Cesare Bonventre

On his wiki profile it says he killed over 20 people, and in this article http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,923698,00.html , it claims he was planning on going to war with the Gambino family. Can anyone shed some light on whether or not this was true and who some of his more high profiled victims were? Also was he really 6'9' tall? Seems incredibly tall for an Italian.

Thanks for your time.

He was one of Carmine Galante's killers. They found 5 different slugs in him, and there were only 3 shooters that arrived.

He was incredibly tall.
He was whacked apparently because he was summoned to a meeting with boss Rusty Rastelli.
Rusty said something that Bonventre didnt like and so he (Bonventre) got up and walked out.
You CANNOT dis-respect a boss like that and expect to live.
Bonventre seemed an arrogant son of a bitch.

He was also a capo who had the honour of having Tony Mirra under him.
I wonder what Mirra's reaction was when he learned he had to answer to a kid half his age?

I thought he was killed because Massino viewed him as a threat? Where did you hear he walked out on Rastelli? I'm not saying you are wrong, just curious what book you read it in.

Joey Massino revealed it during his recent testimony

Does anyone know if Big Joey's trial testimony is posted online anywhere? I had not heard that about Bonventre, and would love to read about it.

Me too, thanks GaryH.

Here you go guys.......



He (Joey Massino) also explained the rationale behind another mob rubout: Disrespect. While he was on the lam in 1984 – ducking trial for the murders of three capos in 1981 – Massino said he learned from Rastelli’s brother and his own brother-in-law Salvatore Vitale, who was then a capo, that Rastelli was planning to whack Cesare Bonventre, a member of the family’s Sicilian faction who had extorted about $600,000 from a drug dealer who was close to Rastelli.

When Bonventre was called on the carpet about it by Rastelli, not only did he deny the allegation, “he got insulted” by the inquiry and “got up and walked away,’ without so much as a polite good bye to his already steaming Mafia boss.

“You can’t do that with bosses,” said Massino. “That’s why he died.”


http://www.gangsterbb.net/threads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=600169

Bonventre, like Baldo Amato & the other Zips, were definitely more dangerous then the average wiseguy.

that was a great read i also have some questions

1 He forced Mafia Don Frank Lupo, 56, out of his established territory
How could one made man muscle another made man out of his territory.Wounldnt there be sitdowns and isnt that against the rules????

2 Finally, he talked of going to war with the powerful Gambino family.
Why was this and how could a soldier make a desicion like that without the bosses permission??

3 I wonder y Baldo Amato never became a boss or any position in the adminstration.He seems he has that aura about him

thanks for all the replies guys.

Isn't funny that the Bonanno's are considered one of the weakest of the 5 families when they had all the nutcases. Bonventre,Amato,Lefty,Mirra,Pitera,bruno

Every family has it's share of nutcases. I don't think the Bananno's had any more nutcases than any other family, and Lefty, Pitera and Mirra were notoriously small time, only soldiers. Not like they had a huge influence. Lefty was always broke. Having guys like that certainly wouldn't help the family gain prominence.

The Bonannos always were one of the smaller families in New York, but despite that they always were pretty strong actually. The only family in New York that you really could consider to be weak are the Colombos.

I never said that i think the Bonanno's were big time. I also didn't say they were the toughest. I just don't hear about them as much as other guys. lefty Ruggiero was a degenerate gambler, mirra was a good earner but was only a soldier, and pitera was obviously the bruce lee of the mob but wasn't boss material. Thats what i meant

I thought you were saying it was a surprise they weren't stronger because they had guys like Lefty, Mirra snd Patera ect. My bad man.

No problem.

Bonventre was dangerous because as a Zip he thought differently to USA guys.
Also he was a capo at 28 - that must have gone to his head and made him power hungry.

Pitera was a vicious animal.
Mirra was a handful - most other soldiers were afraid of him

ya he was very young to be a captain. Also I think Mirra was in his crew which makes you wonder how their conversations went lol

I've long wondered what Mirra's reaction was when he learned that he had to report to a kid half his age!
LOL

ya considering his reputation as a knife man but I think he knew that Cesare was not to be messed with.

