Honor Thy Father (61 page)

Salvatore resigned immediately from his ninety-thousand-dollar-a-year position, and would not reconsider his decision even after his employer had offered him a raise.

Salvatore’s sister, Felippa, youngest of Rosalie and Bill’s four children, was perhaps the only member of the family who seemed not to have experienced personal humiliations as a consequence of having the surname Bonanno. As a girl she had a somewhat sheltered existence, attending mass regularly with her mother and devoting herself as she got older to Catholic teachings of the most binding belief: she was decidedly pro-life. She and her husband, whom she met when she was twenty and was operating a day-care center in a town near Lake Tahoe, Nevada, had raised ten children together, and, at the age of forty-two, Felippa was expecting another child a month after the reunion. She told me the job she most enjoyed as a schoolgirl in San Jose was babysitting.

Never at odds with her faith, she attended mass and received communion every day, she said, adding that she and her husband prayed together with the children at home and as a family ventured out in the community to participate in charitable and humanitarian activities. Although she was no longer known as a Bonanno since taking her husband’s name in marriage, she had always been guided by her mother’s often repeated warning to her and to her three brothers when they were growing up in San Jose: “You are not ordinary children. You have to try twice as hard to be good. You have to be better than everybody else. The world won’t give you a second chance because of your name.”

Rosalie and Bill’s four children, with the exception of the bachelor Charles, not only had children of their own (seventeen in total at the time of my visit in May 2007) but a few grandchildren as well. And again, except for Charles, none of the Bonanno offspring had ever been, as their father often referred to it, “a guest of the government.”

At the conclusion of the family reunion, Rosalie and Bill escorted their children outside the house and onto a grassy field across the street to pose for the
Newsweek
photographer. They arranged themselves in the same order they had posed forty years before in a family snapshot that I had obtained in 1970 for use in
Honor Thy Father
. This old photo, together with the one taken at the reunion, illustrated my article that appeared in the June 25, 2007 issue of
Newsweek
.

I saw to it that copies of the recently posed photo were mailed to members of the Bonanno family, and in the months that followed I called Tucson on two or three occasions to chat with Bill Bonanno—the last time in late December to thank him for the Christmas card that he and Rosalie had sent, and also for his accompanying note in which he expressed satisfaction in our having known one another for more than forty years. He said that he and Rosalie were planning to be in New York sometime after the holidays—he would let me know when—but first they would be driving up to northern California to spend time with their daughter and her husband, adding that the couple’s hillside home fortunately was large enough to accommodate their ten resident children
and
had private quarters for the children’s grandparents.

Late in the afternoon of January 2, 2008, I received a call in New York from Dr. Joseph Bonanno’s wife, Kathleen, in Phoenix. She said that Bill Bonanno had died suddenly of a heart attack in the early morning of New Year’s Day. As I listened in stunned silence and sadness she explained that he had felt well enough on New Year’s Eve to dine with Rosalie and a few friends in Tucson, then he had gone to bed and did not wake up. He was seventy-five. Kathleen said that the funeral mass would be held on January 7 at the Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Tucson.

I flew to Tucson a day early in order to attend the evening viewing, and, on the following morning, I joined hundreds of mourners in pews crowded with people from Arizona as well as New York, California, other parts of the country, and also Canada. Those in attendance belonging to the Bonannos’ immediate and extended family amounted to nearly one hundred people. Some of the grandchildren and the cousins served as gift bearers and pallbearers. Television cameras were posted outside the church, and extra police were added to oversee the arrival of lines of limousines at the curb and the steady stream of cars pulling into the church’s parking lot.

Lengthy obituaries and articles about the funeral appeared in national newspapers and weekly magazines.
The New York Times
’s correspondent, seated with other reporters in the rear of the church, noted in the next day’s edition: “There were several men in impeccable black suits, and some women wore fur coats on a chilly, blustery day…. Mr. Bonanno’s widow, Rosalie, walked behind the casket wearing a black lace veil to cover her face.” The
Los Angeles Times
printed above its obituary a subhead quoting Bill Bonanno: “When I got up in the morning, my goal was to live to sunset. And when sunset came, my second goal was to live to sunrise.”

Dr. Joseph Bonanno, who delivered one of the eulogies from a rostrum near the altar, began his remarks with: “Well, Dad, you did it again. You managed to get all of us to drop everything in our lives and come together to be with you today.” After explaining that the name Bonanno means “Happy New Year” in Italian, he said, “It is probably fitting that Dad was taken from us on New Year’s Day. I will think of him always on this day for the rest of my life.” He then concluded: “I don’t know why he had to go so soon. All I can say is that Grandpa probably called and as usual Dad came running.”

