The Bonnanno's lost Big Dom Trinchera; Sonny Red Indelicato; Phillp Giaccone; Sonny Black Napolitano and Anthony Mirra all in 1981 from different circumstances. Benny Left Ruggiero was gonna also gunna be hit.

They lost some serious powerhouses that year. My question is; Why did it take Phillip Rastelli so long to have Carmine Galante whacked? Was their a agreement where Galante was to serve as Acting Boss for a period or did he just grab total power without Rastelli's knowledge? I read they were friends at some point but i dont know the total extent.

rastelli was on the street till 1976. galante was released in 1974. from old articles they were close friends. when phil has to go to jail in 1976 he makes galante the acting boss and it must have went to his head. he jumps rite back in the herion game basically all the guys who get indicted in the pizza connection case all trace back to galante. he gets rich fast and goes power hungry. probaly stops listening to phil calling from jail or his messengers. galante had alot of guys loyal to him it wasnt easy to get guys to go against him

also galante gets locked up on parole violation for 18months. from dec 1977 all of 78. he gets out spring 79 and gets whacked a few months later. big qusetion whose the acting boss for phil in 1978 while galantes locked up or does he just let nick m. and steve canone run the family. im thinking that

@Pmac

Was Nicky Marangello official underboss under Rastelli? Or was he put in place by Galante? I know he was bumped down once Rastelli got full control of the family but who put him as underboss?

Rastelli was such a horrible boss. The 3 captains were murdered; You had Cesare Bonventre and a few other captains all murdered in the 80's. The Bonnano's in the 80's was a mess. Killing captains; left and right over disloyalty and rusty trying to keep control.

If the Zips and the 3 captains all had there way with the backing of another family or two; Rusty wouldnt have been boss aslong as he was.

That's right on the fuckin' head PMac...smack dab..u know the timeline like a mutha----r ….when he got out , he supposedly blew up Frank Costello's resting place ...why I don't know.

nick marangello was phils official underboss when he became boss in 1973. i think he was still phils underboss after galante dies. people say nick was broken down but i dont think that happens till he gets indicted with the other guys from the donnie brasco thing. massino testified he became the offical underboss in 1984. i wanna say nick was probaly to old and was asked to stepped down. rusty gets out in 1984 and thats when massino becomes underboss. makes sense.

found a cool old article from ny times. . natale evola dies in june 1973. phil becomes official boss few months later. he choses nick m as underboss. galante gets out in march 1974. this article is about a teamster union. they kicj money up to phil, nick and phils brother carmine. the witness was a union guy who says when phil went to jail in june 1976 he made all payments to nick. this is at the federal rico trial of phil nick massino and like 10 other guys oh sal vitale in 1986.. so clearly rusty choose galante to be acting boss and it was only for a short time. from june 1976 till camine violates parole and gets locked up in dec 1977. 18months as acting boss then he gets released in 1979 and gets whacked.

found another law thing. seems nick was in on having galante hit. he was seen at the ravenite talking to neil dellacroce and steve canone. 2 times and once after galante was killed. he was called in front of a grand jury in 1982 and found guilty of contempt. sentenced to 1yr he goes to jail in january 1983 after he looses last appeal.so i think he was never demoted by rusty at all he just went to jail for contempt then gets indicted agin in 1985 for rico with abunch of bonannos gets 8yrs in jan 1987. they had 12 seperate tables during the trial. he say to the grand jury he was godfather to one of galantes kids.

Damn that's cold.

A lot of Galante's power came from the fact that while he was not an original like Bonanno he was pretty damn close. He was also very tight with Vito Genovese. Like Genovese when he came back from Italy Galante didn't have to be boss to have power, he was a power unto himself. Some of the stuff that is commonly said about Galante I think was just legend like his having killed a few Genovese made guys after he got out of jail. I have never seen any of those guys that he allegedly killed identified, and if he did kill a few of their guys he would have been dead much sooner.

