| Former Bonanno boss Joseph 'Big Joey' Massino, the first head of one of New York’s five mob families to turn rat, died after battling a short illness. He was 80. Massino, who ran the Bonanno family with an iron fist from 1991 to 2003, died on Sept. 14. Massino began talking with the feds after he was convicted in 2004 for ordering 25 years worth of murder, racketeering and a slew of other crimes. He had been handed a life sentence, including for the slayings of his three mob captains. He used and later ratted out Vito Rizzuto. He was nailed for the execution of a mobster who had vouched for FBI undercover agent Joseph D. Pistone, who used the name Donnie Brasco, in the 1980s. It became the subject of the hit 1997 film “Donnie Brasco,” starring Johnny Depp and Al Pacino. |  |
 | A five-block triangular plot of land along the Brooklyn-Queens boundary is known as the Hole. Partially flooded streets, vacant and overgrown lots, abandoned cars with bullet holes and shattered windows, motorhomes, numerous real estate signs, bulldozers, and even chickens are found there. Venturing down the 'Jewel' streets (Emerald, Amber, Ruby, and Sapphire) leads one into a pit, one of which is 30 feet below grade. The neighborhood is neglected. |  |
 | The Hole is most famous as the site of a mafia graveyard in the early 1980s. John Gotti and his crime family favoured the neighborhood to dispose of bodies. Gotti hid the remains of two high-profile murders there. John Favara was Gotti’s neighbor who accidentally struck and killed Gotti’s youngest son Frank with his car in 1980. The second victim is Tommy DeSimone, a Lucchese family associate who was immortalized by Joe Pesci in the 1990 Martin Scorsese film Goodfellas. In 1981, children playing on 78th Street (Ruby Street) came across the hand of Bonanno crime family capo Alphonse 'Sonny Red' Indelicato. |
 Gerlando Sciascia, Vito Rizzuto, Giovanni Ligamarri and Joseph Massino in 1981. |  In 2004 the bodies of Philip 'Philly Lucky' Giaccone and Dominick 'Big Trin' Trinchera were dug up by the FBI. On May 5, 1981 the men were ambushed by four gunmen wearing masks. One of the gunmen was Montreal mob boss Vito Rizzuto.  |
