Former Bonanno Boss's Restaurant for Sale

Massino had assumed off-the-books ownership of the blue-collar eatery in 1996. It was a public place, so Massino didn’t fear the negative connotations associated with Mafia social clubs... Casa Blanca could seat up to 80 diners, bathing them in neon lighting.
Maspeth building formerly known as Casablanca, the restaurant owned by ex-Bonanno boss.

Massino, way back when....
A building recently advertised as available for sale was once the Casablanca Restaurant, the Queens-based eatery formerly owned and operated, off-the-books, by Joseph "Big Joey" Massino, the former boss of the Bonanno crime family who flipped and testified.

Located at 62-15 60th Lane, the 5,250-square-foot building is built on 1,800 square feet of land, a DY Realty Serviceslisting noted, adding that it includes a usable basement, full sprinkler system, overhead drive-in door and great signage visibility.

In our $2.99 ebook, Inside the Last Great Mafia Empire, I included a detailed description of the place, which the so-called Last Godfather used as a sort of social club.



As part of his extensive efforts to insulate himself and the crime family from law enforcement, Massino had ordered the closing of all social clubs, except for Anthony Spero's clubs. Spero had served as Massino's acting boss and for a time in the early 1990s was the most powerful Cosa Nostra boss in Brooklyn, if not all of New York City.

Anthony Spero

Spero, former consiglieri and acting boss of the Bonanno crime family, died around eight years ago. The once-supremely powerful "Old Man" of the American Mafia was 79 when he passed, a guest of the Federal Medical Center of the Butner Federal Correctional Complex in North Carolina.

Casa Blanca Restaurant, which I believe was the proper spelling, was ostensibly owned by a Bonanno soldier but all family members knew who really owned it back in the day.

As noted in The Cicale Files:

Massino had assumed off-the-books ownership of the blue-collar eatery in 1996. It was a public place, so Massino didn’t fear the negative connotations associated with Mafia social clubs... Casa Blanca could seat up to 80 diners, bathing them in neon lighting. The eatery, named after the classic 1942 film Casablanca, featured a life-sized statue of Humphrey Bogart himself, resplendent in white dinner jacket, at the front entrance. The menu was loaded with Sicilian and Southern Italian cuisine. 
Former Bonanno capo Dominick Cicale noted that “Joe held court there, sitting in the back wearing a warm-up suit with a pack of Marlboro cigarettes on the table."

Currently, the building serves as a warehouse.

Real estate agents seem to routinely highlight places formerly owned or otherwise associated with high-profile mobsters. (I'd love to chat with a broker, etc., about this phenomenon.) Recall a certain home in Fort Lee that was advertised for sale back in December of 2015. Albert Anastasia, former mob boss, once lived in there, in the home that had the drainage system attached to the strange basement room.

As DY noted:

Massino made headlines in 2011 by testifying in federal court against his former associate, Vincent “Vinny Gorgeous” Basciano, after the former restaurant owner’s conviction in July 2004 for seven murders, including the killing of three rival Bonnano family captains in 1981. 
It was reported that Massino agreed to help federal prosecutors in order to avoid the death penalty for his own crimes.

The realtor added "the location would be ideal for a warehouse or restaurant with easy access to public transportation, such as the Q38, Q39, Q54 and the QM24 and 25, as well as the Long Island Expressway."

Pictures of the property followed by contact information.








Those interested in the property should contact Brian Jaffe at 718-729-7474 or visit the DY Realty Services website.


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