Philip Rusty Rastelli – 1981 Bonanno War

April 2, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Phillip “Rusty” Rastelli was a former boss of the Bonanno crime family, taking over the rein in the early 1970s, following the retirement of Joseph Bonanno. Rastelli, who listed his occupation as a radio dispatcher for a taxi company, was eventually convicted of antitrust violations and sentenced to a 10-year prison term. He reportedly directed the operations of the family from prison, however; he could not be influential from behind bars and his control waned.

Rastelli was born January 31, 1918 in Maspeth, Queens. He had five siblings; Carmine, Marinello, Agustus, Justina and Grace.

Rastelli was heavily involved in loansharking, extortion and drug trafficking activities before joining the Bonanno crime family. He was said to be close friends with Dominick “Sonny Black” Napolitano, Carmine Galante, Joseph Bonanno and Joseph Massino.

On December 3, 1953, Rastelli and an associate allegedly shot William Russo in Queens. However, Russo survived the shooting, and Rastelli, fearing identification, went into hiding. Over the next year, Rastelli’s wife Connie allegedly approached Russo’s wife many times with an offer of $5,000 if her husband did not identify Rastelli. The bribe was said to be refused each time. On December 13, 1954, Connie Rastelli was indicted on charges of attempting to bribe a witness. Around the same time, Russo was killed in Brooklyn. No one has been charged with his murder.

Connie Rastelli was believed to have been killed in 1962 after she became a Federal informer, according to a New York Times obituary for Phillip Rastelli.  Mrs. Rastelli, who had been angered over her husband’s suspected infidelities, began telling Federal investigators about the family’s criminal activities. Her body reportedly has never been found.

In 1969, in an attempt to restore order to the Bonanno family, the Commission appointed a three-man panel to run the family comprised of Rastelli, Joseph DiFilippi, and Natale “Joe Diamonds” Evola.

On July 21, 1971, Rastelli was indicted in Riverhead, New York on loansharking charges. The loansharking ring, centered in Babylon, New York and Islip, New York, charged victims from 250 to 300 percent interest annually and reportedly generated over $1 million per year in revenue for the Bonanno family. On December 28, 1972, Rastelli was convicted in state court on seven counts of loansharking.

On August 28, 1973, Evola died and Rastelli became acting boss of the Bonanno family. On February 23, 1974, at a meeting at the Americana Hotel (now the Sheraton New York) located in Manhattan, the Commission named Rastelli as official boss, but the real power in the family soon migrated to rival and underboss Carmine Galante.

On March 6, 1975, Rastelli was indicted on racketeering charges for extortion and anti-trust violations.  He was convicted of the anti-trust and extortion on August 27, 1976 and given one year on the anti-trust violation and three concurrent ten-year sentences on the extortion.

Sent to federal prison in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, Rastelli was sent to federal prison in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.  In 1979,  the imprisoned Rastelli allegedly ordered Galante’s murder. The other Commission members had decided that Galante was bad for their business and gave Rastelli permission to remove him. Rastelli would become the undisputed boss, controlling from behind bars through the use of acting bosses such as longtime Bonanno mobster Salvatore “Sally Fruits” Ferrugia.

There was disagreement within the Bonanno crime family as to whether Rastelli should be the boss, which led to an internal war in 1981. This resulted in the murders of several people including opposition leader Bonanno caporegime Alphonse “Sonny Red” Indelicato, who had opposed Rastelli remaining the boss. This power struggle was reported to be witnessed by FBI agent Joseph “Donnie Brasco” Pistone, who was working undercover.

Rastelli was paroled from prison in late 1983, as it was said that he attempted to restore order, unity and respect to his crime family which had been greatly damaged and diminished from underworld power and influence.

Over the years, there has been a belief that the American mafia was not directly involved in the drug trade as some bosses ordered their men not to get involved with drugs, but many disobeyed. For the Bonanno family, the drug trade became one of its most lucrative rackets.

