NEW ROCHELLE, NY — James Vincent “Little Jimmy” Bonanno, 39, of New Rochelle, a longtime employee of the New Rochelle Board of Education, appeared Tuesday before Judge Susan Capeci in the Integrated Domestic Violence Court in White Plains, NY.
Bonanno was arrested on November 8th by New Rochelle Police following a November 7th report of a domestic dispute.
New Rochelle Police Spokesperson Captain J. Collins Coyne said Bonanno was charged with Criminal Mischief — 3rd, Unlawful Imprisonment — 2nd, Reckless Endangerment — 2nd, Endangering the Welfare of a Child and Harassment — 2nd.
Bonanno was arraigned on the four criminal charges on November 8th.
Bonanno appeared last week before Judge Matthew Costa in New Rochelle City Court on December 10th. Costa read a transfer order, removing Bonanno’s case to the Westchester County Court’s Integrated Domestic Violence Court.
The Integrated Domestic Violence Court is “a special court established as a forum to hear cases that are simultaneously pending in the courts if one of them is a domestic violence case in a criminal court and the other is a case pending in Supreme or Family Court that involves a party or witness in the domestic violence case and the other is a case in any of these other courts having a common party or in which a disposition may affect the interests of a party to the first case.”
Wearing a dingy gray, long-sleeve sweatshirt, sagging blue jeans and bright white sneakers, Bonanno stood before Judge Capeci next to his lawyer and pleaded “not guilty” to the four criminal charges.
Judge Capeci issued a Temporary Order of Protection on behalf of Bonanno’s six-year old son and the child’s mother.
Bonanno’s 18b (court assigned) lawyer, Dean Solomon of Mamaroneck, asked Judge Capeci for a “carve out” in the Temporary Order of Protection so Bonanno could see his son over the Christmas holiday if the child’s mother brought the child to Bonanno’s house over Christmas. Capeci said she was reluctant to do that without hearing from the Family Court first, noting the Family Court would, like the criminal court, transfer the case to the Integrated Domestic Violence Court, which might not happen before Christmas. Capeci stated Bonanno could pursue the request through her chambers.
Bonanno’s lawyer complained that the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office had Bonanno’s cell phone. Solomon said that he was unable to communicate with Bonanno as a result, and that nothing in the charging documents indicated the DA’s office believes there is evidence on the phone. The ADA handling the case said he would inquire about why the DA’s office was keeping the phone.
Solomon confirmed to Judge Capeci that Bonanno had been assigned to the Treatment Accountability for Safer Communities program. TASC is a substance abuse program that provides New York courts with “the professional delivery of assessment and case management services to substance involved criminal justice and court populations.”
“Little Jimmy” Bonanno is the son of Vincent James “Big Jimmy” Bonanno, who was also in court on Tuesday.
Big Jimmy is a notoriously corrupt school district employee.
The two Bonannos were both separated from their employment by the City School District of New Rochelle several years ago following a series of legal maneuvers that ended what for the senior Bonanno had been a three decade reign as “The Overtime King” during which he and collaborators in the civil service office ripped off the district for hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years. Bonanno was routinely paid tens of thousands of dollars in overtime annually, despite rarely “working” under his “Working Foreman” title.
“Little Jimmy”, the junior Bonanno, has had numerous arrests before, during and after, his employment by the New Rochelle Board of Education, often involving heroin.
He was arrested in August 2018, while working as a custodian at Webster Elementary School in New Rochelle, after he was reportedly found passed out in a vehicle with a hypodermic needle stuck in his arm.
He was arrested in May 2016 after allegedly purchasing heroin near the corner of Main Street and Harrison Street in New Rochelle. Bonanno was charged with Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance.
In March 2012, Bonanno was videotaped driving school district van E-74 while on personal business (visiting a methadone clinic) and reporting to work an hour late, time for which he was later paid.
Little Jimmy and his father, James Bonanno, filed a lawsuit for defamation against Robert Cox, the Managing Editor of Talk of the Sound and Hudson-Westchester Radio, owners of WVOX-AM 1460. Cox filed a counter-claim. Cox was totally vindicated when the Bonannos dropped their lawsuit after their law firm declined to continue to represent them. Cox was paid $2,000 to settle a counter-claim against the Bonannos.
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