By the time of the commission case, Joe Bonanno would still be semi active. There is evidence of him still active on a small scale during the 1970s. He would mostly concentrate on the west coast. Los Angeles under Frank DeSimone, did not fair great, and Nick Licata did not help much as boss as well. Bonanno actually had a good relationship with Jimmy Regace AKA Dominic Brooklier, real name Domenico Brucceleri, Joe always called him Jimmy, Frank Bompensiero, and Samuel Sciortino of Los Angeles. Bonanno and Regace both suspected Bompensiero of being an informant for sometime, and confirmed it by an FBI sting that Bompensiero help put together, pretty sure it was an extortion of porn studio. Bonanno also had a small crew in the Bay Area headed by Nick Guastella sometime in the mid 1960s, and his Arizona crew and a few scattered soldiers in Southern California. Seattle keeps being brought up, but Bonanno did have an associate living in Tacoma Washington from the late 1940s till 1960s, but that area always had a strong Chicago and Genovese crime family interests there. Bonanno did meet John Carbone through Frank Garofalo and John's cousin Charles Carbone of San Jose. Bill Bonanno did meet Frank Colacurcio Sr nothing came of it, due to LE closing in on Joe Sr, Joe Jr, and Bill Bonanno in the late 1970s.
Paul Castellano could not believe that Joe could remember everything that was said in the book after so many years. Fat Tony was like Tony Ducks, when Joe said he was never in drugs, he said he was full of shit, and he was a rival for Vito in that business (Meaning Vito Genovese). Castellano felt Bonanno did indeed plot to have the bosses killed, Salerno felt Bonanno had nothing to due with the plot.