I think the scariest Bonnano man was Tommy Pitera

Ya his story is something you would see in a movie. a boy gets his ass kicked every day in school. Then he watches the green hornet and wants to become Bruce lee as a lot of younger kids probably did. he not only learns karate but becomes a master in Japan. Comes back and becomes a ruthless killer. Surreal

I assume you have seen the Pitera documentry on youtube...........its scary stuff isnt it?

ya and read the book

Is it a good read? How many people was he convicted of killing? How many do they estimate he actually killed?

I think he was convicted of like 6 or something and they estimated that he might have killed 60

Anyone know what Queens garage Bonventre was killed in?

I wonder what Brooklyn neighborhood Bonventre lived in? I figure he lived around Knickerbocker in Bushwick.

Bonventre is one of the most fascinating personalities.

Baldo Amato eventually ran the Giannini Crew in Ridgewood, Queens. That's all he ever amounted to.

Is there a way to read that Time article without paying? From the first paragraph, it looks interesting.

You see this picture? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Anthonymirra1.JPG

It looks like Mirra wanted to slap his captain, no?

Mirra wanted to slap everybody!

Some people need it , to get there attention

Imagine that?

I get it!

Can ya dig it? I knew that you could.

, then if they do not understand the slap ! You are right Carmela , they can dig the hole !

I want everyone to know I have a nice big shovel in my trunk and a bag of lime , for anyone who wants to jump in the hole or fall in !

Frosty, one of these coming days, I'm gonna come to whatever the fuck Dakota it is that you come from. I'm going to find you out there in God's country, and when i do, I'm going to shove an ice pick right thru your frosty balls.

Just sayen!!

WOW ! Threats on this board ! Why get so fusterated ? But I will give you the addy anytime, bring the family and then we can have a drink and meal prior too you ice picken my balls (wink) better bring two icepicks , I got some big ones ! Damm, my feelings are hurt ! If you only knew how many threats I have had in my life ! (wink) LOL ! Serious as a big heatatack ! But never asked them to bring their familys and have dinner and drinks on me ! LMAO ! Hell I may just let you, do yourthing ! It might be doing me a favor.

Just Sayen ! And such language ! How is the family ?

Would the two of you please take this off the boards?

you seem to have alot of problems frosty.....lots of people dislike you

I have no problem with that at all SC ! Thank you , you know whats up ! Treat it as it should be ! Thank you !

Frosty

You're not innocent in all this, Frosty. JUST END IT NOW!! You too, carmela!!

FUCK YOU ! SC , YOU GOT WHAT YOU WANTED ! I HAVE NEVER KISSED ASS AND NEVER WILL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'd say that guy has some serious issues. Oh well.... he's history.

Whats doin consiligiere? I thought we did not refuse someone's right to free speech..in the family. Just sayin. In my opinion we should let frosty cool off and get him back on the boards! You seem like a stand up guy Long Island.

No free speech is guaranteed here.

Take everything you own and bet that Frosty won't be allowed back here! Never. Ever.

You did what you had to do, SC. I'm only posting this because I know how you're torn when you have to ban someone. The guy called you out and that's that. I can't tell you how many times my heart went in my mouth when I'd see that he replied to one of my posts.

Frosty,

If you're reading this (and I suspect that you are), you should try to get yourself some help. Whether it's the booze, or an anger management type of thing, just do the best you can to fix the problem. But make no mistake, you DO need help. I wish you well.

PB

I'm glad that's over with. * Hears the song Let The Good Times Roll *

*hears the song na na na hey hey goodbye!"

I understand "Dont feed the trolls" and all that, but it was funny kind of baiting him sometimes. The idea that there's a guy like that out there, wow, kinda sad.

Just to clarify, Im not saying SC was baiting him; he seemed to have a real problem with that particular mod. Like he really resented being sent on vacation, as if it wouldn't be expected from the drivel he'd post.

You need help Frosty. Just Sayen! Just Sayen!

It was easy to avoid him (for me) when he stayed in General Discussion. But then he began posting anywhere and everywhere just to post and it was the same stuff in every post.
I took a 3 day ban defending the guy. All of you that are feeling badly NOW that he's gone... where were you all to stand up and defend him when he was here, like i did?? In public, like I did. I did a 3 day ban without blinking an eye for him. I felt bad for him, too.

