"Joe Bananas" redirects here. For the American rapper also known as Joe Bananas, see Ol' Dirty Bastard.
For the American optometrist, see Joseph A. Bonanno.
Joseph Bonanno
Bonanno's c. 1964 mugshot
Born
Giuseppe Carlo Bonanno
(1905-01-18)January 18, 1905
Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily, Kingdom of Italy
Died
May 11, 2002(2002-05-11) (aged 97)
Tucson, Arizona, U.S.
Resting place
Holy Hope Cemetery and Mausoleum, Tucson
Other names
"Joe Bananas", "Don Peppino"
Occupation
Crime boss
Predecessor
Salvatore Maranzano
Successor
Paul Sciacca
Spouse
Fay Labruzzo
(m. 1931; died 1980)
Children
3, including Salvatore "Bill" Bonanno
Relatives
Stefano Magaddino (great uncle) Giovanni Bonventre (uncle) Cesare Bonventre (cousin)
Allegiance
Bonanno crime family
Conviction(s)
Obstruction of justice (1983) Contempt of court (1985)
Criminal penalty
8 months in prison 14 months in prison
Joseph Charles Bonanno (born Giuseppe Carlo Bonanno; Italian:[dʒuˈzɛppeˈkarloboˈnanno]; January 18, 1905 – May 11, 2002), sometimes referred to as Joe Bananas, was an Italian-American crime boss of the Bonanno crime family, which he ran from 1931 to 1968.
Bonanno was born in Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily, where his father was also involved in organized crime. At the age of three, Bonanno immigrated to New York City with his family, where he lived for about 10 years before he moved back to Italy. He later slipped back into the United States in 1924, by stowing away on a Cuban fishing boat bound for Tampa, Florida. After the Castellammarese War, Salvatore Maranzano was murdered in 1931, Bonanno reorganized most of the crime family as the Bonanno family. At age 26, Bonanno became one of the youngest-ever bosses of a crime family. In 1963, Bonanno made plans with Joseph Magliocco to assassinate several rivals on the Mafia Commission. When Magliocco gave the contract to one of his top hit men, Joseph Colombo, he revealed the plot to its targets. The Commission spared Magliocco's life but forced him into retirement, while Bonanno fled to Canada. In 1964, he briefly returned to New York before disappearing until 1966. The "Banana War" ensued and lasted until 1968, when Bonanno retired to Arizona. Later in life, he became a writer, publishing the book A Man of Honor: The Autobiography of Joseph Bonanno in 1983. Bonanno died on May 11, 2002, in Tucson, Arizona.
Joseph Charles Bonanno (born Giuseppe Carlo Bonanno; Italian: [dʒuˈzɛppe ˈkarlo boˈnanno]; January 18, 1905 – May 11, 2002), sometimes referred to as Joe...
The Bonanno crime family (pronounced [boˈnanno]) is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime...
boss JosephBonanno. Later in life, he became a writer and produced films for television about his family. Bonanno was the first child of Joseph and Fay...
leader Joe Profaci died of cancer. In 1963, Bonanno crime family boss, JosephBonanno made plans with Joseph Magliocco to assassinate several rivals on...
family boss Stefano Magaddino, and uncle to the wife of Bonanno crime family founder JosephBonanno. As a young man, Magliocco became involved in illegal...
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...
Bonanno is an Italian surname. Notable people with the surname include: Bonanno crime family, a Mafia family in New York City JosephBonanno (1905–2002)...
Bonanno Pisano (born in Pisa; fl. 1170s–1180s) was an Italian sculptor, mixing Byzantine and classical elements. Giorgio Vasari attributed the realization...
Castellammarese faction in the U.S. included Joseph "Joe Bananas" Bonanno, Stefano "The Undertaker" Magaddino, Joseph Profaci, and Joe Aiello. As it became more...
brother of JosephBonanno's maternal grandmother. Magaddino's uncle of the same name led a Castellammarese clan allied with Giuseppe "Peppe" Bonanno and his...
York: HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-109184-7. Bonanno, Joseph (2003). A Man of Honor: The Autobiography of JosephBonanno. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-97923-1...
succeeded JosephBonanno as boss of the Bonanno crime family in 1968. He was succeeded by Natale Evola in 1971. In 1964, a rivalry in the Bonanno crime family...
Maranzano was backed by two men from California. JosephBonanno (died 2002) and his son Salvatore Bonanno (died 2008) wrote of several close associates in...
Sicily, and an early Cosa Nostra boss who led what later would become the Bonanno crime family in New York City. He instigated the Castellammarese War in...
business for the Cosa Nostra. In 1964, Joseph "Joe Bananas" Bonanno, the head of the Bonanno crime family, and Joseph Magliocco, the new boss of the Profaci...
against a rival group, based in Brooklyn, led by Salvatore Maranzano and JosephBonanno. Morello, an old hand in the killing game, became Masseria's "war chief"...
friends with Dominick "Sonny Black" Napolitano, Carmine Galante, JosephBonanno and Joseph Massino. On December 3, 1953, Rastelli and an associate allegedly...
1972. p. 33. Retrieved April 24, 2012. Bonanno, Joseph. A Man of Honor: The Autobiography of JosephBonanno pg.170-185 "Catena Now Expected to Meet Gambino"...
of the original bosses of the modern Five Families, the others being JosephBonanno, Lucky Luciano, Joe Profaci and Tommy Gagliano. Mangano made the waterfront...
Rosalie Profaci was married to Salvatore Bonanno, the son of Bonanno crime family boss JosephBonanno. Profaci was the uncle of Salvatore Profaci Jr., also a...
Sebastiano Domingo (1910–1933), notably Bill Bonanno, the son of Bonanno crime family leader JosephBonanno, who participated in the War. Others charge...
During this time, Gotti befriended fellow mob hijacker and future Bonanno family boss Joseph Massino, and he was given the nicknames "Black John" and "Crazy...
his Buffalo family would control Ontario, Canada, and that JosephBonanno and his Bonanno family would control Quebec, Canada. The Buffalo family remained...
Castellammarese faction in the U.S. included Joseph "Joe Bananas" Bonanno, Stefano "The Undertaker" Magaddino, Joseph Profaci and Joe Aiello. As it became more...
community". Some of Cohn's former clients, including Bill Bonanno, son of crime boss JosephBonanno, also credit him with having compromising photographs...
close associate of JosephBonanno, the original boss of the Bonanno crime family. In 1931, Evola served as an usher at Bonanno's wedding. In 1957, Evola...
In A Man of Honor: The Autobiography of JosephBonanno, Simon & Schuster, ISBN 0-671-46747-6, JosephBonanno referred to Willie Moretti as Frank Costello's...
many politicians, celebrities, and academics, such as Tina Turner, JosephBonanno, Vladimir Horowitz, Bobby Fischer, Luciano Pavarotti, Maria Callas,...
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