Bonanno Crime Family

The Bonanno crime family is one of the Five Families that control organised crime activities in New York City.

Under the leadership of Joseph Bonanno, the family was one of the most powerful in the country for over 30 years. However, in the early 1960s, Bonanno attempted to seize the mantle of boss of bosses, but failed and was forced to retire. This touched off a period of turmoil within the family that lasted almost a quarter of a century. That infighting, allegations that the family was actively dealing heroin, and the infiltration of their ranks by an FBI agent calling himself Donnie Brasco, led them to become the first of the New York families to be kicked off the Commission. Later, they faced shaky leadership, with the acting boss Carmine Galante murdered in 1979 at the command of Philip Rastelli, the actual boss. The family only recovered in the 1990s under Joseph Massino, and by the dawn of the new millennium was not only back on the Commission, but also was the most powerful family in New York. However, in the early 2000s, a rash of convictions and defections culminated in Massino himself becoming a government informant. The Bonanno family were seen as the most brutal of the New York five families during the 20th century.