User talk:Tumined

Joseph Bonanno Jr.
Joseph Bonanno Jr., younger son and namesake of the late crime chieftain who headed one of New York City's five original crime families, has died. He was 60.

The younger Bonanno died Nov. 2 at his ranch in Ione, Calif., of a heart attack, his older brother, Salvatore "Bill" Bonanno said Friday.

Joe Bonanno Jr., the youngest of three children born to Joseph and Fay Bonanno, was shielded from much of the family business, his brother said.

"I don't even think he knew what it was all about," Bill Bonanno said. "We tried to make it our business not to involve him in anything."

Joe Bonanno Jr. raised horses on his 20-acre ranch. He studied animal husbandry at the University of Arizona, where he was a bull rider and calf roper in club rodeo competition, his brother said.

The family patriarch died of heart failure in 2002 at age 97. Derisively nicknamed "Joe Bananas," he retired to Arizona in 1968 after allegedly running one of the most powerful Mafia groups of the 1950s and 1960s.

He was convicted of felony obstruction of justice in 1980 for trying to block a federal grand jury investigating his sons, and later served 14 months for contempt of court.

Joe Bonanno Jr. was given a 120-day jail sentence in June 1985 after pleading guilty to making a false statement to a federal drug agent during an alleged cocaine conspiracy investigation. Both sons also were charged in an alleged home improvement scam. Joe Bonanno Jr. eventually pleaded no contest in a plea bargain and his brother was convicted.

In addition to his brother, survivors include his wife, Karen, and sister Catherine R. Genovese.

Tumined (talk) 18:31, 1 September 2008 (UTC)