NYPOST article confirming Massino death. Below this article I posted another one from Long Island's NEWSDAY.
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Joseph ‘Big Joey’ Massino, first ex-NY mob-boss-turned-rat, dead at 80.

Former Bonanno crime family boss Joseph “Big Joey” Massino — the first head of one of New York’s five mob families to ever turn rat — died earlier this month after battling a short illness, it was revealed Friday. He was 80.

Massino, who ran the Bonanno family with an iron fist from 1991 to 2003, died at a rehab facility in the New York City area on Sept. 14, sources close to his family told Newsday.

The ex-mob boss, who sent shockwaves through the organized crime world when he became a federal witness nearly two decades ago, had been battling a number of health conditions, including diabetes and obesity, in the lead-up to his death, the sources said.

Massino broke the sacred vow of silence and began talking with the feds immediately after he was convicted in 2004 for orchestrating a quarter-century’s worth of murder, racketeering and a slew of other crimes as he rose through the ranks of the vicious family.

He had been handed a life sentence over the bloodshed, which included the slayings of three rival mob captains and the execution of a mobster who had vouched for FBI undercover agent Joseph D. Pistone, who used the name Donnie Brasco, in the 1980s.

Brasco's infiltration became the subject of the hit 1997 film “Donnie Brasco,” starring Johnny Depp and Al Pacino.

Massino had to forfeit his mountain of bloody loot in the wake of his conviction — including $7 million in cash and the more than 250 bars of solid gold that he stashed in the Howard Beach, Queens, home where he lived with his wife and three daughters.

The canary ended up spending 12 years in a cage before a Brooklyn federal judge ruled in 2013 that he could be released from jail as a reward for cooperating with authorities and testifying against fellow gangsters — including his Bonanno successor, Vincent “Vinny Gorgeous” Basciano.

“Quite simply, Mr. Massino may be the most important cooperator in the modern history of law enforcement to prosecute the American Mafia,” Judge Nicholas Garaufis said before springing him loose.

Already ill by the time he was released, Massino was subsequently given a new identity in the witness protection program. He had been living in Ohio for some time prior to his death, sources told Newsday.

After arguing for his early release, his lawyer at the time, Edward McDonald, told the judge that Massino had reflected on his mob life during his time in jail and wished he could turn back the clock.

Massino, who ran the Bonanno family with an iron fist from 1991 to 2003, became the first head of one of New York’s five mob families ever to turn rat.
NJ.gov
“If he had to make the decision again, if he was 18 or 19, years old, he wouldn’t go into the Mafia,” McDonald said at the time.

Massino, who was born and raised in Queens, entered the organized crime world in the 1970s when he became associated with mobster Philip Rastelli, who eventually became the boss of the Bonanno family.

He was inducted into the mob in 1977 and became a captain two years later.

In 1981, he helped facilitate the slayings of three rival captains — Philip Giaccone, Alphonse Indelicato and Dominick Trinchera — who were suspected of trying to overtake the Bonanno family.

Massino ended up serving time in a federal lock-up in the ’80s.

He was named boss of the Bonanno family in 1991 after his predecessor, Rastelli, died.

While heading up the mob family, Massino simultaneously ran legitimate businesses across the Big Apple — including a Queens sandwich shop, catering companies and an Italian restaurant.

NEWSDAY:
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"Joseph Massino, 80, low-key Mafia boss turned fed witness, has died"

Joseph Massino, the low-key Mafia boss who stunned the world of organized crime in 2005 when it was revealed he had become a government witness, has died after a short illness, sources close to his family told Newsday.

Massino, once a trim and powerful man who would jump off the Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge in Queens and swim for hours, battled a number of chronic health conditions including diabetes and obesity. He was 80 and lived until recently in Ohio. Massino died on Sept. 14 at a rehabilitation facility in the New York City area, according to the sources.

Massino’s youngest daughter Joanne, who asked that her last name not be published, confirmed his death but declined to comment further.

Over the years Massino navigated the treacherous world of the Mafia families in New York, all the while running legitimate businesses such as a sandwich shop in Queens, catering firms in Farmingdale and the CasaBlanca Restaurant in Maspeth, which he forfeited after a federal racketeering conviction in 2004.

