Salvatore "Good Looking Sal" Vitale (born September 22, 1947) is an American former

underboss Underboss ( it, sottocapo) is a position within the leadership structure of certain organized crime groups, particularly in Sicilian, Greek, and Italian-American Mafia crime families. The underboss is second in command to the boss. The under ...

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 ...

before he became a government

informant An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a “snitch”) is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law-enforcement world, where informant ...

. After his arrest in 2003, Vitale agreed to cooperate with the government and testify against his brother-in-law, boss

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 ...

, and in July 2004, Massino was convicted in a

RICO The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization. RICO was en ...

case. Vitale had admitted to 11 murders, however, in October 2010, was sentenced to

time served In criminal law, time served is an informal term that describes the duration of pretrial detention (remand), the time period between when a defendant is arrested and when they are convicted. Time served does not include time served on bail bu ...

due to his cooperation, and entered the

witness protection program Witness protection is security provided to a threatened person providing testimonial evidence to the justice system, including defendants and other clients, before, during, and after a trial, usually by police. While a witness may only require p ...

Early life

Vitale was born on September 22, 1947 in Maspeth, Queens in

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 ...

. He was the son of Giuseppe and Lilli Vitale, who had emigrated from the village of San Giuseppe Jato in

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

; the couple had already had three daughters, but Salvatore was their only son to survive childbirth. Salvatore was described by his family as emotionally distant as a child. Vitale first met

, future boss of the Bonanno family, as a child.Raab, p. 621 Massino had begun dating Vitale's sister Josephine in 1956, and the couple married in 1960. Massino also befriended Salvatore Vitale, becoming a surrogate "big brother" to his future brother-in-law. Unlike Massino, Vitale graduated from Grover Cleveland High School in

Ridgewood, Queens Ridgewood is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It borders the neighborhoods of Maspeth, Middle Village and Glendale, as well as the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Bushwick and East Williamsburg. Historically, the neighborhood st ...

. He also attempted to have a legitimate career; Vitale entered the U.S. Military and had been trained as a paratrooper. Discharged in 1968, he went on to work briefly as a

New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

corrections officer, working in Queens with drug offenders. He and his wife Diana moved to

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18 ...

, a safe distance from mob-entrenched Maspeth, Queens, to have a better life for themselves. Salvatore managed his own social club in Maspeth, Queens not far from Joseph Massino's CasaBlanca Restaurant and Catering Service where he would meet with his underlings. His son Anthony would later work for mob associate

Robert Perrino Robert Francis Perrino, also known as "Bobby Perrino" (February 9, 1938 in Fordham, Bronx – May 4, 1992 in Port Richmond, Staten Island) was the superintendent of deliveries at the ''New York Post'' from the 1970s until 1992, when he was murdere ...

at ''

The New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established ...

'' after he dropped out of college.

Criminal career

When he quit that job, Vitale approached Joseph Massino for criminal work. He soon became involved in burglaries and transport truck hijacking. He was given a no-show job as a food consultant for King Caterer's. Massino began jockeying for power with Dominick "Sonny Black" Napolitano, another loyalist capo to the boss Philip Rastelli. Both men were themselves threatened by another faction seeking to depose the absentee boss led by capos

Alphonse "Sonny Red" Indelicato Alphonse "Al" Indelicato (February 25, 1931 – May 5, 1981), also known as Sonny Red, was a powerful American caporegime in New York City's Bonanno crime family who was murdered with Dominick Trinchera and Philip Giaccone for planning to overth ...

, 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 Carmine "Tutti" Franzese ( Sonny Franzese's cousin) 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. Massino turned to

Colombo crime family The Colombo crime family (, ) is an Italian American Mafia crime family and is the youngest of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City within the criminal organization known as the American Mafia. It was duri ...

boss

Carmine Persico Carmine John Persico Jr. (; August 8, 1933 – March 7, 2019), also known as "Junior", "The Snake" and "Immortal", was an American mobster and the longtime boss of the Colombo crime family in New York City from 1973 until his death in 2019. He h ...

and Gambino boss Paul Castellano for advice; they told him to act immediately. Massino, Napolitano and Gerlando Sciascia, a Sicilian-born capo linked to the

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

Rizzuto crime family The Rizzuto crime family () is an organized crime family based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, whose criminal activity covers most of southern Quebec and Ontario. The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) considers the family a facti ...

