Joseph Bonnano:
AKA Joe "Bananas"

Joseph Bonnano originally came to America when he was 3 years old with his family from Sicily in 1908, but his family returned to live in their hometown of Castellamare de Gulfo. There he learned the way of the Mafiosi and became an anti-Fascist fighting against Mussolini and his attempt to seize power over Sicily. In 1925 Bonnano, like so many other Mafiosi, was forced to leave Sicily for Cuba and then back to America once again. He settled in the Williamsburg area of Brooklyn, a community with a large faction of Castellemmarese. He worked as an enforcer for speakeasies and gained a reputation as someone who rarely used force to get what he wanted.

In 1927, another Mafiosi by the name of Salvatore Maranzano came to America. Sent there by whom many consider to be the original Boss of Bosses in Sicily, Vito Cascio Ferro, Maranzano was charged with bringing the New York Underworld under the control of the Sicilian mob. Those dreams of power across continents were dashed for Ferro though when he was imprisoned and left to die by the Italian Fascist government, leaving Maranzano to seek power for himself. From 1928 to 1931, New York City, and other parts of America, raged with the Castellemmarese War, a fight between to old school Mafiosi, Salvatore Maranzano, vying for ultimate power, and Joe "The Boss" Masseria, the crime boss of all New York at the time. But what neither of the two Mafia dons new, was that internally, a younger, and more power hungry generation of gangsters was being formed. Led by Charlie "Lucky" Luciano, both bosses were killed within a matter of five months of one another. But before Maranzano was killed he established a ruling body over all the gangsters, not just in New York, but all over the country, called the Commission. This Commission consisted of five families, and is still in place today. One of those families is the Bonnano family, which was headed by Joe Bonnano for over thirty years.

Bonnano took control of his family at the age of twenty-six, the youngest of all the crime family dons. He took control of what had been mainly Maranzano's faction before his death. Under Bonnano's control, the family prospered, spreading out into clothing and cheese factories and funeral homes. Bonnano also created the "double coffin," a contraption where two bodies could be stored in one coffin -- one, a loved one, and underneath, a second body that needed to be disposed of. The number of times this method of disposing bodies was used is unclear, but police are sure the number is up in the hundreds.

By the early 1960's Bonnano had started to move west, successfully planting himself out in Arizona and some of California. He also took part in gambling casino investments with Meyer Lansky in Cuba and had businesses in Canada as well. His want of power and spreading his success brought repercussions. Internally, especially in New York, some of Bonnano's soldiers were loosing money due to his lack of attention to his home base while other Mafia dons were upset for him encroaching on what they believed was their territory. Then came the death of Joseph Profaci, Bonnano's good friend and to whom many believed kept Bonnano's quest for power in tact for many years. Without Profaci around, Bonnano made his move. The new crime boss of the Profaci family was Joe Maglicco and Bonnano approached him with a plan to kill off other crime bosses including Carlo Gambino and Thomas Lucchese in New York and even Sam Giancana of Chicago. Maglicco passed the order to kill off these men to Joe Colombo, a hit man and confidant. But Colombo betrayed the plot to kill and then take over by revealing it to the Commission.

The Commission ordered both Bonnano and Maglicco to appear before them and explain their actions. Bonnano refused but Maglicco agreed. Realizing that Maglicco was suffering from health problems, the Commission was lenient on him, fining him $50,000 and forced him to retire from crime, which he did. Maglicco died a half month later due to high blood pressure.

By being so soft on Maglicco, the Commission hoped that Bonnano would come out of hiding, but he did not. Giancana, who had been on the list to be done away with, worked hard for Bonnano to be done away with, but since so many members of the Commission had started out working with Bonnano, they wanted to try and reason with him.

In 1964, Bonnano was kidnapped by his own enforcer, Mike Zaffarano, with his lawyer, William Maloney. Bonnano was held for 19 months by his own cousin, Steven Magaddino in Buffalo, NY. While in captivity, Bonnano agreed to retire and give up his family assets to the other members of the Commission, a monetary value of around $2 billion a year. Bonnano also agreed to leave the country as part of the agreement. He lived in self exile in Haiti for more than a year, until the agreement was broken by the Commission. An attempt on Salvatore Bonnano's life, Bonnano's son, brought about the Bananas War. Bonnano ordered men who were still loyal to him to kill Paul Sciacca, he crime boss ho had replaced him on the Commission, because, Bonnano felt, he was the one who had ordered the hit. This caused a split within the family, some members siding with Bonnano and other siding with Sciacca, but Bonnano would proved that Sciacca was no match for him. Bonnano proceeded to kill off capos for every man of his that was killed. He was winning the war and the Commission knew it. It was not until Bonnano suffered a major heart attack that the war ended, forcing Bonnano into real retirement.

Bonnano was allowed to live in peace in Arizona with his family and some of his rackets that existed there. In 1983, he released his autobiography, "A Man of Honor," which revealed, mainly, the existence of the Mafia, but not much more. When brought before the grand jury to answer questions regarding his book, he refused to respond. He was later jailed.

Joseph Bonnano currently lives in Arizona, the last remaining Mafia don who survived Italian fascism, Mustache Petes, and his own bloody war.