Michael Zaffarano
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Michael Zaffarano (Little Italy, Manhattan c.a. 1921 - February 14th, 1979 Midtown Manhattan a.k.a. "Mickey" was an Italian-American capo in the Bonanno crime family whose most notorious soldier was Anthony Mirra.
[edit] Biography
Anthony Mirra introduced Joseph D. Pistone to Zaffarano in 1975. Michael handled porn theatres and national porn film distribution for the Bonanno crime family. He owned several pornographic movie theatres in Times Square and around the country, from coast to coast. Michael's head office was located at 49th and Broadway in Times Square, on the upper floor of The Pussycat Theatre. Michael was a portly, heavyset, tall and handsome man with a brooding face that betrayed a life spent on the wrong side of civility. He had dark brown, piercing eyes, a nose bent from a nasty break and a evident scar on his forehead. Bonanno crime family boss Natale Evola in 1972 chose Michael to initiate New York organized crime arbitration efforts with Paolo Violi in Montreal, Canada. He had a long history of dealing with disputes and internal mob hostilities. Zaffarano survived the turbulant 1960's. His brother-in-law is Joseph Asaro, a made man in the Bonanno crime family and a second-generation Italian-American mobster. His father had worked in a unknown capacity under Al Capone while he was based in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn before moving his operations to Chicago, Illinois. Zaffarano eventually got caught up in the operation sting Mi-Porn which was organized out of Miami, Florida. On February 14th, 1980 when the FBI agents came to his office at The Pussycat Lounge to arrest him, Michael attempted to flee, running down the halls, and in the course of his run, dropped dead of a sudden heart attack.
[edit] References
- Pistone, Joseph D. and Woodley, Richard, Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia Random House 1990 ISBN 5552531299
- DeMaris, Ovid, The Last Mafioso: Jimmy "The Weasel" Fratianno
