Vinny Gorgeous: The Ugly Rise And Fall Of A New York Mobster

by Anthony M. DeStefano

A vain man of good looks but no family ties to the Mob, Vincent “Vinny Gorgeous” Basciano worked his way up to acting boss of the Bonanno crime family, becoming its leader when official boss Joseph Massino went to prison in 2003. When the Mafia was crawling with secret operatives and informants caving to government pressure to flip, Basciano steadfastly obeyed the code of La Cosa Nostra. “I got faith in one guy,” he said during a secretly taped meeting. That man was Massino, head of the Bonanno borgata. But for all his loyalty, Basciano was still a hot-headed, cold-blooded killer, which ultimately led to his arrest and downfall.

Then in a remarkable betrayal that rocked the Five Families to their foundations, Massino secretly cooperated with the FBI—the first head boss ever to roll over. As a result, Basciano faced the death penalty, but a federal jury, disturbed by the prosecution’s use of deadly criminal informants, reached a surprising verdict. Here from veteran crime author Anthony M. DeStefano comes the riveting story of the last true believer in the Mob’s cult of brotherhood and his betrayal at the hands of the only man he ever trusted.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, History, Crime, Biography

264 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Anthony M. DeStefano has been a reporter for the past twenty years for Newsday in New York City, specializing in criminal justice and legal affairs. He is the author of The Last Godfather, King of the Godfathers, Mob Killer,The War on Human Trafficking, and Gangland New York, among others. He has appeared on Biography Channel programs as an expert on organized crime and he also speaks at academic conferences about crime and human trafficking.

(source: Amazon)

Reviews

[Walt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really good book. I do not understand the negative reviews. DeStefano writes with clarity. He has good analysis. He sought out sources to bolster news accounts. And he offers a largely unbiased point of view. The ugly rise and fall of Vincent Basciano shows that the relentless assault on organized crime by federal investigators has not relented as popularly reported in the press.

The book is remarkably detailed. Basciano was a successful gangster who was involved in various rackets. It is telling that his boss, Joe Massino, was uncertain how Basciano made his money. Nevertheless, Massino had rebuilt the Bonanno organization during a 20-year run as boss. Basciano was one of the first Bonanno captains operating in the Bronx since the 1930s. Massino's plans to expand his organization appeared to be working well, despite his alleged misgivings about his Bronx captains. Even with his new status, Basciano stayed under the radar until Massino was arrested in 2003. Massino then established a committee to run the organization...and....made Basciano acting boss. That was quite a rapid promotion within about 20 years. The new acting boss was immediately targeted by law enforcement. Even then he might have continued along largely unnoticed; but Massino needed to make a deal with the FBI....

DeStefano sought to fill in the holes of Basciano's rise in the 1980s and 1990s. Apart from legitimate businesses, some related white collar fraud, it was difficult to pin any racketeering on him. Nevertheless, he was convicted in a racketeering trial. DeStefano glosses over any actual racketeering. Instead, he focuses on the murders of two low-level associates. Perhaps he spends too much time on those murders. More disappointing are vague references to murders in the 1980s that DeStefano could not identify beyond vague innuendo. Basciano was almost certainly convicted in a RICO trial, but DeStefano does not discuss RICO at all. In this case, murder is the predicated offense for a RICO prosecution. The pattern of racketeering was also omitted in trying to discuss the evidence for and against Basciano in the two murders. It is a glowing weakness.

The source material is largely a combination of court documents, interviews, and probably news accounts. There are about 10 pages of references correlated by chapter. It is wholly inadequate. He pulls information from a handful of other books, including DeStefano's own biography on Massino. Readers get the impression from these notes, that the bulk of the material from this book comes from court documents. Reading the book, readers may think that the bulk of material came from the many lawyers who represented Basciano.

One of the things that I am impressed with is DeStefano's style to appear unbiased. The subtitle of the book makes it clear that he is critical of organized crime; but he goes out of his way to portray Basciano, not as a monster, but as a human being with a lot of faults. Massino appears to be far worse in this book. DeStefano is uncomfortable that so many of the Bonanno gangsters who killed more people and perhaps committed worse offenses than Basciano, collected sweetheart deals in return for testifying against a second-line hoodlum. There is even a hint, maybe a suggestion, by DeStefano that Basciano was a victim of Massino's machinations rather than a perpetrator of unspeakable evil who deserves to spend the rest of his life in a SuperMAX prison. DeStefano does an admirable job of portraying the mobster and the human sides of Basciano.

The implosion of the Bonanno Mob ca. 2003-2004 was almost 20 years after the similar implosion caused by the Donnie Brasco scandal. Massino had rebuilt the organization and demanded his followers identify it as the Massino Family. He kept largely under the radar while more prolific mobsters like John Gotti, Greg Scarpa, Vic Amuso, Gaspipe Casso, and Vincent Gigante made better headlines. He was the last of that generation, not because of his machinations; but because of federal priorities. Federal prosecutions wrecked organized crime in the 1980s and 1990s. The mobsters of the 2000s did not embrace the old mythology of Cosa Nostra. Nor did Massino. He joined the chorus of cooperating witnesses. And the only person he could really testify against was his own underboss. Everyone else had agreed to cooperate. The dominoes of informants within the Bonanno Mob was truly amazing. The string of acting bosses and interim officials in the organization since then testify to the instability of that organization. Basciano's rapid rise in the 1990s culminated in 2003 with a man who barely had the experience to manage such an organization. The murders of Randy Pizzolo and Frank Santoro were seemingly pointless except to reinforce that Basciano was in charge, a power play that shows the bizarre contrast in Massino appointing both an acting boss and a ruling commission.

Overall, the book is detailed and well-written. The focus on two murders allows DeStefano to cut a lot of material that would be useful. A RICO prosecution needs to show a pattern of criminal behavior, and that pattern can very, very vague. But it also needs a at least one predicate (major felony) offense, such as murder. Either DeStefano excluded the pattern of racketeering, or he buried in the fluff of legal opinions and recollections. The seeming obliteration of the Bonanno Mob is a fascinating topic. Why the entire leadership of the organization became cooperating witnesses is befuddling. This book offers a front row seat to that implosion, or maybe a slightly different view to that implosion because DeStefano had previously written a biography on Massino.

[Mila Pool · Rating 2 out of 5]

This isn’t a biography of Vinny. It’s information about a few bullet points on the bonanno family from 76 to 05. It skips to totally different people each chapter so it can be a little frustrating. I bought it because I didn’t know much about Vinny but what I got was info on others and events that I already know, duh.

[Frank Callone · Rating 1 out of 5]

This jerk takes newspaper clippings and court records to create an outsider’s view of Vinny. I stopped reading it. If I want a journalist summary I would watch the fake news everyday. Ugh.

[Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book tells of the demise of the Bonnano family, it tells the story of Vinny Basciano a family member from the Bronx who rises to become Street Boss while Boss Joe Massino is in prison only to be brought down by the testimony of his own boss who became a cooperating witness. Ok read.

[Ugotz472 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read about the Bonanno borgata. Fresh and new information regarding Mazzini flipping and how LCN has survived after all of these problems!