, but supposedly "knew of" from being around that crew) has come to bare no real resemblance as the real event as recounted by Massino, who WAS there and was an active participant in.
With that said, I think it would then make sense to question much of whatever he came by in passing, and did not actually participate in or witness himself.
The whole multiple book thing was overkill IMHO. He doesn't seem like a bad guy per se, but I think he turned the whole assignment into his "retirement plan" on installments.