Originally Posted by Hollander
Originally Posted by NYMafia
Originally Posted by Hollander
Originally Posted by Havana
If the mob had known that Bonnano's book would one day be used as the basis to prove that the Cosa Nostra existed and was to be used as the blueprint in descibing the Cosa Nostra as a criminal racketeering enterprise in Rico cases going forward,would they have let himmlive in retirement in Arizona?

On the other hand prosecutors somehow get away with taking Bonnano's word and his book ass if it was the Gospel Truth and not just him blowing off hot air about his lineage


His book didn't matter much the so-called Mafia was known by Hoover's FBI and CIA since the beginning.



One of the main reasons why Bonanno's book was so well received by both the general public and law enforcement alike was that no formal Mafia boss had ever penned his own autobiography. And certain no one of Joe Bonanno's stature.

So when Joe put his thoughts and knowledge to paper about what was what, it was pretty much taken as gospel. After all, who was still around to even refute what he wrote?

He was an original. And even the few mafiosi still alive who may have contested it were certainly not about to speak of such things.

...and Rudy ran with it.


True, but what Bonanno said wasn't that shocking IMO much was already known in Sicily as well as the USA.



Yes, and no.

What he spoke about as far as the Commission and how bosses thought and conducted themselves within the confines of their own borgata, was a revelation of sorts, to law enforcement officials in both Italy and America. But more so here in the U.S., because that is where he operated and where the 'rules' that he was compelled to follow truly applied. In many instances -- although Joe himself was born in Sicily -- the rules and precedures followed by the American Mafia differed from those of borgatas on the island of Sicily. They had been greatly modified or changed to fit the "American" Mafia model.