Giuseppe Bonanno (1905 - 2002)

Born 21 Jan 1905 in Castellammare del Golfo, Trapani, Sicily, Italy

Ancestors

Husband of Filomena (Labruzzo) Bonanno — married 15 Nov 1931 in Kings, New York, United States

Died 11 May 2002 at age 97 in Pima, Arizona, United States

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Biography

Joseph Bonanno, the crime figure, reports his birth date as the eighteenth of January 1905 in Castellammare. This date is widely repeated. However, the primary record of his birth states that he was born on the twenty-first.

On 22 January 1905 in Castellammare del Golfo, Salvatore Bonanno, age 27 (b. 1877), borgese, reports the birth on 21 January 1905 of a baby to Caterina Bonventre di Martino, his wife, in their home in Corso Garibaldi, #250. The baby is a boy and is named Giuseppe.^[1]

His family emigrates to Williamsburg, Brooklyn, when he is three, but returns when he is seven years old to his native Castellammare, where his father, Salvatore, is the patriarch of the Bonanno clan. The Bonanno family and its allies have been feuding with the Buccellato family since before Joseph's birth.^[2]

Joseph's father fights in Austria in World War I and returns home, seriously wounded, before Christmas of 1915. He dies from his injuries. Joseph is ten.^[2]

Salvatore's death sparks a new round of fighting between the feuding clans. Giuseppe Magaddino becomes his guardian and the administrator of Salvatore's estate.^[2]

His mother dies about five years later, and Joseph goes to live with his maternal grandparents.

He later slipped back into the United States in 1924, by stowing away on a Cuban fishing boat bound for Tampa, Florida.^[3]

"In Williamsburg, Brooklyn, future mob boss Joe Bonanno and his relative Gaspar DiGregorio started out with a basement distillery..."^[4]

He works as a bootlegger for Joe Masseria, then Salvatore Maranzano, who had been Stefano Magaddino's "chief warrior," before taking the helm of Maranzano's old crime family in Brooklyn, which had been in 1912 the gang controlled by Sebastiano Di Gaetano.^[4][3][5]

In September 1930, Joseph is arrested with Sebastiano Domingo and Charlie di Benedetto, waiting for a delivery of machine guns in front of Brooklyn city hall.^[5]

According to Critchley, Joseph delays his wedding to Fay Labruzzo, sister of his friend Calogero Labruzzo, due to the dangers his boss, Maranzano, faced in the Castellammarese War against Masseria.^[5] Fay does not have a brother named Calogero: that is her father's name.

Joseph Bonanno, age 27 (b. 1904), son of Samuel Bonanno and Catherine Bonventre, marries Fannie Labruzzo, age 26 (b. 1905), daughter of Charles Labruzzo and Marie A. Bruno, on 15 November 1931 in Kings, NY.^[6]

Joseph Bonanno lives at 4009 Church Ave. Age 27 (b. 1904). Barber. Born in Castellamare Golfo Italy. Father Samuel, mother Catherine Bonventre. First marriage. Fannie Labruzzo lives at 114 Jefferson St. Age 26 (b. 1905). Born in Tunisi, Africa. Father is Charles, mother is Marie A. Bruno. First marriage. They are wed at St. Joseph’s Church at 185 Suydam St, Brooklyn, on 15 November 1931. Witnesses are Gaspare DiGregorio and Catherine Graccone. On the line for the bride’s signature it says Filippo La Bruzzo. Fannie may have been born Filippa Bruno.^[7]

Joseph and Fannie have three known children: Salvatore/Bill (1932), Catherine (c. 1935), and Joseph Charles/Joe Jr. (1945).

Joseph is engaged in a number of rackets, not only in his own territory of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, but throughout the United States and in Canada.

In the 1940 federal census of Hempstead, Nassau, NY, Joseph Bonanno, 35 (b. 1905), born in Italy, heads a household at 61 Clermont Ave. he owns his home, worth $10K. At home are his wife Fanny, 35 (b. 1905), born in France, and their children Salvatore, 7 (b. 1933), and Catherine, 5 (b. 1935), both born in NY. Joseph owns a ladies’ coats factory.^[8]

He stays in Canada briefly, then returns to the US legally through Detroit, so he could become naturalized in 1945.^[3]

His crime family is one of the largest narcotics traffickers in the United States.

Joseph is engaged in a protracted conflict with the other four crime families of New York City in the 1960s. He is banished to Arizona, where he retires in Tucson.

He goes to prison in 1979 for obstruction of justice, with regard to the case against his son, Bill, for fraud.

He goes to prison again in the 1980s for contempt.

In 1983 he writes an autobiography, A Man of Honor.^[2]

Death of Joseph

Joseph dies 11 May 2002 at age 97 in Tucson, Pima Co., AZ. He is buried in Holy Hope Cemetery and Mausoleum in Tucson.^[9]

Sources

1. ↑ Atto di nascita, Giuseppe Bonanno. (1905, January 22). Record no. 39. https://www.antenati.san.beniculturali.it/ark:/12657/an_ua16107938/5vJMqrp Image 17
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3} Bonanno, J. and Lalli, S. (1983). A man of honor: the autobiography of Joseph Bonanno. St. Martin’s Paperbacks.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} Raab, S. (2005). Five families: The rise, decline, and resurgence of America’s most powerful mafia empires. New York: St. Martin’s Press (Thomas Dunne Books).
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} Hortis, C. A. (2014). The mob and the city: The hidden history of how the Mafia captured New York. New York: Prometheus Books.
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2} Critchley, D. (2009). The origin of organized crime in America: The New York City Mafia, 1891-1931. Routledge.
6. ↑ Detail: 15417. "New York, New York City Marriage Records, 1829-1938", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2CD-LJ8W : 17 August 2022), Joseph Bonanno and Fannie Labruzzo, 1931.
7. ↑ Certificate and record of marriage, Joseph Bonanno and Fannie Labruzzo. Certificate no. 15417. New York State. Brooklyn. https://a860-historicalvitalrecords.nyc.gov/view/9802837
8. ↑ "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89MB-S3RT?cc=2000219&wc=QZXR-FV6%3A790105101%2C796860801%2C805427401%2C954091101 : accessed 27 December 2022), New York > Nassau > Hempstead Town, Hempstead > 30-71 Hempstead Town, Hempstead Village bounded by (N) Front; (E) Lincoln Rd; (S) Cedar, William, Jerusalem Av; (W) Henry, Albermarle Av, William > image 9 of 34; citing Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012.
9. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6454548/joseph-bonanno: accessed 25 February 2023), memorial page for Joseph “Joey Bananas” Bonanno (18 Jan 1905–11 May 2002), Find a Grave Memorial ID 6454548, citing Holy Hope Cemetery and Mausoleum, Tucson, Pima County, Arizona, USA; Maintained by Find a Grave.