Mob FilesPublic-domain archive of American organized crime

Joseph Massino

Convicted with Rastelli in the Local 814 case. The government's 1987 civil complaint called him the Bonanno family's underboss; a 2006 U.S. Attorney's release calls him "Bonanno family boss," and the Second Circuit in 2010 "the then-incarcerated official boss."

Aliases
Joey
Family
Bonanno family (Second Circuit, 2010)
Role
"the then-incarcerated official boss" (Second Circuit, 2010); "Bonanno family boss" (DOJ release, 2006)
Source
United States v. Basciano, 599 F.3d 184 (2d Cir. 2010)
Rights
This person may be living. The page is limited to what court records, Justice Department releases and FBI statements say, and gives no personal details beyond them.

On the record

  • 4 October 1984 — United States v. Massino, 784 F.2d 153 (1986): he and Salvatore Vitale were charged with RICO conspiracy and a substantive RICO count; "They were indicted on October 4, 1984." On the government's appeal the court reversed the suppression of 1982 wiretap tapes. Charge and court ruling.
  • 24 March 1988 — United States v. Bonanno Organized Crime Family, 683 F. Supp. 1411: "Massino is alleged to be the current Underboss of the Bonanno Family." Charge, in a civil complaint.
  • 16 March 1989 — United States v. Rastelli, 870 F.2d 822 affirmed his conviction in the Local 814 moving-industry case. Court opinion.
  • 3 and 7 January 2005 — United States v. Basciano, 763 F. Supp. 2d 303 (2011), quoting the court's earlier findings: "Joseph Massino recorded two January 2005 conversations he had with Basciano in the Metropolitan Detention Center, where they both were held awaiting trial." Court opinion.
  • 27 June 2005 — The E.D.N.Y. release on Basciano's superseding indictment calls him "Joseph Massino, the incarcerated official boss of the Bonanno family," and describes a recording of a meeting between him and Basciano at MDC-Brooklyn on January 3, 2005. DOJ release, describing the charges.
  • 7 July 2005 — Docket of United States v. Massino, No. 1:03-cr-00929 (E.D.N.Y.): Judge Garaufis orders life imprisonment on Counts One through Eleven of "the superseding indictment CR 03-207 (S-20)" and "Life imprisonment on Count Nine (9) of the superseding indictment CR 03-929 (S-3), which shall run consecutively." The entry also gives the first case as CR 02-307. Court docket.
  • 12 July 2006 — The E.D.N.Y. U.S. Attorney's release counts more than seventy Bonanno prosecutions, "including Bonanno family boss Joseph Massino." DOJ release.
  • 6 February 2007 — The E.D.N.Y. release: "Since March 2002, three Bonanno family bosses or acting bosses have been convicted in this district ... – Joseph Massino, Anthony Urso, and Vincent Basciano." DOJ release.
  • 6 August 2008 — The E.D.N.Y. release on four guilty pleas counts "boss Joseph Massino, and each of his successors" among more than 100 Bonanno members and associates prosecuted since March 2004. DOJ release.
  • 7 October 2009 — The E.D.N.Y. release: since March 2002 "four Bonanno family bosses or acting bosses – Joseph Massino, Anthony Urso, Vincent Basciano, and ... – have been convicted." The fourth man named has no court record on this archive and is not named here. DOJ release.
  • 23 March 2010 — United States v. Basciano, 599 F.3d 184, at 193: "Joseph Massino, the then-incarcerated official boss of the Bonanno crime family." Court opinion, in its account of the conduct charged.
  • 12 January 2011 — United States v. Basciano, 763 F. Supp. 2d 303: "While in prison awaiting trial in [Basciano I] and after being found guilty in a prior case before this court, Joseph Massino, the then-head of the Bonanno crime family, agreed to become a government informant and taped conversations in prison that he had with Basciano." Court opinion, quoting the court's earlier findings.
  • April 2011 — Docket of United States v. Basciano, No. 1:05-cr-00060: "Witnesses called: Glen Santoro, Matthew Steiner and Joseph Massino" (April 12, 2011); he is listed again on April 13, 14, 18 and 21. Court docket.
  • undated — The FBI's New York field office history: "In an unprecedented occurrence, Bonanno family boss Joe Massino became the highest-ranking mobster ever to become an FBI cooperator." FBI history page.

The 2008 opinion captioned under his name decides Patrick DeFilippo’s appeal, not his. No court record opened on this page decides his own conviction as boss or its appeal. The 2005 judgment on the E.D.N.Y. docket records his life sentences but not the trial verdict, and it numbers his first case two ways (CR 03-207 and CR 02-307); both are given as printed.

The court record of his cooperation is the 2011 E.D.N.Y. opinion and the 2011 trial docket, on which he is listed as a witness. The FBI’s description of him as “the highest-ranking mobster ever to become an FBI cooperator” is the Bureau’s. No record filed here states the terms of any cooperation agreement or any change to his sentence.

