Buffalo/Ontario Mob Acitivity

[Lupara]

I've only seen the summary of those Giacomo Luppino tapes, but what I found interesting is that he was apparently very honored that Magaddino set aside 20 minutes to speak with him personally at the affair. For people who wonder why 'ndrangheta-connected Calabrians in Ontario like the Luppinos would "allow themselves" to be under Buffalo, you only have to look at the respect Luppino had for his boss in Cosa Nostra. Naturally over time Buffalo weakened significantly and Ontario has an identity of its own but you have to look at the roots of the relationship to understand it.

It may be a very different organization today, but Domenico Violi appeared to have been honored to "make history" under Todaro as the first Canadian underboss, just like his grandfather was honored to be personally addressed in conversation with Magaddino. There are people on here who will read this and immediately think I am equating Todaro with Stefano Magaddino, which I'm not. What is clear, though, is that Todaro and Magaddino were both bosses of the Buffalo family and both Luppino and his grandson in Canada appear to have held their status in the Buffalo family at high value.

I think the Calabrians in Ontario base their respect for Buffalo on its history. Violi was honored to continue the tradition. In that regard, the mafiosi are romanticists.

I wouldn't be suprised if Montagna may have thought about Galante when he was doing rounds in Canada.

[Angelo Santino]

I've only seen the summary of those Giacomo Luppino tapes, but what I found interesting is that he was apparently very honored that Magaddino set aside 20 minutes to speak with him personally at the affair. For people who wonder why 'ndrangheta-connected Calabrians in Ontario like the Luppinos would "allow themselves" to be under Buffalo, you only have to look at the respect Luppino had for his boss in Cosa Nostra. Naturally over time Buffalo weakened significantly and Ontario has an identity of its own but you have to look at the roots of the relationship to understand it.

It may be a very different organization today, but Domenico Violi appeared to have been honored to "make history" under Todaro as the first Canadian underboss, just like his grandfather was honored to be personally addressed in conversation with Magaddino. There are people on here who will read this and immediately think I am equating Todaro with Stefano Magaddino, which I'm not. What is clear, though, is that Todaro and Magaddino were both bosses of the Buffalo family and both Luppino and his grandson in Canada appear to have held their status in the Buffalo family at high value.

I think the Calabrians in Ontario base their respect for Buffalo on its history. Violi was honored to continue the tradition. In that regard, the mafiosi are romanticists.

I wouldn't be suprised if Montagna may have thought about Galante when he was doing rounds in Canada.

I wonder if that connection goes back to the 20's as well. The 60's is too late.

[SonnyBlackstein]

Props to CC and B.

Outstanding thread gents.

[Angelo Santino]

Thanks Sonny, I'm curious and just asking questions about an area I've never delved into previously.

From looking into Buffalo in the 60's it seems they were deeply into white-collar oriented crimes. With the exception of Magaddino not many other members gain public notoriety beyond NY? You never heard about them having killers and the 3-Faction dispute didn't seem to set things off Philadelphia style. Am I wrong or mistaken?

[CabriniGreen]

Props to CC and B.

Outstanding thread gents.

Once you get past the bickering, it was always going to be a good one... even better once Manning gets everything with life squared away....

[Lupara]

I've only seen the summary of those Giacomo Luppino tapes, but what I found interesting is that he was apparently very honored that Magaddino set aside 20 minutes to speak with him personally at the affair. For people who wonder why 'ndrangheta-connected Calabrians in Ontario like the Luppinos would "allow themselves" to be under Buffalo, you only have to look at the respect Luppino had for his boss in Cosa Nostra. Naturally over time Buffalo weakened significantly and Ontario has an identity of its own but you have to look at the roots of the relationship to understand it.

It may be a very different organization today, but Domenico Violi appeared to have been honored to "make history" under Todaro as the first Canadian underboss, just like his grandfather was honored to be personally addressed in conversation with Magaddino. There are people on here who will read this and immediately think I am equating Todaro with Stefano Magaddino, which I'm not. What is clear, though, is that Todaro and Magaddino were both bosses of the Buffalo family and both Luppino and his grandson in Canada appear to have held their status in the Buffalo family at high value.

I think the Calabrians in Ontario base their respect for Buffalo on its history. Violi was honored to continue the tradition. In that regard, the mafiosi are romanticists.

I wouldn't be suprised if Montagna may have thought about Galante when he was doing rounds in Canada.

I wonder if that connection goes back to the 20's as well. The 60's is too late.

Between Buffalo and the Calabrians? From what's been documented, the Luppinos and Musitanos settled in Hamilton in the 50s, but who knows.

