4 INFORMER APRIL 2011

Near the turn of the Twentieth Century, ’s northeastern coal fields became home to numerous immigrants from the Sicilian sulfur mining regions. Their trip across the Atlantic resulted in modest lifestyle improvements, but the new Americans still were plagued by perilous working conditions, abusive management and a ruthless Mafia organization.

By Thomas Hunt and Michael A. Tona

About one hundred and thirty miles west anthracite in home heating were developed of , an underworld organiza- in the early 19 th Century. tion took root in the early-1900s Italian coal- The geographically isolated Wyoming mining communities of northeastern Penn- Valley in northeastern Pennsylvania was sylvania. particularly rich in hard coal. However, the The shadowy organization known as “the expenses and dangers of transporting coal to Men of Montedoro” played an important role market over the thickly wooded Pocono in the development of the , Mountains or via the treacherous Susque- serving as an adhesive force between the hanna River further frustrated mining ef- New York City and Buffalo Mafia clans, forts in the region. In the middle of the cen- leading into the lucrative tury, canals were constructed to resolve the field of labor and blurring the problems. The North Branch Canal allowed boundary between underworld rackets and transport of coal southward to legitimate enterprises. and Baltimore. Later, the North Branch Ex- tension provided access to markets in New Coal mining York and New England. In the 1860s, rail- Pennsylvanians became aware of large roads began serving the region. underground anthracite coal deposits in the As the anthracite mining industry began late 18 th Century. 1 The hard, lustrous coal to grow, it made use of expert immigrant initially was deemed a poor energy source, miners from Scotland and Wales. Those first as there were difficulties in keeping anthra- went to work in the Carbondale area and cite fires burning. So there was little rush to then gradually moved southwest down the mine the mineral. Effective means of using valley, toward Scranton, Pittston and Wilkes

informer-journal.blogspot.com Near the turn of the Twentieth Century, a large number of Sicilian immigrants found work in the an- thracite coal mines of northeastern Pennsylvania. 6 INFORMER APRIL 2011

-Barre. 2 The Wyoming Valley became a pop- sulfur extraction was accomplished through ular destination for immigrants looking for deep mining operations, such as those used work. A variety of European settlers, includ- to collect anthracite coal from under the Wy- ing Germans, Poles, Italians and oming Valley.4 followed the Scottish and Welsh into the Oddly, the emigration of families from budding communities of Pennsylvania’s Lu- the Montedoro region did not coincide with zerne County. An estimated one hundred the worst of the working conditions in the thousand immigrants settled in the region sulfur mines but with a government crack- between 1870 and 1915. Many lived in down on abusive companies. One historian “mining patch” villages, designed, built and noted, “It was only in the 1890s, through the controlled by the companies holding mining efforts of social activists such as Luigi Sturzo leases to the land. Patch residents were (a Catholic priest), that the issues of inhu- compelled to rent company-owned ram- mane working conditions and child exploita- shackle homes and to shop in company- tion were addressed.” 5 owned stores. 3 It isn’t known for certain whether the ef- Near the turn of the century, Luzerne forts to reform mine operations were at all County benefited from the expertise of im- related to the arrival of the Montedoresi in migrant sulfur miners from the interior of Pittston. It is worth noting that the new im- . Families from Montedoro and nearby migrants brought with them the abusive and moved into the region. They corrupting influence of their Old Country concentrated in the quickly growing City of Mafia. Pittston, along the Susquehanna River. Montedoro had long been a center of Montedoresi arrive mining activity in Sicily, and much of its Among the earlier arrivals from male population – including young boys – Montedoro was Salvatore Bufalino, who were employed in the mines. The municipal- crossed the Atlantic in late summer of 1901. 6 ity’s name, translated “mountain of gold,” is In April of 1902, he was joined by his cousin believed to refer to the precious sulfur in the Giuseppe LaTorre, who entered the United ground there. While some surface (strip) States through New York harbor aboard the mining was done in the area, most of the S.S. California and went to stay with the

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Bufalinos at 39 Main Street in Pittston. 7 Maria Marranca and their four remaining The Pittston area quickly became the children – Carmelo, Giovanna, Angela and adopted home of numerous Bufalinos, Sci- Salvatore (the couple would have another andras, Lucchinos and others from child, Calogero, while in Pittston) – crossed Montedoro. Many settled in a small mining- the Atlantic six months later. 9 company village called Brandy Patch in Two of Salvatore Bufalino’s second- southeastern Pittston. Others moved into cousins, Angelo and Calogero (Charles), company-owned homes nearby in Brown reached Pittston’s Brown Patch in 1903- Patch. 1904. 10 Law enforcement authorities later Giuseppe LaTorre’s oldest son arrived in concluded that Charles Bufalino, like Stefa- the United States in May of 1903. Born on no LaTorre, was a transplanted member of March 12, 1886, Stefano LaTorre was seven- the Montedoro Mafia. 11 teen years old and likely already a Mafioso In 1906, Stefano LaTorre paid for the when he reached New York aboard the S.S. transatlantic passage of his brother-in-law, Sicilian Prince. twenty-six-year-old Montedoro Mafia leader Stefano LaTorre made his transatlantic Santo Volpe. Volpe arrived in New York on journey in the company of fellow Montedoro June 30 and proceeded to Pittston. 12 For the native Onofrio Morreale. Morreale, too, was next seven decades, the “Men of Montedoro” headed to Pittston. 8 Giuseppe LaTorre’s wife from the LaTorre, Volpe, Bufalino and Sci-

informer-journal.blogspot.com 8 INFORMER APRIL 2011 andra families commanded the local Mafia underworld and held great influence over the politics, labor and industry of the Wyo- ming Valley. 13 Links to Buffalo Some Montedoresi resisted the migratory pattern and settled in the busy western New York city of Buffalo. These included some relatives of those who populated Pittston. The Bufalino and Sciandra families had strong presences in Buffalo. After less than a year in Pittston, Angelo Bufalino sent for his wife Cristina Buccoleri Bufalino and their four children – Giuseppa, Within the American Mafia, Castellammaresi Calogero, Cristina and Rosario. A December like Stefano Magaddino (right) generally worked 1903 crossing was aborted due to illness. The closely with Montedoresi like John Montana (left). family finally reached the United States ear- ly in 1906, but young Cristina, possibly still ailing, remained behind in . 14 falco arrived in 1903. 19 Licata traveled back Angelo Bufalino died in a mining acci- to Sicily in 1905 and returned early the next dent before his wife and children arrived in year with his wife and children. They stayed New York City. The new arrivals stayed for briefly with Licata’s brother Calogero in a time on ’s Elizabeth Street be- Pittston, 20 but by 1907, the Sciandra, Licata fore heading west to Buffalo. Calogero, and Alaimo families had relocated to Buffa- Americanizing his name to Charles, estab- lo. The Sciandras and Alaimos moved into lished himself as a theater musician. Rosario apartments over a saloon on Court Street. 21 and Giuseppa initially were less settled. Af- In the summer of 1907, Carmelo Sci- ter their mother’s 1910 death, they traveled andra’s brother Angelo crossed the Atlantic back to Italy for several years and returned and moved into the Court Street residence in to Buffalo in February of 1914. 15 Buffalo. 22 Angelo’s wife, Leonarda Laporta Just a few months after their return, Sciandra, and their three children – Andrea, Giuseppa Bufalino married Angelo Cordaro, Giovanni and Pasqualina – arrived the fol- a Buffalo barber who owned a two-family lowing spring. 23 home on Vermont Street. Giuseppa’s broth- In Buffalo’s Sicilian colony, these ers, Charles and Rosario, also moved into Montedoro families came under the influ- the Vermont Street residence. Rosario, ence of Mafiosi from Castellammare del adopting the name of Russell, attended Buf- Golfo and the Valledolmo-Vallelunga area. falo public schools and later became em- The saloon beneath the Sciandras’ and Alai- ployed as an automobile mechanic. 16 mos’ Court Street residence was operated by Carmelo Sciandra was the first member Castellammarese Mafioso Angelo “Buffalo of his family to reach the United States. He Bill” Palmeri. Buffalo Mafia boss Giuseppe arrived in New York City aboard the S.S. DiCarlo, a native of Vallelunga with family Victoria on August 11, 1897. He remained in roots in Valledolmo, owned an importing the city for a time, staying with his brother- company nearby. 24 Palmeri was a top lieu- in-law Salvatore Alaimo of Elizabeth tenant in the DiCarlo . Street. 17 Sciandra’s wife and children made There were additional connections be- the crossing in 1900. 18 Another Sciandra tween the transplanted Castellammare and brother-in-law Giuseppe Licata of Serradi- Montedoro underworld figures in the U.S.

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John C. Montana, a Montedoro native who dale. Led by a local Catholic priest, Father arrived in Buffalo in 1905, 25 became a key Antonino Cerruti, the St. Joseph Protective figure in western New York’s crime family Association expanded into Scranton and after DiCarlo was succeeded by Stefano Pittston. By 1907, the group had scored sev- Magaddino of Castellammare. The Montana eral victories over the regional underworld. and Magaddino clans were joined by the Rumors indicated that the more powerful marriages of Montana’s nephew Charles to Mafiosi in the region were entrenched in Magaddino’s daughter Josephine and Mon- Pittston. tana’s niece Frances to Magaddino’s son Pe- A letter from Wilkes-Barre, published in ter. a Philadelphia newspaper early in 1907, de- A Castellammarese concentration in En- scribed the war with the : dicott, New York, just about sixty-five miles For the last five years the Black north of Pittston, also helped foster a close Hand Society has virtually had a relationship between Castellammarese un- free hand in the county. It has sys- derworld figures and the Men of Montedoro. tematically levied tribute upon hun- The Sicilian underworld of Endicott eventu- dreds of Italians who paid consider- ally came under the control of key Magaddi- able sums for protection from vio- no lieutenant, Castellammare native Joseph lence, and has committed numerous Barbara, who had worked closely with the outrages upon others who refused to Montedoresi of Pittston and Buffalo. be blackmailed. Mafia roundup The authorities have been almost helpless. Until the advent of the Through the early 1900s, the growing State Constabulary the District At- Italian mining communities of the Wyoming torney’s office had no force to make Valley battled against Mafia “Black Hand” wholesale arrests, and, besides, fear extortionists, who demanded tribute pay- sealed the mouths of the victims. ments from law-abiding citizens and com- The fate of informers was well un- mitted acts of violence against those who re- derstood, for the society took pains fused to comply. An anti-Mafia civic organi- to impress upon its victims that zation formed to the northeast in Carbon- those who have evidence against

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any member would suffer violent shooting at houses. Held on $1,000 bail each, death. they were committed to prison. On numerous occasions, frightened During the raids, the police gathered al- Italians have informed the police most a full wagonload of shotguns, revolvers, that they have received the usual knives and explosives. 29 threatening letter signed by the Eighteen of the prisoners were arraigned Black Hand, or have been personally in the corridors of the county prison in threatened; but when told they Wilkes-Barre later that day. Several wit- would be required to appear as wit- nesses came forward to describe how the nesses, they wilted, declared they population of Pittston had been terrorized could not identify anyone; that they into making regular cash payments to the had not even a suspicion of who the gang. Some testified that the accused were agents of the society were, and were members of a secret criminal society with glad to get away from the authori- more than five hundred members and ties and go back to their homes. branches in New York City, Buffalo, Roches- Many have fled from the region to ter, Scranton, Wilkes-Barre and a half-dozen avoid the wrath of the society. other cities. 30 Even in flight there was no safety. A District Attorney Abram Salsburg told few months ago an Italian who re- the press that the arrests had broken up the fused tribute fled with his family to criminal society in the area. He said he ex- Berwick, and there one morning was called to his door by three men and shot dead. There is no clue to his murderers. Another who gave infor- mation a year or so ago, against the organization, was shot dead late at night at Pittston. Again there was no clue. A third was shot, beheaded, and his body thrown into a mine- hole, near Browntown… There have been scores of outrages. Houses have been dynamited, men have been waylaid and wounded, women have been terrorized, houses have been fired upon or set on fire, but rarely have there been any arrests. 26

