| Philip Rastelli | |
|---|---|
| Born | January 31, 1918 Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Died | July 24, 1991 (aged 73) Ossining, New York, U.S. |
Phillip "Rusty" Rastelli (January 31, 1918 Maspeth, Queens - July 24, 1991) was a New York mobster and former boss of the Bonanno crime family.
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Rastelli was born and raised in Maspeth, Queens and was heavily involved in loansharking, extortion and drug trafficking activities before joining the Bonanno crime family. Rastelli also had a lunch wagon business. After moving to Greenpoint, Brooklyn where he lived until his incarceration, he met and became close friends with Dominick "Sonny Black" Napolitano, Carmine Galante, Joseph Bonanno and Joseph Massino.
He took over the Bonanno family in 1973 as acting boss after the death of Natale "Joe Diamonds" Evola. Rastelli was named official boss of the Bonanno family in early 1974, but by 1975 he was indicted and in jail on charges of extortion and violating an anti-trust law. He was convicted of the anti-trust and extortion on August 27, 1976 and given 1 year on the anti-trust violation and three concurrent ten-year sentences on the extortion.
Carmine Galante effectively took over the crime family following his release from prison in 1974, but Rastelli remained the official boss while in prison. He ordered Dominic "Sonny Black" Napolitano to kill Galante in 1979 and Napolitano was promoted to caporegime for his efforts. Rastelli was once again the undisputed boss, controlling things from behind bars through the use of acting bosses such as longtime Bonanno crime family member Salvatore "Sally Fruits" Ferrugia.
There was a dispute within the Bonanno crime family about whether Rastelli should be the boss, which led to an internal war in 1981. This resulted in the murders of several people including opposition leader Bonanno caporegime Alphonse "Sonny Red" Indelicato, who was one of those who opposed Rastelli remaining the boss. This power struggle and its bloody results were witnessed by FBI agent Joseph "Donnie Brasco" Pistone, who was working undercover.
Rastelli was paroled from prison in late 1983 and quickly began an attempt to restore order, unity and respect to his crime family which had been greatly damaged and diminished from underworld power and influence due to the crime families second insurrection in 1981 and the Donnie Brasco incident, which caused the Bonanno crime family leadership and its members to lose face within the American Mafia.
Over the years there has been a belief that the American Mafia was not directly involved in the drug trade as some bosses ordered their men not to get involved with drugs, but many disobeyed, and for the Bonanno family the drug trade became one of its most lucrative rackets as the Montreal branch was heavily involved in the drug trade, importing narcotics into Canada and transporting it to America, where the Bonanno family's Zip or Sicilian faction, along with the other crime families controlled the wholesale distribution of the drugs to other crime groups across the country.
Rastelli was indicted in the famous Mafia Commission Trial of 1985, but severed from the trial as prosecutors were in favor of pursuing extortion charges concerning Rastelli and his underboss Joseph Massino. Getting kicked out of the Mafia Commission because of the Donnie Brasco infiltration, actually prevented the Bonanno family from getting caught up in the Commission Trial, which sentenced many Mafia bosses and members to prison.
Rastelli received a 12-year prison sentence in 1987, removing the 69-year-old boss from the streets and preventing him from leading his crime family in freedom. On July 21, 1991, Rastelli was released from prison once again on humanitarian grounds. He died in a Queens hospital three days later on July 24, 1991 of liver cancer at age 73. He is buried in Saint John Cemetery in Queens.[1] Joseph Massino took the leadership of the Bonanno crime family after Rastelli's death.
| Business positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Natale "Joe Diamonds" Evola |
Bonanno crime family Underboss 1971-1973 |
Succeeded by Nicholas Marangello |
| Preceded by Natale "Joe Diamonds" Evola |
Bonanno crime family Boss 1973-1991 |
Succeeded by Joseph Massino |
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