Long before he was a fixture in the South Shore of Long Island, Stefano “Steve” Menna was just another kid in Williamsburg trying to punch his way out of a 7th-grade ceiling. With a shock of red hair—a rarity for a Neapolitan—and a 126-pound frame that eventually found its way into the semi-pro boxing ring, Menna didn’t exactly blend into the background.
He started his career the “honest” way, tossing biscuits and baking cakes for pennies an hour, but the pull of the neighborhood streets proved stronger than the smell of the Drake’s factory. By nineteen, he wasn’t just a lightweight fighter; he was a “hoodlum in training,” trading a carpenter’s apprentice kit for a pistol and a 5-to-10-year stretch in Sing Sing.
But prison wasn’t the end of the story—it was the orientation.
What follows is the trajectory of a man who moved from botched clothing store stick-ups to the inner sanctum of the Bonanno Family. From serving as the best man for future consiglieres to standing “nearly inseparable” from high-level enforcers like Samuel “Hank” Perrone, Menna’s life became a masterclass in staying silent while the government tried to turn the “Banana War” into a televised circus.
If you want to know how a Brooklyn boxer became a key player in a suburban Long Island mob colony—and how he survived the most turbulent era in Mafia history without ever breaking the code—you’ll want to see what’s behind the curtain. *Newly Revised and Expanded*