Early Friday morning, February 15, 1907, Pittston Police Chief Joseph Loftus, several county detectives and thirty-five members of state police Troop B 27 converged on the Pittston suburb of Browntown. Some arrests were made at that location. The law enforcement officers were then divided into squads, which were sent to raid nearby vil- lages. A total of twenty-two Italian residents were arrested. 28 They were charged with var- ious offenses, including , attempt- ed murder, dynamiting, threatening and

informer-journal.blogspot.com APRIL 2011 INFORMER 11 pected to make examples of the prisoners. 31 $500. 37 Defendant Salvatore Lucchino emerged Black Hand trial as a central figure in the conspiracy Thirteen of the accused “Black Handers” against the Rizzo brothers. Witnesses stated went to trial on April 22, 1907, in the Wilkes that Lucchino organized the bombing of the -Barre courtroom of Judge Gaius Leonard Rizzo home, took part in riddling the home Halsey. 32 The defendants included Monte- with bullets on another occasion and person- doro Mafiosi Calogero (Charles) ally wrote threatening let- Bufalino, Stefano LaTorre and ters. 38 Salvatore (most likely Santo) Witness Joseph George tes- Volpe. 33 Other defendants were tified about an earlier cooper- Guachino Cimmone, Charles ative effort with the local po- and Josie Comella, Charles lice that resulted in the ar- Dominici, Charles Gonzaza, Vin- rests of Charles Gonzaza and cent Lubona, Salvatore and Salvatore Lucchino for Black Pietro Lucchino, 34 and Antonio Hand extortion. 39 Tagliarino. As the prosecution’s case The trial caught the atten- closed on April 27, the press tion of the national media and learned that threatening let- was attended by members of the ters had been received by Dis- New York City Police Depart- trict Attorney Salsburg, Police ment and the United States Se- Chief Loftus and county De- cret Service, 35 as well as some tective Edward J. Mackin. members of New York and Phil- Stefano LaTorre The letters promised death if adelphia criminal organizations. the Black Hand defendants An early witness for the were convicted. 40 prosecution was Charles Rizzo, who testified Salsburg refused to discuss the threats, that twenty of the defendants were involved but he did speak of the history of the Sicilian in dynamiting his Pittston home on Decem- criminal organization in the region: ber 24, 1905. He specifically named Stefano I am firmly convinced that there is a LaTorre and two other defendants as being branch of the Black Hand Society in among the crowd that placed the dynamite this county. It is an offshoot of the bomb at his house. Rizzo said he had re- New York and Philadelphia organi- ceived written demands for $500. Those were zations. I am led to believe this from accompanied by a warning that failure to the fact that [Luciano] Perrino, bet- pay would be punished by destruction of his ter known as the “Ox,” was quite ac- house or by death. Rather than pay the trib- tive at Browntown, a suburb of ute, Rizzo brought the letters to Police Chief Pittston, until he met his death at Loftus. 36 the hands of an assassin. Perrino Joseph Rizzo, brother of Charles, con- was undoubtedly implicated in the firmed the earlier testimony and provided “Barrel Murder Mystery” in New details of some of the Black Hand letters he York. After his release from prison received. One letter demanded that $400 be there he came direct to Browntown, left at the Number 4 mine shaft near which was then the headquarters for Pittston, he said. In an effort to catch the the local Black Hand. He was extortionists, he and some friends set up an shrewd and cunning and I have no ambush at the mine shaft. However, the doubt succeeded in getting large Black Handers never appeared. A subse- sums of money from his countrymen. quent letter increased his tribute amount to He was not long in this section until

informer-journal.blogspot.com 12 INFORMER APRIL 2011 a number of strange Italians from the large cities joined him. The “Ox” introduced the strangers to the most prosperous Italians as his friends. After remaining at Brown- town some weeks the strangers left, but the “Ox” remained. Then letters began to be received by the wealthy Italians of the place notifying them that if they did not pay over certain sums of money to agents of the soci- ety their lives would be in danger. Many who received the threatening letters went to the “Ox” and asked him what they should do. He always advised a settlement. He would agree to accept 50 percent of the claim and give assurance to the par- ties that they would not be bothered in the future. In most every case the Santo Volpe and his family. money was produced. The “Ox” got it. But he was selfish. He wanted The defense opened its case on April 29, the major portion of the money him- arguing that the prosecution had created an self. This led to a quarrel with his imaginary criminal conspiracy in order to lieutenants and one night he was deprive law-abiding immigrants of their lib- shot down in the roadway. His body erty. The defense attorney charged that key was not found until the next morn- prosecution witnesses Charles and Joseph ing. It was riddled with bullets, Rizzo ran an illegal gambling establishment showing that his enemies hated him and were attempting to remove the potential with a vengeance. threat posed by strait-laced residents. Those Italians who refused to pay Defense witnesses testified to the good the “Ox” soon felt the heavy hand of character of the defendants. Defendant the Black Hand. Three murders Dominici took the witness stand to state that took place in a short time and I be- lieve the men killed were all victims he had not arrived in the United States until of the organization. If murder was the previous July, after the crimes charged 42 not resorted to, robbery was perpe- against him had been committed. trated. Defendant Salvatore Lucchino testified During the trial last week our de- on May 2. He denied any involvement in ter- tectives noticed in and about the rorizing the Rizzo brothers. He said the first court room Italians said to be impli- he knew of the bombing of their home was 43 cated in crimes in Philadelphia, the morning after it happened. New York and other large cities in Summations were delivered by the attor- the past. I am sure they were not neys on Friday, May 3. Judge Halsey deliv- here for any good purpose. One of ered his charge to the jury on Saturday our witnesses was intimidated, but morning. The jury began deliberations before by increasing our detective force we noon. The panel reached a verdict at eight- were able to give protection to our fifteen that evening. As the court had al- witnesses and they went on the wit- ready adjourned, the verdict was sealed and ness stand without fear. 41 locked away. 44

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On Monday morning, May 6, the verdict Company. By 1920, they had sufficient re- was opened and read in Judge Halsey’s sources and connections to become mining courtroom. All the defendants except Volpe contractors. Charles Bufalino reportedly and Paternoster were convicted. Volpe was joined them in that venture. Their small coal immediately freed. Paternoster was held for company turned in bids to extract ore from prosecution on other charges. 45 On Saturday, Pennsylvania Coal Company locations. For the judge imposed surprisingly light penal- the forty-year-old Volpe, entry in to the new ties. The convicted men were sentenced to a line of work coincided with a move into a nic- year in prison. Each also was ordered to pay er residence a few blocks north on Pittston’s a twenty-five-dollar fine and court costs. 46 South Main Street. 47 It is likely that Volpe and LaTorre, famil- Quiet growth iar with union workers and union officials, Santo Volpe, Stefano LaTorre and engaged at that stage in a form of labor rack- Charles Bufalino quietly extended the influ- eteering to keep their mining expenses down ence of their Pittston Mafia through the and maximize their business profits. Their 1910s. Bufalino, known within the under- small company was able to hand-pick labor- world as “the old man,” used his criminal ers and could agree to employ only those connections to improve his personal financial with a weak commitment to union ideals and status but generally avoided administrative a willingness to provide monetary kickbacks. responsibility. The job of guiding the Mafia During the 1920s, a number of their dis- into various money-making rackets was left tant relatives from Buffalo moved to Pittston to Volpe and LaTorre. and took part in the mining operations or in While their progress escaped the notice of a rapidly growing garment industry in the law enforcement, it became apparent in their region. Large New York clothing manufac- occupations. Until about 1918, Volpe and turers relocated to the Wyoming Valley in LaTorre were employed digging in the deep the 1920s, fleeing the expensive unionized anthracite mines of the Pennsylvania Coal labor force of the city. They found a large,

View of Pittston’s Main Street c. 1907.

informer-journal.blogspot.com 14 INFORMER APRIL 2011 willing and mostly non-union labor force apartment building on South Main Street among out-of-work miners and the wives was bombed. LaTorre’s son occupied a suite and children of miners. 48 of rooms in that building. 55 John Sciandra of Buffalo married Jose- The violence continued in the months phine Mancino on January 30, 1921. In No- following the strike, as insurgent labor lead- vember of the following year, the couple er Rinaldo Cappellini took control over the moved to 104 Railroad Street in Pittston. 49 United Mine Workers (UMW) of America While Sciandra’s older brother Andrea union in the region. Cappellini, an ally of (Andrew) remained in Buffalo, 50 his parents, Volpe and LaTorre, rose to power with assis- Angelo and Leonarda, and his younger sib- tance from James A. Joyce of Pittston. Soon lings, Pasqualina and James, also moved to afterward Cappellini and Joyce parted ways, Pittston. 51 A son was born to John and Jose- with Joyce adopting a more conciliatory posi- phine Sciandra in Pittston in 1924. Keeping tion toward mine management. The two men with Sicilian tradition, they named the boy publicly charged each other with accepting Angelo, in honor of his paternal grandfather. bribes from the coal companies. (It is con- of Buffalo married Car- ceivable that both were.) Cappellini was oline “Carrie” Sciandra on August 9, 1928. forced to acknowledge receipt of a $10,000 They moved to Pennsylvania’s Wyoming Val- payment from Pennsylvania Coal, but he ley by the early 1940s. 52 claimed it was a settlement for a mining ac- cident fifteen years earlier that caused him Labor strife to lose an arm. Anthracite mining companies and their On January 16, 1921, Joyce’s home and organized labor had a generally uncomforta- store were destroyed in an early morning ble relationship during the two decades fol- bombing. The blast tore away the front of lowing a 1902 strike that choked off coal pro- the building and collapsed a large section of duction for most of the year. Miners walked the foundation. Several nearby houses also off the job for a month in 1906 and nearly suffered damage. Joyce escaped harm. 56 two months in 1912. Pennsylvania governors stepped in to re- A 1920 strike eventually was halted by solve labor disputes in 1922 and 1923. At the the order of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, conclusion of a labor-management pact in but not before several violent outbursts. the summer of 1925, however, a major walk- Early in the strike, Stefano LaTorre in- out shut down nearly all of the anthracite law Detective Sam Lucchino was killed. Po- production in the United States. lice captured two men – Peter Erico and An- Mine operators were not in the mood to tonio Puntario – believed to have been called make concessions. Mining company competi- in from New Jersey to eliminate Lucchino. A tion, overproduction and the development of Lucchino political rival, Charley Consagra, oil as a cheap alternative fuel had been driv- was believed to have promised the gunmen ing down the costs of coal and the industry $35,000 for the killing. 53 Erico and Puntario profits. Larger companies were pulling back were convicted of murder and sentenced to from the many headaches involved with ex- die in the electric chair. That sentence was tracting coal from the ground and were carried out September 25, 1922, at the West- simply leasing their mines to others. Some ern Penitentiary branch in Rockview, Penn- companies were restricting their output, sylvania. 54 idling many colliery workers, in the hope During the strike, a number of Italian that artificial scarcity would raise market homes in the Pittston area were bombed. prices. Stefano LaTorre’s family was targeted in at Workers had a number of demands, in- least two of the attacks. Dynamite exploded cluding the incorporation of a check-off sys- at LaTorre’s home, 175 Railroad Street, in tem, through which union dues could be au- early September of 1920. One week later, an tomatically deducted from paychecks; a one

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Though preferable to the Old Country mining communities, life in northeastern Pennsylvania mining patches was difficult. Young boys were part of the labor force. Miners lives were constantly threatened by mine collapse, flooding, explosion and accident. Families lived in ramshackle homes rented from mine companies that could evict them at any time.

informer-journal.blogspot.com 16 INFORMER APRIL 2011 dollar per day pay increase; a ten percent from ambush as he returned home from a increase in the in output rates; equalization union meeting. Lillis, a leader in the Camp- of production throughout the coal region; and bell reform movement, was hit by five bul- the end of third-party contract mining. lets. 62 Agreements were reached only after the On February 16, 1928, police puzzled strike had reached 164 days and cost the in- over the murder of Joseph Cicero of West dustry an estimated one billion dollars. 57 Wyoming, Pennsylvania. Cicero was found Many of the underlying issues remained un- with his throat cut. Ernest Cassico and Sam- resolved. uel Savoca, the victim’s sons-in-law, were placed under arrest, as detectives wondered Civil war in the UMW if a Cicero insurance policy prompted the Frank “Ciccio” Agati 58 held a number of killing. important roles in northeastern Pennsylva- On the same day, three Campbell men – nia during the mid-1920s. Officially, he was Local 1703 President Samuel Bonita, Steve a district organizer for the UMW union. 59 Mendola and Adam Moleski – visited union Less formally, he served headquarters in Wilkes- as bodyguard and muscle Barre to meet with UMW for Rinaldo Cappellini, ‘For the last five years district board member Au- president of the union’s gust Lippi. Bonita wanted populous District 1. 60 Se- the Black Hand Society Lippi’s assistance in ar- cretly – and illegally – has virtually had a free ranging negotiations to Agati also served as a si- hand in the county. reopen Number 6 Col- lent partner in the Volpe liery. Frank Agati inter- and LaTorre coal compa- It has systematically rupted the meeting. He ny, ensuring that the levied tribute upon and Bonita exchanged an- mining company would hundreds of Italians gry words and then gun- have no trouble with its shots. labor. 61 who paid considerable Agati fell mortally By the end of 1927, an sums for protection wounded. Bonita, Mendo- anti-Cappellini faction la and Moleski fled. The had emerged in the from violence, and has next day, police appre- UMW. That faction, led committed numerous hended Bonita as he en- by international union outrages upon others tered a Pittston attorney’s board member Alex office. The authorities felt Campbell, was able in who refused to be sure that the Cicero and January 1928 to take con- blackmailed.’ Agati killings were unre- trol of Local 1703, which lated. 63 That theory was worked Number 6 Col- quickly discarded. liery of the Pennsylvania Coal Company. On the eighteenth, “Big Sam” Grecio, a Number 6, located in Pittston, was one of the reform leader in the UMW and a brother-in- operations shut down as coal companies law of the recently murdered Joseph Cicero, worked to reduce the anthracite supply. The was ambushed by gunmen and mortally entrenched Cappellini administration sought wounded. Grecio and his wife were returning to eliminate Campbell and his key men while from a visit with Cicero’s family, when two reincorporating the members of his faction men stepped from the shadows. One grabbed into the union. The conflict between the two Grecio and held him, while the other shot sides resulted in a number of house bomb- him. ings and murders. Near death in a hospital bed, Grecio sum- On January 19, newly elected Local 1703 moned Alex Campbell. “It’s over, I guess,” treasurer Thomas Lillis was shot to death Grecio told the leader of the reform faction.

