The Life of Joseph Massino




January 10, 1943 Joseph Charles Massino was born in New Haven, Connecticut.

June 5, 1951 Massino and his parents move to Maspeth, Queens, New York.

July of 1960 Massino married Josephine Vitale.

1964 Massino started working for a guy with a coffee and pastry stand. He made $10.00 for five hours selling coffee, hot chocolate, soda and pastries to dock workers. Massino worked for the guy five days a week.

1966 Massino bought his first house on Caldwell Ave. in Maspeth.

February of 1967 Massino started his own business using a lunch truck selling lunch to dock workers.

1968 Massino met Bonanno family capo Philip Rastelli. Massino was close to Rastelli's brother Carmine, who ran a depot where lunch trucks filled up, with supplies, so Massino was guaranteed good deals and fresh food. He started kicking up some of the money he made to Rastelli for protection.

June of 1970 Massino started a life of crime and became an associate of the Bonanno family. He was placed in the Rastelli crew. Him and a friend named Duane Leiseheimer started hijacking trucks. In one night Massino made up to $2,000 helping Rastelli move truckloads of stolen tv sets, men's suits, hackapoo shirts and farber ware.

December 28, 1972 Rastelli was convicted on loan-sharking charges and for running a protection racket in the lunch truck industry.

1974 Massino and his wife opened up a deli called the J&J Deli.

1975 Massino and his brother-in-law Salvatore Vitale murdered Vito Borelli, a man who was in trouble with the Gambino's for saying Gambino capo Paul Castellano looked like a chicken merchant named Frank Perdue.

May of 1976 Massino became involved in the trafficking of untaxed cigarettes. Federal and state taxes could drive up the price of a carton of smokes by as much as 30 percent and that was before the affects of the 1990s anti-smoking litigation.

June 1, 1976 Massino and Salvatore Vitale are involved in the murder of Bonnano family associate, Joseph "Doo-Doo" Pastore.

June 14, 1977 Massino moved to Howard Beach, Queens, where he bought a nice home.

July of 1977 He was made into the Bonanno family and was placed in Philip "Philly Lucky" Giaccone's crew.

July 12, 1979 Bonanno family boss Carmine Galante was murdered in Joe & Mary's Italian-American Restaurant at 205 Knickerbocker Ave.

July 22, 1979 Massino became a capo.

March of 1980 Massino and Salvatore Vitale started their own social club and called it the J&S Cake Social Club.

May 5, 1981 Massino was involved in the murder of the three Bonanno captains, Philip "Philly Lucky" Giaccone, Alphonse "Sonny Red" Indelicato and Dominick "Big Trin" Trinchera.

August 17, 1981 Massino was involved in the murder of Bonanno family captain Dominick "Sonny Black" Napolitano. Napolitano was murdered for bringing FBI agent Joseph Pistone into the Bonanno family as a mob associate by mistake. His body was found with his hands cut off.

January of 1982 Massino started a company called King Caterers in the Long Island area.

March 25, 1982 A federal grand jury in Manhattan indicted Massino and other Bonanno family members. Massino and the others were being indicted for the murders of the three captains. There was also a charge against Massino for hijacking.

August 3, 1982 FBI agent Joseph Pistone told the jury that Massino was involved in the murders of the three captains.

1984 Rastelli was released from prison and ordered the murder of Bonanno soldier Cesare Bonventre. Massino gave Vitale, Louis Attanasio and James Tartaglione the order to murder Bonventre.

January 16, 1987 Rastelli was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

June 3, 1987 The jury found Massino not guilty in the murders of the captains. Pistone's testimony didn't carry enough weight. But the jurors found that Massino and his brother-in-law Salvatore Vitale were guilty of hijacking. Massino was sentenced to just five years in prison.

July 24, 1991 Bonanno family boss Philip Rastelli died in prison.

April of 1992 Massino was released from prison. He became the Bonanno family boss after he was released.

