Joseph Massino

Overview

Joseph Charles “Big Joey” Massino (born January 10, 1943), also known as “The Last Don”, “The Horatio Alger of the Mob” and “The Ear”, was an American mobster and former boss of the Bonanno crime family. He eventually turned government witness.

He was convicted in July 2004 of racketeering, seven murders, arson, extortion, loansharking, illegal gambling, conspiracy and money laundering. To avoid the death penalty, Massino agreed to turn state’s evidence and testify against his former associates. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2005.

He was referred to as the “Last Don” by the media because, at the time, he was the only official head of the Five Families not in prison. His leadership had been recognized in 2000 at a meeting of the bosses of four of the five families.

Timeline

• 1956 — Massino first met his future wife Josephine.
• 1960 — Massino married Josephine.
• 1966 — Massino bought his first home in Maspeth to be close to his parents.
• 196? — Massino married Josephine’s future relationship timeline continued with family life including his daughter Adelaide being born (loan taken for hospital pay is tied to her birth).
• June 14, 1977 — Massino was inducted into the Bonanno Family along with Anthony Spero, Joseph Chilli Jr. and a group of other men in a ceremony conducted by Carmine Galante.
• 1977 — Massino went on trial for truck hijacking and was acquitted.
• June 1, 1976 — The body of Joseph Pastore was found in a dumpster with two shots in the head.
• 1975 — Massino participated in the murder of Vito Borelli.
• 1979 — Bonanno de facto boss Carmine Galante was shot to death at his favorite restaurant; Massino was allegedly present outside the restaurant.
• 1981 — Massino got word from his informants that Bonanno capos Alphonse “Sonny Red” Indelicato, Dominick “Big Trin” Trincera and Philip “Phil Lucky” Giaccone were stocking up on automatic weapons.
• August 1981 — The Bonanno family blamed Napolitano for bringing an undercover agent into their midst, as well as almost making him a member.
• November 23, 1981 — Six men were indicted on racketeering charges: Napolitano, Benjamin Ruggiero, Nicholas Santora, John Cersani, James Episcopia and Antonio Tomasulo.
• February 18, 1982 — Anthony Mirra was shot in the head by his nephew Joseph D’Amico.
• March 5, 1982 — Massino and other family members were charged with conspiracy to murder Indelicato, Giaccone and Trinchera.
• August 12, 1982 — Napolitano’s body was discovered with his hands cut off.
• 1984 — Rastelli was released from prison and Massino ordered the murder of Bonanno soldier Cesare Bonventre.
• April 16, 1984 — Bonventre’s remains were discovered in a warehouse in Garfield, New Jersey, stuffed into two 55-gallon glue drums.
• 1985 — Massino was indicted for labor racketeering along with Rastelli, Carmine Rastelli, Nicholas Marangello and 13 other defendants.
• October 1986 — Massino was found guilty of violations of Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (one count), the Hobbs Act (one count) and the Taft-Hartley Act (nine counts).
• January 1987 — Massino was sentenced to a ten-year prison term.
• April 18, 1987 — Massino went on trial for truck hijacking and conspiracy to commit the triple murder.
• July 30, 2004 — Massino made his first offer to cooperate with the government.
• October 2004 — The FBI began digging up bodies at “The Hole” in Queens.
• February 4, 2005 — The FBI revealed that Massino was the source for the graveyard.
• Late September 2004 — Massino began cooperating by recording conversations with his acting boss, Vincent Basciano.
• June 23, 2005 — Massino was sentenced to life in prison.

Background

Massino was born on January 10, 1943. He was also known as “Big Joey” and “The Last Don”.

Early in life, Massino met his future wife Josephine in 1956 and married her in 1960. He had a lunch wagon business and served factory workers in Maspeth, Queens, and sold Christmas trees during the winter season. When his daughter Adelaide was born, he had to take loans from relatives to pay for the hospital. In 1966 he bought his first home in Maspeth to be close to his parents.

Massino was a close friend of Carmine Rastelli and Martin Rastelli, brothers of Phillip Rastelli who ran a depot for lunch wagon supplies. Massino was the father of three daughters named Joanne, Adeline and Linda.

Massino stood at 5'10" with brown hair and brown eyes and weighed 300 pounds. His grandchildren referred to him by the pet name Poppy. He enjoyed entertaining house guests by bellyflopping and swimming with neighborhood children that he invited into his backyard pool.

Massino was a one-time neighbor of John Gotti, Gene Gotti, Peter Gotti and Alphonse Indelicato.

Massino owned and operated the CasaBlanca Restaurant in Maspeth, Queens, an Italian restaurant and catering firm, as well as Cafe Via Vento, also in Maspeth, and other New York and Florida properties. He convened a meeting of four of the Five Families at CasaBlanca and allegedly ran his operations from the restaurant, setting it as the family’s main headquarters. At CasaBella, Massino personally made the pasta sauces and ravioli and claimed that CasaBlanca had the best pizza in the city.

The offence

Massino was convicted in July 2004 of racketeering, seven murders, arson, extortion, loansharking, illegal gambling, conspiracy and money laundering.

He agreed to turn state’s evidence and testify against former associates to avoid the death penalty.

Investigation

Massino was referred to as “The Ear” because he ordered his men to touch their ears when referring to him and to never say his name out loud due to FBI surveillance.

He took precautions regarding security and the possibility of incriminating evidence being picked up on a wiretap. He closed the long-standing social clubs of the Bonanno family and often conducted family meetings in foreign countries or remote locations within the United States.

In October 2004, the FBI began digging up bodies at an infamous mob graveyard in Queens known as “The Hole”. The FBI looked for the bodies of the three capos killed in the Bonanno civil war in the 1970s. They also hoped to find the body of John Favara, who accidentally killed Gotti’s son, and the body of Tommy DeSimone, murdered in 1979 for killing William Devino and Ronald Jerothe. The FBI said only that this operation was based on “credible information” from an informant.

On February 4, 2005, the FBI revealed that Massino was the source for the graveyard.

Massino began to cooperate sometime in late September 2004 by recording conversations with his acting boss, Vincent Basciano. He had suggested renaming the family the “Massino” family after becoming angered at family namesake Joe Bonanno’s tell-all book, A Man of Honor, with its numerous revelations of Mafia secrets.

Arrest

Massino decided to turn himself over to police custody to face charges.

Trial

1977 acquittal

Massino was arrested for conspiring with Raymond Wean to receive 225 cartons of merchandise stolen from an interstate shipment contained in the Hemingway truck. Both men made bail.

In 1977, Massino went on trial for truck hijacking and was acquitted.

1987 trials

In October 1986, Massino was found guilty of violations of Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (one count), the Hobbs Act (one count) and the Taft-Hartley Act (nine counts).

In January 1987, Massino was sentenced to a ten-year prison term.

On April 18, 1987, Massino went on trial for truck hijacking and conspiracy to commit the triple murder. Raymond Wean and Joseph Pistone testified against Massino. Massino was acquitted of conspiracy to commit triple homicide, the conspiracies to murder Pistone and Anthony “Bruno” Indelicato and the hijacking charges.

During one of the courtroom breaks, Massino asked Pistone who was to play him in the Donnie Brasco movie, to which Pistone replied that they could not find anyone fat enough to play him.

July 2004 conviction

Sentencing

On June 23, 2005, Massino was sentenced to life in prison.

Appeals

No appeal information appeared in the provided material.

Outcome

Massino was sentenced to life in prison on June 23, 2005 after being convicted in July 2004 of racketeering, seven murders, arson, extortion, loansharking, illegal gambling, conspiracy and money laundering. He avoided the death penalty by agreeing to turn state’s evidence and testify against former associates.

Aftermath

Massino suffered from diabetes and high blood pressure.

He was credited with bringing the Bonanno family back to power after it fell into disfavor, including being kicked off the Mafia Commission.

Massino was later charged with ordering the murders of Napolitano and Mirra.

Massino made his first offer to cooperate with the government on July 30, 2004.

Other details

Massino was described as a protege of Phillip Rastelli and his brothers in the 1960s. His mob association began with running a lunch wagon in Maspeth, New York, selling pastries and coffee to dock workers while giving a kickback to Rastelli to insure he would have no competition.

He later became involved in truck hijacking with the assistance of his brother-in-law Salvatore Vitale and carjacker Duane Leisenheimer, while fencing stolen goods and running numbers using the lunch wagon as a front.

In 1975, Massino participated in the murder of Vito Borelli, which he claimed was primarily executed by John Gotti, at the behest of Paul Castellano of the Gambino crime family. The Borelli hit put Massino close to becoming a made man in the Bonanno family.

