The First Boss of the Bonanno Family, Salvatore Maranzano

September 10, 1931, Helmsley Building, New York City. A team of hitmen enter the building and head to the 9thfloor, where Maranzano’s office is located. The hit team posed as cops and federal lawmen so as not to alarm the guards that Maranzano had in place. The hit team disarmed the guards as they made their way up to Maranzano’s office. The hit team consisted of four members, Vito Genovese, Albert Anastasia, JoeAdonis, and Samuel Levine.

Maranzano is grabbed and pinned up against the wall, he is repeatedly stabbed. Knife wounds to the chest, stomach, face, Maranzano is strangled, and finally the hit team pumps six rounds into his lifeless body. Why did Maranzano suffer the same fate as his former nemesis Joe Masseria, six months after killing him? Who ordered Maranzano’s death?

Early Years

Salvatore Maranzano was born on July 31, 1886 in Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily, Italy. As a young Sicilian boy Maranzano had interest in joining the catholic priesthood. Maranzano would eventually end up in organized crime, rather than the priesthood. Maranzano was a battlefield commander for the war between Bonanno and Buccelato families in Sicily. Maranzano would eventually marry into mob royalty in Sicily and take his talents to the United States.