, arranged a meeting at a Brooklyn social club with the three capos for May 5, 1981. They had four gunmen, including Vitale and Bonanno-affiliated Montreal boss

Vito Rizzuto Vito Rizzuto (; February 21, 1946 – December 23, 2013), also known as "Montreal's Teflon Don", was an Italian-Canadian crime boss alleged to be the leader of the Sicilian Mafia in Canada. He headed the notorious Rizzuto crime family based ...

, hiding in a closet to ambush them.Raab, pp. 610–613 When Trinchera, Giaccone and Indelicato arrived with Frank Lino to meet Massino, they were shot to death, with Massino himself stopping Indelicato from escaping. Lino escaped unscathed by running out the door. The hit further improved Massino's prestige, but was marred by both Lino's escape and the discovery of Indelicato's body on May 28. On April 21, 1983, Rastelli was paroled, and he and Massino ordered the murder of Bonanno soldier

Cesare Bonventre Cesare "The Tall Guy" Bonventre (January 1, 1951 – April 16, 1984) was a Sicilian mobster and caporegime for the New York City Bonanno crime family. Biography Early life Born in Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily, Bonventre was a member of the ...

.Raab, pp. 626–627 Massino summoned Vitale, 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. According to Vitale, Massino had Bonventre killed for giving him no support when he was in hiding. In April 1984, Bonventre was called to a meeting with Rastelli in

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

. He was picked up by Vitale and Attanasio and driven to a garage. En route, Attanasio shot Bonventre twice in the head but only wounded him; he would kill Bonventre with two more shots when they reached their destination. The task of disposing of Bonventre's corpse was handed to Gabriel Infanti, who promised Vitale that Bonventre's remains would disappear forever. However, after a tipoff, the remains were discovered on April 16, 1984, in a warehouse in

Garfield, New Jersey Garfield is a city in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population was 30,487, For his part in the hit, Massino had Vitale initiated into the Bonanno family. Later in 1984, Massino and Salvatore Vitale secured

no-show job A no-show job is a paid position that ostensibly requires the holder to perform duties, but for which no work, or even attendance, is actually expected. The awarding of no-show jobs is a form of political or corporate corruption. A no-work job is ...

s with the

based King Caterers in exchange for protecting them from Lucchese extortion.Raab, pp. 642–643 In 1985, an indictment charged Vitale as a co-conspirator in the hijacking cases alongside Massino.DeStefano 2007, pp. 174–176 On October 15, 1986, Massino was found guilty of racketeering charges for accepting kickbacks on the Bonannos' behalf.Raab, pp. 630–631DeStefano 2007, pp. 178–179 On January 16, 1987, Massino was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment, his first prison term. Rastelli, also convicted and in poor health during the trial, was sentenced to 12 years in prison. Around this time, Massino was believed to be the Bonanno family's official underboss. With Rastelli in declining health, Massino was also reckoned as the operating head of the family, though consigliere Anthony "Old Man" Spero was nominally acting boss. In April 1987, Massino and Vitale went on trial for truck hijacking and conspiracy to commit the triple murder, defended by Samuel H. Dawson and Bruce Cutler respectively. On June 3, while both men were convicted on hijacking charges, they were cleared of the murder conspiracy charges. Further, the only proven criminal acts took place outside the RICO act's five-year

statute of limitations A statute of limitations, known in civil law systems as a prescriptive period, is a law passed by a legislative body to set the maximum time after an event within which legal proceedings may be initiated. ("Time for commencing proceedings") In ...