What I find a very interesting question is ..... Where in the hell did Rusty get all of his Power from?

they should have dealt with the donnie brasco thing different
i can't think of how but i't should have been different...
from the beginning they should have wait him being so close to sonny crew

@Pmac.

Would have never thought Nicky Glasses Marangello would have been Phil's choice as underboss. He was sooo close to Galante and seemed to follow his orders to. Why do you think he wasnt bumped down to soldier? Mike Sabella got the boot for being so close to Galante. He was a mentor to a ton of guys.

Rastelli power was due to Joe Massino; If he didnt have him; He would have been whacked when he got out of jail or asked to step down. I bet the other commission leaders had no respect for him.

@MeyerLansky

Yea; The Donnie Brasco situation was a mess. Definitely could have been handled differently. Mirra and Napolitano payed a heavy price with their lives. I don't understand why Sonny Black didn't skip town. He knew he was a dead man but he wanted to die like a man. I don't get it...

If you believe in the life how could you live with yourself knowing you were played by a FBI agent. What kind of life would you lead knowing you fucked up like that. I’m sure he believed in the ‘Cosa Nostra till I die’ just like Gotti said. You think skipping town would be a life worth worth living? I give him props for going out like he did. That is part of it that ordinary citizens like you and I don’t get.

You wanna be a gangster? Live it until you ain’t living no more.

Pure and simple

Rusty was a stone cold killer. He was doing hits when he was a kid. He killed his ex wife. Guy was a psychopath. Him galante and nick marangello were all the same age and all at 1 time close to joe bonanno. Nick tells a grand jury in 1982 hes known galante since 1942 and is godfather to 1 of his daughters. They wanted to know if he also was in on killing some guy moe a galante bodyguard. Nick knew galante was geting killed he was part the plot. Him and mike sabella got jammed up in all the indictments with donnie brasco 82 . I belive neither was demoted they just couldnt function and were in jail or under multiple indictments. I think sabella was also indicted in florida. Rusty had no choice but to replace them. They weren't that close to galante or they died with him. Plus there photos of them with dellacroce who was the force behind galantes murder

Sonny Black took his medicine like a man, at least he didn't run off to California only to start fleecing people like Franceze, that charlatan. In some ways he's the worst of all, he left his family in NY and started a new con claiming to be a man of God when he was just another guy who looked for the best out when the life turned on him.

boring sunday waiting for celtics at 1 and then the battle of winterfell at 9 nerds no what i mean. little more searching around 1981 on nick marangello and sabella. maybe after the 3 capos are killed there broken down by rusty for whatever reason but it has nothing to do with galante. who by may 1981 been dead almost 2 yrs. after donnie brasco is taken off the street we know sonny black gets killed hes the street boss or acting boss after the 3 capos are killed for what 2months then hes dead. in 1980 sal catalano a zip herion kingpin who lives in queens was close to rusty is acting boss for less then 6 months cause he cant speak english. sabella indicted at the end of 1982 in milwakee for vending machine shit with donnie brasco, florida for drugs grand jurys in nyc for everything. him and nick where just fucked and were useless to rusty and probaly asked to step down. thats crazy 3 federal cases in 3 states all over america. tthink sabella beat almost all them he ended up with like 5 yrs. i dont understand why sabella or nick wasnt at the brooklyn club when the 3 capos were killed. again maybe they knew about the plot. they were both also always in little italy nyc around the westside and gambinos.evryday

sabella own the place casa bella still around today even thou ive read its a genovese place

In your opinion Pmac, who had more zips in NYC? Knickerbocker (Bonanno) or 18th ave/cherry hill (Gambino?) I would guess Gambino because if the Cherry hill crew, between the Gambino, inzerillo, spatola and Di Maggios. However between Catalano and his crew....the bonventres and guys like Amato they probably had a ton too. Of course I am not including Montreal...that would put the Bonannos on top ovviously.

joe bonanno had that thing in his family he only inducted sicilians. probaly give him the edge even thou he was deposed as boss in or around 1965. a brooklyn capo pietro licata was killed in nov 1976. maybe that was a sneak job and not orderd by rusty or maybe it was.

