Former Bonanno crime family boss Joseph “Big Joey” Massino — the first head of one of New York’s five mob families who were once rats — died earlier this month after a brief battle with illness, it was revealed Friday. He is 80 years old.
Massino, who ran the Bonanno family with an iron fist from 1991 to 2003, died in a rehabilitation facility in the New York City area on September 14, a source close to the family told Newsday.
The former mob boss, who sent shockwaves through the world of organized crime when he turned federal witness nearly two decades ago, had been battling a number of health conditions, including diabetes and obesity, leading up to his death, the source said. said.
Massino broke his sacred vow of silence and began talking to the feds shortly after he was convicted in 2004 of masterminding murders, extortion and other crimes over a quarter-century as he rose through the ranks of a violent family.
He was sentenced to life in prison for the bloodshed, which included the murders of three rival gang captains and the execution of a mobster who had secured undercover FBI agent Joseph D. Pistone, who went by the name Donnie Brasco, in the 1980s.
Former Bonanno crime family boss Joseph “Big Joey” Massino died Sept. 14 in a New York City-area rehabilitation facility, sources said. AP
Brasco’s infiltration was the subject of the 1997 hit movie “Donnie Brasco,” starring Johnny Depp and Al Pacino.
Massino was forced to give up his bloody loot following his conviction – including $7 million in cash and more than 250 bars of solid gold that he stashed in the Howard Beach, Queens, home where he lives with his wife and three daughters.
The canary ended up spending 12 years in a cage before a Brooklyn federal judge ruled in 2013 that he could be released from prison as a reward for cooperating with authorities and testifying against fellow gangsters — including Bonanno’s successor, Vincent “Vinny Gorgeous” Basciano.
“Simply put, Mr. Massino was perhaps the most important collaborator in the modern history of law enforcement in prosecuting the American Mafia,” Judge Nicholas Garaufis said before letting him go.
Already ill by the time he was released, Massino was later given a new identity in the witness protection program. He had lived in Ohio for some time before his death, sources told Newsday.
After arguing for his early release, his attorney at the time, Edward McDonald, told the judge that Massino had reflected on his mob life while in prison and wished he could turn back the clock.
Massino, who ran the Bonanno family with an iron fist from 1991 to 2003, became the first head of one of five mob families in New York to be rat.NJ.gov
“If he had to do it over again, if he was 18 or 19, he wouldn’t be in the Mafia,” McDonald said at the time.
Massino, who was born and raised in Queens, entered the world of organized crime in the 1970s when he became associated with mobster Philip Rastelli, who eventually became the boss of the Bonanno family.
He was inducted into the mob in 1977 and became captain two years later.
In 1981, he helped facilitate the murder of three rival captains – Philip Giaccone, Alphonse Indelicato and Dominick Trinchera – who were suspected of trying to hijack the Bonanno family.
Massino ended up serving time in a federal lockup in the 80s.
He was named head of the Bonanno family in 1991 after his predecessor, Rastelli, died.
While leading a mob family, Massino simultaneously ran legitimate businesses throughout the Big Apple — including a Queens sandwich shop, a catering company and an Italian restaurant.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
