The American Mafia

In addition to crime family boss Joseph Bonanno, the Bonanno clan was also represented in the Mafia by Joseph's son Salvatore "Bill" Bonanno.

Joseph Bonanno
Jan. 18, 1905, to May 12, 2002.
"Joe Bananas"

Bonanno is the unusual case of a long-time Mafia boss who wrote his own autobiography. Bonanno's book, "A Man of Honor," deals at length with the author's personal Robin Hood fantasy and very little with the assortment of crimes of which he is certainly guilty. (It was most likely written because even the duped Gay Talese had not reported all the the malarkey handed to him by the Bonannos during his research for "Honor Thy Father.")

Born Jan. 18, 1905 in Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily, Bonanno first came to the U.S. with his family (established Mafia leaders) at age 3. The family returned to Sicily when he was about 7 to protect its interests there. Bonanno traveled back to Brooklyn in 1924 and settled with his relatives, the Bonventres.

Within a few years, Bonanno was actively bootlegging for the Cola Schiro organization. The group appears to have been cofounded by another Bonanno relative, Stefano Maggadino, some years earlier. It included a large number of Castellammarese immigrants.

Bonanno was a staunch supporter of Salvatore Maranzano in the Castellammarese War, but was welcomed into the new Mafia hierarchy after Maranzano's assassination in 1931.

Bonanno claims to have been made boss of the Brooklyn Castellammarese clan after Maranzano's death. He held that role and expanded his family's interests into Canada, Arizona and California - with some serious competition (made famous in the press as the "Banana Wars") and occasional interruptions (he was once allegedly kidnapped) - into the 1980s.

After Bonanno's retirement, his crime family was kicked off the Commission in the 1980s after it was learned that the group was directly involved with drug trafficking, in violation of a Paul Castellano edict.

Bonanno died of natural causes May 12, 2002.

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Salvatore Bonanno
"Bill"
1932 to -

Salvatore is the son of Joe Bonanno and the author of "Bound by Honor" and other books about the underworld.

He served in various leadership positions within the Bonanno organization and was groomed by his father to take over the Family. The relationship between Joe and Bill Bonanno is the subject of Gay Talese's largely unreliable journalistic endeavor, "Honor Thy Father."

Much of the Family membership and all of the Mafia Commission objected to Bill's succession, leading to a civil war in the Family in the late 1960s.

A faction of the Family led by Commission-favored Gaspar DiGregorio allegedly ambushed Bill Bonanno and his supporters at a supposed nighttime peace conference on Troutman Street in Brooklyn. DiGregorio's men opened up with rifles and shotguns. Bonanno's side returned fire. It was said that the two sides fired 100 rounds at each other.

The incident - the most exciting of Bill Bonanno's underworld career - was either a complete fabrication or grossly exaggerated. There was no report of a single injury occurring at Troutman Street.