Salvatore Bonanno
Encyclopedia
Salvatore Vincent "Bill" Bonanno (November 5, 1932 – January 1, 2008) was the son of Cosa Nostra boss Joseph Bonanno
. Although his father never intended for him to be the underboss of the Bonanno crime family
, his appointment to high positions in the syndicate precipitated a "mob war" which led to the Bonanno family's exile to Arizona
. Later in life, he became a writer and produced films for television about his family.
; when in 1938 his father purchased property in Hempstead, Long Island
, he next attended school there when the family relocated. At age 10, Bill developed a severe mastoid ear infection. To aid in treating this ailment, his parents enrolled him in a Catholic boarding school in the dry climate of Tucson, Arizona
.
When he was 15, Bill led a group of students (who were supposed to be visiting a museum) to see the controversial 1947 film Forever Amber
, a movie banned by the Catholic Church. When school administrators learned about the outing, they expelled Bill from the dormitory. Bill was allowed to continue, but he was forced to live alone in a motel. At some point in time, Bill also attended Tucson High.
Between 1950 and 1952, Bill studied agriculture at the University of Arizona
, but never graduated. On August 18, 1956, Bill married Rosalie Profaci, niece of Profaci crime family boss Joseph Profaci. Designed to cement an alliance between the two crime families, the sumptuous wedding had 3,000 guests.DeCavalcante crime family
boss Sam DeCavalcante
later remarked on Bill's poor treatment of Rosalie: "It's a shame; the girl wanted to commit suicide because of the way he treated her". Bill and Rosalie eventually had four children; Charles, Joseph, Salvatore, and Felippa ("Gigi"); Charles was adopted by Bonanno and his wife in 1958.
") into the Bonanno family. In later years, Joseph appointed him as family consigliere
. However, many family members felt that Bill lacked experience and was too intellectual to lead effectively. These tensions only worsened when Bill advised his father against involving the family in the illegal narcotic
s trade.
In 1963, Joseph conspired with Profaci family boss Joseph Magliocco
to assassinate their three bitter rivals on the Mafia Commission: Gambino crime family
boss Carlo Gambino
, Lucchese crime family
boss Gaetano Lucchese, and Buffalo crime family
boss and cousin, Stefano Magaddino
. However, Profaci capo Joseph Colombo
betrayed Joseph to the Commission, which then summoned Joseph to explain th assassination plot. In 1964, soon after the commission summons, Joseph was kidnapped off the streets of New York, allegedly by Magadinno's men. Many people considered this kidnapping to be a ruse meant to protect Joseph from the Commission's wrath.
took advantage of family discontent over Bill's role to claim family leadership. Supported by the Mafia Commission, DiGregorio revolt led to four years of strife in the Bonanno family, labeled by the media as the "Bananas Wars".
In early 1966, DiGregorio allegedly contacted Bill about having a peace meeting. Bill agreed and suggested his grand-uncle's house on Troutman Street in Brooklyn
as a meeting site. On January 26, 1966, as Bill and his loyalists approached the house, they were fired on by people inside. A fierce, but short gunfight took place. No one was wounded during this confrontation, which led many observers to conclude that it never happened.
In 1968, after a heart attack, Joseph ended the family warfare by agreeing to retire as boss and move to Arizona. As part of this peace agreement, Bill also resigned as consigliere and moved out of New York with his father. In later years, Bill made the following observation about this period:
after getting involved with Lou Peters, a Cadillac-Oldsmobile dealer, in particularly Stockton
, Lodi
and San Jose, California
, Lou Peters turned into an undercover for the FBI, he became close friends with Bill's father, Joe Bonnano Sr, even staying at Joe Bonanno's Tucson home. Though he was not arrested at all for this, this was one of the closest indictments in Joe Bonanno's career.
On January 23, 1981, Bill was indicted in Oakland, California
on 21 counts of grand theft
for defrauding senior citizens in California
for home improvements that were never completed. In 1985, Bill was convicted of conspiracy
and theft .
