Natale Evola became boss of the Bonanno crime family in 1970 and held this position until his death in August 1973. Evola had been a Genovese family operative in the late 1950s, attending the notorious Apalachin convention in upstate New York in November 1957. He was also a lynch pin of narcotics trafficking in the United States. He was arrested along with Vito Genovese and many others after a 1958 heroin bust in Manhattan.. Narcotics agents targeted Evola for many years, finding him to be an elusive criminal for the most part. He served in the warrant officers division of the United States Army, enlisting as a Private in 1942.