The State - News from Sept. 12, 1985

Salvatore (Bill) Bonanno told jurors in Oakland that he has been harassed by authorities all his life because he is the son of reputed Mafia chieftain Joseph (Joe Bananas) Bonanno. Taking the stand in his own defense at his trial on conspiracy-theft charges arising from a scheme said to have bilked elderly people of $110,000 on repairs for their homes, Bonanno said he was “trained to care about people” but was persecuted by the FBI and spent eight years in prison for refusing to be “a stool pigeon” against his father. Prison sentences served by Bonanno, 53, were actually for extortion, mail fraud and tax evasion.