“He ruled with an iron fist and kept order within the ranks,” said former FBI supervisory special agent Charles Rooney, who investigated the Sicilian faction of the crime family in the famous Pizza Connection drug case.

Through tribute paid to by fellow mobsters along with illegal and legal earnings, Massino amassed a fortune and after his conviction, had to turn over $10 million in cash — some of which he had kept in his Howard Beach home — as well as gold bars and other assets.

Massino actually wanted to cooperate within minutes after a Brooklyn federal court jury found him guilty in July 2004 of racketeering, including the orchestration of six mob murders, as boss of the Bonanno crime family. Massino immediately approached presiding Judge Nicholas Garaufis and said he wanted to cooperate, at which point Garaufis appointed him a special lawyer to negotiate.

After several months, it was revealed that Massino, who faced a federal death penalty trial in a different case, was cooperating against fellow mobsters. In 2005, Massino formally entered the federal witness security program. His life sentence was reduced to time served in 2013.

Born in Queens in January 1943, Massino was one of three sons of Anthony and Adeline Massino and lived close to Maspeth. Massino was an athletic young man who earned a reputation as being a street tough after dropping out of school in the seventh grade.

Massino took a number of jobs, including working as a lifeguard at Atlantic Beach on Long Island. As a young adult, Massino started a coffee cart business, serving businesses in the Maspeth area.

But it was in the 1970s that Massino became associated with Philip Rastelli, who rose to become boss of the Bonanno crime family. After Rastelli went to prison, investigators said, his trust in Massino grew.

Massino was inducted into the Mafia around 1977 and became a captain in 1979, according to the FBI. Two years later, in May 1981 according to federal court testimony, Massino helped engineer the killings of the three upstart captains — Philip Giaccone, Alphonse Indelicato and Dominic Trinchera — suspected of trying to gain control of the Bonanno family.

After Massino served time in federal prison in the 1980s, he was officially anointed as boss of the Bonanno family in 1991 upon Rastelli’s death.

Although Massino was a friend of his neighbor John Gotti, head of the Gambino family, he didn’t emulate Gotti's public stance and nightlife. Instead, Massino kept a low profile and closed down mob social clubs to frustrate FBI surveillance. To keep his name out of conversations that could be bugged, Massino asked that fellow gangsters refer to him only by tugging on their ears, a gesture that earned Massino the moniker “The Ear.”

But by 2000, the FBI again focused on Massino. The result was a federal indictment that led to his arrest on Jan. 9, 2003, along with his wife Josephine's brother, Sal Vitale. But soon after, Vitale became a government witness against Massino and testified at the mob boss’s 2004 trial.

After he became a government cooperating witness, Massino helped build a case against his former street boss, Vincent “Vinnie Gorgeous” Basciano. Massino also gave information to the FBI that allowed investigators to dig up the bodies of the captains killed in May 1981.

Yes because another thread was necessary

The question is...... how was Merlino the first to break this story

I suspect that although he turned rat, the family knew so many people growing up in Queens over the years that his daughters and extended family probably still kept in touch with a few friends on a limited basis...especially that his cooperation took place so many years ago.

And after he came back to NYC to that hospital/rehab center, was on his death bed, and then subsequently died, his family probably leaked it out in conversation to a few people. There was no longer any real danger to him because he already had one foot in the grave or had just died. The threat was gone at that point. It didn't matter anymore.

So thats probably how word eventually trickled down through the grapevine to local mob guys, who then spread the word around like wildfire.

Thats the most plausible theory I can think of.

I'm actually a little surprised they haven't yet posted it up in the NYDaily News or TNYT

Right, because it HAS to be all over the news and front pages to have happened!

LOL...No. But it is major news, especially here in NYC. So it's only natural that all the "major" daily papers would pick up the story. None of them wanna be "behind" in "current events."

I know you're a bit slow at grasping these types of things, but come on now Liggio.

After all, like the iconic Benjamin Franklin once aptly observed, "We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid."

. Absolutely. Especially here in NY it would be all over the news. Massino is a infamous mobster for many reasons

Thats absolutely correct JC. You are 100% right.

How many hits did massino admit a role in? Got to be at least 20 over the years. I can think of 10 off top of my head that he done or ordered.

For this guy to flip is crazy and keep his money. I bet Bruno looks back regretting the fact that he didn’t go for revenge on that blob when he got out from the commission case