; without evidence that the "criminal enterprise" was still active in this timeframe the jury returned a special verdict clearing Massino and Vitale of these charges as well.DeStefano 2007, pp. 187–188 During Massino's imprisonment, Vitale functioned as his messenger, effectively becoming co-acting boss alongside Spero.Raab, pp. 633–635, 637 On Massino's orders, Vitale organized the murder of Gabriel Infanti, who had also botched a 1982 hit on Anthony Gilberti and was suspected of being an informant. During his meetings with Massino in prison, Vitale, on behalf of the Bonannos' capos, urged his brother-in-law to become boss in name as well as in fact. Rastelli had spent all but two years of his reign behind bars, and many felt Massino would bring the family stability. Massino was reluctant to take over as long as Rastelli was alive. Not only was he respectful of Rastelli's sponsorship of his Mafia career, but Mafia tradition dictates that a boss keeps his title for life unless he abdicates. However, in the spring of 1991, Massino ordered Vitale, "If Rastelli dies, make me boss." Rastelli died on June 24, 1991. A few days after his funeral, in accordance with Massino's orders, Vitale called a meeting of the family's capos, and Massino was acclaimed as boss. Massino was granted two years' supervised release on November 13, 1992. During that time, he could not associate with convicted mafiosi. To get around this restriction, Massino named Vitale underboss and designated him as his messenger for the duration of his supervised release. While the FBI suspected Vitale was a mafioso, he had never been convicted of a Mafia-related crime. The FBI would thus have no reason to be suspicious of him associating with Massino since they were brothers-in-law. He returned to his job at King Caterers, and in 1996 became co-owner of Casablanca, a well-reviewed Maspeth Italian restaurant. To minimize the damage from informants or undercover investigations Massino decentralized the family's organization. He created a

clandestine cell system A clandestine cell system is a method for organizing a group of people (such as resistance fighters, sleeper agents, mobsters, or terrorists) such that such people can more effectively resist penetration by an opposing organization (such as ...

for his crews, forbidding them from contacting one another and avoiding meeting their capos.Crittle, pp. 164–165Crittle, pp. 166–167 A side effect of these reforms was the reduction of Vitale, in his own words, to "a figurehead." By the time of Massino's release the Bonanno family had grown tired of Vitale, regarding him as greedy and overstepping his authority.Crittle, pp. 175–176 In the new structure of the family, Vitale lost the underboss's usual role as a go-between for the boss, as well as the share of the family's profits those duties entailed, and Massino made it clear to Vitale his unpopularity was a factor in these changes.Raab, pp. 654–655 Vitale remained loyal, however, and helped Massino organize the March 18, 1999 murder of Gerlando Sciascia. Massino indicated to fellow mobsters that Sciascia was killed for feuding with fellow Massino-confidant capo

Anthony Graziano Anthony A. Graziano (November 12, 1940 – May 25, 2019) was an American mobster and consigliere in the Bonanno crime family. Bonanno crime family Captain In 1990, Graziano pleaded guilty to federal tax evasion. He had failed to pay $100,000 t ...

, accusing him of using cocaine,Raab, pp. 650–652 while in his own testimony Massino claimed Sciascia was killed for killing another mobster's son.DeStefano 2013, pp. 93-95, 208 Sciascia's body was not covertly buried but instead left to be discovered in a street in the Bronx, an attempt to make the hit look like a botched drug deal rather than a Mafia-ordered hit, and Massino had his capos attend Sciascia's funeral. Vitale was put under

house arrest In justice and law, house arrest (also called home confinement, home detention, or, in modern times, electronic monitoring) is a measure by which a person is confined by the authorities to their residence. Travel is usually restricted, if al ...

in 2001 after pleading guilty to his role in an extortion scheme on

. Vitale later also pleaded guilty to loansharking charges in June 2002. Vitale was not immediately sentenced, and was placed under house arrest in the interim. However, the maximum sentence Vitale faced was so low that Massino wrongly suspected his underboss was cooperating with law enforcement. He secretly ordered that, if he was arrested, Vitale was to be "taken down"—demoted or killed.

Informant

Until 2002, the Bonannos had been the only family in the modern history of the New York Mafia (i. e., since the

Castellammarese War The Castellammarese War () was a bloody power struggle for control of the Italian-American Mafia that took place in New York City, New York, from February 1930 until April 15, 1931, between partisans of Joe "The Boss" Masseria and those of Sa ...

) to have never had a made man turn informant or government witness. Massino used this as a point of pride to rally his crime family. That year, Frank Coppa, convicted on fraud and facing further charges from an FBI forensic accounting investigation, became the first to flip. Coppa gave information that directly implicated both Vitale and acting underboss Richard Cantarella in the Perrino murder. Cantarella himself flipped soon afterward. On January 9, 2003, Massino was arrested and indicted, alongside Vitale, Frank Lino and capo Daniel Mongelli, in a comprehensive racketeering indictment. On the day of Vitale's arrest, FBI agents dropped a bombshell–they had evidence that Massino believed Vitale had turned informer, and had gone as far as to put a contract on him. It turned out that Coppa and Cantarella had told the FBI of Massino's earlier plans to kill his brother-in-law. While in custody, Massino again put out the word that he was "very upset" with Vitale and wanted to "give him a receipt"–his term for a whacking. Other Bonanno defendants awaiting trial began calling Vitale "Fredo" (after Fredo Corleone,

Michael Corleone Michael Corleone is a fictional character and the protagonist of Mario Puzo's 1969 novel ''The Godfather''. In the three ''Godfather'' films, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, Michael was portrayed by Al Pacino, for which he was twice-nominate ...

