Joseph Bonanno - The Bonanno Family

The Bonanno Family

The Bonanno crime family's underbosses were Frank Garofalo and John Bonventre. While it was traditionally one of the smaller ones of the five New York families, it was more tight-knit than the others. With almost no internal dissension and little harassment from other gangs or the law, the Bonanno family prospered in the running of its loan sharking, bookmaking, numbers running, prostitution, and other illegal activities. In 1938, Bonanno left the country, then re-entered legally at Detroit so that he could apply for citizenship.

Bonanno's large cash position gleaned from crime allowed him to make many profitable real estate investments during the Great Depression. His legitimate business interests included areas as diverse as the garment industry (three coat factories and a laundry), cheese factories, funeral homes, and a trucking company. It was said that a Joe Bonanno-owned funeral parlor in Brooklyn was utilized as a convenient front for disposing of bodies: the funeral home's clients were provided with double—decker coffins, and more than one body would be buried at once. By the time Bonanno became a US citizen in 1945, he was a multi-millionaire.

Unlike most of his compatriots, Bonanno largely eschewed the lavish lifestyle associated with gangsters of his time. He preferred meeting with his soldati in his Brooklyn home or at rural retreats. He did, however, have a decided preference for expensive cigars.

The only encounter Bonanno had with the law during these years was when a clothing factory that he partly owned was charged with violating the federal minimum wage and hour law. The company was fined $50; Bonanno was only a shareholder in the company and was not fined. Government officials later arrested Bonanno, claiming he had lied on his citizenship application by concealing a criminal conviction; the charge was dismissed in court.

Despite this, Bonanno was all but unknown to the general public until the disastrous Apalachin Conference of 1957. He was one of the few bosses not to be arrested. However, not long afterward, a federal grand jury began a major investigation into organized crime, and prosecutors identified him as the leader of a major crime family. He was indicted for obstruction of justice after refusing to testify before the grand jury, but suffered a heart attack before the trial. After numerous postponements, the United States Court of Appeals threw out the indictment.