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“They are going to get to you too, my friend. at once and make an honest effort to So be careful.” 64 settle this deadly dispute. 68 Grecio’s warning became a fulfilled prophecy just ten days later. On the evening In a crowded Wilkes-Barre courtroom on of February 28, the fifty-five-year-old Camp- April 11, Sam Bonita admitted to killing bell and union local secretary Pete Reilly Frank Agati. Bonita argued, however, that (also known as Pete Saudargas), twenty-two, he did so in self-defense. He said Agati fired drove home together from a union conference a first shot. Steve Mendola and Adam Mole- with county law enforcement on the slaying ski, charged as accessories to the killing, of Frank Agati. As the vehicle carrying the confirmed Bonita’s account. A firearms ex- two men reached Campbell’s home, another pert called by the defense revealed that a car pulled alongside. Gunmen opened fire bullet different in caliber from the one fired with shotguns and revolvers. 65 Detectives by Bonita had been found in a union head- concluded that the double-murder was com- quarters wall. That bullet, the defense attor- mitted by professional gunmen imported to ney argued, was the one fired by Agati. 69 the region. 66 Rumors led them to Vincenzo It took Bonita’s jury forty-three hours – “Little Jimmy” Damini, who had fled to New and a refusal by the trial judge to accept a Orleans. 67 verdict of involuntary manslaughter – to find Following the Campbell and Reilly mur- him guilty of voluntary manslaughter. The ders, Pittston Mayor William Gillespie wrote jury recommended a merciful sentence. The a letter appealing for help to United Mine media also was sympathetic with Bonita and Workers of America President John L. Lew- his reform cause: is: The insurgents have bitterly fought The hostile factions in the local or- the system of contract mining in the ganization have created a reign of mines of the Pennsylvania Coal terror by their lawlessness, dyna- Company at Pittston, contending mitings, murder and murder at- that thirty favored contractors have tempts, which are of frequent occur- grown rich on the labor of mine rence. Two prominent leaders of workers, that contract mining was mine workers were murdered in in violation of their working con- cold blood in the heart of this city tract and that such a system was last evening. Our city is in a state of tainted with graft. 70 terror and turmoil… The cause of this bloody or ven- Faced with growing opposition, the belea- detta is known to every intelligent guered Rinaldo Cappellini resigned from the person in the anthracite coal region. presidency of UMW District 1, effective June This disgraceful and tragic situation 20, 1928. John Boyland, elected to replace is attributed directly to the bitter him, pledged to end the contract mining sys- hostilities that exist between mine tem that he saw as a “curse” on the indus- officials, mine contractors, union try. 71 Despite the rhetoric, the system re- labor leaders and insurgent labor leaders connected with the Pennsyl- mained in place until the final days of the vania Coal Company. Wyoming Valley’s deep mining industry. The public believes that yourself, In 1929, the coal company run by Santo district Union President Cappellini Volpe, Stefano LaTorre and Charles Bufalino and the head of the Pennsylvania was dissolved. While the timing of the part- Coal Company can end these hostili- nership dissolution made it appear to be a ties and bring this campaign of response to Boyland’s election, it may also crime to a close, if you meet together have been triggered by large financial losses

informer-journal.blogspot.com 18 INFORMER APRIL 2011 suffered by Stefano LaTorre in the stock him, probably on orders from Santo Volpe market crash and a serious disagreement and Charles Bufalino. It is not known if Cal- among the Men of Montedoro regarding the amera was ever a member of the Men of murders of Campbell and Reilly : Montedoro Mafia, but his close acquaintance with the members was evident from his dy- Ill feelings developed between Steve ing declaration. LaTorre and Santo Volpe and Calamera did not identify the second Charles Bufalino, when Steve man involved. Police suspected that Joseph LaTorre refused to contribute his Barbara had aided Morreale. They arrested share of money to pay for the knock- Morreale on a murder charge and Barbara ing-off of Campbell and [Reilly]. [An on suspicion. An alibi offered by Calamera informant] said the collection was included Barbara but also made it clear that taken up by someone in the Barbara was no stranger to criminal activity. “organization,” and when Steve Calamera claimed that at the time of the LaTorre refused to pay his share, murder in Pittston, he was at Old Forge Volpe and Bufalino had to come up tending to an alcohol distillery owned by with more money. [The informant] Barbara. Without evidence linking Barbara stated this was the beginning of the to the killing, police were forced to release conflict between Steve LaTorre and him. 77 the other two individuals. 72 On March 2, another murder occurred. Samuel Licata, a member of the UMW fac- Despite having to pay a larger share for tion led by the late Alex Campbell and a his hired murders, it appeared that Volpe friend of the late Calogero Calamera, was extracted the greatest benefit from the busi- shot to death as he returned home from an ness partnership. By early 1930, he had moved from Pittston’s Main Street into his evening at a Pittston billiard parlor. Police own twenty-thousand-dollar home at 215 found his lifeless body lying in front of Sam Wyoming Avenue in West Pittston. 73 Lucchino’s home. Licata had been shot five times in the chest and abdomen and once in Murders continue the back. At about eight o’clock in the evening of There was suspicion that Licata was January 4, 1931, Calogero Calamera took a killed for informing police of “Little Jimmy” walk along Pittston’s Railroad Street. Two Damini’s role in the murder of Alex Camp- men overtook him. One drew a handgun and bell. 78 fired six times. Calamera collapsed mortally Outside Pennsylvania wounded. 74 Another native of Montedoro, Sicily, Cal- While the Men of Montedoro were set- amera was a longtime resident of Pittston, tling affairs with the uncooperative Camp- having first arrived there after a transatlan- bell faction of the UMW in Pittston, the Ma- tic crossing in the summer of 1903. 75 Cala- fia of New York and other major cities was mera worked as a miner and became influ- engaged in an internal struggle known as ential in the local UMW. He periodically the Castellammarese War. traveled back to Sicily, where his wife Maria New York-based Mafia boss of bosses Campanella and their children continued to Giuseppe Masseria and allies in Chicago, live. His last trip to the Old Country con- Cleveland and Detroit, were warring against cluded just days before his murder. His re- a network of Castellammarese Mafiosi and turned through New York City on December their allies. Masseria had been accused of 30, 1930. 76 abusing his authority. Rather than merely Calamera lived long enough to tell police arbitrate disputes between Mafia crime fam- that local Mafioso Tony Morreale had shot ilies in the United States, Masseria had

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UMW District 1 President Rinaldo Cappellini

Rinaldo Cappellini, born about 1900, first earned notice as a “radical” labor leader when he organized a strike of fourteen-thousand coal miners in the Scranton area in 1920. After listening to some of his speeches, many be- came convinced that Cappellini had Communist leanings. His fiery rhetoric earned him a sur- prising 1923 victory in the presiden- tial election for District 1 of the United Mine Workers. (District 1, the Scranton area, included almost half of the work- ers in the UMW.) Once elected, Cappellini oddly seemed uninterested in supporting his own radical platform. Others took up the radical banner and drew away the insurgent element that had backed Cappellini. The district president resigned from his post on July 20, 1928. It is be- lieved he was under pressure from the union’s international President John L. Lewis. Following his resignation, Cappellini traveled to Europe and then spent some time in Brooklyn. Cappellini later proved to be fiery in more than rhetoric. He served nine months in prison in 1931 on an arson conviction. He was returned to prison in 1934 as a parole violator after a disturbance at the home of his ex-wife. Cappellini died July 6, 1966, at his Harveys Lake, Pennsylvania, home, about fifteen miles northwest of Wilkes-Barre.

Sources: “Coal: Mr. Cappellini,” TIME , July 9, 1923; “Cappellini quits post,” New York Times , July 21, 1928; “Priest’s plan for strike settlement to be con- sidered,” Clearfield PA Progress , Jan. 17, 1934, p. 1; “Rinaldo Cappellini…,” Gettysburg PA Times , July 7, 1966.

informer-journal.blogspot.com 20 INFORMER APRIL 2011 meddled in the internal affairs of crime fam- The suspects were held for several days, ilies and had ordered the murders of un- while the police and prosecutors scrambled to friendly Mafia bosses. assemble a case. Evidence was lacking, and In April 1931, Masseria was assassinated the fourteen had to be released. 80 by some of his own lieutenants, who subse- quently made peace with Castellammarese Bootlegging leader . Charlie Luci- Through much of the Prohibition Era, the ano and took over Masseria’s rum-running enterprises of the northeastern crime family in New York. Maranzano Pennsylvania Mafia earned much less notice moved into the position of boss of bosses un- than its bloody efforts to control mining la- til his own abuses of power led to his assassi- bor. However, a number of incidents reveal nation less than half a year later. that illegal alcohol was flowing into and At a convention of the Mafia underworld through the region in vast quantities. in autumn of 1931, it was decided to replace In mid-January of 1931, Pennsylvania the single arbitrator system with a panel of State Police stopped a truck on the highway six Mafia bosses known as the Commission. between Wilkes-Barre and Pittston. Inside The new cooperative system in the Amer- the vehicle, they found two hundred, five- ican Mafia faced its first serious challenge in gallon cans filled with alcohol. The truck the summer of 1932. Pittsburgh Mafia boss drivers were Mannie Kline of New York City John Bazzano had orchestrated the murders and Morris Okon of Brooklyn. The truck was of three of western Pennsylvania’s more im- traced to the Aywon Truck Company of portant Neapolitan gang leaders. 79 Vito Gen- Brooklyn. Kline and Okon were arrested. ovese, the most influential Neapolitan Mafi- Their truck and its cargo were confiscated by oso in the country, summoned Bazzano to the police. 81 answer for the crime before an underworld In the final year of Prohibition, the Men assembly in Brooklyn. of Montedoro dealt harshly Bazzano’s dead body, perfo- with a racketeer who dared to rated by numerous ice-pick hijack a shipment of whiskey wounds, was found inside a belonging to Santo Volpe. The large burlap sack on August 8, hijacker turned out to be small 1932. Learning of the presence -time bootlegger Sam Wichner, of out-of-town Mafiosi, police a resident of Lee Park, Penn- raided a number of hotels in sylvania, just southwest of Brooklyn and Manhattan. Wilkes-Barre. They arrested fourteen men, On St. Valentine’s Day of charging them with participat- 1933, Wichner was summoned ing in the murder of Bazzano. to a meeting at the Endicott, Santo Volpe of Pittston and New York, home of Joseph his Mafia lieutenant, Angelo Barbara, who was perhaps Polizzi of Dunmore, Pennsylva- viewed as an objective third- nia, were two of the accused. party in the matter. There he The group also included Brook- Salvatore Maranzano (artist’s conferred with Barbara, Santo lyn Mafiosi Albert Anastasia, sketch—no portrait of Ma- Volpe and Angelo Polizzi about John Oddo, Cassandro Bonas- ranzano is known to exist.) a bootlegging venture. Wichner era, Ciro Gallo and Joseph was asked to return the follow- Traina; Calogero Spallino, Michael Bua, ing night without telling anyone where he Frank Adrano and Michael Russo of Pitts- was going. burgh; Paul Palmeri of Niagara Falls; Salva- Early in the evening of February 16, tore DiCarlo of Buffalo; and Peter Lombardo Wichner’s body was found packed into the of Trenton, New Jersey. trunk of a car parked on Meridian Avenue in

