The Rise and Fall of Big Joey Massino The Bonanno Family Traitor Who Wore a Wire against his own guy
Mob Talk Social Club Presents The Rise and Fall of Big Joey Massino The Bonanno Family Traitor Who Wore a Wire against his own guy Vincent “Vinny Gorgeous” Basciano.
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Joseph “Big Joey” Massino “sold out” the Bonanno family by becoming a government informant, secretly recording his acting boss, and testifying against him in court. He became the first sitting boss of one of New York’s Five Families to cooperate with federal authorities. His decision began after his own conviction. On July 30, 2004, Massino was convicted of racketeering offenses involving seven murders. His underboss and brother-in-law, Salvatore “Good Looking Sal” Vitale, had already testified against him. Court records establish that Massino first expressed interest in cooperating on the very day the guilty verdict came back. He faced life imprisonment and a separate potential death-penalty prosecution for ordering the murder of captain Gerlando “George from Canada” Sciascia.
Here is how his cooperation unfolded: - He gave investigators inside information. Massino supplied information about the family’s crimes and helped direct the FBI to the burial site where the remains of Dominick Trinchera and Philip Giaccone, two of the three captains murdered in 1981, were recovered in 2004. - He secretly recorded Vincent “Vinny Gorgeous” Basciano. In January 2005, while both men were incarcerated, Massino allowed the government to record their conversations.
Basciano was speaking to the man who remained the family’s official boss. The recordings captured incriminating statements about the murder of Bonanno associate Randolph “Randy” Pizzolo. - He took the witness stand against Basciano in 2011. Massino testified about their conversations and Basciano’s responsibility for Pizzolo’s killing. Basciano was convicted and received life imprisonment after the jury rejected the death penalty. What did Massino get in return?
His cooperation helped him avoid a potential death sentence in the Sciascia case. He initially received two consecutive life sentences, but prosecutors later supported a major reduction. On July 10, 2013, a judge reduced his punishment to time served—about 10½ years—with lifetime supervised release. The extraordinary part was his position: the boss himself supplied evidence against the organization he had commanded. His cooperation was a major blow, although the Bonanno family had already been damaged by other cooperating members and continued to exist afterward. Massino helped turn a Bonanno family power struggle into a deadly ambush: the three rival captains were invited to a meeting in Brooklyn on May 5, 1981, where armed men were waiting. He was a leading organizer of the killings, working with allies including Dominick “Sonny Black” Napolitano and Gerlando “George from Canada” Sciascia. Massino was not yet the family’s boss. Why he wanted them eliminated The family was divided over the leadership of imprisoned boss Philip “Rusty” Rastelli. Massino and Napolitano supported Rastelli. Alphonse “Sonny Red” Indelicato, Philip “Philly Lucky” Giaccone, and Dominick “Big Trin” Trinchera represented a rival faction challenging that leadership. According to prosecutors’ account of Salvatore Vitale’s cooperation, Massino learned that the opposing faction was accumulating weapons. Although the Mafia Commission had instructed the Bonannos to avoid violence, Massino approached Gambino boss Paul Castellano and obtained permission to “protect” himself. That is the reported basis on which he moved against the three captains; it should not be confused with a clearly documented, unanimous Commission order to kill them.
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