Joseph Massino, known in the underworld as “Big Joey,” rose from selling Christmas trees on Queens street corners to become the boss of the Bonanno crime family. Born in Queens in 1943 to second-generation Italian-American parents, Massino was an athletic child who struggled in school and dropped out by the tenth grade. He worked as a summer lifeguard and took odd jobs before marrying Josephine Vitale in 1960. By 1968, as the so-called “Banana War” came to an end and Bonanno family founder Joe Bananno retreated to Arizona, the 25-year-old Massino was trying to support a wife and young daughter by running a lunch wagon, selling Christmas trees in winter, and borrowing a few hundred dollars from relatives to cover the cost of his first child’s birth.
Massino’s path into organized crime ran through Philip “Rusty” Rastelli, a rising Bonanno figure who founded the Mobile Lunch Vendors Association in 1966, promising food cart operators a daily route free of competitors. Massino, who became known as “Joe Wagons,” built a close relationship with Rastelli’s brother Carmine, who ran a warehouse where supplies were loaded onto food trucks. Through his lunch wagons, Massino ran a small gambling operation for neighborhood workers, passing a share of the profits to Rastelli. In 1970, he partnered with Duane “Goldie” Lazenheimer, a Brooklyn high school dropout skilled at stealing cars, and the pair began hijacking vehicles with Rastelli’s approval.
Massino’s brother-in-law, Salvatore Vitale, who had completed a short stint as an army paratrooper, joined them eagerly. Vitale later recalled Massino’s instructions: “If you’re going to do robberies, do them with me. ” On one occasion, Massino, Vitale, and a member of the Colombo family stole watches from a store in Livingston, New Jersey, netting about $34,000. In 1969, the Commission selected Natale Evola, Joseph D.
Filippi, and Philip Rastelli to lead the Bonanno family. Rastelli was indicted by a Suffolk County grand jury in 1971 and convicted on seven counts of loansharking in state court in December 1972. Even from prison, he remained informed through associates like Massino and visits from his brothers. When Evola died in August 1973, Rastelli became the family’s most influential figure, though he remained locked up.
Federal investigators in Brooklyn learned of his coercive lunch wagon scheme in 1974, and he was charged in March 1975 with running a racket that extorted money from the food cart trade. Around that time, in the early 1970s, Rastelli formally introduced Massino into the Bonanno family. While Rastelli sat in prison, Carmine Galante maneuvered for control. Galante had a long violent history, having been convicted of assault and sent to Sing Sing at seventeen.
Fellow mobsters described him as the real gunman behind the 1943 assassination of Carlo Tresca, the exiled Italian editor and opponent of Mussolini, a killing intended to benefit Gene Offis who had served Mussolini during the war. Joe Bonanno had promoted Galante to consigliere and given him control over the family’s drug distribution network. In 1960, federal narcotics agents arrested him, and he was convicted of running a gang that smuggled a large quantity of drugs into the country from Canada. His first trial ended in a mistrial after the jury foreman mysteriously fell down the stairs of an abandoned building at midnight and broke his back.
Galante was convicted at his second trial and sentenced to twenty years in federal prison in July 1962. Released on parole in 1974, he believed he was the rightful heir to the Bonanno throne, given Rastelli’s imprisonment and his own history as Bonanno’s former consigliere. His parole was revoked in March 1978, but a judge ordered his immediate release in February 1979 after finding the government had acted illegally. Galante was now ready to take control.
Massino, out of loyalty to Rastelli, visited him at the federal penitentiary in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, serving as the main link between the imprisoned boss and his men in New York. When Galante learned of these trips, he summoned Massino and ordered him to stop acting as Rastelli’s intermediary. Massino refused, telling Galante that Rastelli was like an uncle to him. Fearing Galante would have him killed, Massino told his brother-in-law Vitale.
From prison, Rastelli sent word through Massino to the Commission, requesting permission to kill Galante. The Commission approved. On July 12, 1979, Galante stopped at Joe and Mary’s, an Italian-American restaurant. He was joined by his Sicilian bodyguards Baldo Amato and Cesare Bonventre, a nephew of former Bonanno boss John Bonventre, along with Leonardo Coppola.