(primarily on mini-series and films related to his family's criminal past), and collaborated with author Gay Talese
on the book Honor Thy Father
, a history of the Bonanno crime family. Both Bill and Rosalie Bonanno published memoirs later in life. Bill's autobiography
, Bound by Honor: A Mafioso's Story, was published in 1999. Bill was also a writer for the 1999 TV movie Bonanno: A Godfather's Story.
Bill also co-wrote the novel "The Good Guys" with former undercover FBI agent Joseph Pistone and scriptwriter
David Fisher
.
. Actor Tony Nardi
depicted the adult Joseph Bonanno in Bonanno: A Godfather's Story; Eric Roberts
portrayed him in the 1993 made-for-TV movie, "Love, Honor & Obey: The Last Mafia Marriage".
Joseph Bonanno
Joseph Charles Bonanno, Sr. was a Sicilian-born American mafioso who became the boss of the Bonanno crime family. He was nicknamed "Joe Bananas," a name he despised.-Early life:...
. Although his father never intended for him to be the underboss of the Bonanno crime family
Bonanno crime family
The Bonanno crime family is one of the "Five Families" that dominates organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia ....
, his appointment to high positions in the syndicate precipitated a "mob war" which led to the Bonanno family's exile to Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
. Later in life, he became a writer and produced films for television about his family.
Early life
Bill Bonanno was the first child of Joseph and Fay (née Labruzzo) Bonanno. Bill first attended school in BrooklynBrooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
; when in 1938 his father purchased property in Hempstead, Long Island
Hempstead (village), New York
Hempstead is a village located in the town of Hempstead, Nassau County, New York, United States. The population was 53,891 at the 2010 census.Hofstra University is located on the border between Hempstead and Uniondale.-Foundation:...
, he next attended school there when the family relocated. At age 10, Bill developed a severe mastoid ear infection. To aid in treating this ailment, his parents enrolled him in a Catholic boarding school in the dry climate of Tucson, Arizona
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
.
When he was 15, Bill led a group of students (who were supposed to be visiting a museum) to see the controversial 1947 film Forever Amber
Forever Amber (film)
Forever Amber is a 1947 film directed by Otto Preminger and starring Linda Darnell and Cornel Wilde. It was based on the book of the same name. It also starred Richard Greene, George Sanders, Glenn Langan, Richard Haydn, Dolores Hart, and Jessica Tandy...
, a movie banned by the Catholic Church. When school administrators learned about the outing, they expelled Bill from the dormitory. Bill was allowed to continue, but he was forced to live alone in a motel. At some point in time, Bill also attended Tucson High.
Between 1950 and 1952, Bill studied agriculture at the University of Arizona
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885...
, but never graduated. On August 18, 1956, Bill married Rosalie Profaci, niece of Profaci crime family boss Joseph Profaci. Designed to cement an alliance between the two crime families, the sumptuous wedding had 3,000 guests.DeCavalcante crime family
DeCavalcante crime family
The DeCavalcante crime family is an organized crime family that controls organized crime activities in Elizabeth, New Jersey and surrounding areas in the state, despite operating on the other side of the Hudson River in New York, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the American Mafia...
boss Sam DeCavalcante
Sam DeCavalcante
Simone Rizzo "Sam" DeCavalcante , known as "Sam the Plumber", was a member of the New Jersey Mafia. Claiming descent from the Italian royal family, DeCavalcante was nicknamed "The Count"...
later remarked on Bill's poor treatment of Rosalie: "It's a shame; the girl wanted to commit suicide because of the way he treated her". Bill and Rosalie eventually had four children; Charles, Joseph, Salvatore, and Felippa ("Gigi"); Charles was adopted by Bonanno and his wife in 1958.
Involvement with the Cosa Nostra
Bill's first ambition (after a try at law school) was to manage the legitimate end of Joseph's farms, factories, and the real estate empire. At some time after 1952, Bill was inducted as a ("made manMade man
A made man, also known as a Mafioso , made guy, man of honor, or uomo d'onore , is someone who has been officially inducted into the Sicilian or American Mafia . They may also be referred to by some as a goodfella or wiseguy...