In 1985, Rastelli was indicted, along with other Cosa Nostra leaders, in the famous Mafia Commission Trial. The Bonanno family was spared from getting caught up in the Commission Trial, which sentenced many Mafia bosses and members to prison. However, when Rastelli was indicted on separate labor racketeering charges, prosecutors decided to remove him from the Commission trial. Having previously lost their seat on the Commission, the Bonanno family suffered less exposure than the others in the case.

On June 4, 1991, Rastelli was released from the Federal Medical Center in Springfield, Missouri, where he had undergone surgery, on humanitarian grounds. His release was ordered by Judge Charles P. Sifton of Federal District Court, the judge who had sentenced him, because he was believed to be dying.

On July 21, 1991, Rastelli died at Booth Memorial Hospital in Queens from liver cancer at age 73. His survivors included three brothers, Carmine, of Queens, who was convicted with his brother in the conspiracy case and who was also ordered to federal prison; Marinello, of Queens  and Augustus, of Florida, and two sisters, Justina Devita and Grace Iacomini, both of Queens.  He is buried in Saint John Cemetery in Middle Village, Queens.

Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel – Flamingo Hotel and Casino

March 25, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel was born February 28, 1906, in Williamsville, Brooklyn.  The organized crime boss is best known for his bootlegging and gambling operations that included the Flamingo casino in Las Vegas. He is known by many to be the “Father of Las Vegas.” Bugsy’s legacy is that of being one of the most infamous and feared gangsters of the era.

The son of Jewish immigrants, Siegel was raised in the crime-ridden section of Williamsburg.  As a teenager, he is said to have extorted money from pushcart peddlers on New York City’s Lower East Side. Siegel befriended Meyer Lansky and in 1918 the two formed the Bugs-Meyer Gang, a group of contract killers who operated under the name Murder, Inc. Siegel was also a friend of Al Capone and is said to have hid Capone at the home of one of his aunts when there was a warrant out on Capone for murder.

Siegel is said to have made a great deal of money by age 21. His charisma, charm and good looks made him likable to most everyone. A reputed womanizer, Siegel married his childhood sweetheart, Esta Krakower on January 28, 1929. Krakower, the sister of contract killer Whitey Krakower, would divorce Siegel in 1946.

During the late 1920s, Mafia kingpin Charles “Lucky” Luciano and a number of other Italian gangsters organized themselves into a national syndicate, with Siegel becoming a prominent player. With a goal of killing many of New York’s veteran gangsters, Luciano ordered Siegel and three other hit men to execute Sicilian mobster Joe “the Boss” Masseria. Siegel, along with Albert “Mad Hatter” Anastasia, Vito Genovese and Joe Adonis carried out the execution of Masseria on April 15, 1931.

By 1937, Luciano decided that it would be best for Siegel to leave for the West Coast to escape the wrath of his enemies.  Siegel located to California, where he befriended many Hollywood stars, as well as studio owners such as Jack Warner and Louis B. Mayer. Historians claim Siegel would go on to extort money from both. Siegel would become friends with such stars as Jean Harlow, Clark Gable, Carey Grant and Gary Cooper and was a frequent guest at many Hollywood parties.

While in California, Siegel took over local unions and is said to have staged strikes in order to force movie studios to pay him off for getting the unions working again. Siegel borrowed large sums of money from celebrities and refused to pay them back knowing that they wouldn’t ask him for their money back.  In his first year in Hollywood, Siegel reportedly received more than $400,000 in one-way loans from movie stars.

Siegel trial newspaper clippingOn November 22, 1939, Siegel, Whitey Krakower, and two other gang members killed Harry “Big Greenie” Greenberg because he had threatened to become a police informant. In September, 1941, Siegel was tried for the murder. Whitey Krakower was killed before he could face trial.

