Giovanni Bonventre

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'Giovanni "John" Bonventre'(April 18, 1901 - ?) was a New York mobster with the Bonanno crime family.

Born in Castellammare del Golfo in Sicily, Bonventre emigrated to New York with his family. The family settled in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, a stronghold of immigrants from their village. Bonventre and his brother Vito Bonventre soon joined the local Castellammarese criminal organization, the precusor of the modern Bonanno crime family. Boss Cola Schiro ran the organization until 1930, when he was forced out by Salvatore Maranzano. Bonventre was the uncle of family founder Joseph Bonanno, who himself immigrated to New York City in 1924. Another Bonventre nephew was Joseph Profaci, the future founder of the Profaci crime family. Bonventre married Caterina Vitale, but it is unknown if they had any children.

With the end of the Castellammarese War, a major conflict between the Sicilian clans in New York, Bonnano became boss of the reorganized Bonanno family and Bonventre became a caporegime, the captain of a crew of mobsters. That same year, Bonanno and Bonventre purchased a dairy farm near Middletown, New York in the Catskill Mountains. The farm's main product was mozzarella cheese; Bonanno and Bonventre used their mob influence to eventually dominate the production of this cheese in New York State, Wisconsin, and Vermont. Bonventre's other business ventures included a garment factory in Brooklyn. At some point, Bonventre was promoted to family underboss, directly under Bonanno.

In 1950, Bonventre decided to move back to Sicily. However, this move did end his involvement in the Bonanno family. In 1957, Bonventre attended the abortive Apalachin Conference of American Cosa Nostra leaders in rural Apalachin, New York that was broken up by New York State Police; Bonanno and Bonventre were picked up by police as they tried to escape the meeting site through a field.. In September 1957 Bonventre had attended several meetings in Palermo, Sicily with Bonanno and the exiled mob boss Charles "Lucky" Luciano.


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[edit] References

  • Bureau of Narcotics, U.S. Treasury Department, "Mafia: the Government's Secret File on Organized Crime, HarperCollins Publishers 2007 ISBN 0-06-136385-5