") into the Bonanno family. In later years, Joseph appointed him as family consigliere
Consigliere
Consigliere is a position within the leadership structure of Sicilian and American Mafia crime families. The word was popularized by Mario Puzo's novel The Godfather , and its film adaptation...
. However, many family members felt that Bill lacked experience and was too intellectual to lead effectively. These tensions only worsened when Bill advised his father against involving the family in the illegal narcotic
Narcotic
The term narcotic originally referred medically to any psychoactive compound with any sleep-inducing properties. In the United States of America it has since become associated with opioids, commonly morphine and heroin and their derivatives, such as hydrocodone. The term is, today, imprecisely...
s trade.
In 1963, Joseph conspired with Profaci family boss Joseph Magliocco
Joseph Magliocco
Joseph Magliocco, also known as "Joe Malayak" was a New York mobster and the boss of the Profaci crime family from 1962 to 1963...
to assassinate their three bitter rivals on the Mafia Commission: Gambino crime family
Gambino crime family
The Gambino crime family is one of the "Five Families" that dominates organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia . The group is named after Carlo Gambino, boss of the family at the time of the McClellan hearings in 1963...
boss Carlo Gambino
Carlo Gambino
"Don" Carlo Gambino, was a Sicilian mafioso who became Boss of the Gambino crime family, that still bears his name today. After the 1957 Apalachin Convention he unexpectedly seized control of the Commission of the American Mafia. Gambino was known for being low-key and secretive...
, Lucchese crime family
Lucchese crime family
The Lucchese crime family is one of the "Five Families" that dominates organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia . The family originated in the early 1920s with Gaetano "Tommy" Reina serving as boss up until his murder...
boss Gaetano Lucchese, and Buffalo crime family
Buffalo crime family
The Buffalo crime family, also known as the Magaddino crime family and The Arm, is an Italian American criminal organization based in Buffalo, United States. As part of the American Mafia the family operates throughout Western New York and Canada.The Buffalo crime family, gained power during the...
boss and cousin, Stefano Magaddino
Stefano Magaddino
Stefano Magaddino was an Sicilian mafioso who became the boss of the Buffalo crime family in western New York. His underworld influence stretched from Ohio and Southern Ontario as far north as Montreal, Quebec...
. However, Profaci capo Joseph Colombo
Joseph Colombo
Joseph "Joe" Colombo, Sr. was the boss of the Colombo crime family, one of the "Five Families" of the Cosa Nostra in New York.-Background:...
betrayed Joseph to the Commission, which then summoned Joseph to explain th assassination plot. In 1964, soon after the commission summons, Joseph was kidnapped off the streets of New York, allegedly by Magadinno's men. Many people considered this kidnapping to be a ruse meant to protect Joseph from the Commission's wrath.
Bananas Wars
During Joseph's two year absence, Bonanno mobster Gaspar DiGregorioGaspar DiGregorio
Gaspar or Gaspare DiGregorio was a New York mobster and a high-ranking member of the Bonanno crime family who was a key figure in the so-called "Banana War"....
took advantage of family discontent over Bill's role to claim family leadership. Supported by the Mafia Commission, DiGregorio revolt led to four years of strife in the Bonanno family, labeled by the media as the "Bananas Wars".
In early 1966, DiGregorio allegedly contacted Bill about having a peace meeting. Bill agreed and suggested his grand-uncle's house on Troutman Street in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
as a meeting site. On January 26, 1966, as Bill and his loyalists approached the house, they were fired on by people inside. A fierce, but short gunfight took place. No one was wounded during this confrontation, which led many observers to conclude that it never happened.
In 1968, after a heart attack, Joseph ended the family warfare by agreeing to retire as boss and move to Arizona. As part of this peace agreement, Bill also resigned as consigliere and moved out of New York with his father. In later years, Bill made the following observation about this period:
"I always say I had only one goal in the '60s - actually two goals. When I got up in the morning, my goal was to live to sunset. And when sunset came, my second goal was to live to sunrise."