[antimafia]

Please let me know whether you hit a paywall when tapping/clicking on the link below, in which case I'll try to find another URL.

Police still seeking Toronto man in wake of massive Canadian-Italian Mafia investigation

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2019/0 ... ation.html

Fourteen more individuals have been arrested, half of whom are living in the Greater Toronto Area.

Blitz contro le 'ndrine Muià, Figliomeni e Commisso: 16 arresti nella "Canada connection"
https://www.reggiotoday.it/cronaca/ndra ... resti.html

Il cuore a Siderno e il cervello a Toronto: la “longa manus” canadese delle ‘ndrine reggine
http://www.cn24tv.it/news/195238/operaz ... tagli.html

[B.]

I wonder if that connection goes back to the 20's as well. The 60's is too late.

Between Buffalo and the Calabrians? From what's been documented, the Luppinos and Musitanos settled in Hamilton in the 50s, but who knows.

The Papalias were there much earlier and may have been associated with Buffalo going back to prohibition, so the scene was set back then. Early Buffalo/NF Calabrian member Dominick D'Agostino was employed for a time on the Canadian side of the border and like Dominick Romeo was reportedly involved with the Canadian wing of the family. Dominick D'Agostino was also close to the Utica crew and an early Calabrian "black hand" power in the Utica area was a D'Agostino though it's a common enough name. Because we don't know much about how these Calabrians were recruited -- only that they were recruited -- we can't be sure what kind of networking was going on already between the Calabrians in western NYS and Ontario and whether the Buffalo Cosa Nostra family just inserted that existing network into their family.

Papalias and Musitanos are reported by online sources as being from the same town in Calabria; a Canada expert like Antimafia could clarify that, I'm sure. I don't know as much about how Calabrians operate, but I assume it's not that dissimilar from the Sicilians in that men from the same hometown join the same mafia groups abroad. With the Sicilians, even though these old world connections bring them together under the same close groups in N.America, they are still prone to violence against their own paesans which can be seen with the Cattolicensi affiliated with NYC/Montreal, who have been killing each other on-and-off since the 1930s. Either way, I don't think we can see the recruitment and continued involvement of the Calabrians with Buffalo as a purely Canadian phenomenon within the family.

Magaddino's relationship to Calabrians is a strange one. On one hand, he disparages them on the office tapes, but he seems to hold some Calabrians like Romeo and Utica's Sam Grio in high regard, particularly Grio. Grio was documented traveling to Montreal to obtain money in the 1960s before retiring to California but I haven't seen anything about him interacting with Ontario. Magaddino was also the Commission member most involved in settling the Philadelphia leadership issues of the late 1950s and according to his own words this involved him working closely with Philadelphia's large Calabrian faction. He also mentions "Rognetta the Calabrese" (ph. --> Joe Rugnetta of Philly, from Reggio Calabria and regarded as the "rappresentante" of the Philly Calabrians) in context with the Papalia-Agueci drug operations in Canada. Rugnetta was suspected of heroin trafficking by the FBN.

Montreal is a much bigger mystery because at the time the Bonannos supposedly set up their decina there, the Bonanno family had little to no Calabrian membership in their family and Montreal is a great distance from NYC. While the border is a major factor in Buffalo/Ontario, other than that nothing about the relationship is mysterious or surprising. While mostly a Sicilian organization, Buffalo recruited key Calabrian members in their territory on both the US and Canadian side. The Canadian cities affiliated with Buffalo are incredibly close to Buffalo/NF. In terms of geographical distance, Buffalo's Canadian crew isn't much different from an NYC family with an NJ crew. Again, though, there is the border and I don't know how much of a factor border security has on the relationship between Buffalo and Canada. The border can't be ignored but I think it creates a much greater distance in people's minds when we talk about this, as Hamilton is so close to Buffalo.

[B.]

Has anyone already discussed Marc Panepinto serving as NY State Senator from 2014 to 2016? He is an in-law of boss Joe Todaro Jr. and the son of deceased consigliere Donald Panepinto. Not suggesting there was any deep mafia infiltration of state politics, but his record shows that he was prone to corruption and he is related to two Buffalo mafia administration members.

I'm not necessarily a believer in the "resurgence" theory, as we don't have enough to know whether the recent Canadian inductions were an anomaly or what their history of inductions is in recent decades, but it's interesting that this alleged "2014 resurgence" coincides with the boss's in-law becoming an NYS senator.

