Bufalino crime family

The Bufalino crime family, also known as the Pittston crime family, the Pittston–Scranton crime family, the Scranton–Wilkes-Barre crime family, the Northeastern Pennsylvania Mafia, or the Scranton Mafia, was an Italian American Mafia crime family active in Northeastern Pennsylvania, primarily in the cities of Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, and Pittston.

Based in Pennsylvania's Coal Region, the family's power originated in labor racketeering within the coal industry, as well as the garment industry in Pittston and New York City, where the Bufalino family colluded with the Five Families of New York. The family's namesake and longest-serving boss, Russell Bufalino, led the organization until his death in 1994. La Torre formed a group of Montedoresi criminals, which included Santo Volpe. Volpe took over as boss of the Northeastern Pennsylvania crime family after La Torre abdicated the position. Under Volpe's leadership, the family took control of local bootlegging, counterfeiting, Italian lottery, and "black hand" extortion rackets.

In November 1957, boss Russell Bufalino and Buffalo crime family caporegime Joseph Barbara held a national Cosa Nostra meeting at his Apalachin, New York estate. The meeting was preceded by the assassination of Albert Anastasia by a few weeks, as well as a smaller meeting at the New Jersey estate of Ruggiero Boiardo. The Apalachin meeting was attended by about 100 Mafia heads from the U.S., Italy and Cuba. A raid by New York State Police caught many heads of families or their deputies. Many other family heads and their deputies were suspected of being present by law enforcement but evaded detection and capture. All those apprehended were fined, up to $10,000 each, and given prison sentences ranging from three to five years, however, all the convictions were overturned on appeal in 1960.

Bufalino era

thumb|FBI surveillance photo of Buffalo boss Joe Todaro (L) along with Bufalino Underboss Eddie Sciandra (C) and Philadelphia boss Nicodemo Scarfo (R) meeting at Scarfo place in Fort Lauderdale Florida in 1986

300px|thumb|Bufalino crime family chart in 1989

Russell Bufalino became a powerful Mafia boss. He owned at least seven dress factories in the Pittston area and exercised complete control over the region's garment industry. During the 1960s, the family had a membership of 30 or 40 "made men". Additionally, the family maintained a close alliance with the Genovese crime family due to common interests in New York City and northern New Jersey.

After Bufalino was imprisoned in the late 1970s on extortion charges related to the collection of a debt, William "Big Billy" D'Elia became the family acting boss with the support from underboss Edward Sciandra. D'Elia was aided in running the family by captains Anthony Guarnieri, James David Osticco, and Phillip Medico, consigliere Remo Allio, as well as soldiers Angelo Bufalino, John Rizzo, Angelo Son, and Joseph Sperrazza. Bufalino was released from prison in 1980 briefly after serving his sentence for extortion. Towards the end of 1981, Bufalino was again imprisoned after being found guilty of conspiring to kill Jack Napoli, a witness in his 1978 extortion trial. Bufalino learned the whereabouts of Napoli, then in the Witness Protection Program, and conspired with Los Angeles mobster Jimmy Fratianno and another man he met in prison to murder Napoli. Fratianno turned government informant and testified against Bufalino at trial. He was sentenced to ten years imprisonment and released in 1989.

With the decline of Pennsylvania's coal industry, many of the Bufalino family's rackets became less lucrative. The membership of the family was also decimated during the 1980s by eight prosecutions, involving 24 members and associates, and eleven deaths. When Philadelphia crime family boss John Stanfa was imprisoned, D'Elia was one of Stanfa's choices as interim caretaker of the family.

On May 31, 2001, agents from the Criminal Investigation Division of the IRS, U.S. Postal Inspectors, and Pennsylvania State Police executed search warrants at the homes of D'Elia, his mistress Jeanie Stanton, Thomas Joseph, and Marranca, who has been identified as an informant working for the FBI and the Pennsylvania State Police. Marranca also testified on behalf of authorities against Louis DeNaples in front of the Fourth Statewide Investigating Grand Jury, in regards to DeNaples' mob ties and his ownership of the Mount Airy Casino. On February 26, 2003, D'Elia was banned from entering any Atlantic City, New Jersey casinos by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, based on information shared by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Pennsylvania Crime Commission.

On May 31, 2006, D'Elia was indicted on federal charges of laundering $600,000 in illegal drug proceeds obtained from a Florida-based associate of the Bufalino crime family, among others, including Lucchese family associate Phillip "Fipper" Forgione. While D'Elia was free on bail, he solicited a U.S. Customs Agency informant to murder a witness in the case and was remanded to prison until his eventual guilty plea and sentencing. In March 2008, D'Elia pleaded guilty to witness tampering and money laundering.

Status

In 2011, author Dave Janoski interviewed former Pennsylvania Crime Commission investigator James Kanavy who asserted that there is no longer a standalone family in Northeastern Pennsylvania, and that any remnants of the Mafia family would be aligned with the New York families.

Historical leadership

Boss (official and acting)

1900–1905: Tommaso Petto — killed

Former members

Frank Cannone – former soldier, deceased, he ran a bookmaking operation in Binghamton, New York. He operated a large narcotics trafficking ring. In May 1983, Ciotti jumped bail and failed to surrender to authorities after he was sentenced in Pittsburgh to fifteen years in federal prison for conspiracy to import and distribute synthetic heroin, marijuana and cocaine. He was added to the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) 15 Most Wanted Fugitives list and was apprehended at the Sheraton Hotel in Manhattan, New York on March 24, 1985. He was released from federal custody on November 22, 1991. Ciotti died on July 2, 2021, at the age of 92.
Anthony "the Bone" Cozzone - served as bookmaker and accountant during 1950s. He died in 2002.
Joe Genovese - former soldier in the family's Scranton faction. Genovese died of natural causes in May 1982.
Anthony F. Guarnieri – former caporegime, He became a gunman for Murder, Inc. and, in 1939, allegedly killed labor leader Morris Diamond and music publisher Irving Penn. Penn was apparently shot dead after being mistaken for garment union leader Philip Orlofsky. Afterwards, Parisi fled New York for Hazleton, Pennsylvania. He retired from organized crime on December 25, 1982. Krasner had an arrest record beginning in 1944 and was convicted of obscenity charges on at least five occasions, including twice in 1972, in June 1973, and in February 1975. He was involved in a dispute with his business partner, Allen C. Morrow, over control of the pornography empire they built together, during which several adult bookstores were bombed. Krasner paid a contract killer $10,000 to murder Morrow. The hitman informed Morrow of the murder contract and offered to kill Krasner, but Morrow instead alerted authorities. Krasner was convicted of the murder plot in 1977 and was subsequently released on appeal bond. In 1978, Krasner was arrested after allegedly assaulting a clergyman who was picketing one of his porn shops, but charges were later dismissed. Krasner's pornography empire was inherited by his wife and children. After he attempted to become independent of the Bufalino family, Muruca was lured to a barn in Agawam, Massachusetts on August 11, 1981, where he was shot five times by members of the Springfield faction of the Genovese family, on the orders of Anthony Guarnieri. He survived the shooting. Muruca later became a government witness after he was convicted of drug dealing.

References

Sources

Books

Anastasia, George. The Goodfella Tapes (Avon, 1998). .
Brandt, Charles. I Heard You Paint Houses: Frank "The Irishman" Sheeran and the Inside Story of the Mafia, the Teamsters, and the Final Ride of Jimmy Hoffa (Steerforth, 2004). .
Birkbeck, Matt. The Quiet Don: The Untold Story of Mafia Kingpin Russell Bufalino (Berkley/Penguin, 2013).