Exile in California and Arizona
In the late 70s, Bill and and his brother Joe Jr., brought high heat in Northern CaliforniaNorthern California
Northern California is the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. The San Francisco Bay Area , and Sacramento as well as its metropolitan area are the main population centers...
after getting involved with Lou Peters, a Cadillac-Oldsmobile dealer, in particularly Stockton
Stockton, California
Stockton, California, the seat of San Joaquin County, is the fourth-largest city in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. With a population of 291,707 at the 2010 census, Stockton ranks as this state's 13th largest city...
, Lodi
Lodi, California
Lodi is a city located in , in the northern portion of California's Central Valley. The population was 62,134 at the 2010 census. The California Department of Finance's population estimate as of January 1, 2011 is 62,473....
and San Jose, California
San Jose, California
San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...
, Lou Peters turned into an undercover for the FBI, he became close friends with Bill's father, Joe Bonnano Sr, even staying at Joe Bonanno's Tucson home. Though he was not arrested at all for this, this was one of the closest indictments in Joe Bonanno's career.
On January 23, 1981, Bill was indicted in Oakland, California
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
on 21 counts of grand theft
Grand theft
Grand theft or grand larceny is a category used to rank the severity of crime associated with theft.Generally, in the United States it is defined as intentional taking property of others in an amount exceeding the state statutory amount....
for defrauding senior citizens in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
for home improvements that were never completed. In 1985, Bill was convicted of conspiracy
Conspiracy (crime)
In the criminal law, a conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to break the law at some time in the future, and, in some cases, with at least one overt act in furtherance of that agreement...
and theft .
As an author and producer
Bill worked occasionally as a television producerTelevision producer
The primary role of a television Producer is to allow all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...
(primarily on mini-series and films related to his family's criminal past), and collaborated with author Gay Talese
Gay Talese
Gay Talese is an American author. He wrote for The New York Times in the early 1960s and helped to define literary journalism...
on the book Honor Thy Father
Honor Thy Father
For the song by Dream Theater, see Train of Thought Honor Thy Father was a 1971 book by Gay Talese, about the travails of the Bonanno crime family in the 1960s, especially Salvatore Bonanno and his father Joseph "Joe Bananas" Bonanno.- Background :In 1965, Gay Talese left his job as a reporter at...
, a history of the Bonanno crime family. Both Bill and Rosalie Bonanno published memoirs later in life. Bill's autobiography
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
, Bound by Honor: A Mafioso's Story, was published in 1999. Bill was also a writer for the 1999 TV movie Bonanno: A Godfather's Story.
Bill also co-wrote the novel "The Good Guys" with former undercover FBI agent Joseph Pistone and scriptwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
David Fisher
David Fisher (writer)
David Fisher is a British professional writer for television. He was born in 1929.He wrote the scripts for four serials of Doctor Who. He first contributed The Stones of Blood and The Androids of Tara during that show's sixteenth season, and The Creature from the Pit for the seventeenth season...
.
Death
Bill Bonanno died of a heart attack on the morning of January 1, 2008. He was interred near his father in Holy Hope Cemetery and Mausoleum in Tucson.In popular culture
Bill Bonanno was the main character in the 1971 non-fiction book Honor Thy Father.In the television miniseries based on the book, Bill was portrayed by actor Joseph BolognaJoseph Bologna
Joseph Bologna is an American actor.-Life and career:Bologna was born in Brooklyn, New York. He attended Brown University, where he majored in art history. After a hitch with the marines, Bologna was hired to produce and direct Manhattan-based TV commercials.The actor has a long history in film...
. Actor Tony Nardi
Tony Nardi
Tony Nardi is a Canadian actor, playwright, director and producer.Tony Nardi is a two-time winner of the Genie Award for Best Actor, for his roles in La Sarrasine and My Father's Angel....
depicted the adult Joseph Bonanno in Bonanno: A Godfather's Story; Eric Roberts
Eric Roberts
Eric Anthony Roberts is an American actor. His career began with King of the Gypsies , earning a Golden Globe nomination for best actor debut. He starred as the protagonist in the 1980 dramatisation of Willa Cather's 1905 short story, Paul's Case...
portrayed him in the 1993 made-for-TV movie, "Love, Honor & Obey: The Last Mafia Marriage".