's turncoat brother in ''

The Godfather Part II ''The Godfather Part II'' is a 1974 American epic crime film produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The film is partially based on the 1969 novel ''The Godfather'' by Mario Puzo, who co-wrote the screenplay with Coppola. ''Part II'' s ...

''). The FBI took the threat very seriously, going as far as to house Massino and Vitale in separate prisons (Massino in Brooklyn, Vitale in Manhattan) and keep them apart when they were not appearing in court.Raab, pp. 673–675 Vitale was already dissatisfied by the lack of support he and his family received from Massino after his arrest. Despite this, he had every intention of staying loyal until learning that Massino wanted him killed. On the day he was arraigned with Massino, Vitale decided to flip as soon as it was safe to do so; he formally reached a deal with prosecutors in February.Raab, pp. 674–675 Shortly after Vitale reached his deal, Lino flipped as well. Lino knew that Vitale could implicate him in at least four murders–including that of Sonny Black.DeStefano 2007, pp. 230–232 Also flipping was longtime Bonanno associate Duane Leisenheimer, whom Vitale implicated in several crimes, including two murders. When an investigator for Massino's defense team started probing to see if Leisenheimer would flip, Leisenheimer feared that Massino would put a contract on him and cut a deal with prosecutors for his own safety. While the prosecution relied heavily on the testimony of five other turncoats, Vitale was of particular significance to the prosecution's case. Not only was he the third confessed underboss of a New York crime family to turn informer (after the Gambinos'

Sammy Gravano Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano (born March 12, 1945) is an American former mobster who became underboss of the Gambino crime family. Gravano played a major role in prosecuting John Gotti, the crime family's boss, by agreeing to testify as a ...

and the Luccheses'

Anthony Casso Anthony Salvatore Casso (May 21, 1942 – December 15, 2020), nicknamed "Gaspipe", was an American mobster and underboss of the Lucchese crime family. During his career in organized crime, Casso was regarded as a "homicidal maniac" in the Italia ...

), but he had spent most of his three decades in the Mafia as a close confidant to Massino. This closeness allowed prosecutors to introduce evidence of over three decades of criminal activity by Massino, and enabled Vitale to cover his brother-in-law's entire criminal history in his testimony. The only witness called by Massino's defense was an FBI agent to challenge Vitale's reliability. On the strength of testimony from Vitale and other turncoats, Massino was convicted on all 11

counts on July 30, 2004. Facing the prospect of the death penalty for ordering Sciascia's murder, Massino almost immediately began talks for a plea deal of his own.DeStefano 2007, pp. 314–315 He formally pleaded guilty to that charge on June 23, 2005 and was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences.DeStefano 2007, pp. 321–325 Vitale had admitted to 11 murders, but for his cooperation, was sentenced to

on October 29, 2010, and entered the

. Vitale's testimony led to the convictions of 51 organized crime figures. Vitale returned to the stand again in March 2012 to testify against

Thomas Gioeli Thomas Salvatore "Tommy Shots" Gioeli (born 1952), is a high-ranking member of the Colombo crime family. Rise in the Colombo family In the mid-1980s, Gioeli was imprisoned for robbery, his first incarceration. After his release, Gioeli became a m ...

References

* *Crittle, Simon, ''The Last Godfather: The Rise and Fall of Joey Massino'' Berkley (March 7, 2006) *Pistone, Joseph D.; & Woodley, Richard (1999) '' Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia'', Hodder & Stoughton. . *Pistone, Joseph D.; & Brandt, Charles (2007). ''Donnie Brasco: Unfinished Business'', Running Press. . *Raab, Selwyn. ''Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires''. New York: St. Martin Press, 2005. {{DEFAULTSORT:Vitale, Salvatore 1947 births Living people American Mafia cooperating witnesses American gangsters of Sicilian descent Bonanno crime family People who entered the United States Federal Witness Protection Program Federal Bureau of Investigation informants People from Maspeth, Queens