Massino was inducted into the Bonanno Family on June 14, 1977 in a ceremony conducted by Carmine Galante. He was placed in Philip Giaccone’s crew. He had yet to attract any serious attention from the FBI.

In 1977, the same period also included the discovery on June 1, 1976: close to Massino’s social club and deli in Maspeth, the body of Joseph Pastore was found in a dumpster with two shots in the head. Pastore was a truck hijacker who supplied Massino with stolen goods to fence. Massino and Richard Dormer (Pastore’s half brother) were taken to the morgue to identify the body. Prior to the murder, Massino had his brother-in-law Salvatore Vitale borrow $9,000 from Pastore on behalf of Massino.

In 1979, Bonanno de facto boss Carmine Galante was shot to death at his favorite restaurant; Massino was allegedly present outside the restaurant. Rastelli took over the family and Massino was promoted to caporegime three years after becoming a made man. He was one of the most powerful caporegimes in the Bonanno family, along with his friend Dominick “Sonny Black” Napolitano.

The three capos murder plot (1981)

In 1981, Massino got word from his informants that Bonanno capos Alphonse “Sonny Red” Indelicato, Dominick “Big Trin” Trincera and Philip “Phil Lucky” Giaccone were stocking up on automatic weapons. Their plan was to kill the Rastelli loyalists within the Bonanno family and take complete control.

Massino turned to Colombo crime family boss Carmine “Junior” Persico and Gambino boss Paul Castellano for advice; they told him to act immediately.

Massino and fellow capo Dominic Napolitano went to the Commission for approval to kill the three plotters. The Commission gave Massino their blessing and said they would accept Rastelli as the continuing Bonanno leader.

Massino and Napolitano lured the three renegades to a sit-down regarding the future family leadership of the Bonanno family. When the three capos arrived with Frank Lino; the assailants Sal Vitale, Vito Rizzuto and Napolitano burst out of a closet holding shotguns and pistols. Trinchera, Giaccone and Indelicato tried to escape but were shot to death. Lino escaped unscathed by running out the door.

Indelicato’s son Anthony “Bruno” Indelicato was meant to be killed as well but missed the meeting when the capos decided to take Frank Lino instead. Bruno fled New York, but when he re-surfaced, Massino and Napolitano turned to soldier Benjamin “Lefty” Ruggiero and associate Donnie Brasco and gave them the “contract” so Brasco could become a made man in the Bonanno family.

Operation Donnie Brasco

Massino later came into conflict with Napolitano over Napolitano’s proposal to admit mobster Donnie Brasco to the family before Massino’s loyal associate Salvatore Vitale. Vitale was described as a loyal soldier and as a participant in several killings, including the three capo slayings, while Brasco had only been known for a few years and hadn’t taken part in any sanctioned mob hits.

Although Brasco accepted the contract, he disappeared. The FBI soon revealed that “Donnie Brasco” was really Joseph Pistone, an undercover agent for the organized crime division in the FBI.

In the book Donnie Brasco: Unfinished Business, Pistone wrote that years earlier, he had actually arrested Massino as part of a truck hijacking bust. However, when introduced to Massino as Donnie Brasco, Massino did not recognize him.

In August 1981, the Bonanno family blamed Napolitano for bringing an undercover agent into their midst, as well as almost making him a member.

Massino was ordered by Philip “Rusty” Rastelli behind bars to kill Napolitano in order to send a message. Their former renegade Frank Lino and Steven Cannone drove Napolitano to the house of Ronald Filocomo, a Bonanno family associate. Napolitano was greeted by captain Frank Coppa. Knowing that he was finished, Napolitano asked the men to kill him quickly.

The two hitmen threw Napolitano down the stairs and shot him to death in the basement. While Napolitano’s body was prepared for disposal, Lino went outside to a nearby van and told the occupants that Napolitano was dead. One of the men in the car was Massino.

John Gotti and wiretaps

By then, Massino was a close friend of Gambino crime family capo and eventual boss, John Gotti. Massino was Gotti’s neighbor in Howard Beach, Queens.

Massino owned a cut in the house of a high stakes dice game operated by Gotti on Mott Street in Manhattan. Massino discovered a wire tap in his social club, J&S Cake Social Club in Maspeth, Queens, and handed over the wire to the FBI who came to pick it up.

