Man Linked to Bonanno Crime Family Shot Dead on Staten Island


By Dominick Tao
April 1, 2023

The New York Times


A man identified by a law enforcement official as a soldier in the Bonanno crime family who was under federal investigation was shot to death early Friday morning near a bus stop on Staten Island, the authorities said.

The man, Dino Cammarano, was waiting for a bus near his town house on Ilyssa Way about 4:30 a.m. when an unknown number of attackers opened fire, law enforcement officials said.

Witnesses told the police that they heard seven shots and passers-by discovered Mr. Cammarano bleeding in the street about 100 feet from the bus stop, on Arthur Kill Road, the authorities said. Mr. Cammarano, 62, who was waiting for the X17 bus to take him to work in Manhattan, was shot several times and apparently tried to flee his attackers, investigators said. He was taken to Staten Island University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival, the police said.

On Friday, detectives were trying to determine the motive behind the killing. A police official said it was possible that it was related to ongoing tensions within the Bonanno crime family.

The medical examiner’s office has scheduled an autopsy for Saturday morning.

A federal law enforcement official said Mr. Cammarano had been under federal investigation when he was killed, though the official would not describe the nature of the investigation. Mr. Cammarano became a “made” member of the Bonanno crime family after 2001, the official said.

The official said that according to a list obtained by federal authorities, Mr. Cammarano was proposed for membership in the family by his late father Joseph Cammarano Sr, a former Underboss.

An investigator familiar with Mr. Cammarano said he had been a laborer and a member of Local 79 of the Construction and General Building Laborers’ Union.

In stark contrast to his life as a soldier for the New York mob, Mr. Cammarano was described by neighbors as a blue-collar family man who worked to support his wife and two young children.

“They’re very, very nice people,” said Mona Gaber, a neighbor of the Cammarano family. Ms. Gaber said she would often see Mr. Cammarano come home still dirty from his job as a construction worker.