New York's 'Last Don' Convicted
Betrayed by his ex-best friend and seven other mob turncoats, Bonanno crime boss Joseph Massino was convicted Friday of murder and racketeering charges — some dating back 25 years to the era when FBI agent "Donnie Brasco" infiltrated the family.
Massino, 61, a former 400-pounder known as "Big Joey," stood impassively as the litany of guilty verdicts was read in the fifth day of jury deliberations. His daughter, Adeline, sitting in the courtroom, whispered, "Oh, God."
Massino was also convicted of arson, extortion, money-laundering and other charges as the jury convicted him on every count. The once-powerful mob boss and close friend of late Gambino family head John Gotti faces life in prison at his sentencing.
As lawyers discussed a forfeiture hearing on Massino's millions of dollars in assets, the mob boss turned to his wife and offered a brief shrug.
The verdict was a crippling blow to both the Bonannos and Massino, who was also dubbed "The Last Don" for his ability to avoid jail while the heads of New York's other four Mafia families were all behind bars.
Since his 1992 release on a racketeering rap, Massino dodged prosecution while bringing the Bonannos back from the brink of extinction. The family nearly collapsed after FBI agent Joe Pistone, posing as jewel thief Donnie Brasco, was embraced by the Bonanno hierarchy from 1976-81, leading to more than 120 convictions.
The Brasco saga later became a movie starring Johnny Depp and Al Pacino.
Massino oversaw the Bonanno comeback from his Queens restaurant, CasaBlanca, where mobsters mingled beneath pictures of Bogart and Bergman. In his efforts stymie prosecutors, Massino instructed his minions to tug their ear when referring to him, rather than speak his name — an effort to defeat government wiretaps.
His two-month murder and racketeering trial was the most formidable organized crime prosecution since the 1997 case against Genovese boss Vincent "The Chin" Gigante. Eight mob informants, including Massino's brother-in-law and former underboss, Salvatore "Handsome Sal" Vitale, testified against him.
The pair, friends since they were teens, sat uneasily in the Brooklyn federal courtroom for nearly a week as Vitale detailed their mutual life of crime. Vitale told how he and Massino plotted and committed various murders, including the 1981 slayings of three rival Bonanno captains during a war for control of the family.
Vitale's sister, Josephine, smoldered in the front row as he testified against her husband. She refused to rise when the judge and her brother entered the court, and scoffed under her breath as Vitale spoke on the stand.
There were other revelations: For the first time, witnesses described the killing of Dominick "Sonny Black" Napolitano, who introduced mob wannabe Brasco to the Bonannos.
Defense attorney David Breitbart said the mobsters lied under oath to win favorable treatment from prosecutors, and argued that Massino was not responsible for the murders because he was not the Bonanno boss when the killings were done. Prosecutors said he orchestrated the murders, and his status as boss was irrelevant.
Along with detailed accounts of the inner workings of a New York Mafia family, Vitale and others' testimony revealed the dysfunctional relationships of its leaders' own family. Vitale recalled how his 2001 arrest chilled his relationship with Massino.
"No one called my wife and children and asked if they needed anything," Vitale told the jury.
By Michael Weissenstein