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Scranton. A rope noose had been fastened son to take part. 84 around his throat, and the loose end of the LaTorre became one of the owners of the rope had been tied around his raised knees. small Saporito Coal Company in 1938. Com- Wichner had strangled himself while trying pany founder Carl Saporito reportedly part- to work free of his bonds. nered with LaTorre in order to provide a Learning of Wichner’s recent meetings measure of protection for his firm against from his wife, police arrested Volpe, Bufalino and Sciandra. Barbara and Polizzi. Investiga- Saporito Coal leased the min- tors discovered that witnesses ing operations of the Schooley had seen three men leaving Shaft in Exeter, Pennsylvania, the automobile at Meridian from the Pennsylvania Coal Avenue and driving off in a Company. 85 A few years later, black Buick sedan. However, LaTorre opened a billiard par- the witnesses could not identi- lor and smoke shop on fy Barbara or Polizzi as having Pittston’s Main Street. 86 been at the scene, and the pris- About 1940, Santo Volpe, oners had to be discharged. 82 who owned the far more sub- In January of 1941, years stantial Volpe Coal Company, after Prohibition had ended, also withdrew somewhat from Stefano LaTorre managed to the regional Mafia. At sixty get arrested for liquor law vio- years of age, the underworld lations. State liquor control boss who had become known as officials conducted a raid at an the “King of the Night” turned illegal Harding, Pennsylvania, Gov. Arthur James over control of his crime family distillery on January 10. The to John Sciandra. Volpe distillery was found to be operated by LaTor- stepped from the shadowy underworld of re, and he was charged on the sixteenth with Pittston to become a significant figure in the unlawful possession, manufacture and trans- national coal industry and state politics. portation of alcohol. The state charge was Governor Arthur H. James, a former dropped on November 3. However, the fol- “breaker boy” in the anthracite collieries of lowing year LaTorre was convicted of failing Luzerne County and a proponent of a laissez- to pay federal taxes on his distillery opera- faire approach to business, 87 appointed Volpe tion. He received a suspended three-month to a nine-man Anthracite Emergency Com- sentence and a $100 fine. 83 mittee. Volpe was one of three mine operator representatives on the committee, which was LaTorre is out charged with rehabilitating the industry. 88 Stefano LaTorre began pursuing inter- During World War II, Volpe served as an ests apart from the Men of Montedoro Mafia alternate on a mine operators’ negotiations in the late 1930s. A number of factors led to board as it met in New York City with repre- his separation from the criminal society. sentatives of the UMW to end a crisis situa- These included differences of opinion over tion. how to deal with uncooperative union fac- To put an end to a massive wartime tions and the debt Volpe and Bufalino felt he strike of coal workers, which choked steel owed the organization after the Campbell production and hampered railroad transpor- and Riley “hits.” tation, President Franklin Roosevelt em- The relationship suffered further when ployed emergency wartime powers. On May John Sciandra attempted to persuade one of 1, 1943, he ordered the federal seizure of all LaTorre’s sons to help with “cracking heads” coal fields in the eastern United States and of picketing union workers at the Schooley commanded miners to return to their essen- Shaft. LaTorre stepped in and forbade his tial work. The President threatened to induct

informer-journal.blogspot.com 22 INFORMER APRIL 2011 into the army any miners missing work quently called and visited Stefano LaTorre without just cause. The UMW continued spo- and likely served as his underworld protec- radic strikes as it sought a sorely needed tor. wage increase. Operators and miners repre- During the meeting, Sciandra challenged sentatives were called upon to resolve their LaTorre to reveal who authorized him to differences, though federal wartime regula- open his business on Pittston’s Main Street. tions prohibited wage increases. When the If the business had been approved by Par- principle operator representatives were rino, Sciandra argued, then Parrino should called to meet with President Franklin Roo- be sharing in its profits. LaTorre was in- sevelt in Washington in May 1943, Santo censed by Sciandra’s interrogation. He Volpe and F.W Leamy Sr., of the Hudson stormed out of the meeting, telling all of the Coal Company of New York, took seats at assembled Mafiosi to “go to hell.” the bargaining table. After the meeting, LaTorre had no fur- The strikes were brought to a close in ther contact with the Pittston underworld. June 1943, with a change in workplace regu- Parrino, perhaps realizing that he had been lations. Historically, miners’ time at work used by Sciandra, maintained his relation- was calculated when they reached the coal, ship with LaTorre. Visits and telephone calls deep in underground shafts and tunnels. The from Parrino continued for decades. 90 negotiations allowed for portal to portal pay, allowing miners to be compensated for time Bufalino’s rise spent travelling into and out of the mines. 89 Vito Genovese had spent World War II in Volpe and LaTorre both left their coal Italy, hiding from a murder charge in the businesses in 1943. Volpe did so voluntarily; U.S. At the conclusion of the war, Genovese LaTorre did not. Volpe sold his namesake assisted the U.S. Army’s occupying force as a firm to Jermyn-Green Coal Company (he re- translator while also engaging in black mar- mained owner of Gateway Coal Company ket activities. In August of 1944, Genovese’s until his death). LaTorre was criminal background came to forced from the Saporito Coal light and he was placed under Company by the financial ma- arrest. In Army custody, he neuvering of John Sciandra, was transported back to the who had made it a personal United States aboard the S.S. mission to recover all funds James Lykes in May 1945. He LaTorre was believed to owe reached New York on June 1. 91 Volpe and Bufalino. Sciandra Prosecution of Genovese on became the controlling force in the murder charge was deemed the company (as Carl Saporito impossible, as a key witness in had feared years earlier), and the case had died of a sleeping rechristened it the Knox Coal pill overdose while in prison. Company. Genovese was freed on June Sciandra then turned his 10. 92 attention to LaTorre’s billiard On June 24, 1946, Mafia parlor and smoke shop. He President Franklin Roosevelt leaders from around the east- summoned LaTorre to a 1944 ern U.S. gathered at the Hotel underworld tribunal at the Diplomat in Manhattan to wel- Sterling Hotel in Wilkes-Barre. The meeting come Genovese home. The event called at- included Sciandra, Santo Volpe, Angelo tention to Santo Volpe’s position as senior Polizzi, of Endicott, New member of the underworld fraternity, as well York, and Angelo Parrino of Stamford, Con- as to the always close relationship between necticut. Parrino, a member of the Luciano- Genovese and the northeastern Pennsylva- of New York, fre-

informer-journal.blogspot.com APRIL 2011 INFORMER 23 nia underworld:

Twenty-eight East Coast mob lords were seated at a rectangular table and rose as Genovese entered. Santo Volpe, the Pittston, Pennsylvania, mob boss, walked across the room to meet Genovese. They exchanged handshakes. Volpe then led Geno- vese to a leather upholstered chair at the head of the table. Mafia pro- tocol required that Volpe, the oldest mobster present, be the first to wel- come Don Vitone. 93

While Volpe continued to be held in high esteem by his underworld colleagues, the daily command of the Men of Montedoro Ma- fia had passed to younger men. With John Sciandra’s death around 1949, Russell Bufalino, who reportedly attended the Hotel Diplomat celebration three years earlier, be- came the most important figure in the Pittston-based Mafia. Volpe served in the role of mentor, while Bufalino called the shots. 94 Rosario “Russell” Bufalino Bufalino lived farther from Pittston than the previous leaders of the Men of Dilworth to the work of the entrenched Re- Montedoro. After living for brief periods in publican political machine. Though support- Endicott, New York, and Pittston, he and his ed by Santo Volpe and his allies, Fine did not wife settled into a private home in an up- carry his home base in the coalmining com- scale neighborhood in Kingston, Pennsylva- munities of Pittston, Scranton and Wilkes- nia. 95 While U.S. authorities considered him Barre. 97 a “ruthless and powerful” Mafia leader, Still, Governor Fine remained sympa- Bufalino acted the role of a successful execu- thetic with the interests of coal companies, tive in the garment industry. He held finan- particularly the Newport Excavating Compa- cial interests in the Penn Drape & Curtain ny of Nanticoke, a strip-mining firm run by Company of Pittston, the Alaimo Dress Com- Lawrence Biscontini. Santo Volpe happened pany and other clothing factories in the re- to be the vice president of the same compa- 96 gion. ny. 98 Early in his term as governor, Fine re- Corruption unabated portedly worked with Biscontini and Santo Corruption in northeastern Pennsylvania Volpe to devise a system under which New- mining operations continued through the port Excavating would avoid paying corpo- 1950s. rate taxes by artificially inflating its payroll. John S. Fine, son of a coal miner and The payroll padding continued through longtime leader in Luzerne County Republi- Fine’s term as the state’s chief executive and can politics, won election as Pennsylvania’s for another four years afterward. 99 governor in 1950. Fine owed his very narrow The Knox Coal Company, founded by the victory over Democratic reformer Richardson late John Sciandra, also engaged in some un-

informer-journal.blogspot.com 24 INFORMER APRIL 2011 derhanded business practices in the period. York boss, , traveled to Sici- In 1950, August Lippi, then president of Dis- ly in September to work with Old World Ma- trict 1 of the UMW and chairman of the fiosi on the assembly of an international nar- board of the First National Bank of Exeter, cotics smuggling network. 108 unlawfully became a partner in Knox Vito Genovese eagerly sought a national Coal. 100 In 1956, Lippi began receiving large Mafia meeting in order to firmly establish cash payments to ensure labor peace. 101 himself and his ally Gambino as crime family Dominick J. Alaimo, another official of the bosses and to work out the various conflicts UMW, also received under-the-table cash that had arisen during the year. Stefano payments. His small bribes from Knox Coal Magaddino was approached to plan the con- began arriving in 1954. They continued on a ference. He decided that it should take place biweekly basis into 1959. 102 at the Barbara estate, which had hosted an As Governor Fine left office in 1955, underworld assembly one year earlier. 109 Newport Excavating Company launched a Holding the gathering in Apalachin $62,000 renovation project at Fine’s dairy turned out to be an mistake. New York State farm in Loyalville, Pennsylvania. The com- Police Sergeant Edgar Croswell, based in pany, under direction of Biscontini, con- Vestal, was aware of the 1956 meeting as structed a picnic grove and a fish pond, and well as of Joseph Barbara’s organized crime made improvements to a guest house and a connections. When he learned that Barbara bath house on the property. 103 was expecting company in November 1957, Fine became a part-owner of Newport he kept close watch on the Barbara home. On Excavating, as he entered into private legal the morning of Nov. 14, Croswell noted the practice in Wilkes-Barre. Newport Excavat- presence of a large number of pricey, new ing also hired him as its general counsel at a automobiles at Barbara’s estate, many with salary of $25,000 per year. 104 out-of-state license plates. He called in state police and agents of the federal Treasury De- Apalachin partment to set up a roadblock. Russell Bufalino generally escaped the In the early afternoon, Mafiosi at Bar- attention of law enforcement until a 1957 bara’s home learned that law enforcement Mafia convention called by Stefano Magaddi- agents were gathering nearby, and they in- no at the Apalachin country estate of Joseph stinctively fled. Some sprinted into the woods Barbara. and farms around the estate. Others jumped There was a great deal of confusion and into automobiles and attempted to reach the violence within the U.S. Mafia in 1957. Cu- highway. The police captured most of the ban dictator Fulgencio Batista, protector of Mafia gambling and narcotics trafficking in- vestments in Havana, faced a growing threat from revolutionaries under Fidel Castro. The established Mafia interests in Cuba contin- ued to back Batista, while others secretly channeled weapons to Castro. 105 Luciano successor survived an assas- sination attempt in May and wisely decided to retire, turning his New York crime family over to Vito Genovese. 106 Ambitious Mafia boss Albert Anastasia (an investor in the northeastern Pennsylvania garment indus- try) and his Frank Scalise both were murdered, as Carlo Gambino seized control of their organization. 107 Another New Joseph Barbara’s estate at Apalachin.

informer-journal.blogspot.com APRIL 2011 INFORMER 25 men departing on foot and stopped all cars the Mafia was organized in the early leaving the estate. 1900s by the LaTorre, Sciandra, The first car stopped at the roadblock Volpe and Bufalino families, the was of only marginal interest to law enforce- first families from Montedoro to set- ment. It held longtime Barbara friend tle in Brandy Patch… These early Emanuele Zicari of Endicott and racketeer/ arrivals became influential and UMW union leader Dominick Alaimo of rich… through becoming ‘mine con- Pittston. The next car was the jackpot. In tractors’ and working specified sec- that 1957 Chrysler Imperial, police found tions of company-owned coal mines Russell Bufalino and New York with their own men at pay -New Jersey Mafia big shots rates they themselves Vito Genovese, Gerardo Cate- fixed. 111 na, and Dominick Oliveto. The police eventually According to the newspaper collected about sixty Mafiosi story, the Men of Montedoro from all over the country. None were responsible for many of provided a reasonable explana- the underworld rackets in the tion for being at Barbara’s es- U.S. and even met secretly tate that day. 110 aboard a private yacht off the While there was no justifi- New Jersey shore in Septem- cation for holding the Mafiosi, ber 1957 to plan the execution the state police took down their of Albert Anastasia. 112 names and checked on their A host of local, state and backgrounds before releasing federal investigations of orga- them. No arrests were made, Vito Genovese nized crime were launched as a but the events at Apalachin result of the Apalachin confer- proved enormously damaging to the under- ence and the sensational publicity that ac- world. Law enforcement officers, state and companied it. Those investigations continued federal legislators and the general public be- for years. came instantly aware that organized crimi- Santo Volpe, Pittston’s “King of the nals in various regions of the country coordi- Night,” would not live long enough to see the nated their activities at a national level. matter resolved. After a lengthy illness, he Much of the ensuing attention was focused died at his West Pittston home on December on the underworld of the Apalachin, New 2, 1958. 113 York, area and the nearby territory of the In May 1959, federal narcotics agents in northeast Pennsylvania Mafia organization. nine states rounded up twenty-seven of the Apalachin attendees on conspiracy charges. Apalachin aftermath Northeast Pennsylvania Russell Early in 1958, the New York World- Bufalino was one of the twenty-seven ac- Telegram and Sun newspaper published a cused of obstructing justice by concealing the story about the influential northeastern purpose of the Apalachin meeting from grand Pennsylvania underworld organization juries and other investigating bodies. Thirty- known as the Men of Montedoro. The story six other Mafiosi were named as co- was reprinted or reported in newspapers conspirators. 114 across the country. It stated that the group Just days after the arrests, fifty-three- was all-powerful in northeast Pennsylvania year-old Joseph Barbara suffered a serious and upstate New York and held great influ- heart attack. He was rushed to Wilson Me- ence over other regions of the U.S. morial Hospital in Johnson City, New York. He was never released. The host of the The Men of Montedoro chapter of Apalachin convention died at the hospital on

