In Popular Culture
The title character of Vito Corleone in Mario Puzo's The Godfather was considered by many to be largely based on Bonanno, although the character is in many ways a composite of several figures.
The Judge Dredd character Joe Bananas, henchman for Don Uggie Apelino, was named after Bonanno.
In 1999, the Lifetime TV network produced a biographical film called Bonanno: A Godfather's Story. The film chronicles the rise and fall of organized crime in the United States.
In 1991, Bonanno's daughter-in-law, Rosalie Profaci Bonanno, published the memoir Mafia Marriage: My Story. This book was eventually converted to the 1993 Lifetime Network film Love, Honor, & Obey: The Last Mafia Marriage.
In 2006, episode 66 of The Sopranos, "Members Only", Eugene Pontecorvo wants to retire and uses Joe Bananas as an example of a retired mob member.
In 2004 Joe's daughter-in-law began putting Joe's personal items up for auction on eBay. This continued until 2008.
In 2009, Joe's cousin Thomas Bonanno participated as a Mafia expert in the filming of the "Mafia vs. Yakuza" episode of Deadliest Warrior, demonstrating his skills and marksmanship with a Thompson submachine gun, as well as talking about "true" Sicilian Mafia philosophy and culture.
Read more about this topic: Joseph Bonanno
Famous quotes containing the words popular and/or culture:
“O, popular applause! what heart of man
Is proof against thy sweet, seducing charms?”
—William Cowper (1731–1800)
“All objects, all phases of culture are alive. They have voices. They speak of their history and interrelatedness. And they are all talking at once!”
—Camille Paglia (b. 1947)