Joseph Bonanno

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Giuseppe "Joseph / Joe" Bonanno Mugshot

Giuseppe "Joseph / Joe" Bonanno (born January 18, 1905 in Castellammare del Golfo , Italy ; † May 11, 2002 in Tucson , Arizona ) was an Italian-born American mafioso , the boss of one of the infamous Five Families from New York City ( Bonanno- Family ). He was also called Joe Bananas , a name he hated because it implied he was crazy.

Youth and early career

Joseph Bonanno was born in Castellammare del Golfo , Sicily, to Salvatore Bonanno and Catherine Bonventre. In 1906 the then twenty-six year old Salvatore Bonanno moved with his family to New York and settled there in Brooklyn , where he ran a restaurant. In 1911 Salvatore returned to Sicily with his family, as he had to take care of the Bonanno family's business in Sicily. Joseph Bonanno's father died in Sicily in 1915, his mother died too in 1920.

When Benito Mussolini came to power in 1922 and resorted to extremely draconian means to fight the local mafia in Sicily, Joseph Bonanno and his friend Peter Maggadino joined an anti-fascist group. As a result of these activities, an arrest warrant was issued against Bonanno. Bonanno fled via Marseille and Paris first to Cuba , from there to Florida and finally to Brooklyn. In Brooklyn he lived with his uncle Peter Bonventre. In the neighborhood, the then nineteen-year-old got to know the local mafiosi, almost all of whom, like him, came from Castellammare del Golfo. He began his criminal career in the United States smuggling and running illegal lotteries. Bonanno stood out for his organizational talent and quick comprehension.

War of Castellammare

As a Sicilian born in Castellammare del Golfo, Joseph Bonanno was one of the supporters of Salvatore Maranzano in the internal conflict in New York of 1930/1931, which was referred to as the War of Castellammare . This dispute was initially carried out between the followers of Maranzano, who came from Castellammare, and the followers of Joe "The Boss" Masseria , who came from the rest of Sicily and southern Italy, for supremacy in the New York mafia. In the course of the dispute, various subordinate leaders changed sides, so that the original constellation no longer played a role.

When Joe Masseria, presumably on behalf of Lucky Luciano , was shot on April 15, 1931, Bonanno's boss Maranzano had initially prevailed. When the latter was apparently planning to position himself as Capo di tutti i capi (it. Boss of all bosses) over the other leaders, they came before him and Maranzano was murdered on September 10, 1931. Here, too, Lucky Luciano had the strings in hand and thus became the new strong man within the US Mafia, who however maintained a cooperative working style and created a platform for internal conflict resolution with the National Crime Syndicate . From now on, the Commission , an executive council in which the five New York families and the Chicago outfit had a seat, was responsible for fundamental decisions .

After the murder of Maranzano, despite everything a boss of one of the “five families”, the members of his “family” elected Joseph Bonanno as the next head at the suggestion of Stefano Magaddino - a cousin of Bonanno's, boss of the family in Buffalo . Since then, this section of the Mafia has been classified as the Bonanno family after him and is known by this name to this day. In his mid-twenties, Bonanno was the youngest mafia boss of his time.

Bonanno's first official act was to accept that Luciano had acted out of self-protection, which is why there were no gang fights and the war of Castellammare did not continue.

Bonanno family until the 1960s

Under Bonanno, activities in the areas of gambling and credit usury were intensified; the drug trade became a lucrative source of income, and his Mafia family became one of the drug wholesalers in New York City.

Bonanno also began to increasingly operate outside of New York. With the support of his cousin Stefano Magaddino, the head of the Buffalo Mafia , he began to expand the area of ​​activity of his clan to Canada , claimed Arizona for himself and had a growing influence on the Californian mafia groups. Together with Meyer Lansky , he invested in casinos in Cuba , which was ruled by the dictator Batista . He also invested in legal businesses, such as a cotton plantation or a cheese factory.

Through his activities outside of New York in the early 1960s, many of the Bonanno mobsters got the impression that he was neglecting business in the city in favor of his other activities. At the same time, Bonanno saw himself as the last "man of honor" within the Cosa Nostra.