[Stroccos]

Has anyone already discussed Marc Panepinto serving as NY State Senator from 2014 to 2016? He is an in-law of boss Joe Todaro Jr. and the son of deceased consigliere Donald Panepinto. Not suggesting there was any deep mafia infiltration of state politics, but his record shows that he was prone to corruption and he is related to two Buffalo mafia administration members.

I'm not necessarily a believer in the "resurgence" theory, as we don't have enough to know whether the recent Canadian inductions were an anomaly or what their history of inductions is in recent decades, but it's interesting that this alleged "2014 resurgence" coincides with the boss's in-law becoming an NYS senator.

another guy whos family had mob connections
https://www.newyorkupstate.com/utica/20 ... i_mob.html

[B.]

Has anyone already discussed Marc Panepinto serving as NY State Senator from 2014 to 2016? He is an in-law of boss Joe Todaro Jr. and the son of deceased consigliere Donald Panepinto. Not suggesting there was any deep mafia infiltration of state politics, but his record shows that he was prone to corruption and he is related to two Buffalo mafia administration members.

I'm not necessarily a believer in the "resurgence" theory, as we don't have enough to know whether the recent Canadian inductions were an anomaly or what their history of inductions is in recent decades, but it's interesting that this alleged "2014 resurgence" coincides with the boss's in-law becoming an NYS senator.

another guy whos family had mob connections
https://www.newyorkupstate.com/utica/20 ... i_mob.html

The Buffalo FBI office is apparently bureaucratically corrupt to the point that agent assignments are based on ease and comfort, but high-level politicians with direct relations to Buffalo mafia members are upstanding and reputable, and would never do anything to help their relatives in the mob.

[NickleCity]

Has anyone already discussed Marc Panepinto serving as NY State Senator from 2014 to 2016? He is an in-law of boss Joe Todaro Jr. and the son of deceased consigliere Donald Panepinto. Not suggesting there was any deep mafia infiltration of state politics, but his record shows that he was prone to corruption and he is related to two Buffalo mafia administration members.

I'm not necessarily a believer in the "resurgence" theory, as we don't have enough to know whether the recent Canadian inductions were an anomaly or what their history of inductions is in recent decades, but it's interesting that this alleged "2014 resurgence" coincides with the boss's in-law becoming an NYS senator.

another guy whos family had mob connections
https://www.newyorkupstate.com/utica/20 ... i_mob.html

The Buffalo FBI office is apparently bureaucratically corrupt to the point that agent assignments are based on ease and comfort, but high-level politicians with direct relations to Buffalo mafia members are upstanding and reputable, and would never do anything to help their relatives in the mob.

In my opinion there are a lot of items that make me wonder if he is or has been involved. I wrote something similar to this on other BB.
THINGS THAT MAKE YOU GO MMM? FORMER NY STATE SENATOR MARC PANEPINTO & HIS CONNECTIONS TO AURTHOR COIA, LIUNA NATIONAL, LOCAL 210, & THE BUFFALO MOB

1. Marc’s dad Donald “the Turtle” Panepinto was a made member of the Buffalo Crime family and heavily involved in the mob infested LIUNA Local 210. Before moving up the ranks, he was a member of the Sansanese crew-this according to Ron Fino in his Book The Triangle Exit (Kindle Location 916). He is listed as a solider in the 1997 Government RICO against local 210. In August of 2016 The Buffalo Chronicle writes:

Donald “the Turtle” Panepinto was, reportedly, a member of the La Cosa Nostra crime family. He was heavily involved in the International Laborers’ Union as well.  Local 210 has been the subject of racketeering allegations for decades. The elder Panepinto was given his nickname, “Turtle,” because he gave his beatings slowly, sources tell me.

See also: Herbeck, Dan, “Union links 28 members of Local 210 to mob,” BN, June 19, 1996, p. B1; “Mob’s control of Local 210 has a long history,” BN, Dec. 5, 1999;

2. A recent Buffalo crime family chart given to The Buffalo Mob Twitter indicates Donald Panepinto served as consigliere for the Todaros. (I assume this was Don “The Turtle” not his son Donald.

3. According to Marc on his website “Panepinto for Senate” he and his brother Don joined local 210 as teenagers when they graduated high school. Here is the link: http://www.panepintoforsenate.com/about

4. Marc did his undergrad at the University of Buffalo in the mid to late 80’s. He was the captain of the UB football team in 1987. He went on to study Labor Relations at the University of Illinois, and remained a member of LIUNA. Supposedly he worked as laborer with 210 while putting himself through college and grad school during the summers. The Dolce Panepinto Law Firm writes:

Partner Marc Panepinto and his brother, attorney Donald Panepinto, are both members of Laborers’ Local 210 and spent years working on jobsites. Marc Panepinto also spent years traveling the country successfully organizing for the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA).