Around 2:45 p. m. , three masked men entered the courtyard through the restaurant. One carried a sawed-off double-barreled shotgun, another a conventional shotgun, and the third appeared to have a pistol.
Witnesses said Galante died instantly, collapsing while still gripping his cigar in his jaw after a shotgun blast hurled him from his chair. Galante’s cousin Giuseppe Turano, the restaurant’s owner, and Coppola were also killed. Street witnesses saw Amato and Bonventre following the masked gunmen as they left Joe and Mary’s, while Galante’s bodyguards made no move to retaliate. Despite the clear indication that Amato and Bonventre were part of the conspiracy, neither was arrested or charged due to a lack of direct evidence.
The main gunman who killed Galante was later identified as Russell Marrocco. Before Galante’s murder, Massino had been involved in two other killings. Paul Castellano recruited Massino along with John Gotti to kill and dismember Vito Borelli, a friend of Castellano’s daughter. According to court documents, the second victim was Joseph “Dodo” Pastoria, a cigarette smuggler and loanshark to whom Massino owed $9,000.
Rusty Rastelli officially took over as the Bonanno family boss after Galante’s execution, and one of his first acts was promoting Massino to capo. With Rastelli still in prison, the new boss named Salvatore “Sally Fruits” Farruggia as acting boss. By early 1981, factions had formed over new leadership positions and Rastelli’s continued role as absent boss. The dispute was not resolved despite two high-level meetings among the opposing leaders.
The Genovese family quietly backed a rebellion by three main candidates: Alphonse “Sonny Red” Indelicato, Philip “Phil Lucky” Giaccone, and Dominick “Big Trin” Trinchieri, who wanted a larger share of the family’s profits and power. The Gambino and Colombo families supported the Rastelli loyalists. A Colombo soldier, Carmine “Tutti” Franzese, told a friend of Massino’s that the three rebels were secretly preparing for a confrontation. In the spring of 1981, Massino sought advice from his allies on the Commission, Gambino boss Paul Castellano and Colombo boss Carmine Persico, and was told to defend himself and take necessary action.
Massino devised a strategy to eliminate the three rebel captains by arranging an administrative meeting at a seemingly neutral location, a nightclub run by the Gambino family. Sonny Black Napolitano, a Bonanno captain close to Massino, had earlier proposed a triple murder plan to boost the reputation of a member of his crew named Donnie Brasco. Napolitano brought the proposal to Massino and Vitale, not knowing that Brasco was actually Joe Pistone, an undercover FBI agent. Massino immediately rejected the idea because he had already warned his crew to stay away from Brasco.
Massino scheduled the administrative meeting at the Gambino-run nightclub. Gambino underboss Aniello Dellacroce was reportedly aware of the trap and gave the green light for John Gotti’s crew to assist. Two neutral Bonanno leaders, Joseph “Joe Brown” Zicarelli and Nicholas “Nicky the Fighter” DiStefano, were invited to avoid suspicion that the meeting might be a trap. On May 5, 1981, more than a dozen soldiers and associates from Massino’s and Napolitano’s crews gathered at Massino’s social club in Maspeth.
Among them was Gerlando “George from Canada” Sciascia with members of his Montreal crew. Duane “Goldie” Lazenheimer was present to serve as lookout. Around 5:40 p. m.
, the group left the Maspeth club and drove to Brooklyn. Sonny Black and four of his men positioned themselves in a red truck across the street from the Gambino club entrance, while Goldie parked two buildings away with a radio to warn Massino of any danger. Four gunmen were selected, armed with a sawed-off shotgun, pistols, and a machine gun. Three of the four were Canadian “Zips”: Vito Rizzuto, Emanuel Ragusa, and a mobster known to Vitale and Massino only as “The Old Man.
” The gunmen received ski masks so the neutral leaders, Joe Brown and Nicky the Fighter, could not identify them, since they were not targets at the supposed peace meeting. They were instructed to hide in a large coat closet and emerge only after receiving a signal from Sciascia. The three rebel leaders had met the previous day in a tense strategy session at a Bensonhurst club run by Bonanno soldier Frank Lino. They agreed to follow Cosa Nostra rules and attend the meeting with Massino unarmed the next night.
