by chin_gigante » Tue Feb 11, 2025 3:48 pm
I believe it was Adrian Humphreys who first reported that Rocco Luppino was a member of the Buffalo family, having been made a capo around early 2015. In conveying this information, Humphreys specifically cited as sources ‘transcripts and summaries entered as exhibits’ in criminal proceedings against Domenico Violi.
The police evidence gathered during the three-year probe claim the organisation was being resuscitated as the last reputed boss, Leonard (The Calzone) Falzone, was ailing. He died in 2016.
The reorganisation seemed to begin in 2014.
Violi himself said he was inducted into the Buffalo family as a ‘made’ member in January 2015, according to documents, and around the same time, Rocco Luppino, Giacomo Luppino’s son, was allegedly named ‘captain’ of the group’s outpost in Canada; a younger Luppino relative was asked if he wished to also be ‘made’.
Adrian Humphreys, ‘Shocking mob trial allegation: Hamilton crime figure was Underboss of Buffalo Mafia’,
National Post, 3 December 2018,
https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/sh ... falo-mafia.
In January 2019, Molly Hays reported for The Globe and Mail that Natale Luppino was also a Buffalo member and that Cece Luppino was the ‘younger relative’ who had been offered membership. Again, ‘court documents’ and ‘wire transcript excerpts’ were cited as the source of this information.
Rocco Luppino and his brother Natale Luppino are both ‘made’ members of Buffalo’s Todaro crime family, with Rocco holding the title of captain, according to court documents filed in a recent cross-border mafia takedown…According to wire transcript excerpts in that case, Giuseppe Violi told an associate – who, unbeknownst to him was a police agent – back in February, 2015, that Cece Luppino had been approached about becoming a ‘made’ member.
Molly Hays, ‘Hamilton police investigate homicide at mobster’s home’,
Globe and Mail, 31 January 2019,
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/ ... ters-home/.
Professor Anna Sergi also directly cited debrief reports from Project Otremens in her 2022 article ‘Mafia Borderland’. The information Sergi gathered from these reports corroborated what Humphreys and Hays wrote about Rocco and Natale Luppino being Buffalo members and Cece Luppino being offered membership.
Sergi made specific reference to the fact that (as B pointed out above) protocol required that Joe Todaro be the one to tell both Natale and Rocco Luppino about their nephew’s promotion to underboss, and that both Luppinos had been involved in conversations with Todaro about whether to recognise other cosa nostra members.
The intercepted conversations Sergi cited are laid out below. I have reorganised them in chronological order but the descriptions under the dates are taken verbatim from Sergi’s article (a couple of clarifying additions of mine are in square brackets – those in standard parentheses are from the original article).
11 February 2015:
J Violi stated that Cece Luppino was asked if he wanted to be involved (be made), Cece told his dad [Rocco Luppino] if he could make money then he would be involved, if no money than he doesn’t want to be involved; that there are too many headaches. J Violi stated that Cece told his father he watched his father struggle for 30 years, and that Cece does not want to struggle for 30 years; and if he does have to then he doesn’t want it.
23 November 2016:
The Agent [Morena] stated that Joe Todaro had told Natale Luppino that he did not recognise Joe and Paolo Cuntrera as made members of a crime family.
7 December 2016:
Rocco Luppino agreed that they [Joe and Paolo Cuntrera] should not be recognised, who knew if they were even made in Italy. However, a high-ranking member of the NYC Bonanno family had introduced them as ‘friends of ours’.
1 November 2017:
D Violi repeated that ‘he’ (Joe Todaro) told D Violi to let ‘him’ (Joe Todaro) tell ‘them’ (the Uncles, Rocco and Natale Luppino). The Agent agreed; that if they (Uncles) had heard it from D Violi it would be the wrong way. D Violi stated that he had actually told ‘him’ (Joe Todaro) that D Violi would not tell them; that then ‘he’ (Joe Todaro) said it.
Anna Sergi, ‘Mafia Borderland: Narratives, Traits, and Expectations of Italian-American Mafias in Ontario and the Niagara Region’,
Journal of Borderland Studies 39, no 3 (2022): 545-67,
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10 ... 22.2151036.
In the same article, Sergi also referenced pre-trial documents from Operation Canadian Connection in Reggio Calabria. This laid out further corroboration, this time from an ‘ndrangheta source, that the Luppinos were affiliated with the Buffalo family. Sergi cited an intercepted conversation between two ‘ndrangheta affiliates connected to the Commisso clan in Siderno who were discussing the murder of Cece Luppino. One of the affiliates then said of Natale Luppino, ‘He was going with the Sicilians, you know…the way I understand it, they hang around with the Sicilians.’
The US Attorney’s Office press release following the indictments in the Eastern District of New York also acknowledged that ‘members of the Todaro organised crime family’ had been arrested in Project Otremens.
In a coordinated operation, Canadian law enforcement authorities today arrested nine organised crime members and associates in Canada, including members of the Todaro organised crime family, who are charged with, among other crimes, narcotics trafficking.
US Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of New York, ‘Members and Associates of Gambino and Bonanno Organized Crime Families Arrested in Coordinated US-Canadian Takedown’, 9 November 2017,
https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/me ... s-arrested.
