- Giovanni Bonventre
'Giovanni "John" Bonventre'(
April 18 ,1901 - ?) was a New York mobster with theBonanno crime family .Born in
Castellammare del Golfo in Sicily, Bonventre emigrated to New York with his family. The family settled in the Williamsburg section ofBrooklyn , a stronghold of immigrants from their village. Bonventre and his brotherVito Bonventre soon joined the local Castellammarese criminal organization, the precusor of the modern Bonanno crime family. BossCola Schiro ran the organization until 1930, when he was forced out bySalvatore Maranzano . Bonventre was the uncle of family founderJoseph Bonanno , who himself immigrated to New York City in 1924. Another Bonventre nephew wasJoseph Profaci , the future founder of theProfaci crime family . Bonventre married Caterina Vitale, but it is unknown if they had any children.With the end of the Castellammarese War, a major conflict between the Sicilian clans in New York, Bonanno became boss of the reorganized Bonanno family and Bonventre became a
caporegime , the captain of a crew of mobsters. That same year, Bonanno and Bonventre purchased a dairy farm nearMiddletown, New York in theCatskill Mountains . The farm's main product wasmozzarella cheese ; Bonanno and Bonventre used their mob influence to eventually dominate the production of this cheese in New York State,Wisconsin , andVermont . Bonventre's other business ventures included a garment factory in Brooklyn. At some point, Bonventre was promoted to family underboss, directly under Bonanno.In 1950, Bonventre decided to move back to Sicily. However, this move did end his involvement in the Bonanno family. In 1957, Bonventre attended the abortive
Apalachin Conference of AmericanCosa Nostra leaders in ruralApalachin, New York that was broken up byNew York State Police ; Bonanno and Bonventre were picked up by police as they tried to escape the meeting site through a field.. In September 1957 Bonventre had attended several meetings inPalermo, Sicily with Bonanno and the exiled mob boss Charles "Lucky" Luciano.External links
* [http://www.geocities.com/americanmafioso_bonanno/caporegime.html AMERICAN MAFIOSO: Bonanno Family Capo Regime]
References
*Bureau of Narcotics, U.S. Treasury Department, "Mafia: the Government's Secret File on Organized Crime, HarperCollins Publishers 2007 ISBN 0-06-136385-5
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