King of the Godfathers

The true story of the last of the big-time Mob bosses, now updated and back in print nearly two decades after its initial publication, with a new foreword by retired FBI agent Joe Pistone, author of Donnie Brasco, and a new afterword that catches readers up on Joseph Massino's life in the Witness Protection Program before his passing in 2023—from Anthony M. DeStefano, the Pulitzer Prize and Emmy Award-winning investigative journalist who is one of the foremost Mafia experts writing today.

UPDATED WITH A NEW FOREWORD BY JOE PISTONE AND A NEW AFTERWORD

THE LAST OF THE BIG-TIME MOB BOSSES—AND THE ULTIMATE BETRAYAL

He was the last of his kind—an old-world Mob boss steeped in omertà, the Mafia code of silence. While his arrogant friend John Gotti was being secretly recorded by the FBI, Joseph Massino, head of the Bonanno family, quietly became known as “The Ear” by ordering his men to point to their ear instead of saying his name out loud.

For more than 20 years, Massino ran what was called the largest criminal network in the United States, employing over 250 made men and untold numbers of associates. The Bonanno family was responsible for over 30 murders, even killing a dozen of its own members to settle scores. Massino ran a tight organization, obsessively checking his social club for bugging devices, frustrating FBI surveillance. But in the end, facing the death penalty and the prospect of leaving his family penniless, Massino would be brought down from the inside, by the underboss who was not only his closest and most trusted friend―but a member of his blood family. So, he started talking to the FBI—the first Mafia godfather to break the sacred code of omertà—which bought him another two decades of life, the final years of which he spent in the Witness Protection Program before dying a free man.

Based on exclusive interviews with Massino’s family and closest associates, as well as law enforcement officials and confidential sources, King of the Godfathers is the epic inside story of this Bonanno family boss who was at one time the most powerful gangster in America.Praise for King of the Godfathers

“No one breathes life into his subjects like Anthony M. DeStefano does. The reissue of this seminal Joe Massino biography, replete with a new foreword by the legendary undercover agent Joe Pistone, unearths decades of Mafia history—and the scores of bodies—with aplomb.” —Louis Ferrante, internationally bestselling author of the Borgata Trilogy

“Much of my work served as the underpinnings of extensive FBI investigations that are fully recounted in King of the Godfathers: Joseph Massino and the Fall of the Bonanno Crime Family . . . In a way, Massino followed my example and decided to become a secret cooperating witness against the Bonanno family, a shocking development that no one expected.” —Joe Pistone, aka Donnie Brasco, former undercover FBI agent and author of Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia and The Bonannos: A Century of Murder

“Riveting.” —Nicholas Pileggi, bestselling author of Wiseguy and Casino

“The best and last word on the subject . . . DeStefano brings the story to life.” —Jerry Capeci, bestselling co-author of Murder Machine and creator of GangLandNews.com

“Thrilling American crime writing.” —Jimmy Breslin, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Good Rat

“Tracks the downfall not only of Massino himself but all of the old organized crime families . . . DeStefano gives us unique insights.” —New York Law Journal



Anthony M. DeStefano is a Pulitzer Prize and Emmy Award–winning journalist, author, and preeminent Mob historian. He has covered criminal justice and organized crime for more than four decades as a reporter for Newsday and appeared as an expert source on HISTORY’s documentary series American Godfathers: The Five Families. His books on the subject include Jimmy the Gent, Broadway Butterfly, The Big Heist, King of the Godfathers, The Deadly Don, Top Hoodlum, and Gotti’s Boys, among others. He can be found online at TonyDeStefano.com.