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2 City Men Deny Crime ConnectionBy BETH GRACE Herald-Star Staff WriterSTEUBENVILLE - “I’m clean as a whistle.”“I belong to my own family. 1 have four kids and 17 grandchildren. I take care of them, no others.”Two city men named as heads of organized crime in Steubenville during federal testimony this week issued angry denials to those charges.James Tripodi of 638 Broadway and Cosmo Quat-trone of 2407 Alexander Manor East were named as former members of the LaRocca crime family and charged with being “in control of Steubenville Tuesday during testimony by-Pennsylvania Crime Commission Chairman Malcolm Lazin before a federal investigating committee.While Lazin Friday stood by his report to the Senate committee, Tripodi and Quattrone, who have been residents of Steubenville since the mid 1920s, maintain they have been falsely accused and are threatening lawsuits.“This is all a lie, Tripodi said. I have lived in Steubenville since 1924 and I ran a legitimate business (The Venetian Restaurant). I got to find out where they got my name, whether it came from Washington or here.“I’ve got to find somebody tosue,' he said.Tripodi and Quattrone have known each other all their lives, since they were born and raised in the same town in Italy. Quattrone said the two men are second cousins.“We know each other all our lives, Tripodi said. We are good friends, but we run separate businesses.”Quattrone called the allegations “1,000 percent false. I don’t understand it. I never did anything bad.” He said he has contacted a lawyer but does not know how far he will press his case.“I don’t know nothing about it,” Quattrone said. “I’m clean as a whistle.In a telephone interview Friday. Lazin, who heads the PCC through its Philadelphia office, identified Tripodi as a former capo lt;a degree of rank within a mafia family) for the LaRocca family, which was headquartered in Pittsburgh. He also named Quattrone as an assistant to Tripodi who also was at one time a member of the LaRocca family.“Both men according to our report,” Lazin said, “are believed to be in control of Steubenville.The LaRocca family also is moving into power along the eastern portion of Ohio and has centered its efforts in Cleveland and Youngstown,Lazin said.The PCC has been continuing its independent investigation into organized crime in Pennsylvania and surrounding states and has joined by sharing its information with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Organized Crime Strike Force, headquartered in Cleveland.He refused comment on whether local authorities in Jefferson County have been notified and refused to provide specific information regarding the commission’s charges . against Tripodi and Quattrone.Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney Stephen Stern said the information released during the federal testimony is “not surprising.”There is no ongoing investigation into the charges locally because while the prosecutor maintains organized crime in the county exists, county Sheriff George Thomas and city Police Chief George Mavromatis both have gone on record saying it does not.“My office is the lawyer for the county,” Stern said' Our investigative branch is local law enforcement. I say it's out there and they say it is not. So where does that leave us? ’ ’
Newspaper Details
Herald Star
Steubenville, Ohio, US
Sat, Feb 26, 1983
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Cincinnati A.
OH, USA 11 May 2025
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