Bonanza
Bonanza is an NBC television western series that ran from 1959 to 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 431 episodes, "Bonanza" is NBC's longest-running western, and ranks overall as the second-longest-running western series on U.S. network television (behind CBS's "Gunsmoke"), and within the top 10 longest-running, live-action American series. The show continues to air in syndication. The show is set in the 1860s and it centers on the wealthy Cartwright family that live in the vicinity of Virginia City, Nevada, bordering Lake Tahoe. The series initially starred Lorne Greene, Pernell Roberts, Dan Blocker, and Michael Landon and later featured (at various times) Guy Williams, David Canary, Mitch Vogel, and Tim Matheson. The show is known for presenting pressing moral dilemmas.
Joseph Bonanno
Eventually, Bonanno became involved in bootlegging activities. He operated a distillery located inside an apartment building basement with Gaspar DiGregorio and Giovanni Romano, who was later killed in the distillery due to an accidental explosion. Sometime after 1926, Bonanno went to work for Salvatore Maranzano and supervised his distilleries in Upstate New York and Pennsylvania, he was also responsible for bailing out bootlegging associates from jail. During this time Bonanno admitted to carrying a pistol for the first time in the United States. He began to act as an enforcer for Maranzano and was part of his inner circle. In his book, Bonanno recalled an extortion attempt by Dominick "Mimi" Sabella, brother of Bonanno capo Michael Sabella and Philadelphia crime family boss Salvatore Sabella, where Sabella attempted to muscle his way into Bonanno's bootlegging operations. Bonanno made a gesture with his hand to represent a pistol and pretended to shoot Sabella in the head six times, although Sabella was part of Maranzano's crime family, Bonanno had the most authority and could not be reckoned with.