Wasnt Gerrard Pappa instrumental in the windows racket? (when he was alive)
Yes, he was involved in it.
Why were the Bonanno's left out of inter-family rackets?
Was it to do with Galante and his zips and all the subsquent trouble where they lost their seat on the commission?
The Bonannos began to be cut out of the inter-family rackets as far back as the 1960's, following Joe Bonanno being sent into forced retirement. You'll notice that, with a few exceptions, there wasn't much in the way of labor racketeering involving the family after that. Then, after they lost their Commission seat in the late 70's/early 80's due to internal fighting, excessive involvement in narcotics, etc., they were really the odd family out. Ironically, while they were cut out of the profits involved, it did help the Bonannos to avoid the law enforcement scrutiny that came on the other families as a result.
I assume JFK Airport is now a fortress and no longer easy pickings for mobsters?
Truck highjackings (more like give ups) out of JFK were becoming a thing of the past in the 1980's. The Lucchese family, as well as the Gambinos, controlled some of the union locals involved there, by which they were able to shake down companies going into the 1990's. But a series of prosecutions basically removed the mob from the airport.
