Jury convicts Bonanno crime family's boss

By John J. Goldman
Los Angeles Times

AP Reputed organized-crime figures, from left to right, Gerlando Sciascia, Vito Rizzuto, Giovanni Liggamari and Joseph Massino are shown outside a Bronx, N.Y., motel in a 1981 surveillance photo.

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NEW YORK — Joseph Massino, head of the Bonanno organized-crime family, was convicted of murder and racketeering charges yesterday in a trial marked by massive defections from the mob.

The jury, which deliberated for fewer than four days, also found him guilty of arson, money laundering, loan sharking, gambling and extortion. Massino, 61, faces a mandatory life sentence.

As the verdicts were read, Massino, a former 400-pounder known as "Big Joey," stood silently in court in Brooklyn. Afterward, he turned to his wife, who regularly attended his 9-week trial, and shrugged.

The most damaging testimony came in a classic case of betrayal. His brother-in-law Salvatore Vitale, the Bonanno family's underboss, cut a deal with the government.

Vitale testified that he took part in 11 murders — seven while following orders from Massino.

"I killed for him. I did many murders for Mr. Massino," he told the jury.

The murder that would prove most prominent was the slaying in August 1981 of Dominick "Sonny Black" Napolitano, a Bonanno captain. Napolitano made the mistake of befriending an FBI agent posing as a jewel thief named "Donnie Brasco." The undercover operation, which lasted years, led to more than 120 convictions — and a film starring Johnny Depp and Al Pacino.

Vitale, 56, told the court he met Massino 45 years ago. He said Massino brought him into the mob in the 1970s, promoted him to captain and later to the Bonanno family's underboss.

Vitale's appearance was bolstered by testimony from seven other mob defectors.

Robert Henoch, a federal prosecutor, told the jury that one man who was killed on Massino's orders was cut up and his remains were placed in barrels. He said another was buried in a shallow grave, and Massino helped block the escape of a third victim who tried to flee the social club where he was executed.

In his closing argument, defense lawyer David Breitbart called Vitale "a corrupt liar, a degenerate liar" and attacked the credibility of the other mob turncoats, stating they also had reasons to lie.

Breitbart said an order to murder someone could be issued only by the head of the Bonanno family and that the slayings Massino was accused of engineering took place during the reign of Philip Rastelli.

Government lawyers countered that Massino consolidated his hold over the mob family years earlier and was the power behind the killings, which included those of three rivals.

Massino's sentencing is set for Oct. 12.

Massino has been called the "Last Don" for his longevity in eluding the law while leaders of New York's four other crime families served prison terms.

As boss of the Bonanno family, Massino worked tirelessly to camouflage his stature. To the outside world, he was a Queens restaurant owner. Worried about wiretapping and surveillance, Massino ordered social clubs that traditionally were meeting places for organized crime to be closed.

He frowned upon members of the Bonanno family attending mobsters' funerals, where they were photographed by police and the FBI. He also would travel to Mexico to discuss schemes to avoid being overheard.

Massino even told subordinates never to mention his name and merely to tug on one of their ears when speaking of him — which resulted in his being nicknamed "The Ear."

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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