—Gay Talese
2009

Note: Entries in this index, carried over verbatim from the print edition of this title, are unlikely to correspond to the pagination of any given e-book reader. However, entries in this index, and other terms, may be easily located by using the search feature of your e-book reader.

Note: References with page ranges may not be contiguous between pages; however, all pages in a range will have relevant references.

A

Accardo, Tony, 12

Adonis, Joe, 205

Anastasia, Albert, 8, 12, 17, 57, 74, 93, 205, 218–220

Anderson, Robert, 169

Angleman, Frances, 404–405

Apalachin meeting, 12, 17, 21, 73–77, 92, 93, 219–220

Arizona bombings, 281–288, 363–364, 372, 400–409

FBI involvement, 401–409, 468–469

Arizona
Republic
, 404

B

Banana War, 250–277, 295, 354, 357, 489, 506–507

events leading to, 374–390

in Tucson, 278–288

unofficial truce, 319–320

Barbara, Joseph, 12, 70, 220

Battaglia, Charles, 100, 222, 408, 483

Battaglia, Mrs. Charles, 284

Birrell, Lowell M., 143

Black gangsters, 77

Black Hand, 195

Black market operations, 212, 214–215

Boccia, Ferdinand, 214, 215

Bonanno, Bill,
see
Bonanno, Salvatore Vincent

Bonanno, Catherine, 11–12, 44, 46–47, 83–85, 107, 128, 131, 237, 261–262, 276, 312, 335–340

Bonanno, Charles, 78, 86–87, 121, 125–126, 130, 135, 234–236, 297, 299–301, 341–347

Bonanno, Fay (née Labruzzo), 9, 23, 36–37, 61, 78, 210, 237, 280, 327, 338–339, 367, 369–370, 395

Bonanno, Felippa, 122, 134, 234, 236, 263–264, 302–304, 505

Bonanno, Joseph (father of Bill), 1–16, 61, 98, 126–128, 239–249, 368

appearance, 4, 43, 166–167

boss of bosses, 94

boyhood in Sicily, 40, 370

business interests, 28–29, 172, 204, 210

commission member, 93–94, 378–384

disappearance of, 3–5, 19–20, 24–25, 65, 107–108, 143, 146, 165, 385–386, 392–393

early life, 191, 193–197, 202–204, 232, 326, 370, 490–491

family background, 14–17, 40, 189–197

leadership, 17, 203–204, 210, 254–255

marriage, 23, 210

organization,
see
Bonanno organization

reappearance, 166–181, 227, 364

suspension by commission, 21–23, 59, 92–93, 227, 374–390

Bonanno, Joseph, Jr. (brother of Bill), 27, 100–101, 109, 143, 286–287, 364–371

Bonanno, Joseph (son of Bill and Rosalie), 18–19, 86, 96, 121, 126, 140, 144–145, 234, 263–264, 301–302, 341–347, 504–505

Bonanno, Rosalie (née Profaci), 10–18, 25–28, 30–33, 89–91, 106, 123–138, 158–159, 229–236, 239–240, 339, 478, 503–510

in Arizona, 72–73, 78–85

in California, 276–278, 291–293

early life, 123–127, 139

financial problems, 254, 348–353

home life, 250–267, 305–316

marital problems, 80–92, 139–140, 144, 257–264

wedding, 10–18, 22, 31–32, 70

Bonanno, Salvatore (father of Joseph Bonanno), 16, 190–196, 326

Bonanno, Salvatore Vincent (Bill), 5–18, 65–98, 173, 180–181, 250–267, 317–340, 387

appearance, 6, 34

attempts on life, 155–158, 160–164, 240;
see also
Troutman Street shooting

business interests, 107

children, 25–26, 125, 144–145, 234–236, 297–304, 504–506

as
consigliere
, 22, 223–226, 376, 392

credit card case,
see
Credit card case

criminal record, 478–480

deportation from Montreal, 479–481

early life, 28–30, 38–40, 44–47, 61–62, 232

education, 10, 38–39, 42, 47–50, 76

extramarital affair, 80–85, 129, 147, 257

financial problems, 348–353

home life, 31–32, 229–238, 291–304, 306–315, 341–353

jail sentences, 110–122, 137–144, 245

leadership, 57

marital problems, 80–92, 106, 130–131

military service, 49, 50

relationship with father, 6–7, 42–44, 75–77, 233, 237, 298, 490–491, 507

role in organization, 75–76

trip to New England, 33–34, 41–42, 51

wedding, 10–18, 22, 31–32, 70

Bonanno, Salvatore Vincent, Jr. (Tory), 86, 121–122, 141, 234–237, 297, 302–303, 505