But, THEN, he went and got stranger and started saying strange things to me on the board and in private. Things about my daughter. Even I have my limits and my kids are it. I didn't go to a mod, because that's not my way, and I won't go into it here. I was done with him at this point though and tried my best to avoid him, but it was getting harder. He was all over the board lately.

Anyway, that's my stance on it and why I posted what i did in here. His post to SC was all on him, though. He should never have said that.

He's dead to me and I couldn't care less what happens to him now. I barely cared before.

ya sorry that he mentioned your family thats way too far

yeah he made me feel uncomfortable in pm's too...seemed like he was interested in being more than just friends over a message board....weirdo

Who cares that he's gone? Why would I defend him after the fact? I said more then once when people ragged on him that he wasn't so bad, just a lonely drunk nutter. The PM's where annoying and unsettling, but I think everyone knew it would happen eventually with how oddly confrontational he'd get.

Just pointing out, Im not sorry that he's gone at all. I agree with Phat; Im surprised he lasted as long as he did. He does need help though.

btw- Cesare Bonventre died in Maspeth Queens.

Still trying to find out where he lived and if his son got into "the life".

Bonventre´s address was listed at 2042 83rd Street in Brooklyn. I think that´s in the Bensonhurt section.
There is a Giaccomo "Jack" Bonventre (born in 1966?) listed as a Bonanno member, but I doubt very much that he is Cesare´s son. If the date of birth is 1966, Cesare would have been in his teens when Jack was born.

SC is right. If "free speech" means freedom to use Geoff's boards to threaten or personally insult others, then there's no "free speech." We try to maintain a reasonable amount of civility here--it's one of the things that attracts good people to us.

Frosty seemed like he had an alcohol problem, that is what I got from reading his post, which were often incoherent. Another reason why I think alcohol is worse than most drugs, only on alcohol does one make an ass out of themself on internet forums.

I felt kinda bad for him at times, I also found most his posts difficult to understand, so I just didn't respond ... after reading this thread though I believe he has crossed the line and made a lot of people uneasy...I suppose the guys got some issues that he should get some help with, and I don't think the booze is helping ya know ...

just sayen...

Interesting. I always figured him to be a Bushwick Bonanno.

There is a Cesare Bonventre listed on the White Pages. He lives in Maspeth and is 27, which is the exact age his son would be.

Bonventre was, what you call, a "Bushwick Bonanno". He was with the Knickerbocker crew. But he didn´t live in the area. Neither did Catalano who I believe lived in the Middle Village section in Queens.
The Cesare Bonventre you found on the White Pages seems to be Bonventre´s son. The Jack Bonventre, I mentioned, is probably not related to him in any way.

There was actually a time when being a "Bushwick Bonanno" meant living there too. That whole Bushwick/Lower Ridgewood area was Bonanno territory going back before I was born.

Remember the Troutman Street ambush? Cypress Gardens massacre?

I'm guessing that Catalano lived in that part of Ridgewood or Bushwick when he came as an immigrant then moved to Middle Village which is an extension of that area.

So many Italians lived in those old tenements before working their way up to Maspeth or Middle Village or wherever.

You´re probably right Vinny.

There might have been a few non Bonanno members operating in the Bushwick area but it was mainly a Bonanno stronghold for many, many years.
In the 1970s, and early 1980s, the so called "zips" mostly hung out on Knickerbocker between Myrtle and Flushing, a flourishing "Sicilian" area at that time.

Vinny, how about the area today? Is it still "Sicilian"?

No. The neighborhood is now Puerto Rican as you near Myrtle and Knickerbocker and it's Mexican/Ecudaorian as you near Flushing and Knickerbocker.

I'm reading The Sixth Family.

Up to the part where Pietro Licata is killed in front of his wife outside their Middle Village home.

Safe to say Cesare was the shooter with Baldo driving?

Perhaps.
But there are conflicting versions regarding how the killing was carried out. Licata´s wife told the police that a yellow sedan, pulled up just as her husband opened the gate to the driveway leading to their home. She said one occupant of the car rolled down a window and then she heard a shotgun blast and saw her husbund fell to the ground. She couldn´t see what the shooter looked like.
However, another witness told the police that a short, stocky man wearing a dark-colored coat and on foot, shot Licata and cooly walked away. He turned the corner and got into a yellow car, apparently alone.
I tend to believe the second witness because Licata´s wife, I believe, had been in a state of shock which limited or blured her memory of what happened that night. This is a fully normal reaction with witnesses close to the victim.
So a short, stocky man doesn´t sound like Bonventre.

