Publisher's Synopsis
ôWhat I am about to share with you has never been told by anyone who actually attended the Commission meetingsà.A story that I authorized to be published only after my death.ö ùBill Bonanno. Born into a powerful mob family and married into another, Salvatore ôBillö Bonanno was privy to a private world that existed just outside the law for decades in Americaùa world ruled by the tenets of loyalty, secrecy, brotherhood, and survival at any cost: the Mafia. The son of Joe Bonannoùthe Godfather-like head, or Rappresentante, of one of the original five crime familiesùBill Bonanno came of age in the Golden Age of the Mafia. As the familyÆs trusted Consigliere, he witnessed the unspeakable. He participated in cloistered acts of initiation. He spoke the language of violence and hierarchy, Sicilian history and familial ties that bind until death. He knew the untold secrets of the Commission meetingsùwhere they were held, who attended, what security was required, how business was conducted, and what issues were discussed-secrets that could never be revealedàuntil now. In his waning years Bill realized that these secrets, the details, stories, and imagesùwhich he had meticulously kept from his own memoir Bound by Honor as well as Gay TaleseÆs acclaimed chronicle of the Bonanno family, Honor Thy Fatherùwould disappear with his passing. So with the help of author Gary Abromovitz, Bill composed a true last testament, a comprehensive opus that would finally unburden him of years of hidden truthsùa project that can only now be published after BillÆs death.