Here is a link to his bio at the Dolce Panepinto Lawfirm: http://www.dolcepanepinto.com/attorneys ... panepinto/

5. Dana Panepinto (Marc’s sister) married into the Todaro family (Joey III) in 1993. The Buffalo News writes:

Dana Christine Panepinto and Joseph Edward Todaro were united in marriage Monday at 3 p.m. in St. Gregory the Great Catholic Church, Amherst, by the Rev. Paul M. Nogaro. Donald and LucyAnn Panepinto of Town of Tonawanda are parents of the bride and the bridegroom's parents are Joseph and Carol Ann Todaro of Williamsville. A reception was given in Samuel's Grande Manor. The couple will travel in Europe before making their home in Buffalo. The bride is a graduate Kenmore East High School and Vidal Sassoon Academy, London, England. She and her mother operate New Image Hair Designers. The bridegroom attended University at Buffalo and is an operator of La Nova Pizzeria, owned by his family.

Here is a link to the article http://buffalonews.com/1993/09/07/mrs-todaro-2/

6. At that time of their marriage Joey E. Todaro III was involved with the crime family’s collections & call center scams. The Buffalo News writes

Buffalo telemarketing companies also include sons and grandsons of mobsters and others known to associate with organized crime figures: Joseph Todaro III, the son of the man the FBI identifies as Buffalo's mob boss, Joseph Todaro Jr., was a supervisor at Logik Enterprises, at 496 Elmwood Ave., until four months ago, when the FBI raided other companies.

Here is a link to the article in the Buffalo News: http://buffalonews.com/1993/06/27/raids ... zed-crime/

7. LIUNA 210 INVOLVEMENT & RELATIONSHIP WITH COIAS
A. In the early 90’s Marc Panepinto took a national role in LIUNA, becoming personal assistant to LIUNA president and mob associate Author Coia.—See the book The Maya of Morganton: Work and Community in the Nuevo New South, p. 127.

B. By the mid 90’s Marc became a member of the newly developed National Organizing Team for Arthur Coia and LIUNA. Maya of Morgantown pp. 79, 109-11.

C. It is well documented that Joe Todaro, Sr., the Buffalo Crime Family, and Local 210 had a strong relationship with the Coias. (See Fino’s Triangle Exit; Weekly Standard article “A Corrupt Union and the Mob” from August 31, 1998; The American Spectator article “Mob Rules” by Byron York in April of 1997; The Providence Journal article by Mike Stanton called “A Questions of Mob Connections” written in 1997…and many, many more.)

D. Marc’s wife (Catherine Nugent Panepinto) was from Massachusetts and was an organizer for LIUNA.

E. Marc and his wife Catherine went to UB to get their law degrees in the middle 90’s

F. In 1998 Mark was sworn into the NY State Bar

G. Marc Panepinto served in the late 1990s as chairman of the Laborers Information Coalition, established when the RICO charges instigated changes to clean up Local 210. See Buffalo Business first article “Enbattled Local 210 ready for a fresh start” by Tracey Drury dated January 26, 2006 https://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/sto ... ily29.html

8. In 2001 Marc was convicted of election fraud forging signatures for and trying impress Mayor Masiello in order to get a city job for his brother Don as a firefighter. Here is a picture of a the letter his attorney, Joel Daniels, wrote to the judge stating such. Here is the letter:

Daniels Letter for Panepinto.jpg

9. Mayer Masielo wrote a letter asking the judge to let Marc Panepinto off easy. Which he did, only receiving a short suspension of his law license and a paltry $500 fine. Here is a picture of Masiello’s letter sent on behalf of Panepinto. Here is Massiello's letter.

Massiello Letter for Panepinto.jpg

10. It was long believed that Mayor Masiello was connected or at least sympathetic to the Todaro’s and the Buffalo Crime Family.

On La Nova’s back wall (West Ferry location) is a huge framed City/Mayoral Proclamation touting the Todaros and their commitment to the city of Buffalo. Mayor Masiello frequented La Nova raising the establishments reputation in Buffalo. Here is one article: http://buffalonews.com/2004/12/23/lanov ... n-repairs/ .

Additionally Masiello created a lot of hubbub in Buffalo when Joe Todaro Senior died and he indicated Todaro was “A Friend of Mine,” and had the following glowing comments as reported on WGRZ news in Bufallo:

Similar comments came from Anthony M. Masiello, the former Buffalo mayor who said Mr. Todaro had been a good friend of his for more than three decades.