Although Massino was a friend of Gotti, Massino later became upset with Gotti’s flamboyance and openness to media attention. He later found out that Gotti was bad-mouthing him calling him “a punk” and “a hungry whale swallowing anything he can get”. Informants testified he remarked, “John set this thing of ours back a hundred years. Mirra and Bonventre murders”

On November 23, 1981, six men were indicted on racketeering charges: Napolitano, Benjamin Ruggiero, Nicholas Santora, John Cersani, James Episcopia and Antonio Tomasulo. At the time of the indictment, the government did not know that Napolitano had been murdered in August.

On February 18, 1982, Anthony Mirra was shot in the head by his nephew Joseph D’Amico. D’Amico had been sent to kill him by Richard Cantarella, who got the order from Albert Embarrato after consultation with Massino.

Mirra had recently been released from prison, but had previously befriended Brasco and was responsible for initially bringing him into the family. Like Napolitano, Mirra died for bringing Brasco into the family.

Soon after the Mirra murder, Massino went into hiding with Duane “Goldie” Leisenheimer.

On March 5, 1982, Massino and other family members were charged with conspiracy to murder Indelicato, Giaccone and Trinchera. While in hiding, Massino was visited by many fellow mobsters, including Gotti. Massino received cash from his associates in New York City.

On August 12, 1982, Napolitano’s body was discovered with his hands cut off. The dismemberment was supposedly to warn anyone else from letting an undercover agent shake hands with a made man.

Cesare Bonventre killing and disposal (1984)

In 1984, Rastelli was released from prison and Massino ordered the murder of Bonanno soldier Cesare Bonventre. Still a fugitive, Massino summoned Vitale, Louis Attanasio and James Tartaglione to his hideout.

Despite the fact that Rastelli was the family head, Massino was considered by most mobsters to be the real power in the family. Bonventre was called to a meeting with Rastelli in Queens. He was picked up by Vitale and Attanasio and driven to a garage. Once inside, Attanasio shot Bonventre twice in the head. After Bonventre staggered out of the car, Attanasio killed him with two more shots.

The task of disposing of Bonventre’s corpse was handed to Gabriel Infanti. Infanti promised Vitale that Bonventre’s remains would disappear forever.

After a tipoff, the remains were discovered on April 16, 1984, in a warehouse in Garfield, New Jersey, stuffed into two 55-gallon glue drums.

Bonventre was killed because he was considered to be a threat to the family.

“Family regroups” and Commission disfavor

The Bonanno family had fallen into disfavor after the Donnie Brasco operation and the Five Families kicked the family off the Mafia Commission.

Until Massino’s capos turned state’s evidence against him, no made member of the Bonannos had turned informant, which gave the family an advantage over the other four of the Five Families and helped them become, in the 1990s, the most powerful crime family on the streets in New York.

Massino was credited with bringing the family back to power.

Massino took precautions about security and wiretaps as part of his leadership and his nickname “The Ear”.

The infiltration of Donnie Brasco became somewhat of a blessing in disguise for the Bonanno family. When the Mafia Commission Trial indicted the New York crime families, the Bonnanos escaped conviction due to the fact that the family had been kicked out of the Mafia Commission. By dodging this bullet, the Bonnanos kept its leadership intact and were able to consolidate its power once again.

Pistone called Massino “the last of the old-time gangsters.”

Cooperation offer and testimony against him

Massino was scheduled to go on trial for the second time for a separate murder trial, which he was also expected to lose. If convicted, he faced the death penalty.

Disillusioned by the turning of so many made men and concerned over a possible death penalty if found guilty of the murder of Gerlando Sciascia in an upcoming trial, Massino made his first offer to cooperate with the government on July 30, 2004.

Bonanno members Sal Vitale, Frank Lino, Frank Coppa, Richard Cantarella, Joseph D’Amico and Duane Leisenheimer testified against Massino.

References

Crittle, Simon, The Last Godfather: The Rise and Fall of Joey Massino Berkley (March 7, 2006) ISBN 0425209393 DeStefano, Anthony. King of the Godfathers: Joseph Massino and the Fall of the Bonanno Crime Family. New York: Pinnacle Books, 2006. ISBN 0-7860-1893-3 Pistone, Joseph D.; & Woodley, Richard (1999) Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia , Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 0-340-66637-4. Pistone, Joseph D.; & Brandt, Charles (2007). Donnie Brasco: Unfinished Business , Running Press. ISBN 0-7624-2707-8.