Buffalo/Ontario Mob Acitivity

[JCB1977]

What began as half-a-joke is involving into a quarter one.

1 What is the source(s) for Natale Luppino and FNU Brandinsi?
2 Was Rocco Luppino identified as a member prior to 2015 (in 2017)? There's a pic of him right out of 1969 with a fro indicating he's been around for awhile.
3 What year did the FBI label Buffalo as Inactive?


ext/dmzx/imageupload/files/83eeec1e3612 ... 2b7880.gif

Where did the cute nicknames come from? "Big Joe" or "The Calzone"? I have never seen LE label either one of those guys as such.

[Wiseguy]

3 What year did the FBI label Buffalo as Inactive?

It was never a situation of them issuing a press release and saying something as definitive as what we saw in the 2017 article. But you can go back and look at the timeline.

The LIUNA Local 210 trusteeship in 1996 was the last really significant mob case out of Buffalo. From that point on, it was sporadic, relatively minor cases here and there. As said, by 2006 the membership was down to 23. That was the same year Local 210 was declared free of mob influence. There were also a number of articles over that time period documenting the decline of the Buffalo family, including the one in 2017. You also dont see Buffalo on any list of remaining families after the 1990s.

[Ivan]

Where did the cute nicknames come from? "Big Joe" or "The Calzone"? I have never seen LE label either one of those guys as such.

neither have I… "the calzone" reeks of Burnstein

[cavita]

3 What year did the FBI label Buffalo as Inactive?

It was never a situation of them issuing a press release and saying something as definitive as what we saw in the 2017 article. But you can go back and look at the timeline.

The LIUNA Local 210 trusteeship in 1996 was the last really significant mob case out of Buffalo. From that point on, it was sporadic, relatively minor cases here and there. As said, by 2006 the membership was down to 23. That was the same year Local 210 was declared free of mob influence. There were also a number of articles over that time period documenting the decline of the Buffalo family, including the one in 2017. You also dont see Buffalo on any list of remaining families after the 1990s.

We can't go by articles documenting the decline of Buffalo. We must defer to the feds

[Wiseguy]

We can't go by articles documenting the decline of Buffalo. We must defer to the feds

I agree direct info from the feds holds more weight. For instance, a press release, indictment, or report holds more weight than an article. But those articles that do cite specific law enforcement sources can't be dismissed. Anyway, if we we all deferring to the feds in the first place, this thread wouldn't be nearly 200 pages long.

[JCB1977]

3 What year did the FBI label Buffalo as Inactive?

It was never a situation of them issuing a press release and saying something as definitive as what we saw in the 2017 article. But you can go back and look at the timeline.

The LIUNA Local 210 trusteeship in 1996 was the last really significant mob case out of Buffalo. From that point on, it was sporadic, relatively minor cases here and there. As said, by 2006 the membership was down to 23. That was the same year Local 210 was declared free of mob influence. There were also a number of articles over that time period documenting the decline of the Buffalo family, including the one in 2017. You also dont see Buffalo on any list of remaining families after the 1990s.

We can't go by articles documenting the decline of Buffalo. We must defer to the feds

I'm not saying Buffalo is dead, obviously, some activity is going on...but if LE labeled them as a non-threat, they typically refer to that on a large scale. Like many other rustbelt cities, the revenue from illegal gambling and other crimes is a fraction of what it once was, especially with the 3 large casinos that are situated in close proximity to Buffalo and Erie, PA which is only about an hour East of Buffalo.

[eboli]

1 What is the source(s) for Natale Luppino and FNU Brandinsi?
2 Was Rocco Luppino identified as a member prior to 2015 (in 2017)? There's a pic of him right out of 1969 with a fro indicating he's been around for awhile.
3 What year did the FBI label Buffalo as Inactive?

1. Here's an article that confirms Rocco and Natale as members - https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/ ... d-a-mafia/
2. FNU Brandinsi was confirmed as member with the 2006 chart, but it might be somebody of the current living members or somebody already dead.
3. The clean up of the Laborers Local 210 from mafia influence was/is considered the nail in the coffin for the Buffalo mob. - https://buffalonews.com/2017/03/19/fbi- ... perations/

[Angelo Santino]

When did the feds release a list of Active Families that first began omitting Buffalo?

[Angelo Santino]

1 What is the source(s) for Natale Luppino and FNU Brandinsi?
2 Was Rocco Luppino identified as a member prior to 2015 (in 2017)? There's a pic of him right out of 1969 with a fro indicating he's been around for awhile.
3 What year did the FBI label Buffalo as Inactive?