I guess the short stocky man description would point to Salvatore Catalano. Coincidentally there was another short stocky man running around with a gun that year.

Thanks for the info. In "The Sixth Family", they use Licata's wife's version.

Reminder : It is a privilege, granted by the owner of this site, to become a member and post here....not a right. So therefore the rules that have been implemented by the owner of this site MUST be adhered to.

Freedom of Speech and straight up disrespect of rules are two VERY different things.

Glad to see this clown gone.

Cesare Bonaventre was actually from 83rd Street in Bensonhurst Brooklyn. His younger brother Vito used to hang around 20th Avenue (not involved in LCN).

Cesare Bonventre is fascinating.

Had he not been killed in 1984, you have to figure he would have become a media star during the Pizza Connection trial, because of his look.

It was mentioned that Rusty Rastelli "grew tired of his kidnapping plots". I was wondering what plots Bonventre was involved in because I've never heard of LCN doing this for money.

Does anyone know the address he was killed at? I know it's just three blocks from Metropolitan and Flushing in Maspeth. For some reason I think it's 54th St between Flushing and Grand.

But only two shooters went to the courtyard. One stayed in the restaurant to keep the staff at bay. A fourth gunmen may have waited outside while the driver stayed at the wheel.

So I'm guessing that the shooters had a shotgun in one hand and handgun in the other and used both. The number of different bullets may not indicate the number of actual shooters.



I think there were four sho

There was only one shooter of course, ICEMAN! Duh!

Actually, Ive read in a bunch of old news reports/indictments (old as in the late 80s/early 90s) of guys doing kidnappings for ransom (usually always associates), there was the case of Frank Santoro who was bragging he was going to kidnap the son of Vinny Basciano, we all know what happened when Vinny found out, he found him and shotgunned him himself

I was away and believed I missed this but its hilariousness oo the anger!!

There was a shooter in the hit on Galante that the other shooters called Sal twice.

"In the back Sally" and then something like "Get Him Sal". Was that Sal Catalano?

If it wasn't Catalano then who was the shooter the others called Sal? Anybody know?

lol.baldo and the big guy were asshole buddies in coleman.lol.

Did Bonventre have more then one son? Because according to an old article in Time Magazine Bonventre's widow gave birth to their only son after he was murdered.

So if he had a son that was born earlier then that it must of been with someone else besides his wife.

Well, if we go by Frank Lino´s testimony for example, five guys were directly involved in the Galante murder. Santo Giordano was most likely the getaway driver. His fingerprints were found in the getaway car, on the inside of the window at the drivers side when the car was located. Also Anthony Bruno Indelicato´s fingerprints were later found inside the car which helped convict him in the Commission case.
Four men exited the car and one of them stayed outside Joe and Mary´s while the other three went inside. Frank Lino claimed that the three men were Dominick Trinchera, Anthony Bruno Indelicato and Russell Mauro. Lino said that Trinchera was the one who threathened the restaurant staff (and according to policeinvestigation, the man who said "in the backyard, Sal"). Indelicato was the one who shot Turano and Coppolla to death, while Mauro was the actual shooter of Galante, assisted by Bonventre (one of two Galante bodyguards that day) who also fired one or two shots into Galante´s body.
So who was this Sal? Well, my own theory is that "Sal" was actually a nickname for Mauro, derived from his first name Russell. I haven´t seen any mentions of Mauro being nicknamed "Sal" anywhere, but if you think about it, it is plausible. Another theory is that the witness, when questioned by the police right after the murder, simply lied about the name. This is fully understandable for more than one reasons.
I´m not sure, but none of the later Bonanno turncoats mentions Sal Catalano as being on the scene. But he was most likely involved with the murder in some way. One interesting fact is that Cesare Bonvente, Baldo Amato and Catalano went into hiding after the hit probably to escape LE. Catalano went to Sicily and stayed there for five months. During his stay in Sicily, Catalano got married, if memory serves me right.