I believe it was Adrian Humphreys who first reported that Rocco Luppino was a member of the Buffalo family, having been made a capo around early 2015. In conveying this information, Humphreys specifically cited as sources ‘transcripts and summaries entered as exhibits’ in criminal proceedings against Domenico Violi.
[quote]The police evidence gathered during the three-year probe claim the organisation was being resuscitated as the last reputed boss, Leonard (The Calzone) Falzone, was ailing. He died in 2016.
The reorganisation seemed to begin in 2014.
Violi himself said he was inducted into the Buffalo family as a ‘made’ member in January 2015, according to documents, and around the same time, Rocco Luppino, Giacomo Luppino’s son, was allegedly named ‘captain’ of the group’s outpost in Canada; a younger Luppino relative was asked if he wished to also be ‘made’.
Adrian Humphreys, ‘Shocking mob trial allegation: Hamilton crime figure was Underboss of Buffalo Mafia’, [i]National Post[/i], 3 December 2018, https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/shocking-mob-trial-allegation-hamilton-crime-figure-was-underboss-of-buffalo-mafia. [/quote]
In January 2019, Molly Hays reported for The Globe and Mail that Natale Luppino was also a Buffalo member and that Cece Luppino was the ‘younger relative’ who had been offered membership. Again, ‘court documents’ and ‘wire transcript excerpts’ were cited as the source of this information.
[quote]Rocco Luppino and his brother Natale Luppino are both ‘made’ members of Buffalo’s Todaro crime family, with Rocco holding the title of captain, according to court documents filed in a recent cross-border mafia takedown…According to wire transcript excerpts in that case, Giuseppe Violi told an associate – who, unbeknownst to him was a police agent – back in February, 2015, that Cece Luppino had been approached about becoming a ‘made’ member.
Molly Hays, ‘Hamilton police investigate homicide at mobster’s home’, [i]Globe and Mail[/i], 31 January 2019, https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-hamilton-police-investigate-homicide-at-mobsters-home/. [/quote]
Professor Anna Sergi also directly cited debrief reports from Project Otremens in her 2022 article ‘Mafia Borderland’. The information Sergi gathered from these reports corroborated what Humphreys and Hays wrote about Rocco and Natale Luppino being Buffalo members and Cece Luppino being offered membership.
Sergi made specific reference to the fact that (as B pointed out above) protocol required that Joe Todaro be the one to tell both Natale and Rocco Luppino about their nephew’s promotion to underboss, and that both Luppinos had been involved in conversations with Todaro about whether to recognise other cosa nostra members.
The intercepted conversations Sergi cited are laid out below. I have reorganised them in chronological order but the descriptions under the dates are taken verbatim from Sergi’s article (a couple of clarifying additions of mine are in square brackets – those in standard parentheses are from the original article).
[quote]11 February 2015:
J Violi stated that Cece Luppino was asked if he wanted to be involved (be made), Cece told his dad [Rocco Luppino] if he could make money then he would be involved, if no money than he doesn’t want to be involved; that there are too many headaches. J Violi stated that Cece told his father he watched his father struggle for 30 years, and that Cece does not want to struggle for 30 years; and if he does have to then he doesn’t want it.
23 November 2016:
The Agent [Morena] stated that Joe Todaro had told Natale Luppino that he did not recognise Joe and Paolo Cuntrera as made members of a crime family.
7 December 2016:
Rocco Luppino agreed that they [Joe and Paolo Cuntrera] should not be recognised, who knew if they were even made in Italy. However, a high-ranking member of the NYC Bonanno family had introduced them as ‘friends of ours’.
1 November 2017:
D Violi repeated that ‘he’ (Joe Todaro) told D Violi to let ‘him’ (Joe Todaro) tell ‘them’ (the Uncles, Rocco and Natale Luppino). The Agent agreed; that if they (Uncles) had heard it from D Violi it would be the wrong way. D Violi stated that he had actually told ‘him’ (Joe Todaro) that D Violi would not tell them; that then ‘he’ (Joe Todaro) said it.
Anna Sergi, ‘Mafia Borderland: Narratives, Traits, and Expectations of Italian-American Mafias in Ontario and the Niagara Region’, [i]Journal of Borderland Studies[/i] 39, no 3 (2022): 545-67, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08865655.2022.2151036. [/quote]
In the same article, Sergi also referenced pre-trial documents from Operation Canadian Connection in Reggio Calabria. This laid out further corroboration, this time from an ‘ndrangheta source, that the Luppinos were affiliated with the Buffalo family. Sergi cited an intercepted conversation between two ‘ndrangheta affiliates connected to the Commisso clan in Siderno who were discussing the murder of Cece Luppino. One of the affiliates then said of Natale Luppino, ‘He was going with the Sicilians, you know…the way I understand it, they hang around with the Sicilians.’
The US Attorney’s Office press release following the indictments in the Eastern District of New York also acknowledged that ‘members of the Todaro organised crime family’ had been arrested in Project Otremens.
[quote]In a coordinated operation, Canadian law enforcement authorities today arrested nine organised crime members and associates in Canada, including members of the Todaro organised crime family, who are charged with, among other crimes, narcotics trafficking.
US Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of New York, ‘Members and Associates of Gambino and Bonanno Organized Crime Families Arrested in Coordinated US-Canadian Takedown’, 9 November 2017, https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/members-and-associates-gambino-and-bonanno-organized-crime-families-arrested. [/quote]