Chronicles of Events and Biographies Related to the American Mafia
Murder at the Drive Thru: Bonanno Family Mobster Shot in the Head While Getting Coffee at McDonald’s Early Life Sylvester Zottola, often known as “Sally Daz,” was born in 1947 in New York City. He grew up in the Bronx, an area with a rich history of organized crime. Details about his early life remain…
Donnie Brasco did more damage to the New York mafia than anyone else had ever done before. Brasco’s actions led to dozens of indictments and over one hundred convictions of organized crime figures across New York. The very fabric of the New York mafia and its Five Family Commission was upended, and respected Mafiosos were…
Benjamin Bugsy Siegel was born February 28, 1906, in Williamsburg, 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…
Carmine Galante was born February 21, 1910 in East Harlem and had two brothers and two sisters. His parents immigrated from Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily in 1906 where his father worked as a fisherman. Galante was a handful for his parents early on and by 1920 at the age of 10 had been in and…
Gaspar DiGregorio was a New York Mafia boss who led the Bonanno crime family during the so-called “Bannana Wars” of the 1960s. He played a key role in one of the bloodiest periods in mob history and helped transition his family from its original management to a new generation of leaders. DiGregorio was born in…
Benjamin “Lefty” Ruggiero, also known as “Lefty Guns” and “Lefty Two Guns,” was born in the Fourth Ward neighborhood of Little Italy, Manhattan, on April 19, 1926. From a young age, Ruggiero became involved with the Bonanno crime family, serving as a street soldier under Michael Sabella. He lived in Knickerbocker Village, an apartment complex…
Alphonse “Sonny Red” Indelicato was born in New York City on February 25, 1931. His family name came from Siculiana, Agrigento, Sicily, however he never once visited. Indelicato was the father-in-law to Bonanno associate Salvatore Valenti and the ex-son-in-law of Bonanno capo Charles Ruvolo. He was also related to Gov. of Massachusetts Michael Dukakis’s education…
The Bonanno Family is one of the “Five Families” that controls the east coast with the hub of activity in New York and New Jersey. They are part of the nationwide criminal syndicate known as the mafia or Cosa Nostra. The Bonanno’s have been around since the 1880’s but are most recently known for their…
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 great Salvatore Maranzano was born on July 31, 1886 in Sicily. Little is known about Maranzano while he lived in Italy; however he was once rumored to have wanted to become a priest as a young kid, and even studied to become one; he became associated with the mob instead. Maranzano built a following…
Joe 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…
Dominick “Sonny Black” Napolitano came into this world on June 16, 1930, and was raised in Williamsburg, Brooklyn where he got his start as a petty thief. Although his descendants were from Naples, Italy, he was born with blond hair and as he grew into adulthood died it jet black which earned him the nickname…
Anthony Spero was the consigliere and two time acting boss of the Bonanno crime family of New York. He was born in 1929 and became involved with organized crime on the streets of Brooklyn in his early twenties. Early on his closest confidant was Bonanno underboss Carmine Galante who showed Spero the ways of the…