Michael "The Nose" Mancuso (born July 18, 1955) is an American

mobster A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from ''mob'' and the suffix '' -ster''. Gangs provide a level of organization and ...

. He is a member of the

American Mafia The American Mafia, commonly referred to in North America as the Italian American Mafia, the Mafia, or the Mob, is a highly organized Italian American criminal society and organized crime group. The organization is often referred to by its membe ...

(Cosa Nostra) and the

boss Boss may refer to: Occupations * Supervisor, often referred to as boss * Air boss, more formally, air officer, the person in charge of aircraft operations on an aircraft carrier * Crime boss, the head of a criminal organization * Fire boss, a ...

of the Bonanno

crime family A crime family is a unit of an organized crime syndicate, particularly in Italian organized crime and especially in the Sicilian Mafia and Italian American Mafia, often operating within a specific geographic territory or a specific set of activit ...

, one of

Five Families The Five Families refers to five major New York City organized crime families of the Italian American Mafia formed in 1931 by Salvatore Maranzano following his victory in the Castellammarese War. Maranzano reorganized the Italian American gangs ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. In June 2013, while imprisoned Mancuso was picked as the new official boss of the Bonanno family. On March 12, 2019, Mancuso was released from prison.

Biography

During the early 1980s, before joining the Bonanno family, Mancuso was affiliated with the

East Harlem Purple Gang The East Harlem Purple Gang was a gang or organized crime group consisting of Italian-American hit-men and heroin dealers who were semi-independent from the Italian-American Mafia and, according to federal prosecutors, dominated heroin distribu ...

. In August 1984, Mancuso fatally shot his wife Evelina and left her body on a bench in front of Jacobi Hospital in the

Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

. Mancuso pleaded guilty to manslaughter of his wife and received a 10-year prison sentence. In 2004, acting boss

Vincent Basciano Vincent John Basciano (; born November 14, 1959) is an American Mafia, American mobster who became crime boss, boss of the Bonanno crime family after the arrest of boss Joseph Massino. Basciano was sentenced to Life imprisonment, life imprisonme ...

promoted him to the acting underboss position. He became acting boss in November 2004, after Basciano was imprisoned. In May 2005,

Joseph Massino Joseph Charles Massino (born January 10, 1943) is an American former mobster. He was a member of the Mafia and boss of the Bonanno crime family from 1991 until 2004, when he became the first boss of one of the Five Families in New York City to tu ...

implicated Mancuso in the 1999 murder of

Gerlando Sciascia Gerlando "George from Canada" Sciascia (; February 15, 1934 – March 18, 1999), was a New York City mobster, and a caporegime of the Bonanno crime family, who was also the Sixth Family's representative from New York, and was a major narcotics traf ...

. In early 2006, Basciano allegedly ordered Mancuso's murder. On February 16, 2006, Mancuso was arrested in Las Vegas for ordering the murder of associate Randolph Pizzolo on November 30, 2004. Mancuso followed the orders of imprisoned acting boss Vincent Basciano and arranged Pizzolo's murder. The hit was carried out by soldier Anthony "Ace" Aiello. On August 6, 2008, Mancuso and soldier Aiello pleaded guilty to murdering Pizzolo. On December 16, 2008, judge

Nicholas Garaufis Nicholas George Garaufis (born September 28, 1948) is a Senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Early life and education Garaufis was born in Paterson, New Jersey, to Demetr ...

sentenced Mancuso to 15 years in prison and Aiello to 30 years in prison for the murder of Pizzolo. In June 2013, Mancuso, while imprisoned for the next five years, was picked as the new official boss of the family. Mancuso is controlling the family through his Bronx associates and underboss Thomas DiFiore. He appointed Joseph Cammarano Jr as the Bonanno family street boss and also as the acting underboss in 2015. In April 2015, it was reported that Mancuso was imprisoned at the

Federal Correctional Institution, Danbury The Federal Correctional Institution, Danbury (FCI Danbury) is a low-security United States federal prison for male and female inmates in Danbury, Connecticut. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Depar ...

, in

Danbury, Connecticut Danbury is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, located approximately northeast of New York City. Danbury's population as of 2022 was 87,642. It is the seventh largest city in Connecticut. Danbury is nicknamed the "Hat City ...

. On March 12, 2019, Mancuso was released from federal custody. On March 9, 2022, Mancuso was arrested and is under investigation for violating the terms of his supervised release by associating with members of organized crime.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mancuso, Michael Bosses of the Bonanno crime family Bonanno crime family American gangsters of Italian descent Living people 1955 births American people convicted of manslaughter American people convicted of murder