1995 Massino put Salvatore Vitale on the shelf.

March of 1999 Massino was involved in the murder of Bonanno family capo Gerlando "George" Sciascia on a Bronx street.

October of 2002 Frank Coppa, a Bonanno family soldier became an informant while in prison.

January 9, 2003 FBI agents Kimberly McCaffrey and Jeffrey Sallet arrested Massino at his home.

February 28, 2003 Salvatore Vitale decided to cooperate with the FBI. Vitale told them about all the murders he did with Massino.

April 4, 2003 Frank Lino decided to become an informant for the FBI.

June 7, 2003 Frank Coppa, the first Bonanno family member to turn on Massino took the witness stand.

June 18, 2003 Bonanno family associate Duane Leisenheimer became a turncoat.

May 28, 2004 Massino's brother-in-law Salvatore Vitale took the witness stand. It was in the 1990s that Vitale said his relationship with Massino started to change. Though Massino had made him underboss, Vitale said the position was an empty shell. Massino kept captains away from Vitale, forbidding them from even calling him. Christmas gifts were also banned. Vitale was on the shelf and said he was shelved from 1995 to 2003 and felt disrespected, Vitale said he continued to kick up money to Massino and commit crimes for him.

July 30, 2004 Massino was found guilty of illegal gambling, loan-sharking, arson, money laundering and many murders. He decided to cooperate with the government.

June of 2005 Massino signed a cooperating agreement and was placed in the Witness Protection Program.

June of 2013 The U.S. Department of Justice filed a request to Judge Nicholas Garaufis for a reduction of Massino's sentence because of his help and bad health. Garaufis granted their request, resentencing Massino to time served and supervised release for the remainder of his life.

Here's a photo of JM.

In June 2013 the U.S. Department of Justice filed a request to Judge Garaufis for a reduction of Massino's sentence;[155] prosecutors cited both the impact of Massino's unprecedented cooperation and his failing health as reasons for a reduction of his sentence.[156] Garaufis granted their request on July 10, resentencing Massino to time served and supervised release for the remainder of his life.[157]

Thanks! Will add that part.

Awesome timeline.

One thing: In Anthony M. DeStefano's book, "Vinny Gorgeous: The Ugly Rise And Fall Of A New York Mobster," he wrote that when Massino turned state's evidence he testified that Sonny Black was not murdered because he vouched for Donnie Brasco, but because Sonny wanted to take over the Bonnano family.

The Donnie Brasco thing was enough to get him killed but massino did use it as an excuse to take out a rival

That book wasn't very good. Not nearly as good as DeStefano's book about Massino, anyway.

He made Vinny out to be some guy strutting around Throggs Neck like some kind of cocky emperor. That wasn't the case. Because first of all, he wasn't boss for very long. Second of all, when he was still just a soldier there were a dozen other guys living here in Throggs Neck, Pelham Bay and Country Club who had more clout. And they were certainly more well known. And third, he wasn't nearly as brash and arrogant as the media portrayed him.

The media liked the way he dressed, so they built him into another Gotti. But Vinny had a lot more going on than just the street. He had legitimate businesses all over the place, where Gotti couldn't be bothered with such things. Vinny could have made it in the straight world. I'm not so sure about Gotti.

And on top of that, that author pushed the "Vinny from the Bronx" thing a little too hard. Vinny grew up in the Park Hill section of Yonkers. He didn't even move down here until after he married his wife. Now her family has been in Throggs Neck forever. Nice people .

Correct me if I'm wrong but from seeing old pictures of him with big trin and others would make you think he had some juice or at least they liked the guy to have him around so much. Did he go away for a dope case in the 80's or was that someone else?

Well your a boss joe Massino tons of respect old school kinda guy..just about your entire family flips on you, soldiers, captains, ect.what is a man to do? Don't blame joe for ratting. Only thing that's bothers me is him back in the day talking about killing anybody that rats including there family's.. Wonder how he feels about that statement now.. Just shows how much that life is such bullshit and at the end of the day it's every man for himself..loyal only if loyalty is given all around..

