Joseph Charles "Big Joey" Massino (10 January 1943 – 14 September 2023) was boss of the Bonanno crime family from 1991 to 2004, succeeding Philip Rastelli and preceding Vincent Basciano.
Biography[]
Joseph Charles Massino was born and raised in Queens, New York City, New York, and he became a protege of Mafia made man Philip Rastelli. Following the 1979 assassination of Carmine Galante, Rastelli took over the Bonanno crime family, and Massino moved from being a truck hijacker to being a murderer. In 1981, he arranged the killings of Philip Giaccone, Dominick Trinchera, and Al Indelicato, and he later had his rival Dominick Napolitano hit. In 1991, while he was sent to prison for a 1986 labor racketeering conviction, Rastelli died, and Massino took over as boss. Upon his release a year later, Massino set about rebuilding his family, and he was reckoned as the most powerful Mafia boss at the turn of the millennium. In July 2004, "The Last Don" was convicted in a murder and racketeering indictment, and his own underboss and brother-in-law Salvatore Vitale testified against him. Massino faced the death penalty if convicted, so he decided to turn states against Vincent Basciano. In 2013, he was released from prison, although he was to be supervised for the rest of his life. He was the first boss to betray his own family. Massino died at a rehabilitation clinic in New York on 14 September 2023, aged 80.
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