Mafia don Massino breaks omerta to give evidence

Former Mafia boss Joseph Massino has become the highest-ranked boss of a New York crime family ever to cooperate with federal authorities, after breaking the 'omerta' and giving evidence against one of his soldiers in a court case.

Massino (above) once ran the Bonnano crime family and was involved in the famed Donnie Brasco case, which became a film starring Johnny Depp and Al Pacino.

Nowadays he is in prison after being convicted of eight murders, and on Tuesday testified in a Brooklyn courtroom against the man who was supposed to succeed him at the helm of the Bonnano clan, Vincent "Vinny Gorgeous" Basciano, who is accused of ordering a Mafia hit.

He spent five hours in the witness box, during which time he identified Basciano as "the guy sitting in the grey suit" and outlined his own role as head of the clan.

He explained to the jury that by giving evidence he was breaking an oath he had taken in 1977 when he joined the Mafia not to 'rat' on the family. But he added that he had agreed to testify in order to try and have his sentence reduced and to ensure that his wife escaped prosecution.

Massino also gave an insight into life as a mobster, which would have been familiar to fans of TV shows like The Wire and The Sopranos. He explained that he only talked business face-to-face with asscoiates while outside or in the walk-in refrigerator at his catering business.

"You never talk in a club, you never talk in a car, you never talk on a cellphone, you never talk on a phone, you never talk in your house," he said.

Massino also revealed that the family were not allowed to speak his name when he ran the family, in case they were being bugged. Instead his 'captains' would point to their ears to signify that they meant their boss.

He said his duties as head of the family included "murder... making captains [and] breaking captains". Talking about the people he worked with, Massino came up with a line that would not have been out of place in The Godfather. "If you need somebody to kill somebody, you need workers - it takes all kinds of meat to make a good sauce," he intoned.

Massino will come under cross examination from Basciano's defence team later in the week. ·