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As crime bosses go, Joseph Massino has been strictly old school, a wiseguy more wary than wild in a city that turns reputed mob leaders into celebrities.
Unlike John Gotti, who loved fancy clothes, flashy cars and media attention, the alleged head of the Bonanno crime family has long shunned the spotlight. But as Massino prepares to stand trial this month on seven murder charges -- a case that is being billed as one of New York's great mob trials -- notoriety is about to engulf him.
Big Joey, as he is known, has been called the Last Don, the only leader of one of New York's five crime families not to have been sent away to prison. Prosecutors are eager to bring him down, hoping to strike a major blow against organized crime.
"The Bonanno family is reeling," said Pasquale J. D'Amuro, who spent four years directing an FBI probe of Massino and others, resulting in the indictment of 27 members. "Today, to say it has an organized structure is to give it too much credit."
To many observers, a conviction in this trial -- as well as in a separate murder case that might lead to a death sentence for Massino -- could end a notorious chapter in Mafia history. His rise and fall is a classic tale of old-style mob values colliding with modern realities, according to federal court records, FBI reports and knowledgeable observers.
"He's the last of the old-time gangsters, and he's had a 10-year run at the top of a legendary crime organization," said Jerry Capeci, an expert on the mob and author of "Gang Land," a weekly column in the New York Sun. "But now the end is in sight, because prosecutors are more powerful than ever and the Mafia itself has changed greatly."
Once a dominant force in the criminal underworld, members of the Bonanno, Gambino, Luchese, Colombo and Genovese crime organizations have seen their power slipping over the last 40 years. They no longer have the control over labor unions and politicians that they once enjoyed, and criminal organizations run by other ethnic groups - - from Russia, China, Colombia, Jamaica and elsewhere -- have gained more influence over a range of illegal activities, said...