Anthony Graziano the former consigliere for the Bonanno crime family has passed away according to a report from his daughter Renee Graziano.
The 78-year-old mobster was once a force within the New York Mafia family. Graziano made his way up the ranks of the Cosa Nostra family from capo to eventually becoming consigliere for friend and boss Joseph Massino. He was a wiseguy through and through known for being a money maker with a violent edge. Massino would eventually become the first American Mafia boss to turn state’s evidence and is now in the witness protection program. He was never called to testify against his former consigliere even though Graziano’s organized crime career included several run-ins with the law.
Anthony Graziano also known as “T.G.” was indicted multiple times on various mafia-related crimes. During the 1990s he pleaded guilty to federal tax evasion and spent five years as a guest of the government. Then in 2002, he was hit with various charges in New York and Florida that included murder conspiracy, illegal bookmaking, and investment fraud among others. The murder conspiracy charges dated back to 1994 when he ordered members of his Bonanno family crew to clip two Colombo family mobsters. The two had fired shots into a topless bar on Staten Island that was owned by Graziano. The beef was settled before either guy was killed but he would still be indicted for conspiring to have them whacked.
In 2003 he was sentenced to 11 years behind bars for the case in Florida and then nine years for the case in New York. He was released from prison in 2011 but was indicted again in 2012 on federal racketeering and extortion charges. His then son in law and mob turncoat Hector Pagan Jr. secretly recorded conversations that included T.G. and other members of the Boanano’s helping the feds to build the case. T.G. would agree to a plea deal later that year that put him back behind bars for another 19 months. He was again released from prison in 2013.
Graziano got some very unwanted attention after the VH1 cable reality television program Mob Wives made its debut in 2011. His daughter Jennifer Graziano created and produced it while his other daughter Renee Graziano was one of the leading cast members. The show was not a hit with Graziano’s mafia pals, to say the least. It led to conflict inside his own family as well although he and his daughters would eventually reconcile. There were mafia news reports that the aging wiseguy had been shelved several years ago by the new Bonanno family leadership bringing an end to his mob career. He was a stand-up guy unlike other Bonanno family mobsters he came up with he stayed loyal to the mob code and never ratted.
