santora became involved with the bonanno family while boss philip "rusty" rastelli was imprisoned. rastelli's reign was threatened by carmine "lilo" galante, who felt he was the rightful boss because he had been underboss and consigliere under boss joe bonanno. santora started out in a crew led by galante-supporter michael "mikey" sabella, and became heavily involved with extortion, loansharking, labor racketeering, illegal gambling, truck hijacking, and murder for hire.