: Family In Crisis: DA, FBI, Cops Agree: Top Queens Mob Family Losing Power

One of New York City’s legendary mob rings, the Bonanno crime family, came to power in an era when mobsters ruled the streets. With a base of operations in Queens, they were feared, they were respected, and anyone who stepped out of line would feel their wrath in a bloody way.

But in the present world of heightened FBI involvement, flapping lips and local crackdowns, the Bonannos just may be watching their power diminish.

New York Police Department Commissioner Ray Kelly recently referred to the Bonanno crime family as an “endangered species.” FBI sources agree, saying that the leadership of the family has been decimated. At the same time, however, the Bonannos seem to be alive in Queens. DA Richard Brown has pointed fingers at the crime ring in a number of recent indictments.

Through the early 1900’s, the Bonanno family was just one of the fingers on the clenched hand that made up New York’s five main crime families. The other Queens powerhouse, the Gambinos, fell out of power with the indictment of John Gotti, though their presence is still seen.

Of the other New York City families, the Colombos have been weakened by internal struggle after Thomas DiBella stepped down as boss and the Lucchese family has been laying low for many years. The Genovese family is said to be the only mob family still thriving.

Nailing The Boss
The double life sentence given to former crime captain Joseph Massino may have been the final straw for the Bonanno family.

On June 23 in Brooklyn Federal Court, Massino admitted that he was the boss of the Bonanno family and confessed to his involvement in eight mob murders. Massino implicated four goodfellas in the hit, including his brother-in-law, Salvatore Vitale.

In addition to his life sentence, Massino was also ordered to forfeit $9 million. This payment includes the proceeds from the sale of several properties he owned, among them the CasaBlanca restaurant in Maspeth. Massino also owns a mansion in Howard Beach, and his wife of 44 years, Josephine, still lives there. Questions regarding his wife’s safety have been brought up now that he has ratted out other Bonanno leaders.

Massino began cooperating shortly after he was indicted last summer. He led the FBI to the Ruby Street Lot in Queens in the fall, where investigators found the skeletons of two mob victims. With Massino’s cooperation, prosecutors were quite confident that they would be able to get a conviction.

“Massino’s conviction marks an important step in our continuing effort to eliminate organized crime in New York,” said U.S. Attorney Roslynn Mauskopf. “This conviction brings to justice a man who reigned over the Bonanno family during one of the mob’s bloodiest periods in the last three decades.”

It is believed that Massino had served as mob boss since June of 1991 when his predecessor Phillip “Rusty” Rastelli died of natural causes. At the time, Massino was serving a 10-year prison term for racketeering.

U.S. attorney Greg Andres, who prosecuted the recent case against Massino, described him as “violent, wealthy, and having a history of fleeing prosecution.”

Massino was said to be an electronics whiz who had a knack for evading surveillance. By closing many of the Bonanno family’s social clubs, he was able to further elude the hunting eyes of police. Many have credited Massino for bringing the Bonanno family back to prominence with boosted narcotic and gambling affiliations, realms of profit that Rastelli was criticized for staying away from.

Keep On Pushing
Though such a highly touted former boss was nabbed, the FBI is wary of sitting back comfortably against this Mafia family. “We’ve learned from past experiences that it would be rash to say this or that event marks end of a certain family,” said FBI spokesman James Margolin. “Our approach is to keep the pressure on.” Margolin also pointed out that the FBI has made a number of significant arrests at the top the Bonanno crime hierarchy in recent years.

Massino was hardly the first Bonanno boss to take the fall. Back in 2001, former boss Anthony Spero was sentenced to life in prison after being indicted on a racketeering and murder charge. After being ratted out by a number of killers and drug dealers, it was found that Spero ordered four separate murders. Though a loving family man, a breeder of champion racing pigeons and frequent pinochle player, Spero had easily traceable ties to organized crime.

A January 2004 trial resulted in the convictions of 27 Bonanno members and associates on racketeering and attempted murder charges. This operation was said to have been a major blow against the Mafia’s convention, as the investigation captured suspects discussing the assassination of family members of cooperating witnesses.
On the tape, Bonanno acting boss Anthony “Tony Green” Urso was caught saying, “If you take one kid, I hate to say it, and do what you gotta do, they’ll ... think twice.”
In late May, Brown indicted 36 defendants in a massive gambling ring through which the Bonanno ring reaped $360 million. The indictment stated that Urso received a monthly tribute from the gambling operation in exchange for crime family protection.

Most recently, the Queens DA took down a $10 million gambling and loan sharking ring in June, in which reputed Bonanno consigliere Anthony “Mr. Fish” Rabito was one of 12 indicted. Also indicted in the hit was highly regarded soldier Salvatore Scudiero of Woodside. Rabito has a long criminal history that dates back to 1974, including a six-year stint in federal prison for a drug trafficking conviction. Rabito was one of the five wiseguys nabbed in the “Donnie Brasco” case.

The Beginning Of The End?
It would be difficult to discuss the Bonanno family without mentioning the “Donnie Brasco” case. In 1982, FBI agent Joseph Pistone, using the name Donnie Brasco, infiltrated the Mafia family’s ranks and was taken under the wing of soldier Benjamin “Lefty” Ruggiero. As a result of Pistone’s undercover work, Ruggiero was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Ruggiero was released after 13 years and died of cancer on Thanksgiving Day in 1995.

In a book put out after the investigation, Pistone quoted Ruggiero from a conversation that they had. “As a wiseguy you can lie, you can cheat, you can steal, and you can kill people: legitimately,” he said. “You can do any goddamn thing you want, and nobody can say anything about it. Who wouldn’t want to be a wiseguy?”

Rabito’s indictment came after Brown busted a prescription drug ring that sold more than 25,000 Vicodin tablets a week to street level users. According to Brown, Bonanno associates Dominick Devito of Howard Beach and Joseph Pisicchio of Bayside were two of the top names among defendants.

Crumbling, From The Inside Out
Brown’s efforts may be chipping away the last remnants of what was once one of the most powerful crime families in the country. Even with the convictions by the FBI and the Queens DA, however, the opponent that has had the biggest impact in taking the family down may be the Bonanno members themselves.

FBI Executive Assistant Director Pat D’Amuro said that family members are turning on one another in droves and cooperating fully with the FBI. “With convictions of Bonanno leadership and, most importantly, the development of willing cooperators inside the family in recent years, the Bonanno crime family is reeling,” D’Amuro said.
The Oath of Omerta, which is a vow that Bonanno family members and the rest of the Mafia take to never reveal any information to law enforcement, seems to have shattered. D’Amuro says that mafiosos are “breaking down doors” to cooperate with law enforcement officials.

“To say it presently has an organized structure is giving it too much credit.”

FBI sources refuse to say that they have seen the last of the Bonannos. Even with Massino’s conviction, the family is not extinct and has risen from turmoil in the past.
Time will tell if they have the resolve to do it again.