History
La Cosa Nostra (LCN) in Pittston originated in the 1880s, with one of the earliest known Sicilian Mafia members residing in the city being Steven La Torre, who settled in Pittston after immigrating from Montedoro in Sicily. [15] 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, the Italian lottery, "black hand" extortion. [16]
Situated in the anthracite Coal Region of Northeastern Pennsylvania, [14] Volpe infiltrate coaling-mining companies and the United Mine Workers Union. [16] During the 1930s, Volpe became a member of the State Coal Commission, and members of his crime family gradually took control of the coal companies and union locals of the region. [15] The family controlled a large territory in Northeastern Pennsylvania—which included Pittston, Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Wyoming, Luzerne, Allentown, Hazleton, Bethlehem, Lancaster, and Easton—as well as Binghampton, Endicott, Endwell, Johnson City, and Auburn, in the Southern Tier of New York state. [7]
Bufalino and Barbara hosting the Apalachin meeting
After the death of boss Giovanni "John" Sciandra in 1949, the family elected Rosario Alberto "Russell" Bufalino to become the new boss of the crime family. [17] [18] [19]
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. [20] [21] [22]
Bufalino era
Russell Bufalino became a powerful Mafia boss. [23] The Bufalino family formed working relationships with other Mafia families as well as non-traditional organized crime groups such as outlaw motorcycle gangs. The organization was permitted to maintain business interests in New York City by the Five Families. [14] The family relied on a New York family for representation on the national Mafia Commission, and the Colombo crime family represented the Bufalinos for many years. [24] Additionally, the Bufalino family maintained a close alliance with the Genovese crime family due to common interests in New York City and northern New Jersey. [25] The family was also increasingly active in Central New York state and South Florida. [14] [26]
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. [27] 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. [28] He was sentenced to ten years imprisonment and released in 1989.
The membership of the Bufalino family was decimated during the 1980s by eight prosecutions, involving 24 people, and eleven deaths. [14] The family ceased inducting new members in the late 1970s due to Bufalino's apparent reluctance to recruit, and the Commission later prohibited the Bufalino family from permitting new members or appointing a new boss. [15]
D'Elia the last boss
Russell Bufalino died on February 25, 1994, of natural causes near Pittston, Pennsylvania. William "Big Billy" D'Elia became the new boss of the Bufalino family after the death of Bufalino. D'Elia started his criminal career in the Bufalino family in the late 1960s as Bufalino's driver, after his late sister married the only son of capo James David Osticco. According to the Pennsylvania Crime Commission, D'Elia was placed in the crew of caporegime Phillip Medico. D'Elia advanced through the ranks of the organization rather quickly, due to the natural attrition of members and indictments in the 1980s and 1990s. He took over the crime family's solid waste rackets and oversaw the traditional Mafia rackets run by the members and associates of the family. D'Elia also attempted to replenish the aging ranks of the family, with limited success. As boss, D'Elia worked with the other crime families in New York City, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Southern Florida, and Los Angeles. In the 1990s, D'Elia was linked to a money laundering scheme involving numerous Northeastern Pennsylvania bookmakers, escort services, corrupt politicians, and associates of Russian organized crime. D'Elia was closely aligned with the Philadelphia crime family. [29] When Philadelphia crime family boss John Stanfa was imprisoned, D'Elia was one of Stanfa's choices as interim caretaker of the family. [30]
On May 31, 2001, agents from the Criminal Investigation Division of the IRS, US 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. [31] On February 26, 2003, D'Elia was banned from entering any Atlantic City, New Jersey, casinos by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, [32] based on information shared by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Pennsylvania Crime Commission. [33]
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. [34] [35] In March 2008, D'Elia pleaded guilty to witness tampering and money laundering. [34] He was sentenced to nine years in prison. [34] D'Elia cooperated with the government and testified against Louis DeNaples, the owner of Mount Airy Casino Resort in the Pocono Mountains. In 2010, D'Elia got two years dropped from his sentence for his assisting the government's investigation against DeNaples. [36]
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. [37] [38]