Records

itemUnited States v. Massino, 784 F.2d 153 (2d Cir. 1986)On the government's appeal, the Second Circuit reverses the suppression of 1982 wiretap tapes in the S.D.N.Y. RICO case against Joseph Massino and Salvatore Vitale, finding the government's reason for a fifteen-day sealing delay satisfactory. "They were indicted on October 4, 1984."itemUnited States v. Massino, No. 1:03-cr-00929 (E.D.N.Y.), judgment as to Joseph Massino (July 7, 2005)Docket of the second Bonanno racketeering case before Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis. The judgment ordered on July 7, 2005 imposes life imprisonment on Joseph Massino in his first case and a consecutive life term on "Count Nine (9) of the superseding indictment CR 03-929 (S-3)."itemUnited States v. Basciano, 763 F. Supp. 2d 303 (E.D.N.Y. 2011)Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis rules on Vincent Basciano's pretrial motions in the capital case over the killing of Randolph Pizzolo. The opinion quotes the court's earlier finding that "Joseph Massino, the then-head of the Bonanno crime family, agreed to become a government informant and taped conversations in prison that he had with Basciano."itemUnited States v. Basciano, No. 1:05-cr-00060 (E.D.N.Y.), docket entries for the 2011 trialMinute entries for Vincent Basciano's 2011 capital trial. Joseph Massino was called as a witness on five days in April 2011, and on May 16, 2011 the "Jury renders a guilty verdict on all three counts."itemFBI New York field office history: Massino as a cooperatorThe FBI's history of its New York field office says that since 9/11 the office has convicted the leadership of all five families "twice over," and that "Bonanno family boss Joe Massino became the highest-ranking mobster ever to become an FBI cooperator."itemU.S. Attorney, E.D.N.Y.: release on the superseding indictment of Vincent Basciano (June 27, 2005)The U.S. Attorney announces new charges against "Bonanno family acting boss Vincent Basciano," including a conspiracy to murder a Bonanno captain and the solicitation of the murder of a federal prosecutor. The release calls Joseph Massino "the incarcerated official boss of the Bonanno family."itemU.S. Attorney, E.D.N.Y.: release on the indictment of Nicholas Santora, Anthony Rabito and 17 others (February 6, 2007)The U.S. Attorney announces a superseding indictment of nineteen Bonanno members and associates, including "Bonanno family acting underboss Nicholas Santora and Bonanno family acting consigliere Anthony Rabito." Both men had been defendants in the 1982 Brasco trial.itemU.S. Attorney, E.D.N.Y.: release on four Bonanno guilty pleas, among them Anthony Indelicato's (August 6, 2008)Four Bonanno members plead guilty before Judge Garaufis. The release says Anthony Indelicato, "also known as 'Bruno,'" and another man "admitted to their involvement in the 2001 murder of Frank Santoro," which it says Vincent Basciano ordered.itemUnited States v. Basciano, 599 F.3d 184 (2d Cir. 2010)Second Circuit opinion of March 23, 2010 on Vincent Basciano's double-jeopardy challenge to successive Bonanno family prosecutions. It calls Joseph Massino "the then-incarcerated official boss" and refers to Basciano's January 2004 assumption of the role of acting boss.itemUnited States v. Bonanno Organized Crime Family of La Cosa Nostra, 683 F. Supp. 1411 (E.D.N.Y. 1988)Ruling of March 24, 1988 on motions to dismiss the government's civil RICO suit against the Bonanno family, its alleged officers and Teamsters Local 814. It summarizes what the amended complaint alleged about each defendant's position.itemUnited States v. Rastelli, 870 F.2d 822 (2d Cir. 1989)Second Circuit opinion of March 16, 1989 affirming the convictions of Philip Rastelli, Joseph Massino and others for racketeering in the New York moving industry through Teamsters Local 814.itemUnited States v. Massino, 546 F.3d 123 (2d Cir. 2008)Second Circuit opinion of October 10, 2008 on the appeal of Bonanno defendant Patrick DeFilippo, filed under the Massino caption. It is not a ruling on Joseph Massino's own conviction.itemU.S. Attorney, E.D.N.Y.: release on Bonanno family convictions (July 12, 2006)Release on the convictions of Bonanno family soldiers, in which U.S. Attorney Roslynn R. Mauskopf said more than seventy Bonanno members and associates had been prosecuted, among them "Bonanno family boss Joseph Massino" and the men who led the family after him.itemU.S. Attorney, E.D.N.Y.: release on a Bonanno family indictment (October 7, 2009)Release on a 33-count Bonanno family indictment, stating that since March 2002 four Bonanno bosses or acting bosses had been convicted. The new charges are allegations.