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June 17, 1959. 115 ment as a forgery and obtained a copy of Twenty-two of the indicted Mafiosi were Bufalino’s 1903 birth record from Montedoro, brought to trial in October 1959. Four of the Sicily. 121 A Montedoro birth was confirmed original twenty-seven could not be located by by his school records in Buffalo, New York. police, and Joseph Bonanno was granted a The INS built a deportation case against severance from the group trial because of a Bufalino on two false statements of Ameri- heart condition. 116 As the trial opened, Ohio can citizenship made by Bufalino as he reen- Mafioso John DeMarco suffered a heart at- tered the U.S. in 1956 after trips to Havana tack and also was removed from the case. 117 and Bimini. 122 After the prosecution had presented its case, Judge Irving Kaufman ruled that no sub- Knox Mine disaster stantial evidence had been introduced On January 22, 1959, residents of against Boston Mafioso Frank Cucchiara. Pittston were alarmed by a thunderous roar. Cucchiara was released. 118 The remaining Those near the banks of the Susquehanna twenty defendants were convicted on Decem- saw the icy river transform into a giant ber 18. The next month, Judge Kaufman whirlpool. sentenced them all to five-year prison Knox Coal Company mines dug beneath terms. 119 the river had collapsed, allowing more than On November 28, 1960, a U.S. Circuit 10 billion gallons of water to flood a four- Court of Appeals overturned the conspiracy hundred-foot-deep shaft. Seventy-four min- convictions. The court found that prosecutors ers were trapped inside. Sixty-two of them established both a conspiracy among the de- were rescued. The remaining dozen died. In fendants and the criminal reputations of the a futile effort to plug a twenty-foot hole at defendants but failed to prove that the the river bottom, mine operators dumped Apalachin gathering was held for any illegal railroad cars, mine cars, hay bales, lumber, purpose. 120 soil and rock into the Susquehanna whirl- As a result of Apalachin publicity, the pool. None of the measures were successful. U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Ser- River water eventually filled many of the vice conducted a check on the citizenship of interconnected coalmines beneath the conference attendees. Russell Bufalino in- Pittston area, halting anthracite production. sisted that he had been born in Pittston, and The Knox Mine Disaster brought an end to he was able to produce a birth certificate as most deep coal mining in the Wyoming Val- proof. Investigators later dismissed the docu- ley. The Knox Coal Company, founded twen-

Knox Coal Company’s refusal to observe state rules on mining under riverbeds led to the collapse of a mine and a twenty-foot hole in the bed of the Susquehanna River. Even railroad cars were dumped into the river in hope of plugging the hole.

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Map shows the extent of the underground mine flooding resulting from the Knox Mine Disaster. ty-two years earlier as the Saporito Coal also indicted the Knox Coal Company, com- Company, went out of business. pany President Robert Dougherty and Vice Investigation of the disaster revealed cor- President Louis Fabrizio for making the ille- ruption at high levels and negligent business gal payments. Following the indictments, the practices. According to one report, Stefano UMW announced that Alaimo had been re- LaTorre spoke frankly with investigators moved from his position as committeeman about mining industry corruption and even for Scranton Local 8005. 125 admitted to his lapsed membership in the On September 8, a Luzerne County Mafia. (A law enforcement informant could grand jury indicted seven men for involun- not explain why LaTorre had not been mur- tary manslaughter in connection with the dered by that time.) 123 Knox Mine Disaster. The defendants were State regulations prohibited mining current Knox Coal Company President Louis within thirty-five feet of the river bottom. Fabrizio, former President Robert Investigators discovered that the Knox com- Dougherty, UMW District 1 President Au- pany instructed its workers to ignore the re- gust Lippi, Pennsylvania Coal Company strictions as they followed the coal vein up- Chief Engineer Fritz Renner, Pennsylvania ward. Miners had carved out a pocket within Coal Company District Engineer Ralph a few feet of the river bottom when the mine Fries, former Knox Coal Company Superin- roof gave way under the water weight. 124 tendent Robert Groves and former Assistant Knox Coal Company payoffs to union Foreman William Receski. The grand jury leaders quickly came to light. On March 3, a also indicted Fabrizio, Dougherty and Lippi federal grand jury at Scranton indicted for conspiracy. 126 Dominick Alaimo for accepting four and a Groves and Receski were acquitted at half years’ worth of bribes totaling more their manslaughter trial in Wilkes-Barre on than thirty thousand dollars. The grand jury April 9, 1960. Trial of the remaining five de-

informer-journal.blogspot.com 28 INFORMER APRIL 2011 fendants was scheduled to begin the next ny performed at his farm. The second month. 127 charged him with working with Albert Bis- Just before that manslaughter trial be- contini of Newport Excavating to avoid cor- gan, a federal jury at Wilmington, Delaware, porate taxes. Biscontini also was indicted in found fifty-nine-year-old August Lippi guilty the second case. Had Santo Volpe been alive, of three counts of . Each count was it is likely he would have been charged as punishable by up to a year in jail and a well. 133 Fine escaped punishment. A jury $10,000 fine. The jury apparently did not found him not guilty of evading taxes on believe Lippi’s defense – that the $10,117 he farm improvements. Federal prosecutors de- received from Knox Coal was cided to drop the other charg- repayment for an old loan he es. 134 once made to John Sciandra. Dominick Alaimo was con- With Lippi due to go to trial victed of accepting bribes. He for manslaughter, Judge Caleb was sentenced March 10, 1961, Wright deferred sentencing. 128 to two years in prison and a (Lippi successfully appealed $7,651 fine. 135 his conviction and won a new In 1964, the Knox Mine Dis- trial. 129 ) aster case came to a close. After the prosecution had Judge Frederick Follmer im- presented its evidence in the posed a fine of $2,000 on Mrs. manslaughter case, Judge Car- Josephine Sciandra. He also leton Woodring determined sentenced her to three years’ that evidence against Fritz probation and ordered her to Renner and Ralph Fries was pay $39,000 in income taxes. lacking. The judge discharged Josephine Sciandra became a 130 both men. On July 13, Au- Russell Bufalino part owner of the Knox Coal gust Lippi and Louis Fabrizio Company upon the death of her were convicted of involuntary husband John Sciandra. The manslaughter. Robert Dougherty was found judge sentenced Louis Fabrizio to a six- not guilty on that charge. All three defend- month jail term and a $2,000 fine. ants were convicted on a conspiracy charge, which accused them of working together to Teflon Don? conceal Lippi ownership of Knox Coal Com- The Immigration and Naturalization Ser- pany stock and to deny Knox Coal Company vice continued its effort to deport Russell miners their rights under state law and un- Bufalino through the 1960s and beyond. It der the UMW contract. 131 was able to obtain a deport order for the Seven months later, the northeast Penn- crime boss, but he remained in the U.S. sylvania region was stunned, as the man- when Italy refused to allow him to return. slaughter and conspiracy convictions were Late in 1969, the sixty-four-year-old overturned. Judge Woodring decided that Bufalino was hauled into federal court, along the defendants had not been charged with with Salvatore Todaro and John Sacco, asso- their offenses within the two-year period ciates of the Buffalo crime family, to face tri- specified in statute. The judge noted that al on criminal conspiracy charges. The three more recent violations of state mine laws men were accused of plotting in the spring of were not included in the indictments. 132 1968 to transport sixty stolen color television In January of 1960, former Governor Fi- sets worth a total of twenty-five-thousand ne was indicted twice for income . dollars from Buffalo to Pittston. The first indictment charged him with at- The televisions had been taken from a tempting to avoid payment of taxes on the warehouse. Fifty-nine of them were recov- expensive work Newport Excavating Compa- ered in a Buffalo home, where FBI agents

informer-journal.blogspot.com APRIL 2011 INFORMER 29 also discovered stolen furs and silver. 136 three different criminal acts. He and fifteen When the case failed to result in a con- underlings were charged with conspiring to viction, Bufalino went to the press with a give control of a cigarette vending machine story of law enforcement harassment. He business to an underworld associate by ar- claimed in a summer 1970 interview that he ranging the beatings of two rivals. Bufalino had been badgered by police and federal and two other men were charged with plot- agents since he was found at Apalachin in ting to extort $100,000 from the owner of a 1957. discount store in Geneva, New York. The grand jury also charged that six members of I don’t want to go to Italy to live. Bufalino’s criminal organization robbed a I’m sixty-seven years old, and only Brackney, Pennsylvania, couple at gun- have a few years left on this earth – point. 139 I don’t want to be President of this Once again, Bufalino was acquitted of the country. I only want to be an Ameri- charges against him. can, free of somebody always follow- Hoffa ing me, free of police wiretapping my phone – which they have admit- By 1960, James Riddle “Jimmy” Hoffa, ted – and free to live my own life. underworld-linked president of the Interna- I’ve never, never been convicted of tional Brotherhood of Teamsters, had become any crime. 137 a symbol of labor union corruption. Hoffa had risen to a position of importance in the Bufalino, who rarely spoke with the union through the use of largely-imaginary press, was giving another newspaper inter- “paper” locals created with the assistance of view in a rear room of Scranton’s Club C&C New York Mafiosi 140 and the illegal wiretap- on mid-April 1973 when he was taken into ping of rivals. 141 When he secured control custody by the FBI. He was one of eighteen over the union, he appointed Mafia- underworld figures from the Buffalo, Roch- connected individuals to important posts 142 ester and Scranton areas to be arrested on a and channeled millions of dollars from Team- number of racketeering-related charges. 138 ster pension funds to Mafia-infiltrated casino Indictments were returned in May that in- operations in Las Vegas. 143 creased the number of defendants to twenty- Hoffa was known to have strong relation- four. ships with a number of important Mafiosi, Bufalino was named in connection with including Anthony “Tony Pro” Provenzano of the Genovese crime family, 144 Anthony “Tony Ducks” Corallo and Johnny “Dio” Dioguardi of the , 145 and Russell Bufalino underling Frank “” Sheeran. 146 Early attempts to convict the Teamster boss of wrongdoing were unsuccessful. There was apparently good reason that juries in- sisted on siding with Hoffa. In 1962, he was convicted of jury tampering. 147 Two years lat- er, he was convicted of misusing the Team- ster pension fund. 148 After exhausting his legal appeals, Hoffa began serving a thirteen -year prison sentence in 1967. 149 When Hoffa and found themselves locked into the same prison in Lewisburg, Teamster President James R. Hoffa Pennsylvania, the old friends reportedly had

informer-journal.blogspot.com 30 INFORMER APRIL 2011 a terrible falling out. 150 “I’m going to kill you. I’ll do it myself.” Napoli U.S. President Richard Nixon commuted entered the federal Witness Protection Pro- the prison sentence of the fifty-eight-year-old gram and testified in court. Hoffa in 1971 but imposed a condition that All four defendants were convicted. At the Hoffa not hold a leadership position in any age of seventy-three, Bufalino’s perfect court- labor union before spring 1980. 151 Despite room record was spoiled. 157 On October 21, that condition, Hoffa was determined to re- 1977, Bufalino was sentenced to serve four gain control of the union. In the summer of years in federal prison. 158 He remained free 1975, he requested a meeting with Mafia on bail until his legal appeals were pro- representatives in an effort to settle his dif- cessed. ferences with Anthony Provenzano and clear Bufalino entered prison in August of the way for an immediate return to power. 1978. Edward Sciandra, cousin to former The underworld, however, was comfortable boss John Sciandra and of the with Hoffa’s successor Frank Fitzsimmons crime family, apparently ran the criminal and considered Hoffa a threat. organization in Bufalino’s absence. Sciandra It is generally believed that Hoffa left his was born in Montedoro and raised in New Lake Orion, , home on July 30, York City. He later moved to Bellmore, New 1975, intending to meet Detroit mobster An- York, a distance of about one hundred and thony “Tony Jack” Giacalone at a restau- sixty miles from the crime family base in rant. 152 He may also have believed that he Pittston. 159 was going to meet Russell Bufalino and An- With a “good time” credit, Bufalino was thony Provenzano. 153 eligible for release from the Danbury, Con- Hoffa never returned home. No trace of necticut, Federal Correctional Institution on him has ever been found. May 8, 1981. As he left prison, Bufalino was By the end of the year, investigators be- greeted by personnel of the Immigration and lieved that Provenzano associates Salvatore Naturalization Service, who warned him that and Gabriel Briguglio and Thomas Andretta, he was on an INS “watch” list and that ef- all of New Jersey, were involved in Hoffa’s forts to have him deported to Italy were con- disappearance. 154 Persistent rumors indicat- tinuing. 160 ed that Russell Bufalino ordered Hoffa killed Bufalino was back in federal court in Oc- and disposed of. However, he was never tober of 1981. He was convicted of conspiring charged with involvement in Hoffa’s disap- in an unsuccessful 1976 attempt to murder pearance. 155 federal witness Jack Napoli. The key witness for the prosecution was West Coast Mafia Trip to Danbury turncoat Aladena “Jimmy the Weasel” Fra- Yet another federal indictment was filed tianno. Fratianno said Bufalino, intent on against Bufalino in October 1976. This time, killing the informant, instructed him to find the charge involved the use of extortion to Napoli, believed to have been relocated by collect a $25,000 debt owed by bartender federal authorities to Walnut Creek, Califor- Jack Napoli to Bufalino friend Herbert Ja- nia. 161 cobs. Napoli purchased jewelry from Jacobs The conviction earned Bufalino a ten-year on credit and then refused to pay for it. prison sentence. He entered prison in 1982 Jacobs, Bufalino, Michael Sparber of and was released after serving six years and Manhattan and Joseph Lapadura of Brook- eight months of the sentence. 162 lyn plotted to force payment of the debt by threatening Napoli. 156 LaTorre’s end Unknown to the conspirators, Napoli Though he had violated the Mafia code by went to the FBI and agreed to tape record opposing his superiors on several occasions conversations with Bufalino and the others. and by speaking with law enforcement about His recordings captured Bufalino saying, the secret criminal society, Stefano LaTorre

informer-journal.blogspot.com APRIL 2011 INFORMER 31 lived an extremely long life in Pittston. groomed at that time to take over the crime Despite his Depression Era setbacks, family formerly led by the Men of Montedoro. LaTorre remained interested in the stock D’Elia became boss by about 2001. 170 market. Through the 1970s, he made daily The last Man of Montedoro to lead the trips to his stock broker’s office in Wilkes- regional Mafia, Edward Sciandra retired to Barre. The aging LaTorre had other inter- Hallandale, Florida. He died there July 13, ests as well. Federal investigators learned 2003, at about ninety years of age. that he also was making frequent visits to Notes the Wilkes-Barre home of a middle-aged 163 1 “History,” The City of Pottsville, Pennsylvania, woman. In the evenings, he was occasion- www.city.pottsville.pa.us/html/history.htm (accessed Feb. ally seen playing cards at Charlie LaTorre’s 14, 2011). According to legend, the state’s anthracite coal deposits were discovered accidentally by hunter Necho 164 Pool Room in Pittston. Allen, who in 1790 fell asleep by a campfire in Pottsville, On June 13, 1967, a serious automobile Pennsylvania, and awoke to find a blaze fueled by a coal outcropping. accident made it apparent that he could no 2 Carbondale is about 15 miles from Scranton, 25 miles from longer drive himself around. LaTorre’s driv- Pittston and 35 miles from Wilkes-Barre. er’s license was revoked. He continued to 3 Bradsby, H.C., editor, History of Luzerne County Pennsylva- nia , S.B. Nelson & Co., 1893, Chapter XI; “History of Lu- make his Wilkes-Barre trips by bus. zerne County,” Luzerne County Living, www.luzernecounty.org/living/history_of_luzerne_county , When contacted by law enforcement offic- May 5, 2008 (accessed Feb. 13, 2011). Mining companies ers, LaTorre was friendly. However, he de- were generally heartless landlords. If a miner died or suf- fered debilitating injury in a mine accident, or if he caused clined to discuss any matters relating to the the company any sort of trouble, his family could expect to underworld. 165 be quickly evicted from its home. In 1970, when a Wilkes-Barre newspaper 4 “ Sicily,” Sicily Bella, sicilybella.com/ about_caltanissetta.html , 2010 (accessed Feb 13, 2011); ran a series of articles on local Mafia history, “Montedoro,” Sicilia Indettaglia, sicilia.indettaglio.it/eng/ LaTorre became upset. He threatened to sue comuni/cl/Montedoro/Montedoro.html (accessed Feb. 13, 2011). over his portrayal as one of the early leaders 5 Mormino, Vincenzo, “Sulfur in Sicily,” Best of Sicily Maga- of that secret society in the region. 166 zine,www.bestofsicily.com/mag/art145.htm, 2004 (accessed Feb. 12, 2011). Boys as young as seven were assigned the LaTorre died in Pittston in July of 1984. task of carrying sulfur from Sicilian mines, while piconieri He was ninety-eight years old. (pick men) chopped it from the rock. 6 Salvatore Bufalino Petition for Naturalization, U.S. Circuit Court in Scranton, filed Dec. 10, 1909; Birth records of Last Man of Montedoro Montedoro, Sicily. Salvatore reported that he reached New York City aboard the S.S. Liguria on Sept. 6, 1901. Some Russell Bufalino died February 25, 1994, details of his arrival appear to be in error. Salvatore, born at Nesbitt Memorial Hospital in Kingston, Nov. 23, 1868 (Birth Certificate no. 84), was the second 167 son of Calogero and Calogera Tulumelo Bufalino. His Pennsylvania. He was ninety years old. brother Nicolo, born May 20, 1876 (Birth Certificate no. Bufalino left the northeastern Pennsylvania 42), joined him in Pittston in the summer of 1902. Another brother, Rosario, born Dec. 31, 1872 (Birth Certificate, no. Mafia in the hands of Edward Sciandra. 1), entered the U.S. ten years later. About ten years younger than Bufalino, 7 Passenger manifest of the S.S. California , arrived New York Sciandra likely served as acting boss during City on April 29, 1902. 8 Passenger manifest of the S.S. Sicilian Prince , arrived New Bufalino’s incarcerations of the 1970s and York City on May 16, 1903; Birth records of Montedoro 1980s. However, in 1988, the Pennsylvania Sicily, certificate no. 30. Stefano LaTorre was born March 12, 1886, to Giuseppe (sulfur miner) and Maria Marranca Crime Commission noted that William LaTorre. “Billy” D’Elia of Hughestown, once Bufalino’s 9 Passenger manifest of the S.S. Sicilian Prince , arrived New York City on Dec. 24, 1903; Giuseppe LaTorre Petition for driver, was a trusted confidant of Bufalino Naturalization, U.S. District Court for the Middle District and served as his representative in meetings of Pennsylvania, filed Sept. 25, 1913. with other members of the organization. 168 10 Birth records of Montedoro, Sicily; Passenger manifest of the S.S. Citta di Napoli , arrived New York City on July 9, In 1990, the commission stated that 1903; Passenger manifest of the S.S. Nord America , ar- rived New York City on March 17, 1904. Angelo Bufalino D’Elia was “a significant member” of the was born Oct. 11, 1864 (Birth Certificate no. 86), and ar- crime family and noted that he had frequent rived in the U.S. aboard the S.S. Citta di Napoli . Calogero Bufalino was born April 5, 1878 (Birth Certificate no. 39), contact with members of other Mafia organi- and entered the U.S. aboard the S.S. Nord America . They zations. 169 It appears D’Elia was being were sons of Calogero and Maria Cristina Duminuco

informer-journal.blogspot.com 32 INFORMER APRIL 2011

Bufalino. Angelo Bufalino was the father of Rosario police authority, argued that county district attorneys had “Russell” Bufalino. no means of arresting and charging criminals before the 11 “Steven Joseph LaTorre,” FBI report dated Oct. 30, 1967, establishment of the state police agency. file PH 92-1717, p. 1-2. 28 Early reports stated that twenty-three Italians were ar- 12 Passenger manifest of the S.S. Republic , arrived New York rested. Additional arrests were made later in the day, and City on June 30, 1906; “Steven Joseph LaTorre,” report three of the original prisoners were discharged. Twenty- dated Oct. 30, 1967, FBI file PH 92-1717, p. 2; Birth rec- two were held for trial, though only thirteen were prose- ords of Montedoro, Sicily, certificate no. 110. Santo Volpe cuted. was born Oct. 20, 1879, to Gaetano (sulfur miner) and 29 “Round up Black Hand.” Gaetana Milazzo Volpe. The Republic manifest states that 30 “Story of blood and terrorism,” Richmond VA Times Dis- Volpe’s passage was paid by LaTorre. Santo Volpe patch , Feb. 16, 1907, p. 3; “Gang has 500 members,” Indi- planned but did not make an earlier transatlantic trip ana PA Evening Gazette , Feb. 16, 1907, p. 3. aboard the S.S. Romanic , which arrived in Boston on Jan. 31 “Bad Italians flee,” New York Sun , Feb. 17, 1907, p. 5. 28, 1906. 32 Jordan, John W., Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania Biography, 13 Pennsylvania Crime Commission, Report on Organized Volume 7, New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Compa- Crime , July 1970, p. 17. ny, 1916, p. 2589. Pennsylvania Governor Daniel Has- 14 Passenger manifest of the S.S. Citta di Milano, arrived tings temporarily appointed Gaius Leonard Halsey to fill New York City on Dec. 21, 1903; Passenger manifest of a judge vacancy at the Luzerne County Court of Common the S.S. Brasile , arrived New York City on Jan. 14, 1906. Pleas in 1898. Halsey secured both Republican and Demo- The 1903 manifest indicates that the family’s destination cratic nominations for the position and was unanimously was Pittston. In 1906, Cristina Buccoleri Bufalino, 30; elected in the fall of that year. He died of a mysterious daughter Giuseppe (Josephine), 8; and sons Calogero disease on Feb. 16, 1911. (Charles), 7, and Rosario (Russell), 2, had New York City 33 The Pittston area did have a number of residents named as their destination. Daughter Cristina did not make the “Salvatore Volpe.” However, none of those could be placed transatlantic trip in 1906. in the area before 1908 and none could be connected with 15 Frank, Stanley, “The rap fear most,” Saturday Mafiosi Charles Bufalino and Stefano LaTorre in the Evening Post , Aug. 9, 1958, p. 63; Passenger manifest of same way as Santo Volpe. the S.S. Venezia , arrived New York City on Feb. 15, 1914; 34 The Lucchinos were in-laws of Stefano LaTorre. LaTorre U.S. Census of 1920. Sister Cristina accompanied Rosario married Rose Lucchino. A further link between the two and Giuseppa on the 1914 crossing. She was unable to families is evident from the naturalization application of join the family in Buffalo. In ill health, she was deported. Stefano LaTorre’s father Giuseppe. That document, filed 16 Frank, “The rap gangsters fear most;” U.S. Census of 1920. Sept. 25, 1913, was witnessed by a detective named Sal- 17 Passenger manifest of the S.S. Victoria , arrived New York vatore Lucchino. City on Aug. 11, 1897. Another Sciandra, Rosario, was 35 Mayo, p. 116. living on Buffalo’s Mechanics Street at the time of the 36 “Black Hand on trial,” Frederick MD News , April 23, 1907, 1900 U.S. Census. He indicated that he arrived in the p. 3. U.S. in 1897, the same year as Carmelo. 37 “More secrets of Black Hand work,” Richmond VA Times 18 Passenger manifest of the S.S. Manilla , arrived New York Dispatch , April 24, 1907, p. 3. City on April 6, 1900. Antonina Alaimo Sciandra, 40, trav- eled with daughters Carmela, 14; Giuseppa, 11; and Vin- 38 “The Black Hand trial,” Richmond VA Times Dispatch , cenza, 4; and son Carmelo, 8. They were to meet Carmelo May 3, 1907, p. 3. Sciandra Sr. at 243 Elizabeth Street in New York City. 39 “Black Hand men as blackmailers,” Richmond VA Times 19 Passenger manifest of the S.S. Napolitan Prince , arrived Dispatch , April 26, 1907, p. 1. New York City on Nov. 28, 1903. 40 “Black Hand,” Marion OH Daily Mirror , April 29, 1907, p. 20 Passenger manifest of the S.S. Sicilian Prince , arrived 2; “Mafia threatens county attorney,” Washington Times , New York City on Feb. 12, 1906. April 29, 1907, p. 6. 21 U.S. Census of 1910. 41 “Black Hand.” 22 Passenger manifest of the S.S. Italia , arrived New York 42 “Defense claims it’s conspiracy,” Richmond VA Times Dis- City on July 2, 1907. patch , April 30, 1907, p. 5. 23 Passenger manifest of the S.S. Nord America , arrived New 43 “The Black Hand trial.” York City on April 24, 1908. Leonarda Laporta Sciandra, 44 “Black Hand verdict,” Richmond VA Times Dispatch , May 40, traveled with sons Andrea, 15, and Giovanni, 9, and 5, 1907, p. 6; “Black Hand trial nears a finish,” Marion daughter Pasqualina, 5. They were traveling to meet An- OH Daily Mirror , May 4, 1907, p. 2. gelo Sciandra at 211 Court Street in Buffalo. 45 “Found guilty,” Connellsville PA Daily Courier , May 6, 24 Giuseppe DiCarlo’s importing firm, Buffalo Italian Import- 1907, p. 1; “11 Blackhand leaders guilty of conspiracy,” ing Co., was located at 161 Court Street. New York Evening World , May 6, 1907, p. 5; “Black-Hand 25 “Montana, taxi firm head, dies,” Buffalo Courier Express , men are convicted,” Richmond VA Times Dispatch , May 7, March 19, 1964. Montana’s maternal grandmother ap- 1907, p. 1; “Secures 11 convictions,” Boston Globe , May 7, pears to be from the same Buccoleri line as Angelo 1907, p. 13; “Black Hand men convicted,” Washington Bufalino’s wife, Cristina Buccoleri. Giovanni “John” Mon- Herald , May 7, 1907, p. 1. tana was born July 1, 1893, in Montedoro, Sicily, to 46 “‘Black Hand’ sentence,” Connellsville PA Daily Courier , Calogero (shopkeeper) and Rosa Valenti Montana (Birth May 11, 1907, p. 8; “Black Hand gang jailed and fined,” Certificate no. 104). He entered the U.S. at age 13 aboard Washington Times , May 12, 1907, p. 5; “Light sentence for the S.S. Perugia , arrived New York City on June 30, Black Hand men,” New York Tribune , May 12, 1907, p. 5; 1907. “Eleven Black Hands convicted,” Indiana PA Democrat , 26 Mayo, Katherine, Justice to All: The Story of the Pennsyl- May 15, 1907, p. 7. vania State Police , New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1917, 47 U.S. Census of 1920. p. 115. 48 “Workers in Greater Pittston’s garment industry,” ex- 27 Mayo, p. 116; “Round up Black Hand,” Connellsville PA plorePAhistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=1105 , 2010 Daily Courier , Feb. 15, 1907, p. 2. Pennsylvania’s state (accessed March 6, 2011). police force was a recent invention, having been author- 49 John Sciandra Petition for Naturalization, U.S. District ized in 1905. Mayo, noting the jurisdictional limits of local Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, filed Jan. 4,

