Philip "Rusty" Rastelli (January 31, 1918 – June 24, 1991) was an American mobster and former

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, ...

of the

Bonanno crime family The Bonanno crime family (pronounced ) is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the " Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City, and in the United States, as part of the criminal phenomenon known as ...

, he spent all but three years of his reign in prison.

Biography

Rastelli was born and raised in

Maspeth, Queens Maspeth is a residential and commercial community in the borough of Queens in New York City. It was founded in the early 17th century by Dutch and English settlers. Neighborhoods sharing borders with Maspeth are Woodside to the north; Sunnyside ...

. He had three brothers (Carmine, Marinello, and Augustus) and two sisters (Justina Devita and Antonette Brigandi). Rastelli was heavily involved in

loansharking A loan shark is a person who offers loans at extremely high interest rates, has strict terms of collection upon failure, and generally operates outside the law. Description Because loan sharks operate mostly illegally, they cannot reasonably ...

extortion Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence; the bulk of this article deals with such cases. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, ...

and drug trafficking activities before joining the Bonanno crime family. Rastelli also had a

lunch wagon ''Lunch Wagon'' (also known as ''Lunch Wagon Girls'') is a 1981 sex comedy starring Pamela Jean Bryant, Rosanne Katon, and Candy Moore. The film was directed by Ernest Pintoff and written by Marshall Harvey and Terrie Frankel and Leon Philli ...

business. After moving to Greenpoint, Brooklyn where he lived until his incarceration, he met and became close friends with Dominick "Sonny Black" Napolitano, Carmine Galante,

Joseph Bonanno Joseph Charles Bonanno (born Giuseppe Carlo Bonanno; ; January 18, 1905 – May 11, 2002), sometimes referred to as Joe Bananas, was an Italian-American crime boss of the Bonanno crime family, which he ran from 1931 to 1968. Bonanno was born i ...

and

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 ...

. On December 3, 1953, Rastelli and an associate allegedly shot Michael Russo in Queens. However, Russo survived the shooting and Rastelli, fearing identification, went into hiding. Over the next year, Rastelli's wife Connie repeatedly approached Russo's wife Rose with an offer of $5,000 if her husband did not identify Rastelli. Rose refused the bribe each time. In early December 1954, Russo was shot again and killed in Brooklyn. On December 13, 1954, Connie Rastelli was indicted on charges of attempting to bribe a witness. No one was ever charged in the Russo murder. Connie was believed to have been killed in 1962 after she became an informant; her body was never found. In 1969, in an attempt to restore order to the Bonanno family, the Commission appointed a three-man panel to run the family. This panel included Rastelli, Joseph DiFilippi, and Natale "Joe Diamonds" Evola.

Boss of the Bonanno family

On July 21, 1971, Rastelli was indicted in

Riverhead, New York Riverhead is a town within Suffolk County, New York, United States, on the north shore of Long Island. Since 1727, Riverhead has been the county seat of Suffolk County, though most county offices are in Hauppauge. As of the 2020 census, the ...

on loansharking charges. The loansharking ring, centered in

Babylon, New York The Town of Babylon is one of ten towns in Suffolk County, New York, United States. Its population was 218,223 as of the 2020 census. Parts of Jones Beach Island, Captree Island and Fire Island are in the southernmost part of the town. It border ...

and

Islip, New York Islip ( ) is a town in Suffolk County, New York, United States, on the south shore of Long Island. The population was 335,543 at the 2010 census, making it the fourth most populous city or town in the state. The Town of Islip also contains a ...

, charged victims from 250 to 300% interest annually and generated over $1 million per year in revenue for the Bonanno family. On December 28, 1972, Rastelli was convicted in state court on seven counts of loansharking. On August 28, 1973, Bonanno boss Evola died of cancer. On February 23, 1974, at a meeting at the Americana Hotel in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, the Commission named Rastelli as boss. He was the first member of the Queens faction to lead the family; the previous bosses had all come from the family's birthplace in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. Although Rastelli was endorsed by the Commission, the real power in the family soon migrated to rival Carmine Galante, who was released from prison at the same time.

First prison term

On March 6, 1975, Rastelli was indicted on racketeering charges involving

. Nine years earlier, Rastelli had established a trade association of

operators and taken control of the industry. Any operator who refused to join the Association and pay its stiff fees faced vandalism and physical assault. On April 23, 1976, Rastelli was convicted of extortion in United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. On August 27, 1976, Rastelli was sentenced to 10 years in prison, served consecutively to a four-year state sentence for conspiracy, criminal contempt of court, and

usury Usury () is the practice of making unethical or immoral monetary loans that unfairly enrich the lender. The term may be used in a moral sense—condemning taking advantage of others' misfortunes—or in a legal sense, where an interest rate is c ...

. He was imprisoned in

Lewisburg, Pennsylvania Lewisburg is a borough in Union County, Pennsylvania, United States, south by southeast of Williamsport and north of Harrisburg. In the past, it was the commercial center for a fertile grain and general farming region. The population was 5,1 ...