The trial gained notoriety because of the preferential treatment Siegel was reportedly receiving in jail.  He refused to eat prison food and was allowed female visitors.  Siegel would eventually be acquitted due to the lack of evidence, but his reputation was tarnished.  During the trial, newspapers reported on Siegel’s past and referred to him as “Bugsy.”  Siegel is said to have disliked the name and preferred to be called “Ben.”

On March 10, 1944, the Draft Board attempted to draft Siegel in the Army by asking for a waiver of an age limit, but the State Director of Selective Service is said to have refused the waiver because of the reputed legal dealings with Siegel’s attorney that prohibited the induction.

It was in Los Angeles that Siegel met actress Virginia Hill, a money runner for the Chicago Mob, and who had a penchant for blackmailing Hollywood stars. In 1945, the two moved to Las Vegas, where Siegel began working toward his dream of building a gambling mecca in the Nevada desert. With a reported $5 million in funding from the eastern crime syndicate, construction of the Flamingo Hotel and Casino began.

Siegel was convinced that he could draw thousands of vacationers. He began spending enormous amounts of money, demanding the finest building money could buy. The reported figures for the cost of the 93-room hotel were exceeding $6 million. Adding to the problems were said to be dishonest contractors and disgruntled unpaid builders. By day, trucks delivered black market goods. By night the same materials were pilfered and resold to Siegel a few days later. As costs soared, Siegel’s checks reportedly began bouncing.

With the unsuccessful opening of the Flamingo, Luciano demanded Siegel return the $5 million he had been given for the construction. Siegel refused the demand and Luciano ordered Siegel’s execution.

On the evening of June 20, 1947, Siegel was at home in his Hollywood bungalow after returning from getting a haircut.  He is said to have been sitting on a sofa in front of an open window reading a newspaper at approximately 10:30 p.m. At age 42, Siegel was dead from shots to the head and lungs.

It was reported that only five people, all relatives, attended Siegel’s funeral.  Hill, who shared the Hollywood home with Siegel, was out of the country and could not make it back in time. None of Siegel’s celebrity friends were in attendance.

The movie “Bugsy”, a biography of the life of Benjamin Siegel, was released in 1991, starring Warren Beatty.

Joseph Charles Bonanno, Sr. – American Mafia Boss at 26

March 17, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Joseph Charles Bonanno, Sr. was a self-described “venture capitalist” and denied any involvement with drug trafficking or prostitution.  As the head of one of New York City’s five original mafia families, Bonanno led the Brooklyn-based crime family for more than three decades before losing power in the 1960s.

Bonanno was born Giuseppe Carlo Bonanno on January 18, 1905 in Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily. At age three, his family moved to the United States and settled in the Williamsburg neighborhood in Brooklyn for approximately 10 years before returning to Italy. Bonanno slipped back into the United States in 1924 by stowing away on a Cuban fishing boat bound for Tampa.

Bonanno is said to have become involved in bootlegging activities, and soon joined a Mafia family led by Castellammarese, Salvatore Maranzano.

Bonanno became known to Joe “the Boss” Masseria, the leader of Mafia activities in New York. In 1927 violence broke out between the two rival factions, Masseria and Maranzano, in what would become known as the Castellammarese War. It continued for more than four years. By 1930, Bonanno became one of Maranzano’s chief aides and served as an underboss and chief of staff.

By 1931, momentum had shifted to Maranzano and the Castellammarese faction. They were said to be better organized and more unified than Masseria’s group.  Lucky Luciano and Vito Genovese urged Masseria to make peace with Maranzano, but Masseria refused. Luciano and Genovese concluded a secret deal with Maranzano that involved the return for safety and equal status for Luciano in Maranzano’s new organization.  Luciano and Genovese murdered Masseria, which brought an end to the Castellammarese War.

Bonanno would go on to be awarded most of Maranzano’s crime family. At age 26, Bonanno had become one of the youngest-ever bosses of a crime family. Years later, Bonanno wrote in his autobiography that he had not known about the plan to kill Maranzano.

