Friday, August 25, 2023

Review: A Man of Honor: The Autobiography of Joseph Bonanno

A Man of Honor: The Autobiography of Joseph Bonanno A Man of Honor: The Autobiography of Joseph Bonanno by Joseph Bonanno
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

An entertaining read which, despite everything, has quite a lot of interesting information. Revealing to hear about Sicily when he was a child, and about the old names (Maranzano, Masseria, Terranova, etc.). Also revealing to hear that Luciano had a "street accent", while it seems like most of the other dons of the period, including the "young turks" like Anastasia and Gambino, had thick italian accents. 

Some obvious lies and possible self-deception going on. I very much doubt he would pick the moment Magliocco died, and the liberal faction took over the commission, to travel the world with his wife. Much more likely he'd try to escape to Canada, as the feds believed he was doing. 

Also, interesting to note how many of these original old-timers ended up telling all. Bonanno and Luciano both wrote autobiographies. Costello was about to. Luciano died on his way to have a movie made of his life. I guess the concept of omertà was pretty ambiguous even back then. Bonanno does try to justify this, but I doubt his definition would hold in the commission. 

View all my reviews

No comments: