Joseph Bonanno
In the 1950s, a crackdown in the United States on drug trafficking led to the imprisonment of many American mafiosi. Cuba, a major hub for drug smuggling, was taken over by Fidel Castro and associated communists. In 1957 American mafia boss Joseph Bonanno returned to Sicily to franchise his heroin operations to the Sicilian clans. Anticipating rivalries for the lucrative American drug market, he negotiated the establishment of a Sicilian Mafia Commission to mediate disputes.