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.