Joseph "Sammo" Sammartino Sr., a reputed Bonanno capo who pleaded guilty last June to an extortion charge in connection with a high-interest loan to "Sal from Staten Island," faces up to two years in prison when he is sentenced next Friday by U.S. District Court Judge Nicholas Garaufis in Brooklyn, NY as reported by Michaelangelo Conte for The Jersey Journal.
Meanwhile, Jerry Capeci for The Huffington Post has the back story on four reputed Bonanno mobsters who are enjoying their freedom under the federal witness protection program after flipping for Team America, and the veteran mob writer suggests that family founder Joe Bonanno is lucky to have died before witnessing such a shocking betrayal of the family's code of silence or so-called omerta: "They're out there, somewhere in the sunshine. But at least Joe Bonanno won't have to look at them." Give me a break.
The mobsters of yesterday were not bound by family honor in keeping mum about their fellow good fellas; rather, there simply wasn't any necessity to make a deal by ratting because rarely was their liberty ever at stake. For decades the mob was the fourth branch of NYC government, and the local legal and political system largely protected its rackets and ignored its messes. Indeed, even on the rare occassions when indictments were brought against mobsters, the judicial system was notoriously lenient with them. For example, in 1971 the New York State Joint Legislative Committee on Crime "conducted a study of 1,762 cases in state courts in the years 1960 through 1969 involving organized crime figures," and the results were shocking as reported by Nicholas Gage in a September 25, 1972 article ("Study Shows Courts Lenient With Mafiosi") for The New York Times:
The committee, whose chairman is Senator John H. Hughes of Syracuse, found that the rate of dismissals and acquittals for racketeers was five times that of other defendants. In New York City, 44.7 per cent of indictments against members of organized crime were dismissed by Supreme Court judges during the ten year period. Only 11.5 per cent of indictments against all defendants were dismissed, according to the study. In 193 instances where organized crime figures were actually convicted, the study showed that judges let the defendants off with suspended sentences or fines in 46 per cent of the cases.
It's easy for the geriatric crowd to pretend its mobsters were men of honor when their honor never was challenged. However, things began to change after Congress enacted the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act in 1970 and the feds took over the prosecution of mobsters where New York City officials mostly had been unwilling -- or unable -- to act meaningfully. Thanks to federal authorities mobsters now face real time for their crimes, and maybe even Joe Bonanno would rat out his crew if he faced prosecution today.
