On his wiki profile it says he killed over 20 people, and in this article http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,923698,00.html , it claims he was planning on going to war with the Gambino family. Can anyone shed some light on whether or not this was true and who some of his more high profiled victims were? Also was he really 6'9' tall? Seems incredibly tall for an Italian.

Thanks for your time.

He was one of Carmine Galante's killers. They found 5 different slugs in him, and there were only 3 shooters that arrived.

He was incredibly tall.
He was whacked apparently because he was summoned to a meeting with boss Rusty Rastelli.
Rusty said something that Bonventre didnt like and so he (Bonventre) got up and walked out.
You CANNOT dis-respect a boss like that and expect to live.
Bonventre seemed an arrogant son of a bitch.

He was also a capo who had the honour of having Tony Mirra under him.
I wonder what Mirra's reaction was when he learned he had to answer to a kid half his age?

I thought he was killed because Massino viewed him as a threat? Where did you hear he walked out on Rastelli? I'm not saying you are wrong, just curious what book you read it in.

Joey Massino revealed it during his recent testimony

Does anyone know if Big Joey's trial testimony is posted online anywhere? I had not heard that about Bonventre, and would love to read about it.

Me too, thanks GaryH.

Here you go guys.......



He (Joey Massino) also explained the rationale behind another mob rubout: Disrespect. While he was on the lam in 1984 – ducking trial for the murders of three capos in 1981 – Massino said he learned from Rastelli’s brother and his own brother-in-law Salvatore Vitale, who was then a capo, that Rastelli was planning to whack Cesare Bonventre, a member of the family’s Sicilian faction who had extorted about $600,000 from a drug dealer who was close to Rastelli.

When Bonventre was called on the carpet about it by Rastelli, not only did he deny the allegation, “he got insulted” by the inquiry and “got up and walked away,’ without so much as a polite good bye to his already steaming Mafia boss.

“You can’t do that with bosses,” said Massino. “That’s why he died.”


http://www.gangsterbb.net/threads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=600169

Bonventre, like Baldo Amato & the other Zips, were definitely more dangerous then the average wiseguy.

that was a great read i also have some questions

1 He forced Mafia Don Frank Lupo, 56, out of his established territory
How could one made man muscle another made man out of his territory.Wounldnt there be sitdowns and isnt that against the rules????

2 Finally, he talked of going to war with the powerful Gambino family.
Why was this and how could a soldier make a desicion like that without the bosses permission??

3 I wonder y Baldo Amato never became a boss or any position in the adminstration.He seems he has that aura about him

thanks for all the replies guys.

Isn't funny that the Bonanno's are considered one of the weakest of the 5 families when they had all the nutcases. Bonventre,Amato,Lefty,Mirra,Pitera,bruno

Every family has it's share of nutcases. I don't think the Bananno's had any more nutcases than any other family, and Lefty, Pitera and Mirra were notoriously small time, only soldiers. Not like they had a huge influence. Lefty was always broke. Having guys like that certainly wouldn't help the family gain prominence.

The Bonannos always were one of the smaller families in New York, but despite that they always were pretty strong actually. The only family in New York that you really could consider to be weak are the Colombos.

I never said that i think the Bonanno's were big time. I also didn't say they were the toughest. I just don't hear about them as much as other guys. lefty Ruggiero was a degenerate gambler, mirra was a good earner but was only a soldier, and pitera was obviously the bruce lee of the mob but wasn't boss material. Thats what i meant

I thought you were saying it was a surprise they weren't stronger because they had guys like Lefty, Mirra snd Patera ect. My bad man.

No problem.

Bonventre was dangerous because as a Zip he thought differently to USA guys.
Also he was a capo at 28 - that must have gone to his head and made him power hungry.

Pitera was a vicious animal.
Mirra was a handful - most other soldiers were afraid of him

ya he was very young to be a captain. Also I think Mirra was in his crew which makes you wonder how their conversations went lol

I've long wondered what Mirra's reaction was when he learned that he had to report to a kid half his age!
LOL

ya considering his reputation as a knife man but I think he knew that Cesare was not to be messed with.

I think the scariest Bonnano man was Tommy Pitera

Ya his story is something you would see in a movie. a boy gets his ass kicked every day in school. Then he watches the green hornet and wants to become Bruce lee as a lot of younger kids probably did. he not only learns karate but becomes a master in Japan. Comes back and becomes a ruthless killer. Surreal

I assume you have seen the Pitera documentry on youtube...........its scary stuff isnt it?

ya and read the book

Is it a good read? How many people was he convicted of killing? How many do they estimate he actually killed?

I think he was convicted of like 6 or something and they estimated that he might have killed 60

Anyone know what Queens garage Bonventre was killed in?

I wonder what Brooklyn neighborhood Bonventre lived in? I figure he lived around Knickerbocker in Bushwick.

Bonventre is one of the most fascinating personalities.

Baldo Amato eventually ran the Giannini Crew in Ridgewood, Queens. That's all he ever amounted to.

Is there a way to read that Time article without paying? From the first paragraph, it looks interesting.