Pietro Licata was a knickerbocker capo who didnt like heroin dealing.

its to hard of a debate to say who was more powerfull for the binos or bonanno zips.

currently, would obviously be gambinos tho

Pmac, Pietro Licata was done on Galante's orders to clear the way for big narcotic distribution, but there seems to have also been a personal motive for the hit other then drugs and elevating Salvatore Catalano over the zips.

i seen that too but theres pictures of pietro licatas son after his fathegr is killed with the biggest herion dealers in the usa and in sicily. 1980s the pictures are in the pizza connection book. yaeh for him to be kill 5 months after rusty goes to jail in 1976hmmmm galante probaly snuck him. his crew then is absolved by sal catalano who was inducted in 1976

seems like sal catalano was inducted and made a capo imedialty kinda like john gotti even thou he was only a acting capo for carmine fatico

@Pmac

Nick was definitely a bit useless; a figurehead in-fact; If he still held the underboss rank after Galante got clipped. Big Joe Massino was not underboss; but it was understood that he was Rastelli's deputy on the streets.

I always wondered why they picked a sicilian in Sal Catalano to reunite the factions when he spoke no english.

I bet the other bosses in Big Paul; Gigante; Corallo; Persico all had little respect for Rastelli.

@Micheal_Giovanni;
I agree. He lived La Costra Nosta till the end.

Do anyone think the 3 capo's could have taken control of the family if they had a bit more firepower? Sonny Red was no joke.

Im assuming rustelli and marangello were both sicilians since joe bonanno was only for inducting them into his family. His whole book was about that. Theres pics of the zips with marangello so its safe ti say he was fluent in there dialect. Nick was a old guy but he was around since forever and probaly had relationships with all the family. He kinda had a social club like fat tonys. Open a few hours a day for business only. Not great a nyc geography but if his place was on hester street that what around the corner from the ravenite and probaly 20 other clubs back then

They had a shot, but they failed the same way Galante failed on the zips. They undermined and disregarded the zips in the family. Sonny Red owed money to the Rizzutos in a drug deal and had not paid them back. Lucky Phil had a lot of respect from other high up family members in other families. Phil made the mistake of not killing Joe Massino when he had the chance. Half of the capos were on their side with a few more on the fence. How they conducted and did business with everyone else up to them getting killed, is what made them only having five crews with them. The hit was a master stroke in by taking out both Sonny Red and Lucky Phil, no one would try to take over the family from Rastelli, eventhough Rastelli was doing a lousy job from prison. Only revenge killings which is why they worried about Bruno Indelicato, and Tommy Karate, who's antics against Gene Gotti and Angelo Ruggerio of the Gambino family, and an unidentified Capo in the Colombo crime family made those families to support Sonny Black and Massino. So they ordered contracts on them, but they were later pulled, when Pistone was revealed to be an FBI agent.

I wonder who was to be boss phill lucky and sonny red underboss or vice versa. Massino n sonny black pulled the wool rite over there heads. They also broke sacres rules not to bring weapons to a sitdown which probaly made them look like dirt bags in the eyes of other family bosses

Call a peace meeting then slaughter them was like a mafia first. The red wedding

Sonny Red was the muscle and feared, while Lucky Phil had brains and respect from many members in the Bonanno and other families. It would have most likely have been Phil as boss and Alphonse as underboss.
Both the Colombos and Gambinos gave them tactical support with Dellacroce supply them with a Gambino owned building, and the Gotti crew disposing of the bodies with the mistake of Sonny Red not buried to deep. The Genoveses were on the renegade faction side, with Fat Dom supplying some firepower to them.