Bonanno was nicknamed “Joe Bananas,” a name he reportedly despised and his family was sometimes called “the Bananas family.” The Bonanno crime family’s underbosses were Frank Garofalo and John Bonventre. While it was known as one of the smaller crime families, it was said to be more tight-knit than others.  The Bonanno family prospered in the business of loan sharking, bookmaking, numbers running, prostitution, and other illegal activities. Bonanno was married to Fay Labruzzo and they had three children- Salvatore “Bill” Bonanno, born 1932; Catherine, born 1934; and Joseph Charles Jr., born 1945. In 1938, Bonanno left the country, then re-entered legally at Detroit so that he could apply for citizenship.

Bonanno’s invested in real estate during the Great Depression. His legitimate business interests included three coat factories, a laundry, cheese factories, funeral homes, and a trucking company. When Bonanno became a U.S. citizen in 1945, he was said to be a multi-millionaire.

Unlike many mafia counterparts, Bonanno was never convicted of anything more serious than obstructing justice. Bonanno was convicted in 1980 for trying to block a federal grand jury investigation into his sons. Bonanno served nearly eight months in prison before being paroled in July 1984. He had also served 14 months in prison in 1985-86 for contempt of court for refusal to answer questions about other crime family leaders.

Bonanno became increasingly unpopular with other Mafia bosses. It was reported that Magaddino was incensed that Bonanno was moving in on Toronto, long considered part of the Buffalo family’s territory. Some thought he spent too much time away from New York, and more in Canada and Tucson, Arizona, where he had business interests. Bonanno eventually was removed him from power and replaced with one of his capos, Gaspar DiGregorio. This resulted in Bonanno’s family breaking into two groups, the one led by DiGregorio, and the other headed by Bonanno and his son, Salvatore.  This would come to be known as “The Banana Split.”

Buffalo Crime Family Members

Buffalo Crime Family Members

In October 1964, Bonanno disappeared and was not heard from again for two years. Bonanno later would claim that he was kidnapped in front of his lawyer’s apartment at 36 East 37th Street in New York City by Buffalo Family members, Peter Magaddino and Antonino Magaddino and was held captive in upstate New York by his cousin, Stefano Magaddino. After six weeks, Bonanno was released and allowed to go to Texas. Bonanno’s claims were regarded as lore, as it was unlikely he would have been walking the streets of New York City unguarded. FBI recordings of New Jersey boss Sam “the Plumber” Decavalcante revealed that the other bosses were taken by surprise when Bonanno disappeared.

Bonanno suffered a heart attack in 1968 and announced his retirement. He resolved never to get involved with New York Mafia affairs again. Bonanno resigned to a quiet life in Tuscon. His notoriety was briefly revived in January 1995 when his family held a much-publicized 90th birthday party for Bonanno at a resort in Tucson. Among the 300 guests were priests, politicians, actors, attorneys, authors and family members.

Bonanno would spend his remaining years under the close watch of the F.B.I. Bonanno died of heart failure at the age of 97 at a hospital in the city where he had retired in 1968.

In his autobiography titled, “A Man of Honor, the Autobiography of Joseph Bonanno,” he wrote that the term Mafia, “refers to a process, a special set of relationships among men. I stay away from the term because it creates more confusion than it is worth.”

Ignazio Lupo – Implicated in the early 1900′s Barrel Murders

February 21, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Ignazio Lupo was born to a middle class family in Province of Palermo, Sicily on March 19, 1877. From an early age he was involved in crimes ranging from simple robbery to theft. In 1889 Lupo is believed to have committed his first murder when a man named Salvatore Morello (unrelated to the Giuseppe Morello family) was found dead. Lupo reportedly shot him after Morello attacked him with a knife. The investigation led to Lupo and charges were filed, but at the advice of his parents, he fled Italy traveling across the globe through Liverpool, Montreal and Buffalo before ending up in New York in 1898. Italian courts convicted him in absentia of murder on March 14, 1899.

