Joe Bananas

Hey y'all. If anyone here is familiar with my posts on the board, you'll know my major interest is the golden age of the mob, the 50's and 60's. Information on this time period is fairly shadowy. It can be unclear what's true and what isn't. Joe Bonanno was a famous mafia Godfather, and it was said he used double-layered caskets to quietly dispose of the bodies of Bonanno victims (in his funeral home). I'm curious on who these victims were. You don't lead a family for 30 years without an uprising by playing nice or playing fair. But before the Banana war and his Commission plot (and Bonanno had been leading for a LONG time) I can't think of a single person he had killed. Can anybody fill in the blanks? We know about Galante and the rest but this family in particular was very shadowy. Any Bonanno historians, information would be appreciated!

Bannano said he reluctantly arranged for the murder Carlo Tresca in 1943, Galante was supposed to have done it. Though older mobster lore is supposed to have Genovese as the the culprit, because he was in Italy at the time and close to Mussolini and Tresca was a political refugee from Musssolini's fascists.

But I doubt Genovese could have carried out a murder contract 3,000 miles away in the middle of World War II, so Bonnano's claims seem plausible.

I think the double-casket story comes from Bill Bonnano's Last Testament.

Bonanno ordered murders. No doubt about it. Several made guys (and others as well I´m sure of) were killed during Bonanno´s rule. However, Bonanno never talked about the Tresca murder. Where did you get that from? I´m not disputing that he might have been involved somehow, but he never said anything in regards to the Tresca killing.

If memory serves me, the double casket story was mentioned in Bill Bonanno´s The last Testament but the story didn´t originate from there.

It's related in detail in the 1999 movie Bonnano: A Godfather's Story. Both Bill and Joe are credited as writers on the movie and Bill was the executive producer so I'm supposing the info came from the horse's mouth. The movie was based on both Joe and Bill's books, I don't remember the Tresco incident in Joe's book but perhaps it's what he left out and told Bill and Bill added it in (Joe died in '98, so I'm guessing that Bill did most of the work on it).


Three separate researchers (Alan A. Block, Dorothy Gallagher and Nuzio Pernicone) have also come up with the story of Galante being the likely shooter. I haven't had a chance to look at their books so I'm unsure of the validity of that claim.

I don't know why Vito didn't use someone in the Costello family. If it was because it was against the rules to hit journalists, that is the reason why I don't think Joe Bananas was in the middle of this.

That was a TV movie that was VERY loosely based on their books. I wouldn't recommend the movie to be used as basis for Joe Bonanno´s life story. The movie was shitty and riddled with factual errors not worth pissing on. Both Joe and Bill were credited with the script but I doubt that Bill had any say with the finished result of the movie as a whole.

Again, I´m not disputing that Bonanno and Galante may have had something to do with that killing. My point is that Joe Bonanno NEVER talked about the Tresca killing, something you´re claiming in your post above.

Bill Bonanno was the executive producer and he got a lot of info from doing a very lengthy recorded interview of his father. He defended the movie as accurate but admitted to certain liberties from dramatization. So in that sense the movie is a source. I have the three books that Tony Pro mentioned and agree with them. I'm confident that Galante was the shooter and that he did it for Frank Garofalo.

IIRC, Bonanno seemingly never committed any sort of crime in his life, as per his book.

He claimed he wasn't even at the Apalachin meeting. I guess his underling happened to be carrying Bonnano's license and identified himself as Bonanno when stopped by the cops. That story never made sense to me.

I agree the movie isn't the Godfather or anything like it, but for the reasons Faithful pointed out, I would consider a source. Is it a good, firm source? No. It is an indirect source based on Bill's heresy and both Joe and Bill are unreliable and self-serving at best (like all mobsters who write their own stories). So as to if Joe said he did it, it depends on how much you trust Bill's word and his producing on the movie.



That's something that's also bothered me too, he was in Sicily in October of 1957, Apalachin happened on November 17th, Joe claims he was in, or on the way back from Sicily if I remember right (it's been a year since I read his book), but that's a long time to stay away from New York, especially right after Albert Anastasia got killed (Oct. 25,1957).

Bonanno specifically mentions a guy last name "Parrino" during the Castellamarese war as a traitor to the family who Maranzano wanted dead... reading between the lines, Bonanno was definitely involved in this hit.
after becoming boss, he had an issues with Consiglieri Francisco Italiano, who famously opposed Bonanno during the family vote. He was whacked out. Fillippo Rappa, another Consiglieri, was demoted and whacked for similar reasons. of course, there were several others BEFORE the very bloody Bananas war. Bonanno was a hitter

Joe & his son Bill were both $$ hungry leeches in their later yrs....habitual liars..in books & T.V....I've read all their books through the years..& 1 + 1 does not equal 2...not once do either of them ever mention the name "Carmine Galante"....in any where.why ,who, shape or form..they know...they're fuck'in all liars...just like the rest of ALL mob......SCARFO..Sr. was the denial of all denials.....google him coming out of La Tuna prison..."whadda want me 2 say...im innocent"....yeah o.k.

I’ve had bills book in the book case for ages. Worth reading??

Yeah,2 pass some time & learn little tidbits about growing up like that, but u have dicern what is the truth & what is not.