I think he had only one son. The Jack Bonventre mentioned by me in the post above, is not the son of Cesare but the son of Antonio, another Bonanno made member.

There were a lot of Bonventres involved with the Bonanno Family throughout the Family´s history dating back to the early 1900s. All of them hailed from Castellamare del Golfo and they were probably all related to eachother in one way or the other. There were three Vito Bonventres, one of them killed in 1930. Other Bonventres were Anthony (also killed in 1930), Giuseppe, Giovanni (John), Martin (made in the 1950s and son of Peter, the uncle of Joe Bonanno who had offered Bonanno a job as a baker, mentioned in Bonanno´s memoirs) and the father and son, Antonio and Jack, mentioned above.

was wondering when someone would mention the bonventres Joe Bonanno often referred to in his book

Thanks Hairy.

Bonventre's son was born in 84 i believe so that would make him around 29 years old today. I wonder what he's up to these days.

Does anyone know Cesare Bonventre's fathers name? Most likely his son was named after his father being the first son born to Cesare. I assume Cesare's wife was sicilian too, i saw her in one of the photo's from the Bono wedding, i thought she looked pretty good.

i can't see cesare being faithful to his wife

Hi I am new to this forum so go easy.

Cesare Bonventre, as Skinny Vinny said, was a fascinating character.

His son appears to be in end-stage renal failure and is being transplanted (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5THbx9lMjMU)-seems like a lovely guy.

His father I can't see being 6'9''......maybe 6'5''?

I have photos of him from Ralph Blumenthals book and what is on the internet, but does anyone have any rare ones?

thanks

Martin

Good find Martin and welcome aboard!

I really hope Cesare does well. He seems like a good kid.

There were pictures of Bonventre´s dead body posted on the other forum some time ago. I´ll see if I can find them.

Hairy i already posted them here....they're in one of the threads on Bonventre.

Wow if that is cesars son talk about paying for the fathers sin.There are alot of people who will be happy about this that cesar did wrong to even though the kid had nothing to do with it

I dont think thats cesars son because they said he was half irish.I really dont think cesar was the type of guy to marry a non sicilian

He's another zip who got to big for his britches is that the correct saying. He got wacked out like anyone else don't know why people fascinated with him. No one avenged him. He would have got 20 yrs n the pizza trial anyway. He got found in the 55 gallon drum in new jersey. Massino had gab infiniti wacked for that but rusty must have gave the ok. Wonder why they wanted the body gone but I read that was a bona no thing

Heres the pic of Bonventre when they pulled his body out of the 2 drums.

Why was Cesear hit?

Youngest Capo in Bonnano history. Was it simply because he was viewed as a threat or had he actually made a transgression?

He (Joey Massino) also explained the rationale behind another mob rubout: Disrespect. While he was on the lam in 1984 – ducking trial for the murders of three capos in 1981 – Massino said he learned from Rastelli’s brother and his own brother-in-law Salvatore Vitale, who was then a capo, that Rastelli was planning to whack Cesare Bonventre, a member of the family’s Sicilian faction who had extorted about $600,000 from a drug dealer who was close to Rastelli.

When Bonventre was called on the carpet about it by Rastelli, not only did he deny the allegation, “he got insulted” by the inquiry and “got up and walked away,’ without so much as a polite good bye to his already steaming Mafia boss.

“You can’t do that with bosses,” said Massino. “That’s why he died.”

Which again seems like more of an excuse than a reason. If people were hit simply because they didn't say a proper goodbye you'd rightfully assume there'd be a lot more bodies on the street.

IMO the order came from Massino not Rastelli. Rastelli was near the end of his tenure and I think Joe viewed Cesear as a threat.

You don't whack a capo because of a slight of manners.

Thanks Giancarlo. That saved me some effort...(the search funtion, on the forums, can sometimes be a pain...)

It was more of him just walking out without explanation than not giving him a proper goodbye. When you already extort a drug dealer close to the boss then insult him when you're told to answer for it, yea you are a dead man walking.

@ Giancarlo

Where do you guys get this stuff?

It's not that uncommon of a picture. Seem it all over the internet.

Cesare Bonventre, Organized Crime Figure.

