Word: bonanno
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EVICTED from the Mob's top hierarchy in 1964, Joe Bonanno of New York-one of the bloodiest killers in Cosa Nostra's history-eventually retired to Tucson, Ariz., where, amid his fig and orange trees, he now lives modestly, reflecting on his days of power and plotting his comeback. His life is not entirely normal, however. The FBI tried, unsuccessfully, to recruit his confidant and all-round handyman, David Hill, 21, as an informer. Once a bomb landed in Bonanno's backyard. He thinks that an FBI agent may have prompted two young thugs to throw...
...Bonanno may get support for his bizarre notion. Tucson authorities are preparing to try two men for attempting to dynamite Bonanno's house. A prosecution witness claims that an FBI man put them up to it. Thinking that Bonanno has been badly treated, young Hill last week volunteered to talk about his boss to TIME Reporter James Willwerth. The following is Hill's portrait of an obsolete mobster...
Like many other retired executives, Bonanno finds the routine irksome. Most mornings Hill drives him into town, where Bonanno attends to errands until about noon. Returning home-a rather small, three-bedroom house at 1847 East Elm Street-he usually lunches on an Italian sausage sandwich, then puts on a "ghastly-looking" pair of Bermudas for a couple of hours of sun and reading in the yard...
Shortly before dinner, Bonanno changes into slacks and as a never-changing rule, sits down with a snifter of brandy and provolone. After dinner, preferably goat meat or scampi and Pouilly-Fuissé (1959 or 1961), he has a cigar, reads the newspapers and watches television newscasts, ending up with a late movie. His favorite stars are Alice Faye and-of course-George Raft...
...setter, there is almost no one else around. It is a sad contrast to his high-rolling days, when prominent clergymen, judges and politicians felt it an honor to be entertained at the home of the mobster known as Joe Bananas. When the Government tried to deport Bonanno in 1954, for instance, among those who testified as character witnesses were the Most Rev. Francis Green, former Congressman Harold Patten and former Arizona Supreme Court Justice Evo DeConcini (the Most Rev. Francis Green is now the Roman Catholic bishop of Tucson...