The following day, Goldie heard the radio call from the truck as the four gunmen made their way to the club entrance. Sonny Red Indelicato, Phil Lucky Giaccone, Big Trin Trinchiera, and Frank Lino were ambushed as they entered the club that evening. Massino personally prevented Indelicato from escaping. During the shooting, Frank Lino managed to escape through the front door, leaving Massino and Vitale unexpectedly alone with the three dead captains.
Massino’s Sicilian allies left without a word, carrying with them one of their own, Santo Giordano, who had been accidentally shot in the back during the firing. Napolitano’s soldiers covered the dead captains with tarps and ropes and cleaned the bloodstained floor. Vitale helped load the bodies into Sonny Black’s red truck. James “Big Lou” Tartaglione drove the truck to Howard Beach, followed by Massino, Vitale, and Goldie.
Three men Vitale identified as John Gotti’s brother Gene, Pat “Angie” Ruggiero, and John Carneglia were waiting on a side street to take possession of the truck. Massino then used his Gambino connections to resolve the Frank Lino matter. Eddie Lino, Frank’s cousin and a Gambino soldier, accompanied Frank to meetings where Massino and other Bonanno leaders convinced him he was safe and had not been betrayed. Lino was then appointed acting capo of Bruno’s crew, the son of Sonny Red Indelicato, with assurances from Massino.
For a month, fearing retaliation, Massino’s and Sonny Black’s crews hunted Bruno. The Commission later granted Bruno a pardon, reinstating him as a soldier in his former crew under Frank Lino as capo. Sonny Red Indelicato’s body was discovered in a shallow grave on vacant land bordering Ozone Park and East New York nineteen days after the executions. A $2,000 Cartier watch was still on his wrist, suggesting he had not been robbed.
The site was less than a mile from Howard Beach, where Gambino soldiers had taken control of the truck carrying the victims’ remains. Sonny Black Napolitano blamed Massino for the botched disposal of the bodies, which had given investigators evidence of the murder. Two months later, Sonny Black disappeared without a trace. That summer of 1981, agent Pistone ended his six-year undercover operation as Donnie Brasco, revealing that Sonny Black had accepted him into his crew and was preparing to sponsor his formal induction into the family.
Pistone later said the FBI would have benefited from having an agent serve as a made member of the mob. Three FBI agents went to Napolitano’s Greenpoint apartment early in the morning, fearing for his safety if other mob leaders discovered Pistone’s activities. Agent Douglas Finkle offered help, but Napolitano refused. Pistone claimed Napolitano and his crew initially kept the information to themselves before beginning to hunt for him.
Napolitano made a number of phone calls, informing parties including Massino and Paul Castellano, and eventually Rastelli learned of the matter while still in prison. A year later, a body bag containing Napolitano’s skeletal remains was found in a wooded, marshy area west of Staten Island. The mystery of his murder was not solved until twenty-three years later. On August 17, 1981, Steven Cannone and Frank Lino had driven Napolitano to the home of Ronald Filipo, a Bonanno associate, for a meeting.
Frank Cappa greeted Napolitano, who was then pushed by Lino into the basement, where he was shot dead. Through wiretaps, the FBI learned three days after Napolitano’s final trip that hitmen working for Massino had summoned Benjamin “Lefty” Ruggiero to the Holiday Bar. Ruggiero, who had helped Pistone become an official Bonanno associate, was also targeted but was arrested on the way to the place where he was to be killed. In November 1981, five soldiers from Sonny Black’s former crew were charged with conspiring to murder the three captains and other racketeering offenses.
Anthony Mirra, the soldier who had first discovered Pistone, was killed on Massino’s orders on February 18, 1982. After learning of Pistone’s exposure, Mirra had fled, but his cousin and protégé Joseph D’Amico betrayed him and later killed him. When authorities examined Mirra’s body, they found $6,779 hidden in one of his shoes, money he had been using while in hiding. Massino had survived the internal war and eliminated his rivals, but the FBI was closing in.
His eventual decision to cooperate with the government, betraying the family he had risen to lead, would make him one of the most infamous turncoats in American Mafia history.