PRE-ORDER: The Last Don's Mistress (HARDCOVER)

“I loved him, not because of the Bonanno name, but because of who he was. It is very difficult for me to say ‘he was,’ as he is no longer with me. I have lost a person very dear to me, not the man who was a Mafia boss, but a man who was my true friend, a father figure at times, a confidant, and most importantly, my love.”

Theresa D'Antonio spent twenty-five years inside the private world of Joseph Bonanno, Sr., one of the most famous names in American Mafia history.

She was not his wife. She was his mistress, and the title says so plainly. Close enough to see the man behind the name. Independent enough, in the end, to tell the story in her own voice.

This is not a Mafia biography written from the outside. It is a memoir of love, loyalty, family, faith, migration, and the private life history later reduced to a name.

Who was Joseph Bonanno, Sr.?

Bonanno took over a New York crime family at twenty-six. One of the youngest bosses in Mafia history. A living hinge between the old-world dons, men like Lucky Luciano, and the American Mafia mythology that came after. He's also one of the real-life figures said to have inspired The Godfather.

By the time he published A Man of Honor in 1983, followed by a widely seen 60 Minutes interview, Bonanno had become one of the last surviving links to the generation associated with the formation of modern American organized crime.

That is the Bonanno most of the world knew: the public figure, the crime boss, the historical name.

This memoir is about the private man behind it.

She does not write around the difficult parts. She is as candid about the friction and years that tested them as she is about the warmth.

It reads less like a tribute than a real relationship, lived on the page, weight and all.

Theresa's life reaches well beyond the Mafia story.

From Alexandria, Egypt, through Canada and into the United States, her memoir traces a life shaped by migration, marriage, motherhood, faith, work, widowhood, independence, and belonging.

That gives the book another layer.

It is also about families carrying old customs and faith into a new country, building new lives, becoming attached to America, and negotiating what they keep and what they change along the way.

Books That Benefit: Power up close • Family and loyalty • Seeing history at human distance

Book details

Title: The Last Don's Mistress I Subtitle: The Private Life and Times of Joe Bonanno, Sr. I Author: Theresa D'Antonio I Publisher: Trumpet Publishing House I Format: Hardcover I ISBN: 9781763723863 I Page count: 289 pages I Price: US$39.99 I Production: Made to order

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