1. Here's an article that confirms Rocco and Natale as members - https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/ ... d-a-mafia/
2. FNU Brandinsi was confirmed as member with the 2006 chart, but it might be somebody of the current living members or somebody already dead.
3. The clean up of the Laborers Local 210 from mafia influence was/is considered the nail in the coffin for the Buffalo mob. - https://buffalonews.com/2017/03/19/fbi- ... perations/

1 So Natale Luppino came out of the recent investigation. Domenico Violi was tasked with running the Luppino-Violi crew.
2 3rd article says: "In 2006, Justice Department officials declared that the mob no longer ran the Local 210, having spent 6 years with a court appointed liaison officer.

[Angelo Santino]

Is there any credence to this:
https://aboutthemafia.com/passing-of-le ... falo-mafia

The 81-year-old reputed mobster has been the leader of the fading Cosa Nostra family for approx a decade according to the feds. Falzone took the reigns of the beleaguered crime family back in 2006 when former boss Joseph Todaro Jr. retired and went into legit business. He had a long history in the mafia according to reports dating back all the way to the 1970s serving as consigliere for the Buffalo mob before becoming boss. The once powerful Western New York mafia family has dwindled down to merely a few remaining members of the old guard that once ruled.

Falzone was a powerful force in the Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA) the local labor union for years according to reports. He was a outgoing and well-liked businessman from all accounts but the two-time felon was also feared on the streets. His latest prison stint ended with his release in 1999 after doing a five-year stretch on federal racketeering and loan sharking charges. At the time of his death he was a suspect in multiple murder conspiracies according to federal records. The FBI claim that informants have linked Falzone to the 1980 mafia hit on a young wiseguy named William Sciolino who was believed to supplying the feds with information on wrongdoings of the mobbed up Local 210 union. He was also captured by authorities in late 1989 via a bug in his car discussing a recent mob murder with former mafia captain John “Fat Johnny” Sacco.

According to some reports Falzone had semi-retired in mid 2000s and picked 72 year old Robert “Bobby” Panaro to be the families acting boss. The recent status of the Buffalo crime family is a matter of debate as some believe the family remains viable and has even moved in a new younger direction. But most including many in law enforcement believe the Buffalo mafia is all but dead and that there is nothing left worth organizing. The old guard which includes Russ Carcone, Victor Sansanese, Frank BiFulco, and Panaro seem to be all that’s remains with little indication that they are still active in the local underworld. Perhaps some rackets remain intact but one thing is for sure the mafia in Buffalo is no longer and will never again be the powerful family it once was.

1 Did the FBI ever state Falzone succeeded Todaro Sr in 2006?
2 According to what reports have Falzone retiring and Panaro being made Acting Boss?
--
3 Leonard's nickname "the Calzone" has been labeled as such since the name first began being thrown around in the 2000's. I'm not very focused on what his nickname is, if its proven incorrect I'll take it down. But it predates Scott Burnstein's nickname fetish. In 1991 court filings he wasn't listed with any nickname: https://casetext.com/case/us-v-falzone

[Wiseguy]

When did the feds release a list of Active Families that first began omitting Buffalo?

"Once boasting 26 families nationwide, the mob is down to 11, half of those confined to the New York area. Moreover, the Mafia's influence still extends far beyond New York. There remain active families in Chicago, Detroit, New England, New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Miami." (US News & World Report, 2000)


"Operation Button Down, the codename for the FBI's campaign to crush the Mafia, reduced the number of families operating in the United States from 24 to only nine, FBI officials said. (CNN, 2004)


"Within the LCN there are five principal crime families. Most members of the LCN operate in the New York metropolitan area, but there are also criminal operations in Boston, Chicago, Newark, Detroit, Philadelphia, and Miami." (US Congressional Report, 2010)


"While the Mafia - also known as La Cosa Nostra - may no longer possess the robust national presence it once had, it remains a significant threat in the extended New York metropolitan area, New England, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Detroit." (US Justice Department, 2011)


You can also go the Organized Crime section of the FBI website. The part below has been up since at least 2010.

"The LCN is most active in the New York metropolitan area, parts of New Jersey, Philadelphia, Detroit, Chicago, and New England. The major LCN families include the five New York-based families—Bonanno, Colombo, Gambino, Genovese, and Lucchese; the Newark-based DeCavalcante family; the New England LCN; the Philadelphia LCN; and the Chicago Outfit. They have members in other major cities and are involved in international crimes."
https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/organized-crime


Also, notice how the "powerful families" listed below are the same ones that are still listed today. Aside from them and the 10 families listed as close to being "crossed off," Buffalo, Pittsburg, Detroit, Kansas City, and Milwaukee go unmentioned. Obviously, with hindsight, Milwaukee should have been on the "close to crossed off" list. But those other families did have more activity in the 1990s. I've always taken this as them being somewhere in the middle. Not ready to be written off yet but not seen in the same light as those other 9 families.

