THE CHIN

I often get asked why the name Joey Bananas as one of my AKA's (which incidently can be frustrating when you got your name on the door somewhere, but dont know which name is down so end up going thru a list looking like a weirdo), its not cos of any great love of bananas, but more to do with my fascination with the good old Cosa Nostra and this guy Guiseppe Bonnano had the best nickname

He was head of the Bonanno family for years and one of very few to never get convicted of any serious offence ending up dying at the ripe old age of 97 in 2002. However my favourite wiseguy has to be Vincent 'The Chin' Gigante, who let it be known that no one should say his name in public and instead should just point to their chin

This dude was underboss of the Genovese family until the then leader Tony 'Fat Ducks' Salerno died of a stroke in 1992 and leadership fell to The Chin

- Fat Tony second from the right, cigar in mouth

The Chin was the most powerful mob boss of his time, ruling the Commission (the governing body of the 5 families where inter family disputes were settled) and raking in tens of millions of dollars each year through his many rackateering enterprises. What makes The Chin so fascinating is that for years he managed to ward off any prison time by pretending to be mental! He first did it in 1969 and got off on a bribery charge. He then spent the next 20 odd years wandering the streets of Greenwich Village helped along by his minder's doing whatever he could to convince watching cops he was off his rocker which included pissing in the street, shouting at himself and smoking used ciggy butts from the floor!

Unfortunately for The Chin it all started falling apart when he was arrested in 1990 on some murder and rackateering charges which took until 1997 to get to court due to the many people who came forward stating he was mentally unfit to stand trial. One funny quote from all this came from his mum (who had been complicit in the whole mentall illness charade) who when asked if Vincent was really the head of the Genovese family said, "Vincenzo? He's the boss of the toilet!". He was eventually sentenced to 12 years in 1997 and another 3 in 2003 for admitting to faking his mental illness, but died in December 2005.
People talk a lot of people like John Gotti when talking of the Mafia, but even Gotti was shook when it came to The Chin. There wont be another character like him!