Buffalo crime family
Encyclopedia
The Buffalo crime family, also known as the Magaddino crime family and The Arm, is an Italian American
criminal organization
based in Buffalo
, United States
. As part of the American Mafia
(or Cosa Nostra) the family operates throughout Western New York
and Canada
.
The Buffalo crime family, gained power during the Prohibition era
through bootlegging
. In 1931, family boss Stefano Magaddino
became an original member of The Commission
, and his family remained relatively peaceful until the 1960s when his leadership was challenged. The family broke into separate factions as they tried to assassinate Magaddino who die of natural causes on July 19, 1974. Following Magaddino's death the family continued its war until the early 1980s when Joseph Todaro became the boss. Todaro united the family and retired in 2006, leaving Leonard Falzone as the current boss.
, at the southern head of the Niagara River
, directly across from the Canadian
border town of Fort Erie, Ontario
. Buffalo saw a huge influx of Italian
immigrants from the 1890s through the 1920s, as the area provided abundant jobs for immigrants willing to do manual labor. The local mills and factories flourished as they made use of the hydro-electric power gained from nearby Niagara Falls
. The opening of the Saint Lawrence Seaway
in 1957 provided additional employment opportunities on Buffalo's busy waterfront. Buffalo is the state's second largest city after New York
and was one of the first American cities to have electricity.
Like many other cities, such as New York, Chicago
, Boston, Detroit and Pittsburgh
, the West Side of Buffalo saw the growth of a "Little Italy" neighborhood in the early 20th century. The East Side neighborhood of Lovejoy also had a small Italian immigrant community. In the 1980s the demographics of the West Side shifted, becoming a predominantly Hispanic
neighborhood, and now the North Side near Hertel Ave. is home to the largest Italian-American
community in Buffalo.
town of Castellammare del Golfo
, in 1908 or 1909. Palmieri was a well-known Sicilian mafioso who took over Buffalo's Little Italy by extracting extortion money from groceries, pushcart vendors and Italian food vendors. He also consorted with (and possibly led) a group of Black Hand extortionists who preyed on both legal and illegal businesses, including the "taxing" of local pimps, prostitutes and drug dealers. Palmieri's affiliation was with the Mafia group known as the Castellammarese Clan
, which had satellite groups all across the United States, from the big cities of New York
, Philadelphia
, Detroit, and Chicago
to smaller towns such as Scranton, Pennsylvania
.
was born on October 10, 1891, and emigrated to the United States from Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily, sometime in the early- to mid-1910s. He settled in the Sicilian enclave of Williamsburg
in Brooklyn
, New York. Magaddino came from a well-known and powerful Mafia family and already had the reputation of a hardened killer upon his arrival in the States.
Magaddino quickly established himself in New York's underworld and became a group leader in his Mafia clan, extorting, stealing and cheating his way to success and wealth. He quickly established his group of Castellammarese mafiosi known as "The Good Killers" as a powerful presence in the underworld. In 1921 he was arrested in New York, along with a close associate and fellow Castellammarese named Gaspar Milazzo
, for their alleged involvement in a murder of a man in Avon, New Jersey. The victim was a member of the Buccellato family of Castellammare, a rival Mafia clan that Magaddino, his relatives and associates had warred with in Sicily for years.
After being released by New York law enforcement, Milazzo moved to another large Castellammarese community in Detroit, while Magaddino moved his base of operations to western New York, settling first in the city of Buffalo, then moving north to the city of Niagara Falls
by 1922.
Magaddino was a close associate of Angelo Palmieri, and upon the death of his underboss Joseph Peter DiCarlo, Palmeri urged the respected and feared Magaddino to take over as boss. Magaddino accepted the position and named Palmieri his senior adviser. Under Magaddino the Buffalo crime family became an influential crime group during the Prohibition
era, benefiting from its proximity to the Canadian border and from the many underworld connections Magaddino possessed nationwide. Throughout Prohibition the Buffalo crime family had strong ties to Canadian Mafia groups in southern Ontario, which supplied liquor to many American underworld groups to smuggle into the United States. The most well-known association was with Hamilton Mafia boss Rocco Perri
, (see King of the Mob by James Dubro for more details) who led a large group of Calabria
n mafiosi and was called "Canada's Al Capone" and "King of the Bootleggers" by the media.
Magaddino and his crime family became extremely wealthy during Prohibition, and throughout the 1920s Magaddino made sure that his criminal interests and territory were protected from rivals. There were a large number of underworld deaths labeled "gang hits" in the western New York and southern Ontario regions during Prohibition. Some were tied to the "Bootleg Wars" between American and Canadian bootleggers, while others were the result of the "Sugar Wars" between the Magaddino crime family and the Porrello crime family of Cleveland, Ohio
. The Sugar Wars erupted when the Porellos tried to expand their corn sugar business into eastern Pennsylvania and western New York at the expense of Magaddino and his group, but Magaddino's forces quickly put an end to the grand ambitions of the Cleveland mafiosi.
The Buffalo crime family grew in power and influence throughout the 1920s and began to establish itself on a national level through the many influential criminal association Magaddino had forged with other Mafia bosses in New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Detroit and Chicago.
had become too wealthy, influential and independent for the liking of self-proclaimed "Boss of Bosses" Joe Masseria, who felt threatened by his rivals, and in 1930 a war erupted between the two factions. By the late 1920s a group of young, powerful and influential American bred mafiosi led by Charles "Lucky" Luciano and his closest associates had aligned themselves in New York and across the nation with the intention of re-organizing and re-structuring the American underworld on a national level without the participation of the old world Bosses, but in order to do so they would have to remove all the "Old Guard" Mafia leaders or "Mustache Petes" including Joe Masseria and Sal Maranzano.
The Castellammarese war began in the late 1920s and erupted into a nationwide conflict with the assassinations of Castellammarese leaders, Gaspar "The Peacemaker" Milazzo
in Detroit on May 31, 1930 and Giuseppe "Joe" Aiello in Chicago on October 23, 1930. Buffalo Mafia Boss, Steve Magaddino sent $5,000 a week to his New York allies in support of his allies while the same was done by Castellammarese leaders and supporters across the nation to help New York Castellammarese war chief, Salvatore Maranzano
and his loyal underlings including Magaddino cousin and future New York Mafia Boss, Joseph "Joe Bananas" Bonanno
defeat Joe Masseria. On April 15, 1931 powerful New York Boss, Joe Masseria was assassinated by his Underboss, Lucky Luciano in a Coney Island restaurant. Then, on September 10, 1931, the next self-proclaimed "Boss of Bosses" Salvatore Maranzano
was assassinated in his Manhattan business office by Lucky Luciano allies posing as IRS agents. This allowed Luciano to take control of the American Mafia and form a "Board of Directors" to govern Mafia affairs nationwide. Luciano and his fellow leaders placed the newly organized Mafia at the helm of the National Crime Syndicate
. The American Mafia was given the name "La Cosa Nostra" by its members and the Mafia's ruling body was called the "Commission". Along with the leaders of the 5 New York crime families and the Chicago Outfit, the Buffalo crime family and its leader, Stefano Magaddino were given a seat on the Commission as a charter member. Some also believe that Cleveland crime family leader, Frank Milano
was given a seat on the Commission.
continued to be a major underworld force throughout from the late 1950s well into the 1960s with the crime family dominating the Western New York rackets, especially gambling, loansharking, narcotics and labor and union rackets. The Buffalo crime family controlled the most lucrative bookmaking operations with Western New York and Southern Ontario along with floating cards and dice games and illegal casinos. the crime family had been involved in narcotics trafficking since the 1920s and it continued and became a large, nationwide operation after the American and Sicilian Mafias met in 1957 at the Grand Hotel des Palmes in Palermo
, Sicily
the week of October 10–16 to organize a trans-Atlantic heroin network, the Buffalo crime family was represented by Stefano's brothers, Antonino, Giuseppe and Gaspar. The Buffalo family along with longtime allies the Bonanno crime family
used their Sicilian contacts and their Canadian satellite groups in Southern Ontario and Montreal to import large shipments of heroin into the Montreal ports and then move the heroin through the Canadian-American border crossings in Niagara Falls and Fort Erie-Buffalo and then distribute the drugs throughout the East coast. This network was maintained throughout the 1960s and 1970s, well into the 1980s and culminated with the famous "Pizza Connection
" case in 1987.
Longtime Buffalo family Boss, Stefano Magaddino had led his crime family for basically 40 years by 1960 so he began to slow down and prepare for semi-retirement. By the mid 1950s, powerful and influential Buffalo mafiosi, Frederico "Freddie Lupo" Randaccio was the underboss of the Buffalo crime family, it is believed he took over after the death of former underboss, Angelo Acquisto in 1956. Randaccio was a highly respected and greatly feared gangster who was always well dressed and had a calm and relaxed demeanor, but was known as a stone cold killer. By the mid 1960s Freddie Randaccio was running the day to day operations of the Buffalo crime family and was seen as the Acting Boss by law enforcement and the most likely successor to his Boss Magaddino being that the old man was slowing down after a long criminal career and was likely looking forward to relaxing and eliminating the stress of running one of the country's most powerful Mafia crime families. Magaddino fully trusted Freddie "The Wolf" Randaccio since he was known to be a loyal Magaddino supporter, coming up from a soldier in the 1930s and 1940s, promoted to Capo in the 1940s and overseer of local and Southern Ontario rackets. By the mid-1950s, he was Underboss with the top Buffalo area Capos reporting to him, and by the early 1960s all the Capos in the Buffalo crime family were reporting directly to Randaccio. Randaccio commanded respect from all his underlings like up and coming Buffalo area Capo, Joseph "Lead Pipe Joe" Todaro Sr.
who controlled bookmaking operations for "The Arm" and with his son, Joseph "Big Joe" Todaro Jr. and brother Richard Todaro. Joseph Todaro, Sr. was a highly respected and feared Buffalo crime family member and a big earner with criminal interests in bookmaking, floating card and dice games along with Las Vegas junkets and a profitable pizza business that continued to grow.
Freddie Randaccio kept in close contact with the Capos and in the 1960s the Buffalo crime family's members were known to use the "Blue Banner Social Club" located on Prospect Ave. and run by soldier, Benny Spano as a principle base of operations, meeting place and gambling club, Randaccio met with crime family members there in the late afternoons. On May 8, 1967 the Buffalo FBI received a tip from an informant that another well known Buffalo crime family hangout, "Panaro's Snowball Lounge" was being used for a stag party where high stakes gambling would take place and most of the top crime family members would be in attendance as the lounge was owned by the Panaro family, relatives of the Todaro family and a cousin of Joseph Todaro, Sr. The FBI raided the lounge and made a number of key arrests. The media called it the "Little Apalachin Raid," being that a "who's who" of top Buffalo crime family members were arrested that night. Those arrested included Acting Boss, Freddie Randaccio, Capos, Joseph Fino, a future Boss, Daniel "Boots" Sansanese Sr., a future Acting Underboss, Salvatore "Sam" Pieri, a future Boss, Joseph "The Wolf" DiCarlo Jr., son of the first Boss, former Youngstown rackets Boss and future Consigliere, Samuel "Sam the Farmmer" Frangiamore, a future Boss, Pasquale "Pat Titters" Natarelli, a top enforcer, John Cammilleri, overseer of labor and union rackets, James "Jimmy" LaDuca, Magaddino son in law and Apalachin attendee, Rosario "Roy" Carlisi, Apapalchin attendee and brother of former Chicago Outfit Boss, Sam "Wings" Carlisi
and soldier Victor Randaccio, brother of Freddie and LIUNA Local 210 Boss.
Capo Joseph Todaro Sr. was present and was arrested alongside his fellow Buffalo mafiosi, Todaro Sr. was so outraged over the arrest and the fact that Panaro's Lounge lost its liquor license and went out of business that it motivated him to launch a lawsuit against the local FBI alleging they were "discriminating against people of Italian descent." Joseph Todaro, Sr.'s actions were supported by the former Italian American Civil Rights League (IACRL) formed by former New York Colombo crime family
Boss, Joseph "Joe C." Colombo Sr.
, but the lawsuit was eventually dismissed. Another huge blow was dealt to the Buffalo crime family by law enforcement in mid 1967 when Acting Boss and favored successor to the Bosses crown, Freddie Randaccio was arrested along with Capo and right hand man, Patsy Natarelli on June 29, 1967 on charges of planning an armed robbery due to the collaboration of the first known Buffalo defector, soldier Pasquale "Paddy" Calabrese. Calabrese's testimony sent Randaccio and Natarelli to prison on December 11, 1967 when they were convicted and sentenced to a 20-year prison term. It is alleged by former FBI agent and author Joe Griffin in his book, "Mob Nemesis" that Peter Magaddino
took over as Acting Underboss for approximately a year after Randaccio was arrested. Freddie Randaccio was one of the most powerful and influential Buffalo crime family members in the 1950s and 60s and would most certainly have taken over the crime family when Magaddino retired, but instead he spent 12 years in prison and was paroled on June 28, 1979 and never again was a prominent member of the Western New York underworld, as he retired to live out his last years in the Buffalo area and then died sometime later. Freddie was in prison with Michael Verdetto Jr. Michael met him in 1977 at the Allenwood farm camp. when both Verdetto and Randaccio were about to be paroled. Verdetto resides in Scranton, Pennsylvania. They were close friends in prison.
After the 1957 Apalachin fiasco that caused many of the nations top Mafia Bosses to receive a great deal of law enforcement and media scrutiny, some of the same Bosses were preparing for retirement and some had been forced into retirement by such things as deportation and a loss of respect from fellow Bosses and by crime family underlings. Stefano Magaddino
had lost much of his nationwide underworld respect and influence after the Apalachin meeting and from the early 1964 until late 1968 Magaddino found himself deeply involved in the New York conflict which became known as the "Bananas War" which pitted the powerful Mafia Boss and charter Commission member, Joseph "Joe Bananas" Bonanno
against a rebel faction within his own crime family and the current leaders of the Commission which included Bonanno's cousin, Stefano Magaddino. The "Bananas War" lasted roughly 4 years and kept Magaddino closely involved as the two principle people involved were his cousin, Joe Bonanno and brother in law, Gaspar DiGregorio
who Magaddino supported in his rebellion against Bonanno. Allegedly on the night of October 20, 1964 Magaddino sent his son, Peter and his brother, Nino to a Manhattan, New York to kidnap his cousin Joe Bonanno. Apparently the kidnapping was successful and Magaddino held Bonanno captive for six weeks in an upstate New York cottage while they discussed the current conflict within the New York underworld and allegedly decided that Bonanno would officially retire and relinquish a control of his crime family to DiGregorio, but this would not be as Bonanno did not keep up his end of the deal and returned to New York in early 1965 to lead his forces in the war. The events surrounding the war involved Magaddino and he lost all respect from the Commission and many other Bosses as he was looked at as the prime instigator of the rebellion within the Bonanno crime family and the war by his cousin, the Commission and some of his own crime family members.
and his partner located approximately $473,134 in a suitcase hidden in Peter's home. After learning about the amount of cash the Magaddino's had possessed it was reported that the top crime family members wanted to kill Boss Stefano Magaddino
, but feared the retribution they would receive from the Commission for an unsanctioned hit of a Mafia Boss. In place of the hit the Buffalo crime family's top members no longer loyal to Magaddino opted to revolt and replace Magaddino as Boss.
A group of Buffalo crime family Capos including Sam Pieri, Joe Fino, Danny Sansanese, Joe Todaro Sr., Joe DiCarlo Jr. and Sam Frangiamore traveled to Rochester and met at the farmhouse of Capo, Frank Valenti
to discuss the present situation in Buffalo. At this meeting is was decided by vote that they would revolt against the current leadership in Buffalo and no longer recognize Magaddino as Boss. There was only one problem with that, the Commission still recognized Stefano Magaddino as the official Boss in Buffalo so the family did what they could and the crime family split into two major faction, the "Magaddino loyalist" and those who supported the "Dissident Factions", the Buffalo crime family was now made up of four sub-groups. The Magiddino loyalists included the former Underboss who was incarcerated at the time, Freddie Randaccio, the current Consigliere, Antonio "Nino" Magaddino and Capos, Peter Magaddino, Jimmy LaDuca, Roy Carlisi, Vincent Scro and Charles A. Montana, all but Carlisi were related to Magaddino in some way. The two largest and most powerful factions were the Pieri-Frangiamore faction and the Fino-Sansanese faction, led by Capos Sam Pieri, Sam Frangiamore, Joe Fino and Danny Sansanese. The Pieri-Frangiamore faction included Capos, Joe DiCarlo, Joe Pieri Sr., John "Johnny Ray" Pieri, who was incarcerated at the time, Anthony "Tony" Romano and Toronto, Ontario soldier, Paul Volpe. The Fino-Sansanese faction included Joe Todaro Sr., John Cammilleri and Pat Natarelli who was incarcerated at the time. The final faction was the Rochester faction led by Capo, Frank Valenti
, but by 1970 he used the opportunity and his close affiliation to his father in law, Pittsburgh Capo, Antonio Ripepi to announce that the Rochester crew would no longer be under the Buffalo crime family's influence and would be an autonomous crime family. The rest of the Capos such as Benjamin "Sonny" Nicoletti Sr. of Niagara Falls, New York, Albert "Babe" Billiteri Sr. of Buffalo and Joseph Falcone of Utica, New York lined up behind one of the three Buffalo area sub-groups while the Canadian Capos, John Papalia of Hamilton, Ontario
, Santo Scibetta and Jack Luppino stayed relatively neutral, but where in actuality Magaddino supporters as they stayed loyal to who ever was the official Boss at the time!
Former Buffalo FBI agent Joe Griffin stated in his book that that in the beginning of 1969 he learned through informers that Sam Pieri had been elected by Acting Boss in January 1969, while in April 1969 FBI surveillance captured the dissident Buffalo crime family leaders, Sam Pieri, Joe Fino, Joe DiCarlo Jr., Sam Frangiamore and Danny Sansanese meeting on the West Side of Manhattan, New York with Genovese crime family
leaders. The Genovese crime family represents the Buffalo crime family on the Commission and New York needed to be alerted that the dissident factions no longer recognized Stefano Magaddino as the Boss of the crime family. The Genovese crime family leaders affirm their recognition of the dissident leaders and sanction a vote in Buffalo to elect temporary or "Acting" Bosses until an official leader is eventually chosen. According to the Senate Hearing report, "Organized Crime: 25 Years After Valachi", the top Buffalo crime family members in the dissident factions met on July 9, 1969 and elected a new leadership, Sam Pieri was named Acting Boss, Joe Fino remained Underboss, a promotion he allegedly received in June 1968, a year after the arrest of Randaccio and Joe DiCarlo Jr. was named the Acting Consigliere. The Buffalo crime family had never had an internal conflict of this scale or any revolt in its roughly 50 year history, but now the crime family was split and no longer the large, strong and unified crime family it was once and it stayed this way for roughly a decade and a half.
Over the next four years until the opportunity for the Commission to choose a new Boss arrived the Buffalo crime family would still officially be under the rule of Stefano Magaddino, but there were a succession of Acting Bosses starting with Sam Pieri from January 1969 until he was soon convicted and jailed on September 25, 1970 and sentenced to five years. Then came Joe Fino who was promoted to Acting Boss while Danny Sansanese took over the position of Acting Underboss, but on September 15, 1971 Joe Fino and his brother Nick Fino were arrested on gambling charges and released on bail until the hearing, but this started to diminish the Fino-Sansanese factions power. Danny Sansanese was arrested in early 1972 and convicted of jury tampering in April 1972 which gave the Pieri-Frangiamore faction the ability to take over once again from the weaken Fino-Sansanese faction. Joe Fino stepped down as Acting Boss in July 1972 and stays on as official Underboss to the new Acting Boss, Sam Frangiamore while Joe DiCarlo Jr. has been the official Consigliere since the 1971 death of Nino Magaddino. It s known that Frangiamore was Acting Boss of the Buffalo crime family by 1973 as Ronald "Ron" Fino
, son of Joe Fino, former Business Manager of Laborers Local 210 and an FBI undercover operative has stated in many instances including his testimony in Senate Hearings.
The Buffalo crime family continued with its criminal interests and legitimate business ventures and stays in solid control of the areas rackets throughout the early 1970s including the local and upstate New York area construction, labor and union rackets it has controlled for decades. Longtime Buffalo crime family Capo, John Cammilleri was the overseer of the labor and union rackets in the Buffalo areas since the late 1940s and was an influential crime family member. Cammilleri was born in Campobello di Licata Gigenti, Italy
in 1905 and arrived in the Buffalo area with his family in 1910. By the mid to late 1920s he was a Buffalo crime family associate and in 1930 he was arrested for grand larceny, while over the next few years his a rap sheet included burglary, robbery, extortion and intent to kill and in 1933 he was sent to Elmira prison on a 20 years sentence. Paroled in 1939 Cammilleri soon became a "made man" in the Buffalo crime family and obtained a mid level position in Buffalo Local 210 as his cover for handling union problems as a Lieutenant for Stefano Magaddino. Cammilleri's power and influence within "The Arm" grew steadily as he had interests in gambling activities, construction companies and his union activities while gaining a reputation as a dependable man who could get the job done and do favors for organized crime associates. He stayed out of trouble until he 1971 when he was caught lying to a grand jury about his association to Buffalo gangsters, Joe and Nick Fino during their troubles concerning the gambling charges.
The Buffalo crime family like some many other LCN crime families were deeply involved in labor and union racketeering and Buffalo's LIUNA Local 210 had become a well known haven for crime family members and their relatives. It was rumored that former crime family associate, Ron Fino, was elected to his post within LIUNA Local 210 through the efforts of John Cammilleri, and as a reward, Cammilleri expected a high level executive position within the union, but Fino turned him down. Cammilleri was greatly angered by Fino's rejection and decided to plea his case in front of the acting crime family hierarchy, which in early 1974 was clearly in control of all crime family activities and operations as Stefano Magaddino had been fairly ill over the last year. Sam Pieri had been paroled in early 1974 and it is not clear exactly what his acting position was as some in law enforcement and the media believe he was the Acting Boss while others believe that Sam Frangiamore was still the leader at this time. Either way, both men were present on May 8, 1974 when Cammilleri was allowed to plead his case in a Buffalo cigar shop. The leadership denied his request and he stormed out of the meeting. Later that night he dropped of his girlfriend at a popular West Side Italian restaurant, "Roselands", and left to attend a wake. After the wake Cammilleri returned to the restaurant, parked his car and proceeded to walk across the street when someone called his name. Several shots rang out and Cammilleri was hit in the face and chest and died instantly. Several customers ran outside just in time to see a car speeding down Chenango St.
The killing of Cammilleri was seen as a part of the Pieri-Frangiamore faction's final bid to take over the Buffalo crime family, knowing that official Boss Stefano Magaddino would soon die, which happened on June 19, 1974. Magaddino was given a catholic funeral and buried at St. Josephs Cemetery in Niagara Falls, New York.
The Frangiamore faction continued to lead the Buffalo crime family while throughout the 1970s Capo Joseph "Lead Pipe Joe" Todaro Sr. was not only growing in power and influence, but in popularity among the younger, up and coming crime family members. The Buffalo crime family was divided and weakened throughout the 1970s, but maintained a dominant presence within Western New York's underworld at all times. In early 1981 Sam Pieri was paroled from prison on humanitarian grounds due to his ill health, he returned to Buffalo and died soon later on July 24, 1981 at the age of 70. Sam Frangiamore was definitely the official Boss and Joe Pieri Sr. is the official Underboss while Vincent Scro is promoted to official Consigliere. As the Buffalo crime family enters the 1980s the old guard leadership of Sam Frangaimore and Joe Pieri Sr. are being rivaled by the Todaro faction which is supported by many of the younger and ambitious crime family members and the support for Joe Todaro Sr. has grown to a level of power and influence within the Western New York underworld and the national Mafia that he will most definitely be the next successor to the throne. It is most likely that Underboss to Sam Frangiamore, Joe Pieri Sr. may have been another hopeful for the Bosses crown once Frangiamore retired and what is known is that on October 8, 1984 Joe Pieri Sr. and former Buffalo area resident and Cleveland crime family Acting Boss, John "Peanuts" Tronolone
traveled to New York and met with Genovese crime family
Acting/Front Boss, Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno
in regards to internal conflicts and the issue of leadership within the Buffalo crime family that were becoming very explosive and could possibly end up in an internal war.
The late 1984 meeting in New York shows that the leadership of the Buffalo crime family had most likely been officially chosen by then and that there seemed to be serious conflict within new regime that could keep the crime family divided and weakened if the conflict was not resolved. Two high-ranking mafiosi from Buffalo and Cleveland met with powerful New York Mafia Boss Tony Salerno at his "Palma Boys Social Club". The headquarters of Salerno and his Palma Boys Crew was located at 416 East 115th St., East Harlem in Manhattan, New York. What the three Mafia leaders didn't know was that the East Harlem social club was bugged and the FBI had been recently recording Boss, Tony Salerno and his closest associates, picking up very damaging conversations and information concerning the New York Mafia and other crime families nationwide. Joe Pieri Sr. was apparently the Consigliere of the Buffalo crime family at this time and he spoke with the Genovese crime family front Boss, Tony Salerno about the Buffalo crime family's current situation and addressed some growing concerns he had over the leadership succession in Buffalo. "The Commission wants it straightened out", Salerno states, Joseph Pieri Sr. who was clearly bitter towards his Boss states, "I killed a few guys who were against him and he got to be Boss, now he starts neglecting me" Supporting Joe Pieri Sr. was a former Buffalo native and the present Cleveland crime family Acting Boss, John "Peanuts" Tronolone
, "They're walking around with machine guns, these guys, suppose we walk around with machine guns", Tronolone adds to the conversation. "No, I'll send word to Junior to straighten this thing out", Salerno is referring to Colombo crime family
Boss, Carmine "Junior" Persico
who along with several members of his crime family has had a long standing association with members of the Buffalo crime family and being that Persico is a Commission member it is a good idea that he makes any overtures towards the Buffalo crime family leadership concerning any Buffalo Mafia affairs the Commission choses to be involved in. Salerno chimes in, "As for the Buffalo Boss, give him the word from the Commission", Pieri is quick to please the powerful Mafia Boss, Salerno, "I'll send word!" Salerno is not finished and is eager too show his guests the level of authority the New York Commission carries, "Tell him", meaning the Buffalo Boss, "It's the Commission from New York, tell him he's dealing with the big boys now."
The Buffalo crime family still dominated the labor and union rackets well into the 1990s even after informer and former LIUNA Local 210 Business Manager, Ron Fino helped with law enforcement prosecutions in the mid 1990s. After Fino left Local 210 in 1988 for an executive position within LIUNA's national structure crime family associates Sam Caci and then Todaro Sr. son in law, Peter Gerace held the position of LIUNA Local 210 President until the Justice Department filed a 200 page RICO suit against LIUNA Local 210 in November 1994 and eventually expelled eight alleged crime family members who held executive positions within the local in June 1996 due to the help and testimony of FBI undercover operative Ron Fino who had and continued to work for the CIA and became well known for his undercover operations regarding the Russian Mafia and the El Quadia spinoff - Asbat Al Anser. At one time the crime family controlled many New York state LIUNA Locals by placing crime family members in positions of influence. Such New York locals as LIUNA Local 214 in Oswego, New York, LIUNA Local 435 in Rochester along with LIUNA Locals in Utica, Albany and Massena, New York fell under the influence of the Buffalo crime family due to their past association with former LIUNA National President Arthur Coia Sr. and his son Arthur Coia Jr.
Even before Prohibition started the Buffalo crime family was involved in the narcotics trade running local and international narcotics operations under longtime Boss, Stefano Magaddino
and some of the crime family's members with close ties to mafiosi from Sicily continued to be involved in the international narcotics trade well into the 1990s due to the close relationship the Buffalo crime family continued to have with Canadian Mafia families from Quebec and Southern Ontario like the Cotroni and Rizzuto crime families of Montreal, the Papalia and Musitano crime families of Hamilton and the Caruana-Cuntrera, Commissio and Cammilleri crime families of Toronto. Since the mid to late 1990s the Buffalo crime family no longer dictates much time to national and international narcotics operations and have given up their local narcotics operations as Hispanic and Black crime organizations have moved into the West and East Side of Buffalo and dominated the areas drug trade since the mid 1990s.
By the mid 1990s Joe Todaro Sr. was the owner of the multi-million dollar La Nova Pizzeria and Wing Company which had sales in excess of 25 million dollars annually, he was semi-retired and frequently visited South Florida to spend time at his condominium, leaving the day-to-day operations of the crime family in the hands of his son, Underboss and newly promoted Acting Boss, Joseph Todaro Jr., Consigliere Leonard Falzone and Capos, Benjamin "Sonny" Nicoletti Jr., overseer of the Niagara Falls, New York area rackets, Gaetano "Tommy Chooch" Miceli, overseer of the North Buffalo/Hertel Ave. area rackets, Frank "Butchie Bifocals" BiFulco, overseer of the West Side area and labor and union rackets and John "Johnny Pops" Papalia, overseer of the Southern Ontario rackets while top soldiers like John "Johnny Catz" Catanzaro, Bart T. Mazzara. Donald "Turtle" Pinepinto, Vincent "Jimmy" Sicurella, Joseph P. Rosato, Daniel G. Sansanese Jr., Victor Sansanese, Joseph R. Pieri Jr., John A. Pieri, Samuel Lagattuta Jr., Micheal Muscarella, and Matthew "Steamboat" Billiteri. Joseph Todaro Sr. and his son not only held business interests in the food and restaurant business, but they also had investments in the construction, real estate and bar business, they often showed and still do show their humanitarian and charitable side by frequently donating large numbers of pizza and chicken wings to local area charities and even our armed forces. Close family friend, Leonard Falzone helped the family establish "The Feast of St. Joseph Table" where people from all over Buffalo and the surrounding areas are invited to celebrate the Italian feast day with a huge table of free La Nova specialties. The Todaro's can be found operating a booth at the annual Hertal Ave. Italian Festival, and the younger generation of Todaro's, which includes grandson Joseph Todaro III and his sister, Carla Todaro, show their appreciation to the la Nova customers by handing out over 4,000 bottles of champagne during the Christmas and New Years holidays.
The top Buffalo crime family members continued to control the areas rackets into the late 1990s and even made expansion moves in territories like Las Vegas where members were sent to set up gambling and loansharking operations with members of the Los Angeles crime family
, Todaro Sr. sent lontime Capo and gambling specialist, Benjamin "Sonny" Nicoletti Sr. to oversee the crime family's gambling operations and the move into the state of Nevada. Buffalo crime family soldier and Todaro family cousin, Robert "Bobby Panaro Jr. was another Buffalo area resident who had an underworld presence on the West coast and reresented the Buffalo crime family's interests in the 1990s. Bobby Panaro Jr., along with former Buffalo area resident and Los Angeles crime family soldier, Stephen "The Whale" Cino were sentenced in September 1999 to 7½ and 15 years in prison for planning the murder of Chicago Outfit
associate and Las Vegas loanshark, Herbert "Fat Herbie" Blitzstein
in 1997, according to past media reports the two gangsters were allegedly part of a joint effort by the Buffalo-Todaro crime family and the Los Angeles-Milano crime family led by Peter Milano
to set up gambling and loansharking operations in Las Vegas. Herbie Blitzstien was a former associate of the previous Chicago Outfit
representato in Las Vegas, Anthony "Tony the Ant" Spilotro
and ran a large and lucrative loansharking operation that Panaro and Cino allegedly wished to take over. It should be mentioned that before Bobby Panaro Jr.'s arrest in 1997 and eventual conviction in 1999 he had no criminal record, unlike Steve Cino who had a lengthy and well documented criminal record dating back decades. Buffalo crime family members continued to make money from new rackets throughout the 1990s such as, telemarketing, pump and dump
stock scams and internet pornography well into the new milleniumm and by all accounts of local and national law enforcement and the media, the Buffalo crime family continues to thrive in North America's underworld.
for the last century, but the group has also had criminal interests and satellite groups, or "crews", in other areas, such as Rochester
and Utica
in upstate New York; eastern Pennsylvania
; Youngstown, Ohio
; and the southern Ontario
cities of Niagara Falls
, Hamilton
and Toronto
. The Buffalo crime family remains active to this day, but law enforcement and the media have estimated the crime family's current underworld presence at anywhere from one of the most powerful crime families in La Cosa Nostra to being on the verge of extinction. The family also had significant power in Niagara Falls, New York
and was associated with the corrupt leadership of the Laborers Local 91 laborers' union.
The Buffalo crime family has continued to be active in the Western and upstate New York areas, along with the Southern Ontario area, affiliated and active crews operate in several Buffalo areas such as the North, East and West Sides and in some suburban locations such as Niagara Falls, Cheektowaga and Amherst along with Utica, New York and Niagara Falls, Hamilton and Toronto, Ontario. No longer does it have a seat on the Mafia's National Commission as the New York Mafia and its 5 Crime Families have been in disarray for the last 10–15 years. The Buffalo crime family's membership is down with an estimated 40 made members and roughly 800-1000 associates and they no longer control extremely large criminal operations such as large scale gambling, extortion or protection, burglary rings, hijacking and narcotics.
Since the 1990s it has been predicted by local law enforcement, the media and crime writers who keep a close watch on the Western New York underworld that Joseph Todaro, Jr.
was the most likely successor to his father as the next Buffalo crime family Boss being that he has been Acting Boss since roughly 1995, but as recently as late 2006 there has been a rumor circulating that the Todaros, Joseph Todaro, Sr.
and Joseph Todaro Jr. have officially retired from active participation in Buffalo crime family activities and affairs and have officially elevated Consigliere, Leonard Falzone and Capo, Benjamin "Sonny" Nicolletti Jr. to the positions of Boss and Underboss. In other words, the Buffalo crime family may no longer be called the Todaro crime family as the "Todaro Era" has possibly ended, but this as of yet has not been verified by local or national law enforcement, agencies such as the Buffalo P.D., the FBI or the DEA so it cannot be considered official, but the "Falzone Era" has begun.
The early history of the what became the Buffalo family was controlled by two different men Angelo Palmieri and Joseph DiCarlo. The two groups merge into together becoming a crime family.
Italian American
An Italian American , is an American of Italian ancestry. The designation may also refer to someone possessing Italian and American dual citizenship...
criminal organization
Organized crime
Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...
based in Buffalo
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. As part of the American Mafia
American Mafia
The American Mafia , is an Italian-American criminal society. Much like the Sicilian Mafia, the American Mafia has no formal name and is a secret criminal society. Its members usually refer to it as Cosa Nostra or by its English translation "our thing"...
(or Cosa Nostra) the family operates throughout Western New York
Western New York
Western New York is the westernmost region of the state of New York. It includes the cities of Buffalo, Rochester, Niagara Falls, the surrounding suburbs, as well as the outlying rural areas of the Great Lakes lowlands, the Genesee Valley, and the Southern Tier. Some historians, scholars and others...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
The Buffalo crime family, gained power during the Prohibition era
Prohibition in the United States
Prohibition in the United States was a national ban on the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol, in place from 1920 to 1933. The ban was mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, and the Volstead Act set down the rules for enforcing the ban, as well as defining which...
through bootlegging
Rum-running
Rum-running, also known as bootlegging, is the illegal business of transporting alcoholic beverages where such transportation is forbidden by law...
. In 1931, family boss Stefano Magaddino
Stefano Magaddino
Stefano Magaddino was an Sicilian mafioso who became the boss of the Buffalo crime family in western New York. His underworld influence stretched from Ohio and Southern Ontario as far north as Montreal, Quebec...
became an original member of The Commission
The Commission (mafia)
The Commission is the governing body of the American Mafia. Formed in 1931, the Commission replaced the "Boss of all Bosses" title, with a ruling committee, consisting of the New York Five Families bosses and the boss of the Chicago Outfit...
, and his family remained relatively peaceful until the 1960s when his leadership was challenged. The family broke into separate factions as they tried to assassinate Magaddino who die of natural causes on July 19, 1974. Following Magaddino's death the family continued its war until the early 1980s when Joseph Todaro became the boss. Todaro united the family and retired in 2006, leaving Leonard Falzone as the current boss.
Buffalo's early Italian Americans
Buffalo, New York, is located at the eastern end of Lake ErieLake Erie
Lake Erie is the fourth largest lake of the five Great Lakes in North America, and the tenth largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has the shortest average water residence time. It is bounded on the north by the...
, at the southern head of the Niagara River
Niagara River
The Niagara River flows north from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. It forms part of the border between the Province of Ontario in Canada and New York State in the United States. There are differing theories as to the origin of the name of the river...
, directly across from the Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
border town of Fort Erie, Ontario
Fort Erie, Ontario
Fort Erie is a town on the Niagara River in the Niagara Region, Ontario, Canada. It is located directly across the river from Buffalo, New York....
. Buffalo saw a huge influx of Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
immigrants from the 1890s through the 1920s, as the area provided abundant jobs for immigrants willing to do manual labor. The local mills and factories flourished as they made use of the hydro-electric power gained from nearby Niagara Falls
Niagara Falls
The Niagara Falls, located on the Niagara River draining Lake Erie into Lake Ontario, is the collective name for the Horseshoe Falls and the adjacent American Falls along with the comparatively small Bridal Veil Falls, which combined form the highest flow rate of any waterfalls in the world and has...
. The opening of the Saint Lawrence Seaway
Saint Lawrence Seaway
The Saint Lawrence Seaway , , is the common name for a system of locks, canals and channels that permits ocean-going vessels to travel from the Atlantic Ocean to the North American Great Lakes, as far as Lake Superior. Legally it extends from Montreal to Lake Erie, including the Welland Canal...
in 1957 provided additional employment opportunities on Buffalo's busy waterfront. Buffalo is the state's second largest city after New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and was one of the first American cities to have electricity.
Like many other cities, such as New York, Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Boston, Detroit and Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
, the West Side of Buffalo saw the growth of a "Little Italy" neighborhood in the early 20th century. The East Side neighborhood of Lovejoy also had a small Italian immigrant community. In the 1980s the demographics of the West Side shifted, becoming a predominantly Hispanic
Hispanic
Hispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...
neighborhood, and now the North Side near Hertel Ave. is home to the largest Italian-American
Italian American
An Italian American , is an American of Italian ancestry. The designation may also refer to someone possessing Italian and American dual citizenship...
community in Buffalo.
Origins
The first known boss of Buffalo was Angelo "Buffalo Bill" Palmieri, who immigrated from the SicilianSicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
town of Castellammare del Golfo
Castellammare del Golfo
Castellammare del Golfo is a town and comune in the Trapani Province of Sicily. The name is roughly translated "Sea- Fortress of the Gulf", deriving from the medieval fortress in the harbor...
, in 1908 or 1909. Palmieri was a well-known Sicilian mafioso who took over Buffalo's Little Italy by extracting extortion money from groceries, pushcart vendors and Italian food vendors. He also consorted with (and possibly led) a group of Black Hand extortionists who preyed on both legal and illegal businesses, including the "taxing" of local pimps, prostitutes and drug dealers. Palmieri's affiliation was with the Mafia group known as the Castellammarese Clan
Bonanno crime family
The Bonanno crime family is one of the "Five Families" that dominates organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia ....
, which had satellite groups all across the United States, from the big cities of New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
, Detroit, and Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
to smaller towns such as Scranton, Pennsylvania
Scranton, Pennsylvania
Scranton is a city in the northeastern part of Pennsylvania, United States. It is the county seat of Lackawanna County and the largest principal city in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre metropolitan area. Scranton had a population of 76,089 in 2010, according to the U.S...
.
Magaddino era
Stefano MagaddinoStefano Magaddino
Stefano Magaddino was an Sicilian mafioso who became the boss of the Buffalo crime family in western New York. His underworld influence stretched from Ohio and Southern Ontario as far north as Montreal, Quebec...
was born on October 10, 1891, and emigrated to the United States from Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily, sometime in the early- to mid-1910s. He settled in the Sicilian enclave of Williamsburg
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Williamsburg is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, bordering Greenpoint to the north, Bedford-Stuyvesant to the south, Bushwick to the east and the East River to the west. The neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community Board 1. The neighborhood is served by the NYPD's 90th ...
in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, New York. Magaddino came from a well-known and powerful Mafia family and already had the reputation of a hardened killer upon his arrival in the States.
Magaddino quickly established himself in New York's underworld and became a group leader in his Mafia clan, extorting, stealing and cheating his way to success and wealth. He quickly established his group of Castellammarese mafiosi known as "The Good Killers" as a powerful presence in the underworld. In 1921 he was arrested in New York, along with a close associate and fellow Castellammarese named Gaspar Milazzo
Gaspar Milazzo
Gaspar Milazo was a major organized-crime figure in Detroit, Michigan, during the Prohibition era. He is also credited with helping establish one of the early Brooklyn-based crime families in New York City, the Castellammarese Clan, better known today as the Bonanno crime family.-Early life:Born...
, for their alleged involvement in a murder of a man in Avon, New Jersey. The victim was a member of the Buccellato family of Castellammare, a rival Mafia clan that Magaddino, his relatives and associates had warred with in Sicily for years.
After being released by New York law enforcement, Milazzo moved to another large Castellammarese community in Detroit, while Magaddino moved his base of operations to western New York, settling first in the city of Buffalo, then moving north to the city of Niagara Falls
Niagara Falls, New York
Niagara Falls is a city in Niagara County, New York, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 50,193, down from the 55,593 recorded in the 2000 census. It is across the Niagara River from Niagara Falls, Ontario , both named after the famed Niagara Falls which they...
by 1922.
Magaddino was a close associate of Angelo Palmieri, and upon the death of his underboss Joseph Peter DiCarlo, Palmeri urged the respected and feared Magaddino to take over as boss. Magaddino accepted the position and named Palmieri his senior adviser. Under Magaddino the Buffalo crime family became an influential crime group during the Prohibition
Prohibition
Prohibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, is the practice of prohibiting the manufacture, transportation, import, export, sale, and consumption of alcohol and alcoholic beverages. The term can also apply to the periods in the histories of the countries during which the...
era, benefiting from its proximity to the Canadian border and from the many underworld connections Magaddino possessed nationwide. Throughout Prohibition the Buffalo crime family had strong ties to Canadian Mafia groups in southern Ontario, which supplied liquor to many American underworld groups to smuggle into the United States. The most well-known association was with Hamilton Mafia boss Rocco Perri
Rocco Perri
Rocco Perri was an organized crime figure in Ontario, Canada in the early 20th century...
, (see King of the Mob by James Dubro for more details) who led a large group of Calabria
Calabria
Calabria , in antiquity known as Bruttium, is a region in southern Italy, south of Naples, located at the "toe" of the Italian Peninsula. The capital city of Calabria is Catanzaro....
n mafiosi and was called "Canada's Al Capone" and "King of the Bootleggers" by the media.
Magaddino and his crime family became extremely wealthy during Prohibition, and throughout the 1920s Magaddino made sure that his criminal interests and territory were protected from rivals. There were a large number of underworld deaths labeled "gang hits" in the western New York and southern Ontario regions during Prohibition. Some were tied to the "Bootleg Wars" between American and Canadian bootleggers, while others were the result of the "Sugar Wars" between the Magaddino crime family and the Porrello crime family of Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
. The Sugar Wars erupted when the Porellos tried to expand their corn sugar business into eastern Pennsylvania and western New York at the expense of Magaddino and his group, but Magaddino's forces quickly put an end to the grand ambitions of the Cleveland mafiosi.
The Buffalo crime family grew in power and influence throughout the 1920s and began to establish itself on a national level through the many influential criminal association Magaddino had forged with other Mafia bosses in New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Detroit and Chicago.
Castellammarese War
Near the end of Prohibition the New York Mafia and to a smaller extent the whole American Mafia was involved in the famous "Castellammarese War" of 1930-31 which had the New York Castellammarese Clan and the mafiosi nationwide from Castellammare del Golfo and their supporters battling the New York crime family of Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria. Magaddino's fellow Castellammarese mafiosi led by powerful mafiosi, Salvatore MaranzanoSalvatore Maranzano
Salvatore Maranzano was an organized crime figure from the town of Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily, and an early Cosa Nostra boss in the United States. He instigated the Castellammarese War to seize control of the American Mafia operations, and briefly became the Mafia's "Boss of Bosses"...
had become too wealthy, influential and independent for the liking of self-proclaimed "Boss of Bosses" Joe Masseria, who felt threatened by his rivals, and in 1930 a war erupted between the two factions. By the late 1920s a group of young, powerful and influential American bred mafiosi led by Charles "Lucky" Luciano and his closest associates had aligned themselves in New York and across the nation with the intention of re-organizing and re-structuring the American underworld on a national level without the participation of the old world Bosses, but in order to do so they would have to remove all the "Old Guard" Mafia leaders or "Mustache Petes" including Joe Masseria and Sal Maranzano.
The Castellammarese war began in the late 1920s and erupted into a nationwide conflict with the assassinations of Castellammarese leaders, Gaspar "The Peacemaker" Milazzo
Gaspar Milazzo
Gaspar Milazo was a major organized-crime figure in Detroit, Michigan, during the Prohibition era. He is also credited with helping establish one of the early Brooklyn-based crime families in New York City, the Castellammarese Clan, better known today as the Bonanno crime family.-Early life:Born...
in Detroit on May 31, 1930 and Giuseppe "Joe" Aiello in Chicago on October 23, 1930. Buffalo Mafia Boss, Steve Magaddino sent $5,000 a week to his New York allies in support of his allies while the same was done by Castellammarese leaders and supporters across the nation to help New York Castellammarese war chief, Salvatore Maranzano
Salvatore Maranzano
Salvatore Maranzano was an organized crime figure from the town of Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily, and an early Cosa Nostra boss in the United States. He instigated the Castellammarese War to seize control of the American Mafia operations, and briefly became the Mafia's "Boss of Bosses"...
and his loyal underlings including Magaddino cousin and future New York Mafia Boss, Joseph "Joe Bananas" Bonanno
Joseph Bonanno
Joseph Charles Bonanno, Sr. was a Sicilian-born American mafioso who became the boss of the Bonanno crime family. He was nicknamed "Joe Bananas," a name he despised.-Early life:...
defeat Joe Masseria. On April 15, 1931 powerful New York Boss, Joe Masseria was assassinated by his Underboss, Lucky Luciano in a Coney Island restaurant. Then, on September 10, 1931, the next self-proclaimed "Boss of Bosses" Salvatore Maranzano
Salvatore Maranzano
Salvatore Maranzano was an organized crime figure from the town of Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily, and an early Cosa Nostra boss in the United States. He instigated the Castellammarese War to seize control of the American Mafia operations, and briefly became the Mafia's "Boss of Bosses"...
was assassinated in his Manhattan business office by Lucky Luciano allies posing as IRS agents. This allowed Luciano to take control of the American Mafia and form a "Board of Directors" to govern Mafia affairs nationwide. Luciano and his fellow leaders placed the newly organized Mafia at the helm of the National Crime Syndicate
National Crime Syndicate
The National Crime Syndicate was the name given by the press to a loosely-organized multi-ethnic organized crime syndicate. Its origins are uncertain....
. The American Mafia was given the name "La Cosa Nostra" by its members and the Mafia's ruling body was called the "Commission". Along with the leaders of the 5 New York crime families and the Chicago Outfit, the Buffalo crime family and its leader, Stefano Magaddino were given a seat on the Commission as a charter member. Some also believe that Cleveland crime family leader, Frank Milano
Frank Milano
Frank P. Milano is a Judge of the New York Court of Claims who was Acting Secretary of State of New York.Milano served for several years in the administration of Gov. George Pataki as the First Deputy Secretary of State, and became Acting Secretary of State of New York upon the resignation of Randy...
was given a seat on the Commission.
End
The Buffalo crime family under longtime Boss Stefano MagaddinoStefano Magaddino
Stefano Magaddino was an Sicilian mafioso who became the boss of the Buffalo crime family in western New York. His underworld influence stretched from Ohio and Southern Ontario as far north as Montreal, Quebec...
continued to be a major underworld force throughout from the late 1950s well into the 1960s with the crime family dominating the Western New York rackets, especially gambling, loansharking, narcotics and labor and union rackets. The Buffalo crime family controlled the most lucrative bookmaking operations with Western New York and Southern Ontario along with floating cards and dice games and illegal casinos. the crime family had been involved in narcotics trafficking since the 1920s and it continued and became a large, nationwide operation after the American and Sicilian Mafias met in 1957 at the Grand Hotel des Palmes in Palermo
Palermo
Palermo is a city in Southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Province of Palermo. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old...
, Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
the week of October 10–16 to organize a trans-Atlantic heroin network, the Buffalo crime family was represented by Stefano's brothers, Antonino, Giuseppe and Gaspar. The Buffalo family along with longtime allies the Bonanno crime family
Bonanno crime family
The Bonanno crime family is one of the "Five Families" that dominates organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia ....
used their Sicilian contacts and their Canadian satellite groups in Southern Ontario and Montreal to import large shipments of heroin into the Montreal ports and then move the heroin through the Canadian-American border crossings in Niagara Falls and Fort Erie-Buffalo and then distribute the drugs throughout the East coast. This network was maintained throughout the 1960s and 1970s, well into the 1980s and culminated with the famous "Pizza Connection
Pizza Connection Trial
The Pizza Connection Trial was one of the longest criminal jury trials on record in the district of Manhattan. It took place between October 24, 1985 and March 2, 1987-Scope of the trial:...
" case in 1987.
Longtime Buffalo family Boss, Stefano Magaddino had led his crime family for basically 40 years by 1960 so he began to slow down and prepare for semi-retirement. By the mid 1950s, powerful and influential Buffalo mafiosi, Frederico "Freddie Lupo" Randaccio was the underboss of the Buffalo crime family, it is believed he took over after the death of former underboss, Angelo Acquisto in 1956. Randaccio was a highly respected and greatly feared gangster who was always well dressed and had a calm and relaxed demeanor, but was known as a stone cold killer. By the mid 1960s Freddie Randaccio was running the day to day operations of the Buffalo crime family and was seen as the Acting Boss by law enforcement and the most likely successor to his Boss Magaddino being that the old man was slowing down after a long criminal career and was likely looking forward to relaxing and eliminating the stress of running one of the country's most powerful Mafia crime families. Magaddino fully trusted Freddie "The Wolf" Randaccio since he was known to be a loyal Magaddino supporter, coming up from a soldier in the 1930s and 1940s, promoted to Capo in the 1940s and overseer of local and Southern Ontario rackets. By the mid-1950s, he was Underboss with the top Buffalo area Capos reporting to him, and by the early 1960s all the Capos in the Buffalo crime family were reporting directly to Randaccio. Randaccio commanded respect from all his underlings like up and coming Buffalo area Capo, Joseph "Lead Pipe Joe" Todaro Sr.
Joseph Todaro, Sr.
Joseph Todaro, Sr. is a prominent Buffalo, New York businessman, and alleged Mafia boss.According to local and national law enforcement agencies including the United States Department of Justice, Joseph Todaro Sr. is known on the streets of Buffalo and throughout the underworld as "Lead Pipe Joe",...
who controlled bookmaking operations for "The Arm" and with his son, Joseph "Big Joe" Todaro Jr. and brother Richard Todaro. Joseph Todaro, Sr. was a highly respected and feared Buffalo crime family member and a big earner with criminal interests in bookmaking, floating card and dice games along with Las Vegas junkets and a profitable pizza business that continued to grow.
Freddie Randaccio kept in close contact with the Capos and in the 1960s the Buffalo crime family's members were known to use the "Blue Banner Social Club" located on Prospect Ave. and run by soldier, Benny Spano as a principle base of operations, meeting place and gambling club, Randaccio met with crime family members there in the late afternoons. On May 8, 1967 the Buffalo FBI received a tip from an informant that another well known Buffalo crime family hangout, "Panaro's Snowball Lounge" was being used for a stag party where high stakes gambling would take place and most of the top crime family members would be in attendance as the lounge was owned by the Panaro family, relatives of the Todaro family and a cousin of Joseph Todaro, Sr. The FBI raided the lounge and made a number of key arrests. The media called it the "Little Apalachin Raid," being that a "who's who" of top Buffalo crime family members were arrested that night. Those arrested included Acting Boss, Freddie Randaccio, Capos, Joseph Fino, a future Boss, Daniel "Boots" Sansanese Sr., a future Acting Underboss, Salvatore "Sam" Pieri, a future Boss, Joseph "The Wolf" DiCarlo Jr., son of the first Boss, former Youngstown rackets Boss and future Consigliere, Samuel "Sam the Farmmer" Frangiamore, a future Boss, Pasquale "Pat Titters" Natarelli, a top enforcer, John Cammilleri, overseer of labor and union rackets, James "Jimmy" LaDuca, Magaddino son in law and Apalachin attendee, Rosario "Roy" Carlisi, Apapalchin attendee and brother of former Chicago Outfit Boss, Sam "Wings" Carlisi
Sam Carlisi
Samuel A. Carlisi also known as "Black Sam" and "Sam Wings" , was a Chicago gangster who was in the Chicago Outfit criminal organization. Sam Carlisi's brother Roy was a caporegime in the Buffalo crime family, otherwise known as the Magaddino crime family...
and soldier Victor Randaccio, brother of Freddie and LIUNA Local 210 Boss.
Capo Joseph Todaro Sr. was present and was arrested alongside his fellow Buffalo mafiosi, Todaro Sr. was so outraged over the arrest and the fact that Panaro's Lounge lost its liquor license and went out of business that it motivated him to launch a lawsuit against the local FBI alleging they were "discriminating against people of Italian descent." Joseph Todaro, Sr.'s actions were supported by the former Italian American Civil Rights League (IACRL) formed by former New York Colombo crime family
Colombo crime family
The Colombo crime family is the youngest of the "Five Families" that dominates organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia ....
Boss, Joseph "Joe C." Colombo Sr.
Joseph Colombo
Joseph "Joe" Colombo, Sr. was the boss of the Colombo crime family, one of the "Five Families" of the Cosa Nostra in New York.-Background:...
, but the lawsuit was eventually dismissed. Another huge blow was dealt to the Buffalo crime family by law enforcement in mid 1967 when Acting Boss and favored successor to the Bosses crown, Freddie Randaccio was arrested along with Capo and right hand man, Patsy Natarelli on June 29, 1967 on charges of planning an armed robbery due to the collaboration of the first known Buffalo defector, soldier Pasquale "Paddy" Calabrese. Calabrese's testimony sent Randaccio and Natarelli to prison on December 11, 1967 when they were convicted and sentenced to a 20-year prison term. It is alleged by former FBI agent and author Joe Griffin in his book, "Mob Nemesis" that Peter Magaddino
Peter Magaddino
Peter Magaddino was a mobster in the Magaddino crime family of Buffalo, New York. The son of crime boss Stefano "The Undertaker" Magaddino, Magaddino was a caporegime in the family and possibly an underboss.-Early years:...
took over as Acting Underboss for approximately a year after Randaccio was arrested. Freddie Randaccio was one of the most powerful and influential Buffalo crime family members in the 1950s and 60s and would most certainly have taken over the crime family when Magaddino retired, but instead he spent 12 years in prison and was paroled on June 28, 1979 and never again was a prominent member of the Western New York underworld, as he retired to live out his last years in the Buffalo area and then died sometime later. Freddie was in prison with Michael Verdetto Jr. Michael met him in 1977 at the Allenwood farm camp. when both Verdetto and Randaccio were about to be paroled. Verdetto resides in Scranton, Pennsylvania. They were close friends in prison.
After the 1957 Apalachin fiasco that caused many of the nations top Mafia Bosses to receive a great deal of law enforcement and media scrutiny, some of the same Bosses were preparing for retirement and some had been forced into retirement by such things as deportation and a loss of respect from fellow Bosses and by crime family underlings. Stefano Magaddino
Stefano Magaddino
Stefano Magaddino was an Sicilian mafioso who became the boss of the Buffalo crime family in western New York. His underworld influence stretched from Ohio and Southern Ontario as far north as Montreal, Quebec...
had lost much of his nationwide underworld respect and influence after the Apalachin meeting and from the early 1964 until late 1968 Magaddino found himself deeply involved in the New York conflict which became known as the "Bananas War" which pitted the powerful Mafia Boss and charter Commission member, Joseph "Joe Bananas" Bonanno
Joseph Bonanno
Joseph Charles Bonanno, Sr. was a Sicilian-born American mafioso who became the boss of the Bonanno crime family. He was nicknamed "Joe Bananas," a name he despised.-Early life:...
against a rebel faction within his own crime family and the current leaders of the Commission which included Bonanno's cousin, Stefano Magaddino. The "Bananas War" lasted roughly 4 years and kept Magaddino closely involved as the two principle people involved were his cousin, Joe Bonanno and brother in law, Gaspar DiGregorio
Gaspar DiGregorio
Gaspar or Gaspare DiGregorio was a New York mobster and a high-ranking member of the Bonanno crime family who was a key figure in the so-called "Banana War"....
who Magaddino supported in his rebellion against Bonanno. Allegedly on the night of October 20, 1964 Magaddino sent his son, Peter and his brother, Nino to a Manhattan, New York to kidnap his cousin Joe Bonanno. Apparently the kidnapping was successful and Magaddino held Bonanno captive for six weeks in an upstate New York cottage while they discussed the current conflict within the New York underworld and allegedly decided that Bonanno would officially retire and relinquish a control of his crime family to DiGregorio, but this would not be as Bonanno did not keep up his end of the deal and returned to New York in early 1965 to lead his forces in the war. The events surrounding the war involved Magaddino and he lost all respect from the Commission and many other Bosses as he was looked at as the prime instigator of the rebellion within the Bonanno crime family and the war by his cousin, the Commission and some of his own crime family members.
Arm split
By late 1960s many of Magaddino's top underlings and crime family members began to believe that the Boss had become a paranoid and notoriously greedy leader with old age who was losing the respect of all his underlings. This notion was reinforced in mid 1968 when Magaddino informed his top Capos that their share of the crime family's profits would be reduced and they would no longer receive the yearly Christmas bonus of $50,000. This angered the top Capos including Joe Fino, Sam Pieri and Danny Sansanese since Magaddino's personal sports betting book was one of the largest in Western New York and was known bring in anywhere from $20,000-$30,0000 weekly. The next event sealed the fate of the Boss. On November 28, 1968, Stefano Magaddino and his son, Peter Magaddino, a Capo in the crime family, were arrested on charges of interstate bookmaking. During the subsequent arrest and search of the Magaddino homes, located on "Mafia Row" in Niagara Falls, New York, the arresting officer, former FBI agent and author Joseph GriffinJoseph Griffin
Joseph Griffin is a Hollywood actor from Canada, born on 16 August 1963 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.His filmography:# "24" .... Medic# El Cortez .... Frank# Headhunter .... Headhunter...
and his partner located approximately $473,134 in a suitcase hidden in Peter's home. After learning about the amount of cash the Magaddino's had possessed it was reported that the top crime family members wanted to kill Boss Stefano Magaddino
Stefano Magaddino
Stefano Magaddino was an Sicilian mafioso who became the boss of the Buffalo crime family in western New York. His underworld influence stretched from Ohio and Southern Ontario as far north as Montreal, Quebec...
, but feared the retribution they would receive from the Commission for an unsanctioned hit of a Mafia Boss. In place of the hit the Buffalo crime family's top members no longer loyal to Magaddino opted to revolt and replace Magaddino as Boss.
A group of Buffalo crime family Capos including Sam Pieri, Joe Fino, Danny Sansanese, Joe Todaro Sr., Joe DiCarlo Jr. and Sam Frangiamore traveled to Rochester and met at the farmhouse of Capo, Frank Valenti
Frank Valenti
Frank J. Valenti was boss of the criminal organization known as the Rochester crime family from 1964 to 1972...
to discuss the present situation in Buffalo. At this meeting is was decided by vote that they would revolt against the current leadership in Buffalo and no longer recognize Magaddino as Boss. There was only one problem with that, the Commission still recognized Stefano Magaddino as the official Boss in Buffalo so the family did what they could and the crime family split into two major faction, the "Magaddino loyalist" and those who supported the "Dissident Factions", the Buffalo crime family was now made up of four sub-groups. The Magiddino loyalists included the former Underboss who was incarcerated at the time, Freddie Randaccio, the current Consigliere, Antonio "Nino" Magaddino and Capos, Peter Magaddino, Jimmy LaDuca, Roy Carlisi, Vincent Scro and Charles A. Montana, all but Carlisi were related to Magaddino in some way. The two largest and most powerful factions were the Pieri-Frangiamore faction and the Fino-Sansanese faction, led by Capos Sam Pieri, Sam Frangiamore, Joe Fino and Danny Sansanese. The Pieri-Frangiamore faction included Capos, Joe DiCarlo, Joe Pieri Sr., John "Johnny Ray" Pieri, who was incarcerated at the time, Anthony "Tony" Romano and Toronto, Ontario soldier, Paul Volpe. The Fino-Sansanese faction included Joe Todaro Sr., John Cammilleri and Pat Natarelli who was incarcerated at the time. The final faction was the Rochester faction led by Capo, Frank Valenti
Frank Valenti
Frank J. Valenti was boss of the criminal organization known as the Rochester crime family from 1964 to 1972...
, but by 1970 he used the opportunity and his close affiliation to his father in law, Pittsburgh Capo, Antonio Ripepi to announce that the Rochester crew would no longer be under the Buffalo crime family's influence and would be an autonomous crime family. The rest of the Capos such as Benjamin "Sonny" Nicoletti Sr. of Niagara Falls, New York, Albert "Babe" Billiteri Sr. of Buffalo and Joseph Falcone of Utica, New York lined up behind one of the three Buffalo area sub-groups while the Canadian Capos, John Papalia of Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...
, Santo Scibetta and Jack Luppino stayed relatively neutral, but where in actuality Magaddino supporters as they stayed loyal to who ever was the official Boss at the time!
Former Buffalo FBI agent Joe Griffin stated in his book that that in the beginning of 1969 he learned through informers that Sam Pieri had been elected by Acting Boss in January 1969, while in April 1969 FBI surveillance captured the dissident Buffalo crime family leaders, Sam Pieri, Joe Fino, Joe DiCarlo Jr., Sam Frangiamore and Danny Sansanese meeting on the West Side of Manhattan, New York with Genovese crime family
Genovese crime family
The Genovese crime family , is one of the "Five Families" that dominates organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia . The Genovese crime family has been nicknamed the "Ivy League" and "Rolls Royce" of organized crime...
leaders. The Genovese crime family represents the Buffalo crime family on the Commission and New York needed to be alerted that the dissident factions no longer recognized Stefano Magaddino as the Boss of the crime family. The Genovese crime family leaders affirm their recognition of the dissident leaders and sanction a vote in Buffalo to elect temporary or "Acting" Bosses until an official leader is eventually chosen. According to the Senate Hearing report, "Organized Crime: 25 Years After Valachi", the top Buffalo crime family members in the dissident factions met on July 9, 1969 and elected a new leadership, Sam Pieri was named Acting Boss, Joe Fino remained Underboss, a promotion he allegedly received in June 1968, a year after the arrest of Randaccio and Joe DiCarlo Jr. was named the Acting Consigliere. The Buffalo crime family had never had an internal conflict of this scale or any revolt in its roughly 50 year history, but now the crime family was split and no longer the large, strong and unified crime family it was once and it stayed this way for roughly a decade and a half.
Over the next four years until the opportunity for the Commission to choose a new Boss arrived the Buffalo crime family would still officially be under the rule of Stefano Magaddino, but there were a succession of Acting Bosses starting with Sam Pieri from January 1969 until he was soon convicted and jailed on September 25, 1970 and sentenced to five years. Then came Joe Fino who was promoted to Acting Boss while Danny Sansanese took over the position of Acting Underboss, but on September 15, 1971 Joe Fino and his brother Nick Fino were arrested on gambling charges and released on bail until the hearing, but this started to diminish the Fino-Sansanese factions power. Danny Sansanese was arrested in early 1972 and convicted of jury tampering in April 1972 which gave the Pieri-Frangiamore faction the ability to take over once again from the weaken Fino-Sansanese faction. Joe Fino stepped down as Acting Boss in July 1972 and stays on as official Underboss to the new Acting Boss, Sam Frangiamore while Joe DiCarlo Jr. has been the official Consigliere since the 1971 death of Nino Magaddino. It s known that Frangiamore was Acting Boss of the Buffalo crime family by 1973 as Ronald "Ron" Fino
Ronald Fino
Ronald Fino is a noted Federal Bureau of Investigation and Central Intelligence Agency undercover operative. He testified before Congress regarding Mafia control and corruption in the Laborers' International Union, as well as the Russian mafia and the illegal shipments of weapons to terrorist...
, son of Joe Fino, former Business Manager of Laborers Local 210 and an FBI undercover operative has stated in many instances including his testimony in Senate Hearings.
The Buffalo crime family continued with its criminal interests and legitimate business ventures and stays in solid control of the areas rackets throughout the early 1970s including the local and upstate New York area construction, labor and union rackets it has controlled for decades. Longtime Buffalo crime family Capo, John Cammilleri was the overseer of the labor and union rackets in the Buffalo areas since the late 1940s and was an influential crime family member. Cammilleri was born in Campobello di Licata Gigenti, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
in 1905 and arrived in the Buffalo area with his family in 1910. By the mid to late 1920s he was a Buffalo crime family associate and in 1930 he was arrested for grand larceny, while over the next few years his a rap sheet included burglary, robbery, extortion and intent to kill and in 1933 he was sent to Elmira prison on a 20 years sentence. Paroled in 1939 Cammilleri soon became a "made man" in the Buffalo crime family and obtained a mid level position in Buffalo Local 210 as his cover for handling union problems as a Lieutenant for Stefano Magaddino. Cammilleri's power and influence within "The Arm" grew steadily as he had interests in gambling activities, construction companies and his union activities while gaining a reputation as a dependable man who could get the job done and do favors for organized crime associates. He stayed out of trouble until he 1971 when he was caught lying to a grand jury about his association to Buffalo gangsters, Joe and Nick Fino during their troubles concerning the gambling charges.
The Buffalo crime family like some many other LCN crime families were deeply involved in labor and union racketeering and Buffalo's LIUNA Local 210 had become a well known haven for crime family members and their relatives. It was rumored that former crime family associate, Ron Fino, was elected to his post within LIUNA Local 210 through the efforts of John Cammilleri, and as a reward, Cammilleri expected a high level executive position within the union, but Fino turned him down. Cammilleri was greatly angered by Fino's rejection and decided to plea his case in front of the acting crime family hierarchy, which in early 1974 was clearly in control of all crime family activities and operations as Stefano Magaddino had been fairly ill over the last year. Sam Pieri had been paroled in early 1974 and it is not clear exactly what his acting position was as some in law enforcement and the media believe he was the Acting Boss while others believe that Sam Frangiamore was still the leader at this time. Either way, both men were present on May 8, 1974 when Cammilleri was allowed to plead his case in a Buffalo cigar shop. The leadership denied his request and he stormed out of the meeting. Later that night he dropped of his girlfriend at a popular West Side Italian restaurant, "Roselands", and left to attend a wake. After the wake Cammilleri returned to the restaurant, parked his car and proceeded to walk across the street when someone called his name. Several shots rang out and Cammilleri was hit in the face and chest and died instantly. Several customers ran outside just in time to see a car speeding down Chenango St.
The killing of Cammilleri was seen as a part of the Pieri-Frangiamore faction's final bid to take over the Buffalo crime family, knowing that official Boss Stefano Magaddino would soon die, which happened on June 19, 1974. Magaddino was given a catholic funeral and buried at St. Josephs Cemetery in Niagara Falls, New York.
Pieri and Frangiamore era
After the death of Stefano Magaddino in the summer of 1974 the Commission officially sanctioned longtime crime family member Samuel "Sam the Farmer" Frangiamore as the new official Acting Boss of the Buffalo crime family for a one-year term as is customary in most LCN crime families to see if he has the full support and loyalty of the crime family. It has been debated for the last three decades as to whether or not Frangiamore was only an Acting or Front Boss for former Acting Boss and powerful crime family member Sam Pieri, as the local Buffalo law enforcement and the FBI have stated that sometime in 1975 after Sam Frangiamore's year term was up he stepped down for Sam Pieri; what is known is that by 1975 longtime crime family member and official Consigliere Joseph "Joe the Wolf" DiCarlo Sr., who was also the brother-in-law of Sam Pieri, stepped down and retired. He was replaced by Joe Pieri Sr., brother of Sam. It is hard to determine the facts and to come to a credible conclusion regarding the leadership of the Buffalo crime family in the mid to late 1970s, but what can be definitely determined is that Sam Frangiamore and Sam Pieri were the two top Bosses in the Buffalo crime family from 1974–78; On November 20, 1978 Sam Pieri was once again sentenced to prison for five years. So once again by late 1978 Sam Frangiamore became the real Boss of the Buffalo crime family and Sam Pieri's criminal interest and his leadership position was taken over by Joe Pieri Sr. who was promoted to Acting Underboss while Vincent Scro was named Acting Consigliere. Sammy was never the boss of the family.The Frangiamore faction continued to lead the Buffalo crime family while throughout the 1970s Capo Joseph "Lead Pipe Joe" Todaro Sr. was not only growing in power and influence, but in popularity among the younger, up and coming crime family members. The Buffalo crime family was divided and weakened throughout the 1970s, but maintained a dominant presence within Western New York's underworld at all times. In early 1981 Sam Pieri was paroled from prison on humanitarian grounds due to his ill health, he returned to Buffalo and died soon later on July 24, 1981 at the age of 70. Sam Frangiamore was definitely the official Boss and Joe Pieri Sr. is the official Underboss while Vincent Scro is promoted to official Consigliere. As the Buffalo crime family enters the 1980s the old guard leadership of Sam Frangaimore and Joe Pieri Sr. are being rivaled by the Todaro faction which is supported by many of the younger and ambitious crime family members and the support for Joe Todaro Sr. has grown to a level of power and influence within the Western New York underworld and the national Mafia that he will most definitely be the next successor to the throne. It is most likely that Underboss to Sam Frangiamore, Joe Pieri Sr. may have been another hopeful for the Bosses crown once Frangiamore retired and what is known is that on October 8, 1984 Joe Pieri Sr. and former Buffalo area resident and Cleveland crime family Acting Boss, John "Peanuts" Tronolone
John Tronolone
John "Peanuts" Tronolone was a Cleveland, Ohio mobster who succeeded crime boss James Licavoli as head of the Cleveland branch of the Licavoli Crime Family. Tronolone ran the Cleveland family following the Licavoli-Nardi gang wars from 1985 until 1991.Born in Buffalo, New York, Tronolone was...
traveled to New York and met with Genovese crime family
Genovese crime family
The Genovese crime family , is one of the "Five Families" that dominates organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia . The Genovese crime family has been nicknamed the "Ivy League" and "Rolls Royce" of organized crime...
Acting/Front Boss, Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno
Anthony Salerno
Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno was a New York mobster who served as front boss of the Genovese crime family to family boss Vincent "The Chin" Gigante from the 1970s until his conviction in 1986...
in regards to internal conflicts and the issue of leadership within the Buffalo crime family that were becoming very explosive and could possibly end up in an internal war.
The late 1984 meeting in New York shows that the leadership of the Buffalo crime family had most likely been officially chosen by then and that there seemed to be serious conflict within new regime that could keep the crime family divided and weakened if the conflict was not resolved. Two high-ranking mafiosi from Buffalo and Cleveland met with powerful New York Mafia Boss Tony Salerno at his "Palma Boys Social Club". The headquarters of Salerno and his Palma Boys Crew was located at 416 East 115th St., East Harlem in Manhattan, New York. What the three Mafia leaders didn't know was that the East Harlem social club was bugged and the FBI had been recently recording Boss, Tony Salerno and his closest associates, picking up very damaging conversations and information concerning the New York Mafia and other crime families nationwide. Joe Pieri Sr. was apparently the Consigliere of the Buffalo crime family at this time and he spoke with the Genovese crime family front Boss, Tony Salerno about the Buffalo crime family's current situation and addressed some growing concerns he had over the leadership succession in Buffalo. "The Commission wants it straightened out", Salerno states, Joseph Pieri Sr. who was clearly bitter towards his Boss states, "I killed a few guys who were against him and he got to be Boss, now he starts neglecting me" Supporting Joe Pieri Sr. was a former Buffalo native and the present Cleveland crime family Acting Boss, John "Peanuts" Tronolone
John Tronolone
John "Peanuts" Tronolone was a Cleveland, Ohio mobster who succeeded crime boss James Licavoli as head of the Cleveland branch of the Licavoli Crime Family. Tronolone ran the Cleveland family following the Licavoli-Nardi gang wars from 1985 until 1991.Born in Buffalo, New York, Tronolone was...
, "They're walking around with machine guns, these guys, suppose we walk around with machine guns", Tronolone adds to the conversation. "No, I'll send word to Junior to straighten this thing out", Salerno is referring to Colombo crime family
Colombo crime family
The Colombo crime family is the youngest of the "Five Families" that dominates organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia ....
Boss, Carmine "Junior" Persico
Carmine Persico
Carmine John Persico, Jr. also known as "Junior", "The Snake" and "Immortal", has been the de-facto boss of the Colombo crime family since the early 1970s. Persico has overseen gang wars, murders, and major rackets, most of the time from prison. He has been serving life imprisonment without...
who along with several members of his crime family has had a long standing association with members of the Buffalo crime family and being that Persico is a Commission member it is a good idea that he makes any overtures towards the Buffalo crime family leadership concerning any Buffalo Mafia affairs the Commission choses to be involved in. Salerno chimes in, "As for the Buffalo Boss, give him the word from the Commission", Pieri is quick to please the powerful Mafia Boss, Salerno, "I'll send word!" Salerno is not finished and is eager too show his guests the level of authority the New York Commission carries, "Tell him", meaning the Buffalo Boss, "It's the Commission from New York, tell him he's dealing with the big boys now."
Todaro Era
For years local and national law enforcement and crime writers have maintained that sometime in 1984 or 1985, the leadership of the Buffalo crime family once again changed hands. It is not clear exactly when, but by late 1984 and certainly by 1985, Joseph Todaro Sr. was sanctioned by the American Mafia's National Commission in New York as the new official Boss of the Buffalo crime family. Joseph Todaro Sr. known as "Poppa Joe" to his family and friends was born in 1923 and is the owner of the world famous La Nova Pizzeria and Wing Company located at 371 West Ferry Ave. on Buffalo's West Side. Todaro Sr. has been a prominent Buffalo crime family member since the 1950s and active in labor unions where he may have picked up his nickname and he rose steadily through the ranks of the crime family throughout the 1960s and 1970s until he became the top Boss by 1985. Upon his elevation to Boss, Joe Todaro Sr. promoted his son Joseph "Big Joe" Jr. to be his Underboss while he quickly showed his crime family members that he knew his Mafia politics and named former Underboss, Joe Pieri Sr. as the Consigliere of the crime family to keep the peace and too begin uniting the long divided crime family. Peri Sr., who clearly was not a Todaro Sr. supporter, was demoted in 1987 and retired from active crime family activities, leaving longtime Todaro Sr. ally, Leonard Falzone as the new Consigliere in the Buffalo crime family, Falzone was obviously promoted to the position as a reward for his years of service with the Todaro faction and for his loyalty to its leader. The Buffalo crime family under Joe Todaro Sr. kept its control over the traditional rackets of gambling, loansharking, extortion and narcotics, labor and union rackets, but added new modern rackets such as telemarketing, stock swindles and insurance fraud. The Buffalo crime family has dominated bookmaking activities in Western Yew York for basically a century as the Buffalo area is a hub for bookmaking operations due to the crime families influence in upstate New York, Northern Pennsylvania, Eastern Ohio and Southern Ontario. The gambling and loansharking rackets go hand in hand and close Todaro family friend, Leonard Falzone, once known as the "Loanshark King" was chosen as the overseer of loansharking operations from the mid 1980s until he was convicted on loansharking and racketeering charges in the mid 1990s.The Buffalo crime family still dominated the labor and union rackets well into the 1990s even after informer and former LIUNA Local 210 Business Manager, Ron Fino helped with law enforcement prosecutions in the mid 1990s. After Fino left Local 210 in 1988 for an executive position within LIUNA's national structure crime family associates Sam Caci and then Todaro Sr. son in law, Peter Gerace held the position of LIUNA Local 210 President until the Justice Department filed a 200 page RICO suit against LIUNA Local 210 in November 1994 and eventually expelled eight alleged crime family members who held executive positions within the local in June 1996 due to the help and testimony of FBI undercover operative Ron Fino who had and continued to work for the CIA and became well known for his undercover operations regarding the Russian Mafia and the El Quadia spinoff - Asbat Al Anser. At one time the crime family controlled many New York state LIUNA Locals by placing crime family members in positions of influence. Such New York locals as LIUNA Local 214 in Oswego, New York, LIUNA Local 435 in Rochester along with LIUNA Locals in Utica, Albany and Massena, New York fell under the influence of the Buffalo crime family due to their past association with former LIUNA National President Arthur Coia Sr. and his son Arthur Coia Jr.
Even before Prohibition started the Buffalo crime family was involved in the narcotics trade running local and international narcotics operations under longtime Boss, Stefano Magaddino
Stefano Magaddino
Stefano Magaddino was an Sicilian mafioso who became the boss of the Buffalo crime family in western New York. His underworld influence stretched from Ohio and Southern Ontario as far north as Montreal, Quebec...
and some of the crime family's members with close ties to mafiosi from Sicily continued to be involved in the international narcotics trade well into the 1990s due to the close relationship the Buffalo crime family continued to have with Canadian Mafia families from Quebec and Southern Ontario like the Cotroni and Rizzuto crime families of Montreal, the Papalia and Musitano crime families of Hamilton and the Caruana-Cuntrera, Commissio and Cammilleri crime families of Toronto. Since the mid to late 1990s the Buffalo crime family no longer dictates much time to national and international narcotics operations and have given up their local narcotics operations as Hispanic and Black crime organizations have moved into the West and East Side of Buffalo and dominated the areas drug trade since the mid 1990s.
By the mid 1990s Joe Todaro Sr. was the owner of the multi-million dollar La Nova Pizzeria and Wing Company which had sales in excess of 25 million dollars annually, he was semi-retired and frequently visited South Florida to spend time at his condominium, leaving the day-to-day operations of the crime family in the hands of his son, Underboss and newly promoted Acting Boss, Joseph Todaro Jr., Consigliere Leonard Falzone and Capos, Benjamin "Sonny" Nicoletti Jr., overseer of the Niagara Falls, New York area rackets, Gaetano "Tommy Chooch" Miceli, overseer of the North Buffalo/Hertel Ave. area rackets, Frank "Butchie Bifocals" BiFulco, overseer of the West Side area and labor and union rackets and John "Johnny Pops" Papalia, overseer of the Southern Ontario rackets while top soldiers like John "Johnny Catz" Catanzaro, Bart T. Mazzara. Donald "Turtle" Pinepinto, Vincent "Jimmy" Sicurella, Joseph P. Rosato, Daniel G. Sansanese Jr., Victor Sansanese, Joseph R. Pieri Jr., John A. Pieri, Samuel Lagattuta Jr., Micheal Muscarella, and Matthew "Steamboat" Billiteri. Joseph Todaro Sr. and his son not only held business interests in the food and restaurant business, but they also had investments in the construction, real estate and bar business, they often showed and still do show their humanitarian and charitable side by frequently donating large numbers of pizza and chicken wings to local area charities and even our armed forces. Close family friend, Leonard Falzone helped the family establish "The Feast of St. Joseph Table" where people from all over Buffalo and the surrounding areas are invited to celebrate the Italian feast day with a huge table of free La Nova specialties. The Todaro's can be found operating a booth at the annual Hertal Ave. Italian Festival, and the younger generation of Todaro's, which includes grandson Joseph Todaro III and his sister, Carla Todaro, show their appreciation to the la Nova customers by handing out over 4,000 bottles of champagne during the Christmas and New Years holidays.
The top Buffalo crime family members continued to control the areas rackets into the late 1990s and even made expansion moves in territories like Las Vegas where members were sent to set up gambling and loansharking operations with members of the Los Angeles crime family
Los Angeles crime family
The Los Angeles crime family is an Italian American criminal organization based in Los Angeles, as part of the American Mafia . Since its inception in the early 1900s, it has spread throughout Southern California. Like most Mafia families in the United States, the L.A. family gained power...
, Todaro Sr. sent lontime Capo and gambling specialist, Benjamin "Sonny" Nicoletti Sr. to oversee the crime family's gambling operations and the move into the state of Nevada. Buffalo crime family soldier and Todaro family cousin, Robert "Bobby Panaro Jr. was another Buffalo area resident who had an underworld presence on the West coast and reresented the Buffalo crime family's interests in the 1990s. Bobby Panaro Jr., along with former Buffalo area resident and Los Angeles crime family soldier, Stephen "The Whale" Cino were sentenced in September 1999 to 7½ and 15 years in prison for planning the murder of Chicago Outfit
Chicago Outfit
The Chicago Outfit, also known as the Chicago Syndicate or Chicago Mob and sometimes shortened to simply the Outfit, is a crime syndicate based in Chicago, Illinois, USA...
associate and Las Vegas loanshark, Herbert "Fat Herbie" Blitzstein
Herbert Blitzstein
Herbert "Fat Herbie" Blitzstein was a loanshark, bookmaker and lieutenant to Tony "The Ant" Spilotro and the Chicago Outfit in Las Vegas, Nevada.-Biography:...
in 1997, according to past media reports the two gangsters were allegedly part of a joint effort by the Buffalo-Todaro crime family and the Los Angeles-Milano crime family led by Peter Milano
Peter Milano
Peter John Milano is a Los Angeles based, Italian-American mobster, and current Boss of the Los Angeles crime family. Milano has been active in organized crime since the 1950s...
to set up gambling and loansharking operations in Las Vegas. Herbie Blitzstien was a former associate of the previous Chicago Outfit
Chicago Outfit
The Chicago Outfit, also known as the Chicago Syndicate or Chicago Mob and sometimes shortened to simply the Outfit, is a crime syndicate based in Chicago, Illinois, USA...
representato in Las Vegas, Anthony "Tony the Ant" Spilotro
Anthony Spilotro
Anthony "The Ant" Spilotro was an Italian-American mobster and enforcer for the Chicago Outfit in Las Vegas during the 1970s and 1980s. His job was to protect and oversee the Outfit's illegal casino profits...
and ran a large and lucrative loansharking operation that Panaro and Cino allegedly wished to take over. It should be mentioned that before Bobby Panaro Jr.'s arrest in 1997 and eventual conviction in 1999 he had no criminal record, unlike Steve Cino who had a lengthy and well documented criminal record dating back decades. Buffalo crime family members continued to make money from new rackets throughout the 1990s such as, telemarketing, pump and dump
Pump and dump
"Pump and dump" is a form of microcap stock fraud that involves artificially inflating the price of an owned stock through false and misleading positive statements, in order to sell the cheaply purchased stock at a higher price....
stock scams and internet pornography well into the new milleniumm and by all accounts of local and national law enforcement and the media, the Buffalo crime family continues to thrive in North America's underworld.
Current status
The Buffalo crime family's base of power has been the City of Buffalo, New YorkBuffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
for the last century, but the group has also had criminal interests and satellite groups, or "crews", in other areas, such as Rochester
Rochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...
and Utica
Utica, New York
Utica is a city in and the county seat of Oneida County, New York, United States. The population was 62,235 at the 2010 census, an increase of 2.6% from the 2000 census....
in upstate New York; eastern Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
; Youngstown, Ohio
Youngstown, Ohio
Youngstown is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Mahoning County; it also extends into Trumbull County. The municipality is situated on the Mahoning River, approximately southeast of Cleveland and northwest of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...
; and the southern Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
cities of Niagara Falls
Niagara Falls
The Niagara Falls, located on the Niagara River draining Lake Erie into Lake Ontario, is the collective name for the Horseshoe Falls and the adjacent American Falls along with the comparatively small Bridal Veil Falls, which combined form the highest flow rate of any waterfalls in the world and has...
, Hamilton
Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...
and Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
. The Buffalo crime family remains active to this day, but law enforcement and the media have estimated the crime family's current underworld presence at anywhere from one of the most powerful crime families in La Cosa Nostra to being on the verge of extinction. The family also had significant power in Niagara Falls, New York
Niagara Falls, New York
Niagara Falls is a city in Niagara County, New York, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 50,193, down from the 55,593 recorded in the 2000 census. It is across the Niagara River from Niagara Falls, Ontario , both named after the famed Niagara Falls which they...
and was associated with the corrupt leadership of the Laborers Local 91 laborers' union.
The Buffalo crime family has continued to be active in the Western and upstate New York areas, along with the Southern Ontario area, affiliated and active crews operate in several Buffalo areas such as the North, East and West Sides and in some suburban locations such as Niagara Falls, Cheektowaga and Amherst along with Utica, New York and Niagara Falls, Hamilton and Toronto, Ontario. No longer does it have a seat on the Mafia's National Commission as the New York Mafia and its 5 Crime Families have been in disarray for the last 10–15 years. The Buffalo crime family's membership is down with an estimated 40 made members and roughly 800-1000 associates and they no longer control extremely large criminal operations such as large scale gambling, extortion or protection, burglary rings, hijacking and narcotics.
Since the 1990s it has been predicted by local law enforcement, the media and crime writers who keep a close watch on the Western New York underworld that Joseph Todaro, Jr.
Joseph Todaro, Jr.
Joseph "Big Joe" Todaro, Jr. is an alleged Buffalo, New York organized crime figure involved in labor racketeering, loansharking, illegal gambling, narcotics, and murder for hire. Joe Todaro Jr. became a business agent for the Laborers' International Union of North America Local 210. In 1984, Joe...
was the most likely successor to his father as the next Buffalo crime family Boss being that he has been Acting Boss since roughly 1995, but as recently as late 2006 there has been a rumor circulating that the Todaros, Joseph Todaro, Sr.
Joseph Todaro, Sr.
Joseph Todaro, Sr. is a prominent Buffalo, New York businessman, and alleged Mafia boss.According to local and national law enforcement agencies including the United States Department of Justice, Joseph Todaro Sr. is known on the streets of Buffalo and throughout the underworld as "Lead Pipe Joe",...
and Joseph Todaro Jr. have officially retired from active participation in Buffalo crime family activities and affairs and have officially elevated Consigliere, Leonard Falzone and Capo, Benjamin "Sonny" Nicolletti Jr. to the positions of Boss and Underboss. In other words, the Buffalo crime family may no longer be called the Todaro crime family as the "Todaro Era" has possibly ended, but this as of yet has not been verified by local or national law enforcement, agencies such as the Buffalo P.D., the FBI or the DEA so it cannot be considered official, but the "Falzone Era" has begun.
Historical leadership
Bosses (official and acting)The early history of the what became the Buffalo family was controlled by two different men Angelo Palmieri and Joseph DiCarlo. The two groups merge into together becoming a crime family.
- 1908–1912 – Angelo "Buffalo Bill" Palmieri – the first Sicilian crime boss in Buffalo merged his group with DiCarlo's group in 1910. He stepped down as boss in 1912, becoming Underboss to DiCarlo.
- 1912–1922 – Giuseppe "Joseph" Peter DiCarlo Sr.
- 1922–1974 – Stefano "The Undertaker" MagaddinoStefano MagaddinoStefano Magaddino was an Sicilian mafioso who became the boss of the Buffalo crime family in western New York. His underworld influence stretched from Ohio and Southern Ontario as far north as Montreal, Quebec...
– stayed official boss, surviving numerous assassination attempts, died of natural causes on July 19, 1974 at the age of 82. - Acting 1962–1967 – Frederico "Fred Lupo/the Wolf" Randaccio – jailed June 1967
- 1969–1974 – Buffalo family splits into four factions – "Magaddino-Randaccio faction", "Pieri-Frangiamore faction", "Fino-Sansanese faction" and the "Rochester faction".
- Acting 1969–1970 – Salvatore "Sam" Pieri – leader of the Pieri-Frangiamore faction served as acting boss until his arrest in 1970
- Acting 1970–1972 – Joseph Fino – leader of the Fino-Sansanese faction, arrested 1972 and demoted.
- Acting 1972–1974 – Samuel "Sam the Farmer" Frangiamore – leader of the Pieri-Frangiamore faction served as acting boss from July 1972 until Magaddino death in July 1974.
- 1974–1984 – Samuel "Sam the Farmer" Frangiamore – sanctioned by the CommissionThe Commission (mafia)The Commission is the governing body of the American Mafia. Formed in 1931, the Commission replaced the "Boss of all Bosses" title, with a ruling committee, consisting of the New York Five Families bosses and the boss of the Chicago Outfit...
as boss; steps down and retires in 1984. - Acting 1984 – Joseph Pieri Sr. – leader of the Pieri-Frangiamore faction he served as Underboss to Frangiamore. He was a possible successor to become boss but instead becomes Consigliere and retires 1987.
- 1985–2006 – Joseph "Lead Pipe Joe" Todaro Sr.Joseph Todaro, Sr.Joseph Todaro, Sr. is a prominent Buffalo, New York businessman, and alleged Mafia boss.According to local and national law enforcement agencies including the United States Department of Justice, Joseph Todaro Sr. is known on the streets of Buffalo and throughout the underworld as "Lead Pipe Joe",...
– sanctioned by the Commission, in 1995 became semi-active living in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. - Acting 1995–2006 – Joseph "Big Joe" Todaro Jr.Joseph Todaro, Jr.Joseph "Big Joe" Todaro, Jr. is an alleged Buffalo, New York organized crime figure involved in labor racketeering, loansharking, illegal gambling, narcotics, and murder for hire. Joe Todaro Jr. became a business agent for the Laborers' International Union of North America Local 210. In 1984, Joe...
– the son and Underboss controlled the family, semi-active - 2006–present – Leonard Falzone – was the Consigliere, promoted to become the new boss, in his early 70s.
Sources
- Dubro, James. Mob Rule: Inside the Canadian Mafia. MacMillen, 1985
- Sifakis, Carl. The Mafia Encyclopedia, Second Edition. Checkmark Books, 1999
- Capeci, Jerry. The Complete Idiots Guide to the Mafia:The Buffalo Family. Alpha Books, 2002
- Humphreys, Adrian. The Enforcer: Johnny Pops Papalia, A Life and Death in the Mafia. Harper Collins, 2002
- Griffen, Joseph. Mob Nemesis: How the F.B.I. Crippled Organized Crime. Prometheus Books, 2002
- Edwards, Peter. The Northern Connection: Inside Canada's Deadliest Mafia Family. Optimum International, 2006
- Dubro, James and Robin Rowland, "King of the Mob: Rocco Perri and the women who Ran His Rackets" Penguin 1987
- Dan Herbeck Justice Dept. Claims Union has been dominated by the mob Buffalo News (New York). January 31, 1996
- U.S. vs Laborers International Union of North America, AFL-CIO, 212 Page RICO Complaint
- Statement of Ronald M. Fino to Sub-Committee on Organized Crime - July 24 & 25, 1996.
- The Cosa Nostra and Labor Rackeering by Ron Fino (1998)