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*‘Should the racketeer everbecome involved in criminal li-• * - %tigation, every one of his seemingly charitable acts will be paraded before prosecutors, judges and juries ”It becomes a question of who to believe.Russell* Bufalino of JCihgston? near * Wilkes-Barre, ’ was once described by the U.S; Bureau of Narcotics-.as “oiie of the most c ruthless and powerful leader's of the Mafias in. the United States-^engaged in\ nan^ptics*smuggling, la1xr racketeering, and’ dealing in stolen jewels and furs,1’ ' * 'Says a neighbor *1 “.Russ and Carrie {Bufalino’s,.wife) are the nicest people. They’ve been our neighbors for over 20 years/’ Kingston Police Chief John Reese. “As far as I know Bufa-lino4s~anJdeal.xitizen._Ijnever,-,had to give him a traffic ticket,”Bufahno’s wife: “Russ always said if you can’t help other people there is no use living.”Bufalino says he is in the computer business. The FBI rejects that According to research by the Crime Commission, the first Mafia-connected immigrant of record in Pennsylvania wasMSteven LaTorre, who came from Sicily in 1880 and settled in the Pittsjton area of Luzerne County. Other Mafia figures followed, cutting out their territories, sometimes violently.The first boss of the Pittsburgh-southwestern Pennsylvania family was* John Bazzano Sr , another Sicilian immigrant t who arrived in the 1890s.He is believed to have or/ •dered- in 1929* the execution of* three - brothers of the rival Volpe gang in Pittsburgh after a jurisdictional dispute in that K city’s bootlegging underworld.* . Two of the brothers survived and'.carried their complaint to •the Cosa Nostra Commission, set up to arbitrate family* deputes and keep tabs on Mafia operations. *In 1932 Bazzano was lured to a ISrooklyn testimonial dinner-in his honor, where Cosa Nostra* *leaders stabbed him to death with ice picks The Crime Commission identifies the current Cosa Nostra boss m southwestern Pennsylvania as John Sebastian La-Rocca, who took control in 1956.Twp years earlier the U.S. Justice Department tried to deport him, but was rebuked by then Gov. John Fine. Fine, granted LaRocca a pardon from revious lottery and larceny convictions, the crimes the government was basing its caseon.Fine issued the pardon after the close of the deportation^ hearings, but in an unprecedented move dated it to fall before the hearings concluded;thus nullifying the government’s case. _Two of six caporegimes, inthe* LaRocca family—Frank J., * Rosa of the Penn Hills section of Allegheny County, and Jo- * sepfr Sica of the Wilmerding-Turtle Creek seption-Z-currently are under -‘.indictment on ex* tortion charges, according to the federal government. *Cosa Nostra families are divided into territories, supervised by the caporegimes who oversee a number (usually 10) of “soldati” or street soldiers.In addition to LaRocca, the Crime Commission identifies the other Uosa Nostra bosses in the state as: .—Angelo Bruno, Philadelphia and southeastern Pennsylvania —Bufalino, northeastern Pennsylvania.—Sam DeCavalcante, Bucks County.The commission said Stefano Magaddino of Buffalo, N.Y., controlled organized crime in Erie County, Pa., until his death last year.
Newspaper Details
Waynesboro Record Herald
Waynesboro, Pennsylvania, US
Wed, Aug 13, 1975
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
FL, USA 27 Nov 2021
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