Once he was settled in New York Lupo joined his cousin and opened a store in Manhattan. In 1902 his father joined him where they opened a retail grocery store on 39th street between 9th and 10th avenues. Lupo was only 25 years old and in control of two stores and a bar across from one of his stores, but he wasn’t satisfied. His next move was to prey on Italian immigrants in what is known as Little Italy. There Lupo used Black Hand tactics from Italy to extort money from the weak and joined forces with fellow Italian gangster Giuseppe and Nicholas Morello and their brothers through marriage, Vincenzo and Ciro Terranova.

Over his lifetime, Lupo was expected to have taken part in 60 murders. Many went unsolved but rumblings on the street often pointed to Lupo and the Morello-Terranova faction.

On July 22, 1902 grocer Giuseppe “Joe the Grocer” Catania was stabbed and later died from his wounds after he spoke about his association with Lupo and Morello and a counterfeiting operation they established. His body was found a day later stuffed in a potato sack. His throat had been slit from ear to ear.

On April 14, 1903 Benedetto Madonia, a stone mason from New York became one of the first victims of the

1903 Barrel murder crime scene photo

1903 Barrel murder crime scene photo

“barrel murders” made famous by the Provenzano crime family in New Orleans and adopted by the newly formed Morello crime family in New York. Madonia, was found stuffed inside a barrel of sawdust after his throat had been slashed and his body stabbed more than 20 times. Several Morello crime family members were arrested under suspicion of murder, but it was Morello hitman Tomasso Petto who eventually held but released in January 1904 due to lack of evidence. Lupo and Morello were said to be accomplices but never charged.

In November 1909 Giuseppe Morello and several of his conspirators are arrested for counterfeiting after the police raid a Highland, NY home. Lupo is arrested at his home two days later and formally charged with extortion and counterfeiting on January 9, 1910. The trial began just seventeen days later.

After nearly a month’s long battle between the prosecutors and mafia attorneys, Judge Ray of the U.S. Circuit Court issued two hours and 35 minutes worth of instructions to the jury to aid them in their deliberations. They were sent to decide the fate of the accused on February 19, 1910 at 2p.m. and returned with a verdict at 3:15p.m., the same day. All were found guilty with no one receiving less than a 15 year sentence. Both Morello and Lupo received 15 years and a $500 fine. Lupo was sent to the United States Penitentiary at Atlanta, GA, as inmate #2883 on February 20, 1910.

While in prison, Lupo was far from a model prisoner. On June 23, 1910 he was placed in solitary confinement, placed on a restricted diet, and lost 20 days of “good time” when he tried bribing a prison guard to mail unauthorized letters. In February 1911 he received another three days solitary confinement and restricted diet for antagonizing another inmate. Lupo was said to have been laughing, talking, and making hand signs, commonplace in today’s prison system. October 1913 he is warned for disorderly conduct. January 1915 he reprimanded for spitting on the prison floor, and August 1915 he receives five days solitary confinement and restricted diet for renumbering his prison uniform.

December 1916 Deputy Warden Brock of Atlanta Prison is murdered by inmates. At a deposition, Lupo is questioned about his involvement in the crime. He denies even knowing about the murder, however other inmates place him “six feet away” while the crime was committed. He was even said to have known about the plot and positioned himself to witness the slaughter. No charges are ever filed. Lupo was released from prison on June 30, 1920 after his sentence was commuted to time served.

 After his release from prison, Lupo went back to Italy for a couple of years. Upon his return he was briefly detained by immigration but released after convincing them he was now a wine exporter. He reestablished himself in mafia life but never to the level he obtained prior to his prison term. He was a shell of his former self but still feared by other gangsters and the newly created commission as a hot head that brought down too much heat for being a murderer. In the early 1930’s it’s widely believed the commission stripped him of all his rackets leaving him with only one small Italian lottery in Brooklyn.

