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" Final Resting Place of Joe Bonanno"

Joe Bonanno

18th January 1905- 11th May 2002

Began as a muscleman for Joseph (Joe the Boss) Masseria. After the murder of Joe Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano  in 1931, Lucky Luciano divided New York into sections headed by various families and bosses (those who had helped in the murders of Masseria & Salvatore, who controlled New York at the time). Those "The Commission" was founded and Joe Bonanno was appointed as boss of the Brooklyn-based Bonnano Family, which he exerted control over until his 1968 retirement. After a long and bloody battle with the other bosses, which became known as the "Bonanno Wars", Joe decided to put his son, Bill, in charge and to run the family from his home in Tuscon, Arizona. The Commission ruled this against their rules and banished both Joe Bonanno and his son Bill from New York, as well as stripping them of their power base in Brooklyn. In 1983, he became the only "Mafia Boss" to write his own autobiography, "Joe Bonanno: A Man of Honor," which described the inner-workings of the Commission as well as his own Mafia family. Despite the many threats over his writing of his book Joe outlived all of the original members of the Commission and died age 97.

Holy Hope Cemetery & Mausoleum, Tucson,  Arizona.

Photos courtesy of Brad Arndale.