informer-journal.blogspot.com APRIL 2011 INFORMER 33

1925. Sciandra noted that he moved to Pennsylvania on 72 “Steven Joseph LaTorre,” FBI report dated Oct. 30, 1967, Nov. 11, 1922. According to Montedoro, Sicily, birth certif- file PH 92-1717, p. 2. icate no. 53, Giovanni Sciandra was born April 10, 1899, 73 U.S. Census of 1930. to Angelo (sulfur miner) and Leonarda LaPorta Sciandra. 74 Reuter, Arthur L., “Report on the activities and associa- 50 A clue to Andrew Sciandra’s influence within Buffalo is the tions of persons identified as present at the residence of fact that he was named an honorary pallbearer for mur- Joseph Barbara, Sr., at Apalachin, New York, on Novem- dered Castellammarese Mafioso Filippo Mazzara in 1927. ber 14, 1957, and the reasons for their presence,” State of According to Montedoro, Sicily, birth certificate no. 203, New York Executive Department, Office of the Commis- Andrea Sciandra was born Dec. 23, 1893, to Angelo and sion of Investigation, April 23, 1958. Leonarda LaPorta Sciandra. 75 Passenger manifest of S.S. Citta di Milano , arrived New 51 Pasqualina Sciandra married Nicolo Costanzo of Pittston York City on Sept. 12, 1903. Calogero Calamera was to on Feb. 26, 1919, in Buffalo, New York. The couple moved meet his brother-in-law Angelo Speranza in Pittston. to East Railroad Street in Pittston. According to 76 Passenger manifest of S.S. Saturnia , arrived New York Montedoro, Sicily, birth certificate no. 12, Pasqua Sci- City on Dec. 30, 1930. andra was born Jan. 15, 1903, to Angelo and Leonarda 77 Reuter. LaPorta Sciandra. 78 “Pittston leader shot and killed;” “Pittston man is slain by 52 Marriage license no. 2679, New York Department of gunman,” New Castle PA News ,” March 2, 1931, p. 17. Health. Russell Bufalino and Caroline Sciandra were mar- ried in Buffalo, New York, on Aug. 9, 1928. 79 John Bazzano’s victims, brothers John, James and Arthur Volpe, were not at all related to Pittston Mafia boss Santo 53 “Commutation of death sentence opposed by James,” New Volpe. The victims’ names are not mentioned in the text in Castle PA News , May 19, 1922, p. 18. order to prevent readers from reaching incorrect conclu- 54 “Governor gives respite to imported ‘gunmen,’” New Castle sions. PA News , March 8, 1922, p. 17; “Detective’s murder to be 80 Hunt, Thomas, and Michael A. Tona, “A Test of Resolve,” cleared up,” New Castle PA News , Sept. 20, 1922, p. 16; Informer: The History of American Crime and Law En- “Italian ‘gunmen’ shocked to death,” New Castle PA News , forcement , February 2011, p. 4-43. Sept. 25, 1922, p. 1. A week before the executions were to take place, Peter Erico provided authorities with a confes- 81 “Thousand gallons of liquor aboard truck is seized,” New sion that exonerated Antonio Puntario. The confession Castle PA News , Jan. 14, 1931, p. 13. was viewed as a last minute attempt to thwart the sen- 82 Reuter; Jordan, Franklin, “The real Mr. Big of the Mafia,” tence. The state parole board did not take it seriously. True Police Cases , June 1958. 55 “Striking miners threaten violence,” New York Times , Sept. 83 SAC Philadelphia, “Steven Joseph LaTorre,” FBI memo- 13, 1920, p. 16. randum dated Aug. 13, 1965, file PH 92-1717, p. 5. 56 “Radicals dynamite union chief’s home,” New York Times , 84 SAC Philadelphia, “Steven Joseph LaTorre,” FBI memo- Jan. 17, 1921, p. 1. randum dated Aug. 13, 1965, file PH 92-1717, p. 4; 57 “$1,000,000,000 lost in coal strike,” New York Times , Feb. “Steven Joseph LaTorre,” FBI report dated Oct. 30, 1967, 13, 1926; “Crisis approaches in hard coal field,” New York file PH 92-1717, p. 2. The FBI reports did not agree on Times , April 23, 1927. when this strikebreaking effort occurred. The 1965 docu- ment put it in 1944 (and indicated that Russell Bufalino 58 Santo Volpe’s daughter Stephanie “Fanny” married an joined John Sciandra in asking for the services of LaTor- Anthony R. Agati, likely a relative of Frank Agati. re’s son). The 1967 document said it was 1942. The 1944 59 “Mine union official is held for murder,” New York Times , date is unlikely, as the relationship between LaTorre and Feb. 18, 1928. his former underworld associates had grown hostile by 60 “Mine union leader guilty of killing,” New York Times , that time. It is possible that the incident occurred much April 15, 1928. earlier than the FBI informants indicated, nearer in time 61 “Steven Joseph LaTorre,” FBI report dated Oct. 30, 1967, to the September 1920 explosion of a bomb behind the file PH 92-1717, p. 2. The FBI report stated, “Frank Aga- home of LaTorre’s son. John Sciandra became a Pittston ti…, who was a union official, was a silent partner with resident in the early 1920s, moving from Buffalo, New Santo Volpe, Sr., and Steve LaTorre in one of their coal York, after his marriage to Montedoro native Josephine contracting businesses… Frank Agati was believed to be a Mancino on Dec. 31, 1920 (Marriage License no. 73348). member of the Mafia.” 85 SAC Philadelphia, “Steven Joseph LaTorre,” FBI memo- 62 “Pittston miner shot as result of election feud in local un- randum dated Aug. 13, 1965, file PH 92-1717, p. 3. When ion,” Clearfield PA Progress , Jan. 19, 1928, p. 1. the company was formed in 1937, Saporito Coal had just 18 employees and shipped just over 8,200 tons of anthra- 63 “Mine union official is held for murder;” “Steven Joseph cite to market. Saporito was a native of San Cataldo, Sici- LaTorre,” FBI report dated Oct. 30, 1967, file PH 92-1717, ly, a short distance east of Montedoro. p. 2. 86 “Steven Joseph LaTorre,” FBI report dated Oct. 30, 1967, 64 “Mine feud shooting pits area in dread,” New York Times , file PH 92-1717, p. 2. Feb. 20, 1928. 87 “Governor Arthur H. James,” Pennsylvania Historical & 65 Later accounts indicate that machine guns were used in Museum Commission, www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/ this attack. server.pt/community/1879-1951/4284/ 66 “‘Murder machine’ killed two union men at Pittston,” arthur_horace_james/469118 , 2011 (accessed March 8, Clearfield PA Progress , Feb. 29, 1928, p. 1. 2011). 67 “Pittston leader shot and killed,” Huntingdon PA Daily 88 “James names coal board,” New York Times , Jan. 25, 1940. News ,” March 2, 1931, p. 2. 89 “Lewis ignores Roosevelt view ,” New York Times , May 8, 68 “‘Murder machine’ killed two union men at Pittston.” 1943; Goodwin, Doris Kearns, No Ordinary Times: Frank- 69 “Miners’ leader admits Wilkes-Barre killing,” New York lin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War Times , April 12, 1928. II , New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994, p. 440-443; Wool- 70 “Mine union leader guilty of killing,” New York Times , ley, John T., and Gerhard Peters, “Franklin D. Roosevelt,” April 15, 1928. The American Presidency Project , University of California – Santa Barbara, 1999, www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/? 71 “Seeks to abolish contract mining,” New York Times , July pid=16416 (accessed March 8, 2011). 29, 1928. 90 “Steven Joseph LaTorre,” FBI report dated Oct. 30, 1967, file PH 92-1717, p. 2-3.

