Vito Bonventre was a New York mobster involved in bootlegging

Rum-running

Rum-running, also known as bootlegging, is the illegal business of transporting alcoholic beverages where such transportation is forbidden by law...

 with Brooklyn

Brooklyn

Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

 mobster Cola Schiro throughout the Prohibition

Prohibition

Prohibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, is the practice of prohibiting the manufacture, transportation, import, export, sale, and consumption of alcohol and alcoholic beverages. The term can also apply to the periods in the histories of the countries during which the...

 era.

Bonventre later served as underboss to New York mob boss Salvatore Maranzano

Salvatore Maranzano

Salvatore Maranzano was an organized crime figure from the town of Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily, and an early Cosa Nostra boss in the United States. He instigated the Castellammarese War to seize control of the American Mafia operations, and briefly became the Mafia's "Boss of Bosses"...

 during the Castellammarese War

Castellammarese War

The Castellammarese War was a bloody power struggle for control of the Italian-American Mafia between partisans of Joe "The Boss" Masseria and those of Salvatore Maranzano. It was so called because Maranzano was based in Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily...

. During the early months of the war, Bonventre became a target as the Brooklyn-based Castellammarese began to threaten Joe "the Boss" Masseria

Joe Masseria

Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria was an early Mafia don in the United States. He was boss of what is now called the Genovese crime family, one of the New York Mafia's Five Families, from 1922 to 1931.-Early days:...

's domination over Italian organized crime. On July 15, 1930, Bonventre was gunned down by Masseria gunmen outside his garage.

In popular culture

A second cousin of mob boss Joseph Bonanno

Joseph Bonanno

Joseph Charles Bonanno, Sr. was a Sicilian-born American mafioso who became the boss of the Bonanno crime family. He was nicknamed "Joe Bananas," a name he despised.-Early life:...

, Bonventre was portrayed by John Vamvas in the 1999 television movie Bonanno: A Godfather's Story.

External links

• The American "Mafia": Who was Who ? - Vito Bonventre
• Vito Bonventre at Find-A-Grave