Bonanno organization, 25, 149, 221, 254–256, 467, 493

consigliere
role, 22, 223–226, 376, 392

decline of, 319–320

defections, 23, 58–59, 240–241, 269

dissension within, 92, 153;
see also
Di Gregorio faction

leadership of, 222–225

membership, 211, 222–223

Bonventre, John, 13, 211

Bonventre, Peter, 202–203, 219

Bookmaking, 7, 58, 146, 147, 148, 210, 362

Bootlegging, 199, 203

“Boss of all bosses (
capo di tutti capi
),” 94, 206, 208, 209

Brooklyn gang war (1929–1930), 9–10, 23, 36, 204–208

Brotherhood, The
, 313, 335

Brown, Three-Finger,
see
Lucchese, Thomas

Bruno, Angelo, 94, 226, 374, 378, 492, 495

Buccellatos clan, 192, 196

C

Cantellops, Nelson, 220

Capone, Al, 109, 201, 210

Caruso, Angelo, 222, 225

Cassese, Vincent, 266

Castellammare del Golfo, 14–17, 20, 49, 73

Castellammare immigrants, 22, 155, 165, 186–191, 195, 199, 202, 211, 267, 365

Castellammarese War, 204–206, 218, 221

Catena, Gerardo, 296, 492

Chicago gangs, 200–201

Clark, Ramsey, 284, 402

Colombo, Anthony, 498–499

Colombo, Joseph, Jr., 493–494, 498

Colombo, Joseph, Sr., 97, 226, 244, 277, 295, 378, 385, 394, 493–502

Commission,
see
National commission

Consolo, Michael, 275

Corallo, Antonio, 268

Costello, Frank, 11–12, 46, 151, 200, 215–218, 309, 356, 493

attempted murder of, 217–218

Masseria backed by, 205

on national commission, 208, 215–216

political influence, 215

tax conviction, 217

Credit card case, 269–272, 276, 287–288, 291–292, 371–372, 407–449, 506

appeal and jail sentence, 467–510

jury’s verdict, 464–66

Notaro defendant in, 414–415, 419, 426–427, 442, 461–466, 468, 475

Torrillo testimony, 425–441

Cressey, Donald R., 367–368

Crociata, Peter, 273

Cypress Garden Restaurant murders, 266, 326, 425

D

Dean, Paul, 405–407

De Carlo, Angelo, 492

De Cavalcante, Samuel R., 97, 374–390

FBI tapes, 374–390, 391

De Filippo, Pat, 479

De Filippo, Vito, 99, 222, 479

De Sapio, Carmine G., 268

Dewey, Thomas E., 210

Di Angelo, James, 267

Di Angelo, Thomas, 222, 267

Di Gregorio, Gaspar, 22–23, 59, 92, 94, 97–98, 186, 211, 295, 318, 320, 379–381, 392, 493

alliance with Stefano Magaddino, 23, 92, 94, 97–98, 186, 378, 384, 392

disagreement with Joseph Bonanno, 225–227

See also
Troutman Street shooting

Di Gregorio faction, 5–7, 17, 23, 153–159, 240–242, 267, 274–277, 377–381, 387–388;
see also
Banana War

Di Pasquale, Vincent, 269, 272, 324, 419, 478

Di Pasquale, Mrs. Vincent (née Marion Labruzzo), 310–311, 324, 326–327, 331

Dunbar, William John, 400–404, 407

E

East Meadow (Long Island) Bonanno home, 17–18, 25, 29, 96, 133, 227, 250–267, 324, 330, 508

Joseph Bonanno at, 185–186, 229–238

mortgage held by Torrillo, 424–428

Eboli, Thomas, 108, 244, 296, 320–322

Erickson, Frank, 200

Evola, Natale, 320, 493

F

“Families” (Mafia), 74, 92, 169, 209–210

organization of, 206–209

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), 30–32, 78, 169, 181, 287, 294, 355, 368–369, 408

De Cavalcante tapes, 374–390, 391

involvement in Arizona bombings, 401–409, 468–469

picketing by Italo-Americans, 494–496, 500, 502

Flagstaff, Arizona, 72–73, 78, 332

Frankel, Judge Marvin E., 167–179

Franzese, Sonny, 31, 335

G

Gagliano, Gaetano, 205, 210, 219

Galante, Carmine, 150, 211, 219, 220, 222

Gallagher, Cornelius E., 388

Gallo brothers, 18, 240–243

revolt of, 93–94, 222, 494