, Rastelli's main contacts to the Bonanno family were mobsters Dominick "Sonny Black" Napolitano and

. In Rastelli's absence, Galante seized control of the Bonannos as unofficial acting boss. The New York crime families were alarmed at Galante's brazen attempt at taking over the narcotics market. Genovese crime family boss Frank Tieri began contacting Cosa Nostra leaders to build a consensus for Galante's murder, even obtaining approval from the retired Joseph Bonanno. In 1979, they received a boost when Rastelli and

, sought Commission approval to kill Galante; the request was approved. Napolitano was later promoted to

caporegime A caporegime or capodecina, usually shortened to capo or informally referred to as "captain" or "skipper", is a rank used in the Mafia (both the Sicilian Mafia and Italian-American Mafia) for a '' made member'' of an Italian crime family who he ...

, as well as gunman Anthony Indelicato. Rastelli was now the undisputed boss, controlling things from behind bars through the use of acting bosses such as longtime Bonanno mobster Salvatore "Sally Fruits" Ferrugia. While Rastelli was in prison, Massino began jockeying for power with Dominick "Sonny Black" Napolitano, another Rastelli loyalist capo. Both men were themselves threatened by another faction seeking to depose the absentee boss led by capos Alphonse "Sonny Red" Indelicato, Dominick "Big Trin" Trincera and Philip Giaccone.DeStefano 2007, pp. 99, 101–103 The Commission initially tried to maintain neutrality, but in 1981, Massino got word from his informants that the three capos were stocking up on

automatic weapons An automatic firearm is an auto-loading firearm that continuously chambers and fires rounds when the trigger mechanism is actuated. The action of an automatic firearm is capable of harvesting the excess energy released from a previous dischar ...

and planning to kill the Rastelli loyalists within the Bonanno family to take complete control. On May 5, 1981, the three capos were murdered.Raab, pp. 610–613 On April 21, 1983, Rastelli was released from prison, and he and Massino ordered the murder of Bonanno soldier Cesare Bonventre.Raab, pp. 626–627 Still a fugitive, Massino summoned

Salvatore Vitale Salvatore "Good Looking Sal" Vitale (born September 22, 1947) is an American former underboss of the Bonanno crime family before he became a government informant. After his arrest in 2003, Vitale agreed to cooperate with the government and testif ...

, Louis Attanasio and James Tartaglione to his hideout and gave them the order.DeStefano 2007, pp. 160–163 By this time, even though Rastelli was still officially head of the family, Massino was considered by most mobsters to be the family's street boss and field commander in all but name, as well as Rastelli's heir apparent.

Second prison term

Rastelli was arrested on a parole violation on August 16, 1984, due to "associat ngwith persons engaged in criminal activity". In 1985, Rastelli was indicted along with other Cosa Nostra leaders in the famous

Mafia Commission Trial The Mafia Commission Trial (in full, ''United States v. Anthony Salerno, et al'') was a criminal trial before the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in New York City, United States, that lasted from February 25, 19 ...

. Getting kicked off the Mafia Commission because of the Donnie Brasco infiltration actually prevented the Bonanno family from getting caught up in the Commission Trial, which sentenced many Mafia bosses and members to prison. However, when Rastelli was indicted on separate labor racketeering charges, prosecutors decided to remove him from the Commission trial. Having previously lost their seat on the Commission, the Bonannos suffered less exposure than the other families in this case. On October 14, 1986, Rastelli was convicted on 24 counts of labor racketeering. On January 16, 1987, Rastelli was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison.

Death

On June 4, 1991, Rastelli was given a

compassionate release Compassionate release is a process by which inmates in criminal justice systems may be eligible for immediate early release on grounds of "particularly extraordinary or compelling circumstances which could not reasonably have been foreseen by t ...

from the Federal Medical Center (FMC) in

Springfield, Missouri Springfield is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Greene County. The city's population was 169,176 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Springfield metropolitan area, which had an estimat ...

. On June 24, 1991, Rastelli died at Booth Memorial Hospital (now NewYork–Presbyterian Queens) in Flushing, Queens from liver cancer at age 73. He is buried in Saint John Cemetery in

Middle Village, Queens Middle Village is a mainly residential neighborhood in the central section of the borough of Queens, New York City, bounded to the north by the Long Island Expressway, to the east by Woodhaven Boulevard, to the south by Cooper Avenue and the form ...

."Philip Rastelli"
Find A Grave Massino took over as boss of the Bonanno family after Rastelli's death.Raab, pp. 633–635, 637

Notes

*''Contract Killer: The Explosive Story of the Mafia's Most Notorious Hit Man, Donald "Tony the Greek" Frankos'', by William Hoffman and Lake Headley *DeStefano, Anthony. ''The Last Godfather: Joey Massino & the Fall of the Bonanno Crime Family''. California: Citadel, 2006. *Pistone, Joseph D.; & Woodley, Richard (1999) '' Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia'', Hodder & Stoughton. .

References

External links

Mafia Who's Who
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rastelli, Phillip 1918 births 1991 deaths People from Maspeth, Queens American gangsters of Italian descent Bosses of the Bonanno crime family Rastelli, Philip Burials at St. John's Cemetery (Queens) Deaths from liver cancer Deaths from cancer in New York (state)