Joseph Massino

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Joseph "Big Joey" Massino

Born January 10, 1943 (1943-01-10) (age 65)
New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.

Joseph C. "Big Joey" Massino (January 10, 1943) known in the media as The Last Don, was a Queens, New York restaurateur and former head of the Bonanno crime family. He was convicted in July 2004 of racketeering, seven murders, arson, extortion, loansharking, illegal gambling, conspiracy, and money laundering. To avoid the death penalty due to his crimes, Massino turned state's evidence, agreed to testify against his former associates and was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2005.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Joseph is the father of two daughters named Joanne and Adeline Massino. He is the uncle to Anthony Vitale and Joel Vitale, the two children produced by his brother-in-law and underboss Salvatore Vitale and his sister Josephine. Through Massino's marriage to Salvatore Vitale, Joseph is a distant relative of Detroit Partnership consigliere Giovanni Priziola and Joseph Matranga. Joseph Matranga's sister Katherine married Salvatore's Vitale grandfather and namesake Salvatore Vitale. Salvatore's mobster grandfather was later deported with mobster Frank Coppola to Italy. The two became allies of Charles Luciano and Frank's mobster relative Michael Coppola in exporting heroin to Detroit Partnership mob boss Giovanni Priziola and Raffaele Quasarano. Raffele Quasarano was also married into the Vitale family and the son-in-law of his great grandfather, the mobster Vito Vitale. His mobster relative Joseph Vitale was the boss of the Detroit Partnership from 1944 to 1964 when Joseph Zerilli took over upon Vitale's death. He has a long family heritage of relatives being involved the La Cosa Nostra which include Lucchese crime family capos Giacomo Plumeri and Plumeri's nephews Johnny Dio and his brothers Thomas, Frank and Vincent, Detroit Partnership consigliere Giovanni Priziola, Detroit Partnership mob boss Anthony Zerilli, Peter Tocco, Angelo Meli, Vincent Meli, Giovanni Ornamento, Raffele Quasarano, Detroit Partnership don and crime family founder Jack Tocco, William Tocco, Detroit Partnership consigliere Anthony Tocco, and reputed Detroit Partnership sidewalk soldiers, Vito Tocco, John Tocco, Peter Tocco, John Tocco Jr., Paul Tocco, Joseph Tocco, Salvatore Tocco, Nove Tocco, and Peter Tocco Jr. Salvatore also has distant relatives in the Bonanno crime family, Russell Bufalino and William Bufalino and Michael Polizzi. The son of Bonanno crime family mob boss Joseph Bonanno, Salvatore Bonanno, is also a distant relative who married Mildred Profaci, the daughter of Profaci crime family mob boss Joe Profaci.

[edit] Rise to Power

Massino was a protege of Phillip Rastelli and his brothers in the 60s. Massino began running a lunch wagon in Maspeth, New York, selling pastries and coffee to dock workers. He was also involved in truck hijacking, running numbers and fencing stolen goods such as coffee, liquor, and clothes.

In 1975 Massino murdered Vito Borelli at the behest of Paul Castellano, a rising star in the Gambino crime family. The Borelli hit put Massino close to becoming a made man, or full member, of the Bonanno family. Massino was arrested for conspiring with Raymond Wean to receive 225 cartons of merchandise stolen from an interstate shipment contained in the Hemingway truck. Both men made bail. In 1976 Massino became a made man. He was placed under Capo Phillip "Philly Lucky" Giaccone. Surprisingly, Massino had yet to attract any serious attention from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). In 1977, Joe Massino went on trial for the truck hijacking, but was acquitted.

On June 1st 1976, close to Massino's social club and deli in Maspeth, the body of Joseph Pastore was found in a dumpster with two shots in the head. Pastore was a truck hijacker who supplied Massino with stolen goods to fence. Massino and Richard Dormer (Pastore's half brother) were taken to the morgue to identify the body. Prior to the murder, Massino had his brother in law Salvatore Vitale borrow $9,000 from Pastore on the behalf of Massino.

In 1979, Bonanno defacto boss Carmine Galante was shot to death in his favorite restaurant;, some say Massino was present outside the restaurant. Rastelli took over the family and Massino was promoted to caporegime only three years after becoming a made man.

[edit] Murder of the three capos

In 1981, Massino got word from his informants that Alphonse Indelicato, Dominick Trinchera and Phillip Giaccone were stocking up on automatic weapons. Their plan was to kill the Rastelli loyalists within the Bonanno Family and take complete control. Massino turned to Persico and Castellano for advice: both men said to act now. Massino and Dominick Napolitano went to Mafia Commission for approval to kill the three plotters. The Commission gave Massino their blessing and said they would accept Rastelli as the new Bonanno boss.Indelicato, Giaccone, and Trinchera were lured to a sit-down with their rival factions in the Bonanno family. The three captains turned up with Frank Lino. When Gerlando Sciascia, Vito Rizzuto and Napolitano burst out of a closet Trinchera charged at them and was gunned down. Giaccone and Indelicato were shot dead soon after, but Lino escaped unscathed.

[edit] Donnie Brasco

Massino later came into conflict with Napolitano over Napolitano's proposal to admit mobster Donnie Brasco to the family before Massino' s loyal associate Salvatore Vitale. Vitale had been a loyal soldier who had participated in several killings while Brasco had only been known for a few years and hadn't taken part in any sanctioned mob hits. The FBI soon revealed that "Donnie Brasco" was really Agent Joseph Pistone. In August 1981, the Bonanno family punished Napolitano for bringing an undercover agent into their midst. Lino and Steven Cannone drove Napolitano to the house of Ronald Filocomo, a Bonanno family associate. Napolitano was greeted by cap Frank Coppa. Knowing that he was finished, Napolitano simply asked the men to kill him quickly. They threw Napolitan down the stairs and shot him to death in the basement. Whilst Napolitano's body was "prepared" for disposal, Lino went outside to a nearby van and told the occupants that Napolitano was dead. One of the men in the car was Massino.

