Dec. 18, 1964 - Joseph (Joe Bananas) Bonanno, reported kidnapped two months ago in front of a Park Avenue apartment building hours before he was to appear before a Federal grand jury, is “safe and sound,” according to his lawyer.
“I asked that he appear in my office on Monday at 9 a.m. ready to appear before the jury,” the lawyer, William Maloney, said today. “I'm convinced that he’ll be here.”
Maloney, who had given the police an eyewitness account of the alleged kidnapping, said he received a local telephone call from Bonanno’s son, Salvatore, shortly before noon yesterday.
“He told me his father was in good health and ready to appear,” Maloney said.
Bonanno, alias Johnny Boventine, alias Joseph Bonaventura, alias Joe Bananas, is reported to be a racket czar whose operations have involved much of the nation from Brooklyn to Arizona and Nevada.
After his disappearance Oct. 21, a high New York police official said there was little likelihood of Bonanno’s ever being found alive. It was widely held in official circles that he had been executed by fellow Mafia chiefs to keep him from talking to the Federal jury, which is investigating organized crime.
But since that time, 45 witnesses have appeared before the jury, including two of Bonanno’s lawyers, Maloney and Lawrence P. D’Antonio of Tucson, Ariz.
It has been learned that as a result of this testimony, Federal officials have become convinced that the kidnapping was a hoax, a device used by Bonanno to evade appearing before the jury.
The Federal officials feel that the case they have been building is now forcing Bonanno either to come out of hiding or to let some close advisers go to jail.
But Maloney, the small, baldish lawyer, his face flushed with anger, said, “Hoax— hell! I’m convinced this was a real kidnapping and I’m relieved to know that my client is alive and well and able to appear.”
Bonanno, 5-8, 180 pounds, took part in the 1957 meeting of criminals in Appalachin, N. Y. and before that had been arrested on a long series of charges ranging from running machine guns to the Al Capone gang to violating the Federal Wage and Hour Law. Save for the wage‐and-hour offense, he was never convicted.
Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s
Comments