He as a member of both the Sicilian Mafia and the Bonanno Organized Crime Family operating out of Brooklyn, New York. A bodyguard to Bonanno boss Carmine Galante on the day Galante and three others were murdered. Bonventre survived the massacre and escaped. He was arrested a week later, but told the FBI he saw nothing and was freed. He was a member of the Salvatore Catalano Crew. A main importer and trafficker of heroin from Sicily. He was murdered one month before the "Pizza Connection" arrests brought down Catalano, Giuseppe Ganci and others. The Pizza Connection trial (the name was chosen because the heroin was sold out of pizza parlors though out the U.S.) was the largest narcotics trials in United States history. Bonventre was shot to death, then sawed in half and stuffed into two 55 gallon drums of glue. An informer lead the FBI to the drums and three months later Bonventre was positively identified.

Of all the Zips, or young Sicilian mafiosi, brought into the United States by the likes of Carlo Gambino and Carmine Galante, no one was more hated or feared than Cesare Bonventre, who killed his way up to underboss of the Zips and their faction within the Colombo family.Many American mobsters viewed the Zips as imported "crazies," who were not to be trusted, Cesare least of all. Nonetheless, the Zips became the key factors in the so-called Pizza Connec-
tion, importing millions of dollars of heroin into the country.

The Colombo family boss Galante, recently released from prison, ran the operation. He wanted total control of the heroin trade in America and ultimately meant to take over all five of the New York families. For that he needed the Zips and the unques
tioning loyalty of the swaggering Cesare Bonventre,at 28 one of the youngest of the weird bunch. Galante felt he could trust the Zips; he was making them rich and powerful. What more could they want?

Trusting no one else in the Mafia, Galante kept only a small group of Zips around him, with Cesare always at his side. He used the Zips for all kinds of murderous work and for handling junk deals. Then in 1979 three masked gunmen shot Galante to death in a Brooklyn restaurant. With him at the time as "bodyguards" were Cesare and his cousin Baldo Amato. Both fled after the shooting. It was clear the assassins had no interest in shooting them.

Inside both mob and law enforcement circles there was little doubt that Bonventre was in on the hit. The other crime families in New York and elsewhere had grown so frightened of Galante that they decided he had to die. They followed an old Mafia custom of involving some of the victim's closest associates in the plot. Cesare Bonventre fit the bill perfectly. He probably didn't even consider it an act of betrayal.He could see how the odds had suddenly swung against his mentor. Farewell, Carmine.

As a reward Cesare became a capo within the Bonanno family, honored if hardly trusted. Cesare's own downfall was a bare five years off. The Pizza Connection plot, funneling heroin deals through pizza parlors all over Brooklyn and elsewhere, was unraveling. Higher-ups probably blamed Bonventre for at least part of the chaos. And if Cesare had betrayed Galante, might he not also betray them to the authorities?

As arrests were made in the pizza case, Bonventre and Amato disappeared. Amato later turned up alive and was convicted with many others. Cesare Bonventre was not so fortunate. His body was found hacked in two and stuffed into two glue drums in a warehouse in New Jersey. The body had been located through a tip from an unidentified source who knew there the drums were stored pending shipment to the Midwest. It took weeks to identify the corroded and decomposed remains as Cesare. The task was accomplished using dental records and a gaudy gold chain the victim always wore around his neck and bragged was "indestructible."

No arrests ever resulted even though an informant stated that one of the killers was one Cosmo Aiello, who also turned up dead about five weeks after the discovery of Bonventre's body.
Perhaps Bonventre's murder had been ordered by his Zip superior, Sal Catalano, but there were other suspects. Certain forces in Philadelphia hated Cesare for having cheated them with diluted heroin.And there was an endless number of Bonventre's associates who had long chaffed under his rough
treatment.

http://thenewyorkmafiabosses.blogspot.com/2013/01/bonventre-cesare.html

I stopped reading after it stated Columbo family instead of Bonanno.

Mistake like that kinda destroys any credibility.

Remember reading him an baldo came to america at like 15 in early 70tys they worked masonry for Colombo old guy nick rizzo who may be still alive. He got round up with all them guys 2011. The guy nick rizzo got snitched out by one of tommy shots killer crew he was charged with extortion from like 1996 cause he forced the young guy to pay money cause he smashed up some car lot rizzo protected.