Russell Bufalino

Rosario "Russell" Alberto Bufalino , also known as McGee and The Old Man (born October 29, 1903 in Montedoro , Sicily , † February 25, 1994 in Kingston , Pennsylvania ) was an Italian-American mobster of the American Cosa Nostra and from 1959 to 1994 the official head of the Bufalino family named after him from the northeastern region of Pennsylvania, which is also known as the Pittston Crime Family and the Scranton Wilkes-Barre Family .

Life

Early years in New York State

Rosario Alberto Bufalino was born on October 29, 1903 in Montedoro ( Sicily ) and emigrated with his family to the United States in Buffalo ( New York ) during his childhood , where he became a criminal as a teenager. A close ally at the time was John C. Montana , who later became an important figure in the Buffalo underworld, and consigliere of the Magaddino family .

As a young man, Bufalino participated in traditional underworld businesses such as gambling, extortion, robbery, and worked as a debt collector. When prohibition began in 1919 , Bufalino was quickly drawn into the lucrative new business of smuggling. In the early 1920s, Bufalino began working with Joseph "Joe the Barber" Barbara - also a young New York criminal. Both were Sicilians and had mutual friends in the Buffalo Underworld. Even when he was in his mid-twenties, his criminal record included arrests for theft, trafficking in stolen goods, drug trafficking and conspiracy to obstruct justice.

Bufalino soon moved with his wife Carmela (Caroline) Sciandra to Endicott, New York, in Barbara's territory, from where Barbara, as the underboss of the Pittston family (later the Bufalino family), did operations in the central New York area and in the northeast Pennsylvania region for the Magaddino Family and Pittston Family. Bufalino and Barbara developed a close working relationship during the 1930s.

Rise in Pennsylvania

Barbara took the helm of the family in 1940 and named Bufalino his “Underboss”. At this time, Bufalino moved to Kingston, Pennsylvania to be able to operate in a more central location for the new responsibilities entrusted to him.

In November 1957, Bufalino organized the famous Apalachin meeting , convened by New York mobster Vito Genovese and held at Barbara's home in Apalachin, New York. It was a gathering of almost all the bosses of the American Cosa Nostra, but it was stormed by the local police. A total of 62 people were arrested and identified; including Bufalino. Due to the Apalachin fiasco, the American Cosa Nostra was exposed after decades of anonymity and is now perceived as a nationwide organization and threat; which de facto scratched Barbara's reputation in the underworld. This humiliation, combined with increased law enforcement and media scrutiny, drove Barbara to step back.

At the head of the family

Barbara suffered a heart attack in 1956 and appointed Bufalino as acting boss due to his health problems. In June 1959 Barbara died of another heart attack, and with Barbara's death the so-called Mafia Commission recognized Russell Bufalino as the organization's new official boss. Bufalino soon became the epitome of a respected, vile and intelligent mafia boss who could delegate and thereby hide his actual power. He was respected by all and never showed his wealth and power. Bufalino also worked increasingly with the Genovese family from New York City during the 1960s .

The name Russell Bufalino was mentioned at the so-called Valachi Hearings of 1963, at which a US Senate committee examined organized crime across America. The committee later named Bufalino "one of the most ruthless and powerful mafia bosses in the United States". It was also alleged that he had close contacts with the CIA and was allegedly involved in the CIA-Cosa Nostra operation Mongoose for the planned assassination of Cuban President Fidel Castro . Some conspiracy theorists claim to this day that the American Cosa Nostra was involved in the assassination attempt on John F. Kennedy and that Bufalino also played a role in it. However, there is no credible evidence for this.

In 1974, Bufalino began expanding his family's influence to upstate New York . The death of the notorious Buffalo chief Stefano Magaddino had divided the family there and reduced their power. Bufalino sent family members to the highland region to set up gambling operations and examine possible investments in the construction industry.

Imprisonments and last years

Bufalino was charged with extortion in 1977 and sentenced to three years in prison in 1978. The main witness in the trial was Mafioso Michael "Mike Rizzi" Rizzitello of the Dragna family in Los Angeles . Prior to his conviction, Bufalino took steps to reduce a longer sentence. He appointed his cousin and consigliere Edward Sciandra as acting boss and withdrew from the day-to-day business of the family. As a result of the testimony of Pentito Aladena "Jimmy the Weasel" Fratianno - also a member of the Dragna family who became a government witness in the late 1970s - Bufalino was charged again in 1981 and sentenced to ten years in prison for being Fratianno Had given orders to murder 1977 court witness Rizzitello.

In 1989 Bufalino was released from prison after 7½ years and William D'Elia was appointed by him as the new incumbent boss. Despite his advanced age, he continued to have a significant impact on the activities of the Cosa Nostra and was continuously monitored by federal agencies. He died of natural causes on February 25, 1994 at the age of 90 at the Nesbitt Memorial Medical Center in Kingston, after which D'Elia officially became the new head of the family. Bufalino was buried in Denison Cemetery in Forty Fort ( Luzerne County ). He had always denied being a Mafia boss and always claimed he was in the Pennsylvania apparel business and the Florida computer business.

In the movie

• In 2019, The Irishman by Martin Scorsese , a film about the hit man Frank "The Irishman" Sheeran , who was an associate of the Bufalino family, was released. The focus of the film is on the mafia killer Frank Sheeran and, above all, his role in the disappearance of the influential union leader Jimmy Hoffa . In addition to Robert De Niro , Al Pacino , Ray Romano , Bobby Cannavale and Harvey Keitel , Joe Pesci was in the role of Russell Bufalino in front of the camera.

literature

• Matt Birkbeck : The Quiet Don: The Untold Story of Mafia Kingpin Russell Bufalino . Berkley, 2013, ISBN 978-0-425-26685-4 .

Web links

The American Mafia - The Irishman and the Quiet Don

Individual evidence

1. ^ The New York Times - I Heard You Paint Houses
2. ↑ The Sun - The mother of all Godfather movies: Gangster film legends Pesci, De Niro, Pacino and Keitel unite for new mob blockbuster based on Frank Sheeran
3. ↑ https://books.google.ca/books?id=0uREAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA1016&dq=russell+bufalino+born+october+1903&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjk8NDhmpHmAhXmg-AKufalino=BkEQ620AEIKober20 % 201903 & f = false
4. ^ Lorna MacDonald Czarnota - Wicked Niagara: The Sinister Side of the Niagara Frontier
5. ^ A Wiser Guy - Russell Bufalino
6. ↑ The Victoria Advocate - Old Mafia Myth Turns Up Again In Move Against Apalachin Mob
7. ^ New York Times - 18 Charged After FBI Raids on Crime Figures Upstate and in Pennsylvania
8. ^ ^{A b} The American Mafia - Crime Bosses of Pittson
9. ^ Charles Brandt - I Heard You Paint Houses
10. ^ Matt Birkbeck - The Quiet Don: The Untold Story of Mafia Kingpin Russell Bufalino
11. ^ New York Times - Man convicted of a Conspiracy to kill Witness
12. ^ Find a Grave - Russell Bufalino
13. ↑ Esquire - Everything We Know About Martin Scorsese's 'The Irishman' (So Far)