"The federal government's hit list for the Mafia once included nearly 20 cities, but officials say they are close to crossing off Cleveland; Denver; Los Angeles; New Orleans; Pittston, Pa.; Rochester, N.Y.; San Francisco; San Jose; St. Louis and Tampa. 'We still have powerful La Cosa Nostra families in New York City, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Chicago, Boston and south Florida," said Paul Coffey, who heads the Justice Department's organized crime division. He added that no major Mafia family 'has been completely eradicated.'" (Washington Post, 1992)

[Angelo Santino]

When did the feds release a list of Active Families that first began omitting Buffalo?

"Once boasting 26 families nationwide, the mob is down to 11, half of those confined to the New York area. Moreover, the Mafia's influence still extends far beyond New York. There remain active families in Chicago, Detroit, New England, New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Miami." (US News & World Report, 2000)


"Operation Button Down, the codename for the FBI's campaign to crush the Mafia, reduced the number of families operating in the United States from 24 to only nine, FBI officials said. (CNN, 2004)


"Within the LCN there are five principal crime families. Most members of the LCN operate in the New York metropolitan area, but there are also criminal operations in Boston, Chicago, Newark, Detroit, Philadelphia, and Miami." (US Congressional Report, 2010)


"While the Mafia - also known as La Cosa Nostra - may no longer possess the robust national presence it once had, it remains a significant threat in the extended New York metropolitan area, New England, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Detroit." (US Justice Department, 2011)


You can also go the Organized Crime section of the FBI website. The part below has been up since at least 2010.

"The LCN is most active in the New York metropolitan area, parts of New Jersey, Philadelphia, Detroit, Chicago, and New England. The major LCN families include the five New York-based families—Bonanno, Colombo, Gambino, Genovese, and Lucchese; the Newark-based DeCavalcante family; the New England LCN; the Philadelphia LCN; and the Chicago Outfit. They have members in other major cities and are involved in international crimes."
https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/organized-crime


Also, notice how the "powerful families" listed below are the same ones that are still listed today. Aside from them and the 10 families listed as close to being "crossed off," Buffalo, Pittsburg, Detroit, Kansas City, and Milwaukee go unmentioned. Obviously, with hindsight, Milwaukee should have been on the "close to crossed off" list. But those other families did have more activity in the 1990s. I've always taken this as them being somewhere in the middle. Not ready to be written off yet but not seen in the same light as those other 9 families.

"The federal government's hit list for the Mafia once included nearly 20 cities, but officials say they are close to crossing off Cleveland; Denver; Los Angeles; New Orleans; Pittston, Pa.; Rochester, N.Y.; San Francisco; San Jose; St. Louis and Tampa. 'We still have powerful La Cosa Nostra families in New York City, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Chicago, Boston and south Florida," said Paul Coffey, who heads the Justice Department's organized crime division. He added that no major Mafia family 'has been completely eradicated.'" (Washington Post, 1992)

Thank you!

[eboli]

It's worth of note by 1998 the FBI still considered the Bufallo CF to have been viable, but with a "weak pulse" and unlikely to rebound. This state continued for the duration of the unions investigation and they were written off as defunct/extinct in the years after it wrapped up.

https://buffalonews.com/1998/01/31/the- ... the-times/

[Angelo Santino]

It's worth of note by 1998 the FBI still considered the Bufallo CF to have been viable, but with a "weak pulse" and unlikely to rebound. This state continued for the duration of the unions investigation and they were written off as defunct/extinct in the years after it wrapped up.

https://buffalonews.com/1998/01/31/the- ... the-times/

Yes. I'm suspecting (and my suspicions can change) but Buffalo may have been all but gone from the mid-90's into the 2000's with little activity. As opposed to them "silently regrouping" or "escaping scrutiny." Based on that suspicion leads me to further speculate that- if there were still formal leaders in the 2000's which there are rumored to have been- that they were more of the Pete Milano-John Tronolone ilk where's essentially little under them that constitutes an organization and rather than being actual Bosses are more or less Representatives over that area.

And in 2014 the Family was reconstituted while ailing Leonard Falzone was boss. While I know nothing about the man, if he was boss since 2006 (source?) why wait until 2014 to reconstruct? Given his age, makes me wonder if external forces pushed for the Family's regeneration. And given what's come out the likely suspects are the Bonannos. But why? If Buffalo was officially defunct (in the eyes of NYC, not the FBI) then the Bonannos- in theory- would have the right to go into Buffalo's former territory.

So much we don't know.

[NickleCity]

It's worth of note by 1998 the FBI still considered the Bufallo CF to have been viable, but with a "weak pulse" and unlikely to rebound. This state continued for the duration of the unions investigation and they were written off as defunct/extinct in the years after it wrapped up.

https://buffalonews.com/1998/01/31/the- ... the-times/

But CISC in Canada indicated the “Todaro” Crime family was “powerful” in 1999 when a new boss was put in place in the Ontario region after Pops. See the Grant LaFlanche article antimafia posted about.