Originally hailing from the gritty Greenpoint section of North Brooklyn, Philip (Rusty) Rastelli would rise up from a common street hoodlum and gunman to eventually reach the very pinnacle of organized crime in New York City.
He would become Boss over one of Cosa Nostra’s infamous Five Families.
This is his story!
Philip (Rusty) Rastelli was born in 1918 in the Greenpoint-Williamsburg section of North Brooklyn.
He lived at 473 Vandervoort Ave before moving to 69-90 74th Street in Middle Village, and later to 91-20 57th Ave. in Lefrak City in Corona, both in Queens.
He had a brother Marinello (Marty), and a nephew, Louie Rastelli. Louie apparently tried committing suicide, became paralyzed, and was wheelchair-bound afterward. Marty and Louie were both involved with the Family.
FBI # 1200987, NYCPD # B-152029
Rusty Rastelli was identified by the early 1950s as a Bonanno soldier. By the mid-1960s, he was elevated to Capo status. By 1970, he was being carried on law enforcement charts as the new Boss of the Family.
His activities included extortion, hijacking, shylocking, gambling, and strong-arm enforcement.
His close criminal associates included:
• John (Sonny) Franzese – A boyhood friend, lifelong buddy, and one-time running partner of Rastelli.
• Joseph Massino – A young protege of Rusty who he proposed for induction.
• Pasquale (Paddy Mack) Macchiarole – A neighborhood friend, who later became a high-ranked Genovese member.
• Vincent (Jimmy Nap) Napoli – Another boyhood friend who migrated to the Genovese.
• Anthony (Tony D) Di Gregorio – Son of Gaspare DiGregorio who ran a loansharking ring for Rusty.
In 1940, 22-year-old Rusty Rastelli was arrested with his buddy Santo Bretagna for a $226 payroll robbery in Manhattan. Rusty was armed with a .32 caliber pistol. Both were sentenced to serve 5 to 10 years in Sing Sing.
In 1953, he was arrested in Manhattan for operating a large dice game. The charge was dismissed.
In 1954, Rastelli and Ralph Santoro were arrested for the killing of paroled burglar Michael Russo. The year before, they had shot him four times but he survived. The next year they finished the job!
In 1955, Rusty’s wife Connie was arrested for the attempted bribery of Russo’s wife. Connie had offered her $5,000 to change testimony against Rusty and Santoro for Russo’s attempted murder in 1953.
In 1965, Rusty hit two women pedestrians, killing one, in Rego Park while driving one night. He was given a criminal summons for reckless driving.
In 1970, he was investigated as one of several mobsters who received special privileges while serving time at Nassau County jail. Guards were bribed to bring in liquor, food, drugs, and women for mob figures.
Also in 1970, Rastelli was charged with criminal contempt by the Nassau County Rackets grand jury probing the Bonanno Family. He served several 30-day “bids” for contempt at the Nassau jail.
In 1971, Rastelli, Di Gregorio, and three others were arrested in a 16-count indictment for an extensive loansharking ring run on Long Island after a two-year investigation. Rusty pled out and received an 18-month jail term.
In 1975, Rastelli was among five indicted for their control of a Bonanno “lunch wagon” extortion racket. He was charged with extorting a chain of mobile lunch wagons to make regular payments to a “Lunch Wagon Association” he operated.
He was convicted and served a ten-year jail term.
In 1985, Rusty Rastelli was indicted but was later severed from the famed Mafia Commission case.
Having been later convicted, sentenced to 12 years, and jailed in a labor rackets case as well as several other legal entanglements, authorities felt it was “cleaner” to keep him out of additional indictments.
As an aside, he suffered a seizure at arraignment from the mob commission case and had to be removed from the court by ambulance.
The entire scene was lunacy as ambulance attendants had to push their way through a throng of onlookers and overbearing news media angling for the best picture to splash on their front pages.
In 1987, after a 5-month long trial, he received a 12-year federal sentence for labor racketeering for Bonanno Family domination of the moving and storage industry. (12 men were convicted).
Years before, he had installed several minions to head Local #814 of the Teamsters Union, which organized workers in the moving industry. It was proved that over a 20-year period, he had extorted payments from moving companies and bid-rigging.
Also in 1987, law enforcement made judicial history after charging the entire “Bonanno Crime Family” as an illegal “entity” under the civil RICO provisions on the books.
Both individually, and as an “entity” dozens of members, and their organization alike, were enjoined from operating, and millions of dollars were assessed against them.
The federal government seized properties, buildings, houses, businesses, labor unions, and any assets that could be identified.
It was groundbreaking! A first of its kind!
A classic story is that of Rusty Rastelli’s first wife, Constance (Connie) Rastelli – a mob wife who thought she was a mobster herself.
She drove the getaway car after several robberies, kept the gambling ledgers, ran an abortion clinic, and bribed potential witnesses against her husband on several occasions.
But she was also a very jealous woman, especially after finding out that Rusty had cheated on her several times.
It got so bad that Connie actually once tracked down and beat a mistress of his senseless. After another incident of infidelity, Connie shot Rusty twice, wounding him with a pistol on a Brooklyn Street.
After that, Rusty understandably left her, which only made her more vindictive. She started providing confidential information to authorities.
Eventually, Rusty was ordered to silence her, which he did – by having her shot to death.
To encapsulate a very complex arrangement, as an overview of Rusty Rastelli’s influence, by 1970 or 1971, he was running the Family.
Although jailed, he was looked at as Boss.
But with Carmine Galante being paroled, Rastelli faded into the background rather than go to war with Galante, especially since Rastelli was jailed at the time.
Eventually, Galante’s heavy-handed style of leading, his greed, and arrogance brought about the decision to kill him, which was carried out in 1979.
At that point, Rusty Rastelli clearly was declared as the “official” Boss of the borgata.
Philip (Rusty) Rastelli died of liver cancer on June 24, 1991, just 20 days after being granted compassionate release from the federal medical center in Springfield Missouri.
He was 73 years old.
Watch Rusty Rastelli’s story come to life in our video bio which includes many unique pictures and headlines not included in this written bio.
