In Popular Culture
The title character of Vito Corleone in Mario Puzo's The Godfather was considered by many to be largely based on Bonanno, although the character is in many ways a composite of several figures.
The Judge Dredd character Joe Bananas, henchman for Don Uggie Apelino, was named after Bonanno.
In 1999, the Lifetime TV network produced a biographical film called Bonanno: A Godfather's Story. The film chronicles the rise and fall of organized crime in the United States.
In 1991, Bonanno's daughter-in-law, Rosalie Profaci Bonanno, published the memoir Mafia Marriage: My Story. This book was eventually converted to the 1993 Lifetime Network film Love, Honor, & Obey: The Last Mafia Marriage.
In 2006, episode 66 of The Sopranos, "Members Only", Eugene Pontecorvo wants to retire and uses Joe Bananas as an example of a retired mob member.
In 2004 Joe's daughter-in-law began putting Joe's personal items up for auction on eBay. This continued until 2008.
In 2009, Joe's cousin Thomas Bonanno participated as a Mafia expert in the filming of the "Mafia vs. Yakuza" episode of Deadliest Warrior, demonstrating his skills and marksmanship with a Thompson submachine gun, as well as talking about "true" Sicilian Mafia philosophy and culture.
Read more about this topic: Joseph Bonanno
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