By WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM The New York Times updated 4/13/2011 5:00:33 AM ET 2011-04-13T09:00:33
It was a straightforward question, but not one usually answered by the likes of Joseph C. Massino. At least not with such candor. The longtime boss of the Bonanno crime family was asked by a prosecutor, “What powers did you have?” Mr. Massino, seated at the witness stand, offered a quick, matter-of-fact reply.

“Murders, responsibility for the family, made captains, break captains,” he said.

And so it was that Mr. Massino, 68, the only official boss of a New York crime family ever to cooperate with federal authorities, appeared in Federal District Court in Brooklyn on Tuesday and became the first to testify against a former confederate.