“Joe Todaro and his family have made tremendous contributions to our community,” Masiello said. “There are always rumors and allegations about people, but from my dealings with the man and his family, I only saw good things.

“They’ve done a lot more for the needy of this community than people with pristine reputations. They helped out a lot of people with jobs at La Nova, and they never abandoned their roots on the West Side.”

11. Point 8 is taken from a Buffalo Chronicle article in August 2014 entitled, “For Panepintos, election fraud was a family affair.” Indeed one has to wonder if the Buffalo Chronicle is using a double entendre, referring not just to Marc’s immediate family but to his crime family association as well. Her his the article: https://buffalochronicle.com/2014/08/29 ... ly-affair/

12. In another article from the Buffalo Chronicle in August of 2014 entitled, "Panepinto is not worried about his election fraud conviction, no bid legal work,” the paper writes:

Panepinto’s extensive involvement in labor organizing includes a longtime relationship with the mafia-affiliated International Laborers’ Local 210. Reporters have just begun digging into a jaw dropping history of racketeering allegations, in the midst of which both the elder and younger Panepinto find themselves.

Most political observers dismiss Panepinto as a “disgraced, wannabe Mafioso” who fancies himself as a Westsider, despite graduating from a leafy suburban high school and now married to a New York State Supreme Court Justice, Catherine Nugent Panepinto.

Here is the article: https://buffalochronicle.com/2014/08/28 ... egal-work/

13. In Paul Manning's document highlighting the Mustiano's connection with the Buffalo crime family has a lawyer named Edward L. Smith on that chart.

Musitanot Connections to Buffalo From Manning.jpg

If you search the Dulce Panepinto law firm There is an Edward L Smith III that started in 2003. Here is the link to Smith's bio on the Panepinto Law Firm website: http://www.dolcepanepinto.com/attorneys ... smith-iii/

Is he the Edward L. Smith that was listed on the attached chart Paul Manning posted on twitter indicating Buffalo has had longstanding ties in the mob in Hamilton and the Musitano crime family? Is he Edward L. Smith’s Son? Are there still ties to the Panepintos the Smiths and the Buffalo Crime family?

Also, I can't help but wonder if Marc’s connections to the Todaros and the Buffalo crime family got him his job with Author Coia Jr. If that was the case was there a “price” to be paid for that position—I.E. Marc would have to “serve the interests” of the Buffalo Crime family & the Coia’s?

I know this is just a bunch of circumstantial evidence that doesn't prove a thing, but I think there is enough her to make one go "MMM?"

[B.]

Excellent research. You are an asset to the board on the topic of modern Buffalo and I appreciate you sharing and sourcing what you've found.

I'm on team "Mmm?" for sure. Total coincidence that Crash Test Dummies "Mmm Mmm Mmm" is one of my karaoke songs.

[NickleCity]

Has anyone already discussed Marc Panepinto serving as NY State Senator from 2014 to 2016? He is an in-law of boss Joe Todaro Jr. and the son of deceased consigliere Donald Panepinto. Not suggesting there was any deep mafia infiltration of state politics, but his record shows that he was prone to corruption and he is related to two Buffalo mafia administration members.

I'm not necessarily a believer in the "resurgence" theory, as we don't have enough to know whether the recent Canadian inductions were an anomaly or what their history of inductions is in recent decades, but it's interesting that this alleged "2014 resurgence" coincides with the boss's in-law becoming an NYS senator.

Also note the time money was earmarked for what became known as The Buffalo Billion Scandal that involved Louis Ciminelli Development Company-- I believe it was 2015, while Marc was a NY State Senator.

Also, remember Lou was a trustee at Local 210 and named in a late 90's RICO with Leonard Falzone, Sansenesse, Pieri, Gerace, Caci and other members and associates of the Buffalo Crime Family. Here is a link: https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/di ... 7/2365373/

Fino writes about his Dad, Frank "Buckey" Ciminelli being an associate. I was was given of picture of Buckey with Phil Napoli (supposedly a made member) from a relative of his... I posted that picture in the charts forum wondering if Phil was Alphonse Napoli listed on the chart Manning gave us.

[NickleCity]

^^^^May be wrong about 2015. Cuomo announced stimulus for Buffalo/WNY in 2012. With areal quick look it appears Ciminelli bid on 750 million state funded solar city project in November 2013 and awarded in 2014. So it seems wheels were in motion before Marc became State Senator.