I never said he wasn't well liked. Vinny was driving Trin when he was like 19 years old. I just said that the media blew him up into some kind of Gotti wannabe because of how he dressed, and that wasn't the case.

As far as the dope case, he beat the Blue Thunder heroin case back in the '90s. And to be honest, I still don't know how. It gave him ten years on the street that he probably shouldn't have had. Because the other guy got something like thirty years.

Stern, did you make this timeline?

Vinny Basciano was a drug dealer that's were he made most of his money.. Had a hair cutting place call hello gorgeous..they wold refer to him as Vinny gorgeous. Before he got made he had words with a guy in a flower shop and got slapped and did nothing about it was scared..Vinny was a nice guy but didn't get much respect because of that people that new about it anyway.. Rumor had it he payed to get made...

I agree the book wasn't that good. My main gripe about it was that the author didn't seem to have enough info from Basciano to write a whole book. So that's why about half of it was about Massino and other stuff.

When the main subject of the book doesn't cooperate in writing the book, the book always has holes in it. When the main subject does cooperate, the story is often slanted or contains a lot of lies. That's why there aren't that many really great mob books.

Just wanna say something about Massino...The lie that he was concerned about the death penalty for the reason he turned stool pigeon is absurd...Only a fool would believe that..Who was the last NYC person to be executed ?? He was around what 70 years old when he was debating on snitching...His years of being friendly to agents paid off very well for him...they locked up guys with far less kills then him !!!

Call this a stupid question if you like.....

But do you think Vinny had some "work" done on his nose?

His nose looks totally different to me in those shots of him holding his little kids in the jogging outfit than later on.

Anybody think there have been mob guys (before they went into WITSEC like Gravano) who had plastic surgery done?

I read Jackie Nose has his fixed but it was apparently huge.

Sal

John Dillinger attempted a number of tricks to avoid J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI force....After hiding out all over Chicago, he made a last ditch effort to save his freedom by undergoing a plastic surgery makeover.

Is Michael Mancuso the current boss of the Bonanno Crime Family?

Is Daniel Leo or Barney Bellomo the current boss of the Genovese Crime Family?

Is Cefalu just a front boss for Cali?

Is Andrew Russo the current street boss of the Colombo Crime Family?

I don't think mancuso is official boss of the bonnanos
The genovese family r being run by a rotating panel prob consisting of Leo and bellomo plus others . Muscarella , dentico , barbeto and cirillo
Dominic cefalu is 100% the official gambino boss
I can't see Russo being street boss of the colombos because of age , it's more likely a younger guy , his son perhaps

Why do you think cefalu is 100% gambino boss?just wondering,nothing else dom..

Just wot I've read , he was made official boss in 2011 and he is only 67 , still relatively young . People only think he is not because they believe frank Cali is the power behind the throne because he is young and dynamic and they believe the bullshit internet story about him turning the job down . Cefalu hasn't stepped down or retired therefore he is official boss

well your entitled to your opinion, but this is the guy who was recorded vowing to bring the colombo family back to prominence. and that while he was in jail it looks like he stayed acting boss, seeing that he was the one that made donnie shacks acting underboss. and of course he's Carmine Persico's cousin.

and I'm not really going to go into the other families hierarchies cause they've pretty much have been discussed ad nauseam.

I really belive that cefalu is front to cali,and thats my personal right..i think it's done on purpose,making cefalu boss.does anybody know where was this cafe giordano where all the zips hung out..Read somewhere it was on 18th ave betwen 71 and 70th street in bensonhurst..?

Nevermind,just google it.7403 18th ave

I can't see Russo being boss now , he must be 80 and has spent a good chunk of time in prison

http://books.google.ie/books?id=0ZygQJNY...nte&f=false

Joe Massino was a soldier in James Galante's crew. I didn't know Carmine's nephew was a captain!