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His family said that Bonventre, who was suspected of cooperating with the police, would be back. But local Mafiosi knew better, especially when Bonventre's wife gave birth to their first child the next day. "He didn't run," explained one Mob member. "No Sicilian would stay away from his wife who had given him a first son. The whole neighborhood knew that. You could tell when they presented themselves to his wife with the gifts and envelopes without Cesare being there. He must have been dead."
He was. A month after his disappearance, Cesare Bonventre turned up in a warehouse in Garfield, N.J. He had been shot five times, chopped into pieces and stuffed into three 55-gal. oil drums. He was 33 years old and, as far as his fellow Mafiosi were concerned, a victim of his own ambition. "In his mind, in his brain," said one, "he thought he was already the boss. He was arrogant." He was also foolish. In a world where "Honor thy father" is more than just a religious commandment, arrogance can be fatal.