Word: bonannos
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Even by Mob standards, that is not petty cash. When the Bonanno family protested within Mafia circles that Masselli had violated a territorial agreement, the Genovese and Bonanno factions held a council "sitdown" to hear the dispute. Masselli argued that he had simply foreclosed on bad loans. The council absolved him of infringing on a Bonanno jurisdiction. Salvatore (Sally Blind) Frascone, a Bonanno soldier specializing in vending machines, made the fatal mistake of continuing to protest the pro-Masselli decision. Frascone was openly executed in October...
Court Judge William Ingram found the white-haired Bonanno, 75, and Nephew Jack DiFilippi, 54, guilty of conspiring to interfere with a federal grand jury probe of four now defunct companies in San Jose, Calif.-two construction firms, a manufacturer of mattresses and a women's clothing company-that were run by the don's two sons, Salvatore (Bill), 48,* and Joseph Jr., 35. According to federal authorities, the companies were laundering money from illegal Mafia activities...
...first time, Bonanno's glib tongue could not keep him out of trouble, as it did in 1964, when three rival dons had him kidnaped after he tried to become the nation's top Mafioso, the capo di tutti capi (boss of all bosses). Bonanno persuaded his captors that under the Mafia's bylaws they had no authority to kill him. But they did not release him for 18 months, until he promised to retire and devote his remaining years to reading Aristotle and listening to opera. Instead, Bonanno quickly took over Arizona's burgeoning rackets...
...home phone, forcing him to place calls from out-of-the-way booths; as an extra precaution, he conducted business in his native Sicilian dialect. Twice a week, law enforcement officials dutifully collected his trash. Digging through the coffee grounds and other garbage, they hit pay dirt: notes by Bonanno of phone conversations concerning his sons' business activities, which enabled federal authorities to piece together evidence that Bonanno and DiFilippi had conspired to withhold records from the grand jury and influence witnesses...
...faces up to five years in jail and as much as $10,000 in fines; DiFilippi confronts the same penalties, plus another 15 years and $30,000 for an additional conviction of perjury. Both intend to appeal. If Bonanno does indeed go to jail, it will be the first time. His only previous conviction was for violating wage and hour laws at his New York clothing factory in 1945; he was fined $450 and placed on probation...