Mob Talk Social Club: Mob History Presents the Story of Bonnano Mafia Boss Joe Massino The Last Don
Mob Talk Social Club: Mob History Presents the Story of Bonnano Mafia Boss Joe Massino The Last Don
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Joseph Charles “Big Joey” Massino (January 10, 1943–September 14, 2023) led New York’s Bonanno crime family from 1991 until 2004. Nicknamed “The Last Don,” he rebuilt the organization into a powerful criminal enterprise—then became the first boss of one of New York’s Five Families to cooperate with the government.
Joseph Charles Massino (January 10, 1943 – September 14, 2023) was an American mobster. He was a member of the Mafia and boss of the Bonanno crime family from 1991 until 2004, when he became the first boss of one of the Five Families in New York City to turn state's evidence. Massino was a protégé of Philip Rastelli, who took control of the Bonanno family in 1973. Rastelli spent most of his reign in and out of prison but was able to get the assassination of Carmine Galante, a mobster vying for power, approved in 1979. Originally a truck hijacker, Massino secured his own power after arranging two 1981 gang murders, first a triple murder of three rebel captains, then his rival Dominick Napolitano. In 1991, while Massino was in prison for a 1986 labor racketeering conviction, Rastelli died and Massino succeeded him. Upon his release the following year, he set about rebuilding a family that had been in turmoil for almost a quarter of a century. By the dawn of the new millennium, he was reckoned as the most powerful Mafia leader in the nation. Massino became known as "The Last Don", the only full-fledged New York boss of his time who was not in prison. In July 2004, Massino was convicted in a RICO case based on the testimony of several cooperating made men, including Massino's disgruntled underboss and brother-in-law Salvatore Vitale. He was also facing the death penalty if convicted in a separate murder trial due to be held later that year, but after agreeing to testify against his former associates, he was sentenced to life imprisonment for both indictments in 2005. Massino testified twice for the government, helping to secure a murder conviction against his acting boss Vincent Basciano in 2011, and was resentenced to time served in 2013. Rise to power By the late 1960s, Massino was a Bonanno associate. He led a successful truck hijacking crew, with the assistance of his brother-in-law Salvatore Vitale and carjacker Duane Leisenheimer, while fencing the stolen goods and running numbers using the lunch wagon as a front. Massino also befriended another hijacker, future Gambino crime family boss John Gotti. Increasingly prosperous, Massino opened his own catering company, J&J Catering, which became another front for his activities. In 1973, Natale Evola, the boss of the Bonnano family, died. On February 23, 1974, at a meeting at the Americana Hotel in Manhattan, the Commission, the American Mafia's governing body, named Rastelli as Evola's successor. On April 23, 1976, Rastelli was convicted of extortion, and on August 27 was sentenced to ten years in prison. In his absence, Carmine Galante, a former consigliere and convicted drug trafficker, seized control of the family as unofficial acting boss. In 1975, Massino and Vitale participated in the murder of Vito Borelli, whom Massino claimed was primarily executed by Gotti at the behest of Paul Castellano of the Gambino family. The Borelli hit was significant for Massino in that he "made his bones"—proved his loyalty to the Mafia by killing on its behalf—and put him close to becoming a "made man" (full member) in the Bonanno family. Massino also arranged the 1976 murder of one of his hijackers, Joseph Pastore, after having Vitale borrow $9,000 from him on his behalf. While later acquitted of the crime, both Vitale and Massino would admit to participation after turning state's evidence. In March 1975, Massino was arrested along with of one of his hijackers, Raymond Wean, and charged with conspiracy to receive stolen goods.[26] He was scheduled to go on trial in 1977, but the charges were dropped after he successfully argued that he had not been properly mirandized, disqualifying statements Massino had given to police from being used in trial. On 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.
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