By now Massino was a close friend of Gambino crime family capo and eventual boss, John Gotti, his neighbor in Howard Beach, Queens.[1] Massino owned a cut in the house of a high stakes dice game operated by Gotti on Mott Street in Manhattan. Joe discovered a wire tap in his social club, J&S Cake Social Club in Maspeth, Queens. Joe later handed over the wire to the FBI.

[edit] Mirra and Bonventre murders

On November 23, 1981, six men were indicted on racketeering charges. They were Napolitano, Benjamin Ruggiero, Nicholas Santora, John Cerasani, James Episcopia and Antonio Tomasulo. At the time of the indictment, the government did not know that Napolitano had been murdered in August. On February 12, 1982, Anthony Mirra was shot in the head by his close friend Joseph D'Amico. D'Amico had been sent to kill him by Richard Cantarella, who got the order from Al Embarrato after consultation with Massino. Mirra had recently been released from prison, but had previously befriended Brasco. Like Napolitano, Mirra died for bringing Brasco into the family. Soon after the Mirra murder, Massino went into hiding with Duane Leisenheimer. On March 5th 1982, Massino and other family members weres charged with conspiracy to murder Indelicato, Giaccone and Trinchera. While in hiding Massino was visited by many fellow mobsters, including Gotti. Massino received cash from his associates in New York City.

On August 12, 1982, Napolitano's body was unearthed with his hands cut off. This was supposedly to warn anyone else from letting an undercover agent shake hands with a made man. In 1984, Rastelli was released from prison and Massino ordered the murder of Bonanno soldier Cesare Bonventre. Still a fugitive, Massino summoned Vitale, Louis Attanasio and James Tartaglione to his hideout. Despite the fact that Rastelli was the family head, Massino was considered by most mobsters to be the real power in the family. Bonventre was called to a meeting with Rastelli in Queens. He was picked up by Vitale and Attanasio and driven to a garage. Once inside, Attanasio then shot Bonventre twice in the head. After Bonventre staggered out of the car, Attanasio killed him with two more shots. The task of disposing of Bonventre's corpse was handed to Gabriel Infanti. Infanti promised Vitale that Bonventre's remains would disappear forever. However, the remains were discovered on April 16th 1984 in a warehouse in Garfield, New Jersey stuffed into 55-gallon drums.

[edit] The family regroups

Massino soon decided to turn himself over to police custody to face all his charges. In 1985, Massino was indicted for labor racketeering along with Rastelli, Carmine Rastelli, Nicholas Marangello and 13 other defendants. In October 1986, Massino was found guilty of violations of RICO Law (one count), the Hobbs Act (one count) and the Taft-Hartley Act (9 counts). In January of 1987, he was sentenced to a ten-year prison term. On April 18th 1987, Massino went on trial for truck hijacking and the triple murder murder . Raymond Wean and Pistone testified against Massino. Massino was acquitted of the triple homicide, the conspiracies to murder Joseph Pastore and Anthony "Bruno" Indelicato, and the hijacking charges.

Massino owned the CasaBlanca Restaurant, an Italian restaurant and catering firm. He was a friend of former Gambino boss John Gotti. However, Massino was upset with Gotti's flamboyance and openness to media attention and informants testified he remarked, "John set this thing of ours back a hundred years." His former best friend, brother-in-law and Underboss Salvatore Vitale testified against Massino at his 2004 trial, claiming that his family had been neglected by Massino when he was in prison.

Massino was charged with ordering the murders of Napolitano and Mirra. Massino was scheduled to go on trial for the second time for a separate murder trial, which he was also expected to lose. If convicted, he faced the death penalty, courtesy of then-Attorney General John Ashcroft's office; a first for a mob boss and for an Italian member of American organized crime. However, that was not to be.

[edit] Government informant

In October 2004, the FBI began digging up bodies at an infamous mob graveyard in Queens known as "The Hole". They were looking for the bodies of three capos killed in a Bonanno civil war in the 70's. They also hoped to find the body of John Favara, who accidentally killed Gotti's son: , the body of Tommy DeSimone, murdered in 1979 for killing William Devino and Ronald Jerothe; and Indelicato, Giaconne and Trinchera. The FBI said only that this operation was based on "credible information" from an informant.

On February 4, 2005, the FBI revealed that Massino was the source for the Cosa Nostra graveyard. Hoping to save his life and his assets, Massino had begun to cooperate sometime in late September 2004 by recording conversations with his acting boss, Vincent Basciano. This is the first time that an official boss has gone informant. On June 23, 2005, Massino was sentenced to life in prison.

[edit] In popular culture

The book The Last Godfather: The Rise and Fall of Joey Massino by Simon Crittle was released in March 2007.

[edit] Photographs

[edit] Surveillance Photographs

[edit] References

  1. ^ Raab, Selwyn. "A Mafia Family's Second Wind; Authorities Say Bonannos, All but Written Off, Are Back", The New York Times, April 29, 2000. Accessed November 12, 2007. "A heavyset man, 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighing about 200 pounds, Mr. Massino lives with his wife, Josephine, in a modest home in Howard Beach, Queens. It is about a block from where his close friend John J. Gotti, the boss of the Gambino family, lived before he was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1992 for murder and racketeering."

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Phillip Rastelli		 Bonanno Crime Family Boss
1991-2004		 Succeeded by
Vincent Basciano