Bonanno, as noted is tied to B&t Cheese of Hellam, Pennsylvania. Bonanno sought permanent residency status in Canada in May of 1964. At his immigration hearing, he introduced as evidence a letter on Saputo company stationery that said Bonanno would help expand Saputo's business. Bonnanno did not stay in Canada. He was ordered deported because he had lied when he told the Canadian authorities later that he had acquired 20% of other Saputo businesses. Bonanno's involvement in the activities of these and other companies, and the companies ties to OC figures has led Vermont authorities to reject the application of Jolina Cheese Company for the construction of a cheese plant in that state. Jolina Cheese, a newly formed corporation, had been created by Saputo, B&T Cheese of Pennsylvania, and another Saputo distributor, California Olive Oil.

During a licensing hearing in New York, the Crime Commission provided evidence from subpoenaed records of B & T Cheese and a local bank that indicates that a portion of a $51,000 cash payment for cheese purchased from Produits Caillette in December 1977 by B & T Cheese ultimately found its way to Joseph Bonanno in Tucson. A $1,000 currency wrapper bearing the name "National Central Bank" (now Hamilton Bank, Lancaster, Pennsylvania), that was later traced by Commission agents and bank employees directly to one of the partners of B & T Cheese, was found a few days later during the course of the "trash cover" conducted at Bonanno's Tucson residence. The license for the firm, Utica Cheese Inc. (of wich Emmanuel "Lino" Saputo, an owner of G. Saputo & Sons Ltd., is the major stockholder). Through his wife, Fay, Bonanno had an interest in Grande Cheese. Fay Bonanno owned 150 of the 2,000 shares of Grande Cheese stock as of 1971. According to Vincent Falcone, an associate of OC figures who testified before the Crime Commission in early 1980, Bonanno was a very close friend of John DiBella, a one-time owner of Grande Cheese. Bonanno was said to have frequently visited DiBella for two to three days at a time at the Grande plant.

Grande Cheese was born out of a bloody Chicago gang war in 1939. At least five men were killed, including the owner of Grande, whose body was found stuffed in the trunk of a car. Rising out of this war came Chicago crime boss Ross Prio, who took control of the Wisconsin company. In the mid-1940's, control passed to Dibella and his sister, Rose. Rose took over her brothers stock when he died in 1964 and sold it to the Candela and Gaglio families. The Gaglios moved to California and formed their own company, but the Candelas stayed in Wisconsin to operate Grande Cheese. John DiBella and Vincent Falcone and his two brothers founded a new company, Gourmay Cheese of Lomira, Wisconsin. Gourmay is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Grande Cheese.