The Butcher by Philip Carlo Page B

of “respect,” educated, wealthy landowners—not a ruthless gang of killers and thugs. They were a family that comported itself with their heads high—with pride.
    In 1903, Joseph Bonanno emigrated with his family to Brooklyn, New York. A particularly bright, ambitious young man—hardworking and not afraid to take chances—Joseph Bonanno quickly made a go of it in his new country. He was a tall, good-looking, affable individual, though tough when necessary. Through family connections, he met the higher-ups in La Cosa Nostra. The organization was then thought of as a group of Italians who banded together to prosper, to make a living, to benefit their families in what they viewed as a hostile, unwelcoming society. It was no secret that Italians were not allowed in unions, that Italians were thought of as an ignorant, backward people who ate too much spaghetti, drank too much wine, were oversexed and gruff. There was such open animus toward the Italian immigrants that the Statue of Liberty became known as the “Statue of Spaghetti” because steamboats coming from Italy had to pass the statue on their way to Ellis Island. Even the venerable Herald Tribune regularly referred to the Statue of Liberty by this slanderous nickname.
    Through these connections, Joe Bonanno became involved with Salvatore Maranzano, a seasoned, scheming, extremely tough mafioso. In the young Joe Bonanno, Maranzano saw a particular brilliance, a ready willingness to follow orders, a willingness to do whatever he was told, a willingness to put La Cosa Nostra before all things—no questions asked. He was, Maranzano knew, a rising star with tremendous potential. In 1929, a bloody war broke out between Joe Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano. The conflict, which became known as the Castellammarese War, claimed many lives. Joe Bonanno fought diligently and well on Maranzano’s side.
    Ultimately, Masseria was murdered with the help of Lucky Luciano and Tommy Lucchese. With the guidance and good business sense of Lucky Luciano and Salvatore Maranzano, the New York Mafia was divided into five families: Mangano, Maranzano, Luciano, Profaci, and Anastasia. Luciano and Maranzano devised a clever plan in which the different crime families would be given different territories and rackets that they would run autonomously, as though successful corporations. The Italians were inspired by men like Henry Ford, Carnegie, Rockefeller, Joe Kennedy who they thought took hold and manipulated circumstances to their advantage.
    Luciano, however, was not happy with the way Maranzano had divvied up different rackets and, moving with the lethal speed of a rattlesnake, struck and killed Maranzano. To people in the know, it seemed inevitable that one of these two men would kill the other. There could be only one boss of bosses; there could only be one alpha male in a wolf pack and so Maranzano went down. The fact that Joe Bonanno was able to work well with Luciano after he killed his mentor spoke volumes about him. Bonanno was not about revenge—was not about getting even. Though revenge was surely in his Sicilian blood, he saw the wisdom of peace. He saw the wisdom of looking the other way and forgetting what Luciano had done.
    Peace reigned. Everyone prospered.
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    The outlawing of liquor, Prohibition, enabled all the five families to make staggering amounts of money. Joe Bonanno quickly managed to develop a large network of stills and distributors. In a short period of time, Bonanno became a very wealthy man; to him, the selling of alcohol was no big deal. He believed if men wanted to have a drink, they had every right in the world—that was their business. The fact that it was an illegal substance meant little to Joe Bonanno.
    Narcotics, cocaine, heroin, and marijuana were outlawed very much like alcohol had been. La Cosa Nostra, initially, saw nothing wrong with supplying society’s need for narcotics. For them, it was just an