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91 “La Cosa Nostra,” FBI report dated Oct. 8, 1963, file 92- Fake , New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2010, p. 6054-513, p. 3-4; Passenger manifest of S.S. James Lykes , 222-223; Bonanno, p. 198-200. Joseph Bonanno admitted arrived New York City on June 1, 1945. making the trip but – understandably – denied that it had 92 “La Cosa Nostra,” FBI report dated Oct. 8, 1963, file 92- anything to do with drug trafficking. 6054-513, p. 4; “Prisoner called suicide,” New York Times , 109 Bonanno, p. 214. Feb. 10, 1945, p. 13. 110 Reuter; “65 hoodlums seized in raid and run out of upstate 93 Frasca, Dom, King of Crime , New York: Crown Publishers, village,” New York Times , Nov. 15, 1957, p. 1; “How hood- 1959, p. 145. A similar story is related by Cook, Fred J., lum rally went haywire,” Syracuse Herald Journal , Nov. Mafia! ,Greenwich, CT: Fawcett Publications, 1973, p. 169 16, 1957, p. 1; Hart, Arthur V., “Meeting of hoodlums, -170. Apalachin, New York, November 14, 1957,” FBI report 94 Mafia historians traditionally insert Joseph Barbara be- dated July 8, 1958, file AL 62-1152. Law enforcement tween John Sciandra and Russell Bufalino as northeast agencies eventually concluded that a number of important Pennsylvania Mafia boss. However, the authors believe underworld figures managed to avoid detection simply by that Barbara was an Endicott-based in Stefa- remaining within the Barbara home. They accounted for no Magaddino’s western New York crime family and nev- the Apalachin attendance of representa- er a Mafia boss. tives and of Buffalo’s Stefano Magaddino in this manner. It is possible that Santo Volpe remained within Barbara’s 95 Russell and Catherine Bufalino lived at 304 East Dorrance Street in Kingston. home. 111 “27 Men of Montedoro believed bosses of all organized 96 United States Treasury Department Bureau of Narcotics, Mafia: The Government’s Secret File on Organized Crime, crime,” Buffalo Evening News , Jan. 23, 1959. New York: Collins, 2007, p. 704. 112 “Say gangsters made plans aboard yacht,” Monessen PA 97 Weart, William G., “G.O.P. call close in Pennsylvania,” Daily Independent , Jan. 21, 1958, p. 1. New York Times , Nov. 9, 1950, p. 29; “Governor John 113 “Santo Volpe death victim.” Sydney Fine, “ Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Com- 114 Ranzal, Edward, “27 Apalachin men indicted by U.S. in mission, http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/ drive on Mafia,” New York Times , May 22, 1959; “All 63 community/1951-present/4285/john_s__fine/471469 , 2011 Apalachin ‘guests’ accused,” Buffalo Courier Express , May (accessed March 9, 2011). 22, 1959. 98 “Santo Volpe death victim,” Wilkes-Barre Record , Dec. 3, 115 “Host at Apalachin has heart attack,” New York Times , 1958, p. 6. May 30, 1959; “‘Harassment’ killed Apalachin host, his 99 Riesel, Victory, “Inside Labor,” Uniontown PA Evening attorney, Travis, contends,” Binghamton Press , June 19, Standard , Feb. 21, 1961, p. 4; “List Fine arraignment,” 1959. Uniontown PA Evening Standard , Feb. 1, 1962, p. 8. Gov- 116 Bonanno, p. 220-222. ernor John Fine is generally remembered for helping 117 “Second Apalachin figure suffers heart attack,” Buffalo Pittsbugh Mafia boss John S. LaRocca avoid deportation. Evening News , Oct. 29, 1959. The Immigration and Naturalization Service had based a 118 Perlmutter, Emanuel, “Apalachin trial frees defendant,” September 1954 case for deportation on an earlier license New York Times , Dec. 10, 1959, p. 28. plate theft conviction. Late in November of 1954, Gover- nor Fine pardoned LaRocca for that theft and backdated 119 Perlmutter, Emanuel, “Apalachin men sentenced; 15 get the pardon to May 19, 1954, four months before the INS maximum 5 years,” New York Times , Jan. 14, 1960, p. 1. action. 120 “Text of opinions reversing conspiracy conviction of 20 at 100 “Convictions voided in mine death of 12,” New York Apalachin meeting,” New York Times , Nov. 29, 1960. Times , Feb. 8, 1961; “Ex-Gov. Fine, others face tax charg- 121 Birth records of Montedoro, Sicily, certificate no. 156. es,” Uniontown PA Evening Standard , Feb. 7, 1962, p. 6. Rosario Alfredo Bufalino was born Sept. 29, 1903, to Ange- August J. Lippi was a resident of Kingston, PA. lo (sulfur miner) and Cristina Buccoleri Bufalino. 101 “Mine union leader guilty of bribery,” New York Times , 122 Frank, Stanley. June 21, 1960; “2 guilty in deaths of 12 at coal mine,” New 123 “Steven Joseph LaTorre,” FBI report dated Dec. 28, 1966, York Times , July 15, 1960. file PH 92-1717, p.1. 102 “Union aide and mine officials indicted by U.S. in pay- 124 “Knox mine disaster,” Underground miners, offs,” New York Times , March 4, 1959. www.undergroundminers.com/knox.html , 2005 (accessed 103 “Ex-Gov. Fine denies evading U.S. taxes,” New York March 9, 2011); “Historical markers: Knox mine disaster,” Times , May 23, 1962. explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=398 , 2010 104 “Fine indicted again,” New York Times , Jan. 13, 1961. (accessed March 9, 2011); “River flood traps 12 miners; 44 rescued in Pennsylvania,” New York Times , Jan. 23, 1959. 105 Hunt, Thomas, “Castro and the Casinos,” Informer: The Journal of American Mafia History , Vol. 2, No. 4, October 125 “Union aide and mine officials indicted by U.S. in payoffs.” 2009, p. 4-27. 126 “Jury indicts seven in cave-in of mine,” New York Times , 106 “Costello is shot entering home; gunman escapes,” New Sept. 9, 1959. York Times , May 3, 1957, p. 1; Bonanno, Joseph, with 127 “2 freed in mine death,” New York Times , April 10, 1960. Sergio Lalli, A Man of Honor: The Autobiography of Jo- 128 “Mine union leader guilty of bribery,” New York Times , seph Bonanno, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1983, p. June 21, 1960. 184. 129 “Dismiss coal disaster convictions,” Uniontown PA Morn- 107 “Underworld figure murdered in Bronx,” New York ing Herald , Feb. 8, 1961, p. 1. Early in 1962, August Lippi Times , June 18, 1957, p. 1; “Anastasia slain in a hotel was charged with embezzlement. The First National Bank here; led Murder, Inc.,” New York Times , Oct. 26, 1957, p. of Exeter, of which Lippi was board chairman, reported a 1; Bonanno, p. 207. $397, 984 shortage. Lippi was arrested just as he was 108 Reuter; Sterling, Claire, Octopus: The Long Reach of the preparing to leave on a South American vacation. Lippi International , New York: W.W. Norton & also faced an unrelated tax evasion charge. Lippi was Company, 1990, p. 82-83; Alexander, Shana, p. 108-109; eventually convicted of conspiracy and bank . He The Pizza Connection: Lawyers, Money, Drugs, Mafia, served a five-year sentence at Lewisburg Federal Prison. New York: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1988, p. 108-109; Ser- 130 “2 freed in mine deaths,” New York Times , July 12, 1960. vadio, Gaia, Mafioso: A History of the Mafia from its Ori- 131 “2 guilty in deaths of 12 at coal mine,” New York Times , gins to the Present Day, London: Secker & Warburg, 1976, July 15, 1960. p. 189; Newark, Tim, : The Real and the

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132 “Convictions voided in mine death of 12,” New York Times , Feb. 8, 1961; “Dismiss coal disaster convictions.” 133 “Fine named second time,” Uniontown PA Evening Stand- Images from authors’ collections except as noted: ard , Jan. 13, 1961, p. 9; “Fine indicted again,” New York Times , Jan. 13, 1961. Cover—Pennsylvania State Archives. 134 “Ex-Gov. Fine victor in tax evasion case,” New York Page 4—Explore PA History website. Times , May 24, 1962; “U.S. drops tax cheat case against Page 8—Montana: Buffalo Courier Express Collec- ex-Governor Fine,” New York Times , Aug. 21, 1964. tion courtesy of Buffalo State College Archives. 135 “Ex-union leader jailed,” New York Times , March 11, 1961. Page 10—Washington Times , April 29, 1907. 136 “Conspiracy trial for three men is under way,” Clearfield Page 11—Stefano LaTorre passport application. PA Progress , Dec. 10, 1969, p. 7. Page 12—Santo Volpe passport application. 137 “R. Bufalino tells press his story of harassment,” Gettys- burg Times , July 7, 1970, p. 4. Page 15—Top and left photos from Library of Con- 138 Montgomery, Paul L., “18 charged after F.B.I. raids on gress. Bottom photo from Pennsylvania State crime figures upstate and in Pennsylvania,” New York Archives. Times , April 22, 1973, p. 30. Page 21—Pennsylvania Capitol Preservation Com- 139 “24 men are indicted by U.S. in Buffalo,” New York Times , May 1, 1973, p. 46. mittee. 140 “Dio and two found guilty of plot to sell labor peace,” New Page 26—Wyoming Historical and Geological Soci- York Times , July 26, 1957, p. 1; Loftus, Joseph A., “Hoffa ety. is linked to Dio in scheme to control port,” New York Page 27—U.S. Mine Safety and Health Admin- Times , Aug. 1, 1957, p. 1; Loftus, Joseph A., “Hoffa bid to Dio on union charged,” New York Times , Aug. 17, 1957, p. istration Report on Knox Mine Disaster, 1959. 1. 141 Hoffa, James R., as told to Donald I. Rogers, The Trials of , Chicago: Henry Regnery Company, 1970, p. 157; Kennedy, Robert F., The Enemy Within , New York: 155 Brandt, Charles. Before his 2003 death, Harper & Brothers, 1960, p. 61. reportedly agreed to participate in hundreds of hours of 142 “Senators blast Hoffa’s ties with mobsters,” St. Joseph MI candid interviews. Brandt constructed his book on those Herald-Press , July 25, 1962, p. 1. interviews. According to Brandt’s book, Sheeran admitted 143 “Claim Teamster funds invested in Strip hotels in Las to personally killing Hoffa on orders from his underworld Vegas,” Nevada State Journal , May 12, 1962, p. 18; boss Russell Bufalino. “Teamster funds face U.S. probe,” Nevada State Journal , 156 “Bufalino, chieftain in Mafia, arrested in an extortion Aug. 22, 1962, p. 1; plot,” New York Times , Oct. 28, 1976, p. 29. 144 President’s Commission on Organized Crime, The Edge: 157 “Reputed Mafia boss guilty of extortion,” New York Times , Organized Crime, Business, and Labor Unions , Washing- Aug. 11, 1977, p. 21. ton D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1986, p. 91; 158 “Bufalino sentenced on extortion charge,” New York “Jury convicts top Teamster in New Jersey,” Marion OH Times , Oct. 22, 1977, p. 17. Star , June 12, 1963. 159 Pennsylvania Crime Commission, “Organized crime in 145 “Dio and two found guilty of plot to sell labor peace;” Pennsylvania: Traditional and non-traditional,” Report “ and Hoffa linked by tape recording,” The prepared for the Permanent Subcommittee on Investiga- Berkshire Eagle , Aug. 9, 1957, p. 3; “Senators blast tions, , April 15, 1988. Hoffa’s ties with mobsters;” Kennedy, p. 80-81. 160 “Bufalino, freed, faces a deportation threat,” Gettysburg 146 Thomas, Jo, “Hoffa investigators pin hopes on assertions Times , May 8, 1981, p. 9. by an underworld informer,” New York Times , Feb. 11, 1979, p. 26. Frank Sheeran was a Russell Bufalino friend, 161 Lubasch, Arnold H., “Man convicted of a conspiracy to kill who became president of Teamsters Local 326 in Wil- witness,” New York Times , Oct. 24, 1981. mington, Delaware, and a close ally of Jimmy Hoffa. 162 “Russell Bufalino, ‘Don of Dons,’ dies,” Wilkes-Barre Sheeran, Bufalino and Philadelphia Mafia boss Angelo Times Leader , Feb. 26, 1994. Bruno were codefendants in the same racketeering case in 163 “Steven Joseph LaTorre,” FBI report dated Oct. 30, 1967, 1979. file PH 92-1717, p. 4-5. 147 “Hoffa conviction upheld in jury tampering case,” New 164 “Steven Joseph LaTorre,” FBI report dated July 30, 1971, York Times , Dec. 13, 1966, p. 1. file PH 92-1717, p. 2; “Steven Joseph LaTorre,” FBI report 148 Wehrwein, Austin C., “Hoffa convicted on use of funds; dated Nov. 29, 1972, file PH 92-1717, p. 1. faces 20 years,” New York Times , July 27, 1964, p. 1. 165 “Steven Joseph LaTorre,” FBI report dated Oct. 30, 1967, 149 Jones, David R., “Hoffa, manacled, is led into prison,” file PH 92-1717, p. 4-5. New York Times , March 8, 1967, p. 1. 166 “Steven Joseph LaTorre,” FBI report dated Nov. 27, 1970, 150 Salpukas, Agis, “Five subpoenaed in Hoffa inquiry,” New file PH 92-1717, p. 1. York Times, Dec. 4, 1975, p. 1; Salpukas, Agis, “Ex-official 167 “Russell Bufalino, ‘Don of Dons,’ dies,” of Teamsters Union is heard by Hoffa grand jury,” New 168 Pennsylvania Crime Commission, April 15, 1988; McGar- York Times , Sept. 6, 1975, p. 15. vey, Brendan, “Billy’s back in town,” Philadelphia Citypa- 151 Graham, Fred P., “Nixon commutes Hoffa sentence, curbs per , March 4-10, 2004, www.citypaper.net/articles/2004-03 union role,” New York Times , Dec. 24, 1971, p. 1. -04/cb2.shtml (accessed Nov. 25, 2008). 152 Thomas, Jo. 169 Nissley, Erin L., and Chris Birk, “Reputed mobster indict- 153 Brandt, Charles, , Hanover NH: ed,” Scranton Times-Tribune , June 2, 2006. Steerforth Press, 2004, Chapter 27. 170 Nissley, Erin L., “Recent indictment first for D’Elia,” 154 Salpukas, Agis, “3 Hoffa suspects in police line-up,” New Wilkes-Barre Citizens’ Voice , June 7, 2006. Turncoat Phil- York Times , Dec. 7, 1975; Buder, Leonard, “U.S. hopes a adelphia Mafia boss Ralph Natale told authorities in April Teamster’s slaying will provide leads in the Hoffa case,” 2001 that D’Elia was in command of the former Bufalino New York Times , March 23, 1978, p. 27. organization.

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