When Joseph Profaci , boss of what would later become the Colombo family of mafia clans, died of cancer in 1962 , Bonanno began planning to make himself “ Capo di tutti i capi ” (it: boss of all bosses). Together with Profaci's successor, Joe Magliocco , he wanted to kill anyone who stood in the way of these ambitions.

In particular, these were Carlo Gambino , Tommy Lucchese , the Los Angeles mafia boss Frank DeSimone and even his cousin, the Buffalo boss Stefano Magaddino . Joe Colombo , charged by Bonanno and Magliocco with the murder of Gambino and Lucchese , however, betrayed the plan to his victims. Gambino and Lucchese then convened the American Mafia Commission, which summoned Bonanno and Magliocco. Both were declared deposed; Magliocco was to be replaced by Joe Colombo and Bonanno by one of his subordinates, the Capo Gaspare DiGregorio . Bonanno did not accept the decision.

At the same time, criminal proceedings were pending against Bonanno, and he had been summoned to a jury on October 21, 1964.

The banana war

After Joe Bonanno and Magliocco were deposed by the "Commission", the Bonanno family split up: the so-called banana war broke out. The day before his trial on October 21, 1964, Bonanno was kidnapped in New York by followers of Stefano Maggadino and held for six weeks. However, some suspect that this was not a blow to Bonanno, but rather the purpose of not having him testify in front of the jury.

During Bonanno's absence, his son Salvatore "Bill" Bonanno led his father's loyal supporters. A bloody war broke out with DiGregorio's followers. The armed conflict on the streets of New York affected the business of all Five Families , and the "Commission" arranged for a meeting between both sides. DiGregorio's supporters met first at the agreed meeting point and opened fire from shotguns and rifles on Bill Bonanno, who arrived later, with his people. Although no one was killed in the shooting, which the attacked responded to, the peace efforts had failed.

Joseph Bonanno, who has since returned, tried to save his position by proposing to retire to Arizona , but to have his son and son-in-law installed as his successors. In return, Bonanno was only offered to let him live if he would recognize DiGregorio as his successor. Bonanno refused.

Since DiGregorio did not succeed in the ongoing gang war in eliminating Bonanno's supporters, he was also deposed. He was succeeded by Paul Sciacca , and the conflict continued to escalate. Three of Sciacca's men were gunned down with submachine guns in a restaurant in Queens .

In 1968 Joseph Bonanno suffered a heart attack. He therefore actually withdrew to Arizona and informed the "Commission" that he had withdrawn. After that, the fighting gradually subsided and Paul Sciacca had prevailed as head of the family.

Autobiography

In 1983 Joseph Bonanno published his autobiography "A Man of Honor" with Sergio Lalli . Strictly speaking, the publication was a breach of omertà , the requirement of absolute confidentiality. The existence of the American Cosa Nostra had long been an open secret, but in his book, among other things, the existence of the "Commission" was admitted for the first time. In particular, public prosecutor Rudolph Giuliani used the book as an opportunity to file charges against members mentioned there.

In his book, Bonanno also tells one of the legends about the origin and meaning of the term mafia . Accordingly, the Sicilian Vespers was triggered by a French occupation soldier who is said to have offended a Palermo girl. After that, the mother's cry in the streets: “Ma - ffia, ma - ffia!” (Sicilian: My daughter, my daughter!) Is said to have later become the epitome of resistance, as a result of which the Anjou dynasty was driven out of Sicily. This story is not considered historical, but is told in the mafia.

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Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Mafia's Commission. In: Jerry Capeci: The complete idiot's guide to the Mafia. Pp. 31-46.
  2. ↑ Dagobert Lindlau : The Mob . dtv, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-455-08659-4 .

literature

  1. Molden, Munich 1982, ISBN 3-217-00459-0 .
  2. Rogner & Bernhard, 2008, ISBN 978-3-8077-1042-6 . (German translation Gunther Martin)

Web links

predecessor Office successor
Salvatore Maranzano Head of the “ Bonanno Family ” of La Cosa Nostra
1931 - 1964 		Gaspar DiGregorio
personal data
SURNAME Bonanno, Joseph
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bonanno, Giuseppe
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American mafioso, boss of the Bonanno family
DATE OF BIRTH January 18, 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH Castellammare del Golfo
DATE OF DEATH May 11, 2002
Place of death Tucson , Arizona