 In an effort to make more money and get back what he lost to the commission, Lupo began extorting local Italian bakeries. On October 8, 1930 he murdered bakery owner Roger Consiglio.

 July 16, 1935 law enforcement finally caught up with Lupo and charged him with extortion. For the past several years he had been working to persuade the local bakeries to join his “union” aka protection. One year later Franklin Roosevelt deems Lupo a menace and in violation of his terms of conditional release and sends him back to prison to finish his sentence on the counterfeiting charges from 1909. Upon his admittance to prison a local newspaper had a short blurb about the prisons newest inmate.

       “Atlanta penitentiary gates clanged yesterday on Ignazio (Lupo the Wolf) Saietta, oldest living public enemy in the United States. The grizzled Mafia terrorist, now in his sixtieth year and reputed to have banked in Italy more than $3,000,000 gleaned from New York rackets, was returned to the prison on a warrant signed by President Roosevelt.” (Prison shuts again on Lupo the Wolf. (1936, July 16)).”

Lupo served ten more years in prison and was released back to society in 1946. He died a virtual unknown on January 13, 1947.

Ralph Capone – Big Brother to Al “Scarface” Capone

February 10, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Ralph Capone Sr. was born on January 12, 1894 in Angri, Italy. He was one of nine siblings born to Gabriel and Teresa Capone, and the older brother to Al “Scarface” Capone, future boss of the Chicago outfit.

Ralph, his brother Vincenzo, and his mother arrived in the United States at Ellis Island on June 18, 1895. His father arrived several months earlier and established a home near the Navy yards in Brooklyn, New York. As his father worked in a nearby barbershop, Teresa stayed busy with their growing family. Four years after they moved to Brooklyn Ralph’s mother gave birth to Alphonse Capone. In 1910 the family moved from their home near the Navy yards to 38 Garfield Pl. in Park slope, Brooklyn.

Ralph married Filomena Muscato on September 24, 1915. He was 21 years old and she just 17. They had one child, a son named Ralph Gabriel Capone on April 17, 1917. They divorced in 1921.

During the time Ralph was establishing a family his younger brother Al was being groomed by a well-known Brooklyn gangster named Johnny Torrio. After Al married in 1918, Torrio beckoned him to Chicago in anticipation of the start of prohibition. Ralph accompanied his brother Al to Chicago taking his son, but leaving his wife behind.

In Chicago Ralph was placed in charge of the bottling plants for the Chicago version of the mafia formally called the Outfit. Torrio was attempting to monopolize nonalcoholic beverages that were commonly used in mixed drinks during the time the sale of alcohol was outlawed. The family became successful in their endeavors taking large profits for the Outfit. They even became the second largest soft drink vendor during the 1933 World’s Fair.

By 1930 his brother Al had complete control of the Chicago Outfit and nearly all of the illegal alcohol flowing in and out of Chicago. In April, 1930 Al was named as public enemy number one by the Chicago Crime Commission. Ralph was number three. Less than a year later his brother would be tried and convicted for tax evasion and sent to prison on an eleven year stretch. Frank Nitti was picked to be the new boss of the Chicago Outfit. Brother Ralph remained with the crime family and placed in charge Chicago’s Cotton Club, a front for syndicate gambling.

Though Ralph was the older brother of Al, he never held a position of power within the Outfit. He was a trusted front man and good earner, but stayed clear of the dirty side of the business choosing to earn money from legitimate business fronts. In 1932 Ralph, like his brother, was also convicted of tax evasion. He served three years.

After his release from prison, Capone moved to Mercer, Wisconsin where he purchased a home and eventually a hotel named “The Red Hotel” and attached tavern named “Billy’s Bar”. During his time in Wisconsin he still had ties to the Outfit as members of the crime family were frequent visitors of his hotel; a safe place to lay low. He died on November 22, 1974 of natural causes in Hurley, Wisconsin.

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