Buffalo/Ontario Mob Acitivity

[Bklyn21]

It wouldn't be so far fetched that Buffalo is viable today , Its a major point of entry to each country and there is a TON of money to be made by whoever controls the areas on both sides , They , Whoever "THEY" is can control the markets for major contraband being brought in . Anyone would have an almost final say on who gets what , Who gets to do business and at what price . IMO I don't know what to believe ? I'm in the middle slightly in favor of NO , There isn't a Viable structured organization, But I don't know ? Like I said earlier , I guess we just have to wait and see

This point would hold more weight if we had seen more consistent and significant mob activity around this major port of entry over the past 20 years. But we didn't. We saw one moderate-sized, cross-border drug bust in 2017. If more busts continued to happen like this going forward, there might be an argument. But there hasn't been. Rather, it's been the same as we saw before the 2017 bust. In other words, back to normal. Time will show that the 2017 bust was an outlier. The exception to the rule. Not the new normal or beginning of a new era. And one doesn't need a crystal ball to see it.

yes, but the particularity of buffalo is being next to canadian border and having a crew in canada, that's very different to have a crew in boston and the other in providence/rhode island, just to speak

While I do suspect much of what we've seen in Hamilton over the past few years has more to do with the Canadian underworld than Buffalo, in American LCN terms, Hamilton might as well be Egypt compared to New England.

Thats what I meant , If I had seen more evidence over the last 15-20 years I'd have no problem believing they still had a viable organization but I'm in the same boat as you and alot of others , I'd go with No and all the Feds and reporters etc. Who say there is nothing left . Years ago I was one of those people who would argue and say but , but , but ...There has to be an organization, They just don't fold up and stop , Blah blah blah etc etc... But , Before the Violi bust I believed there was no structured viable organization tied to the old original Maggadino Lcn family , And , I still believe there isn't a structured viable organization on the U.S. Side of the border, But now I'm waiting to see as to what comes out of the Feds ongoing Investigation regarding the bust of Gerace Jr. And Bongiovanni and his statements regarding him being approached and seeking out members of IOC , Italian Organized Crime on the U.S. Side in Buffalo and the surrounding areas over the last 15 years and Manning stating there is Law Enforcement officers of different kinds who are and were working with members of Italian OC and covering up there crimes and facilitating them along the way In Buffalo and surrounding areas on the U.S. Side . So , I'm waiting to see what comes out of this investigation ! I think everybody is . Let's see if the Feds make additional arrests and come out and say there is a Buffalo Fam. On the U.S. Side and they've been in operation for years amd flew under the radar etc. I'd also like to know who this IOC Italian Organized Crime is ? Is it Lcn , Ndrangheta , Sicilian Mafia , Rizzutos , Buffalo original Lcn ? Who exactly is this IOC , Or who are these IOC members Bongiovanni and Manning and others reffering to ???

[johnny_scootch]

Not sure if this was already posted and I didn't want to start a new thread so here it is

BUFFALO STRIP CLUB VISITED BY FEDS, SPECULATION CONTINUES TO GROW AROUND ALLEGED MAGADDINO DON BIG JOE

Scott Burnstein


December 17, 2019 — A nephew to reputed Buffalo mob boss Joseph (Big Joe) Todaro, Jr. is having his business probed by the feds.

Pete Gerace, Jr. the 52-year old owner of the Cheektowaga, New York strip club, Pharoh’s, had his establishment raided by Homeland Security agents last week. In 2012, Gerace, Jr.’s dad, then owner of the club, coughed up $17,000 to the Office of Homeland Security for faulty hiring practices tied to 40 un-vetted hires.

Gerace, Sr. is married to Big Joe Todaro’s sister. His other son, Anthony Gerace, 39, was pinched on drugs and weapons charges back in the spring after Homeland Security raided his Clarence Center home and found duffel bags filled with marijuana, 14 guns and $103,000 in cash.

Retired Buffalo DEA agent Joe Bongiovanni was indicted last month for shaking down drug dealers he believed were connected to Italian organized crime in the Buffalo area. Peter Gerace, Jr. and Bongiovanni, 55, grew up together in the same neighborhood in Western New York and sources familiar with the investigation say the reference to a strip club owner phoning Bongiovanni and asking for help in dealing with an overdosed stripper in the indictment is referring to Gerace, Jr. and Pharohs.

Both Bongiovanni and Anthony Gerace have pleaded not guilty to the charges and are awaiting trial. Bongiovanni once worked for the Erie County Sheriff’s Department.

The federal government in Buffalo has long tried to build cases against 72-year old Big Joe Todaro and before him, his dad, alleged east coast mob baron Joseph (Lead Pipe Joe) Todaro, Sr,. to no avail. Being under investigation and constant intense scrutiny from law enforcement didn’t affect the Todaros in the Western New York business community in the least, as father and son pioneered the marketing of Buffalo wings with their enormously successful La Nova pizza and wing empire.

Lead Pipe Joe Todaro died after a prolonged battle with heart disease in December 2012 at 89 years old. The FBI believes he led Buffalo’s Magaddino crime family from 1984 well into the 2000s, using Big Joe as his acting boss and underboss. Big Joe resigned his leadership post in the LIUNA in the 1990s when he came under the microscope for ties to underworld activity.

Just last year, Big Joe Todaro, Jr. had his name surface in the drug conviction of Hamilton, Ontario mobster Dom Violi, who according to wiretaps in the case against him, was promoted to underboss of the Buffalo mob by Todaro, Jr. in an October 2017 meeting at a Florida hotel. Violi, 52, is the first Canadian to earn an administrative post in the American mafia. His father, Paolo Violi, was slain in a famous Montreal gangland assassination that took place inside his own social club back in 1978.

Per the indictment and Violi’s own boasts caught on a wire, Todaro, Jr. had to travel to see other mob bosses in New York City to get the okay to give him his underboss promotion. According to the indictment, Todaro, Jr. “made” Violi in the fall of 2015. Todaro, Jr. recently appeared in a Bar Stool Sports segment covering the country’s best pizza joints in NFL towns. La Nova has sponsorship deals with the Buffalo Bills of the NFL.

[TommyNoto]

Not sure if this was already posted and I didn't want to start a new thread so here it is

BUFFALO STRIP CLUB VISITED BY FEDS, SPECULATION CONTINUES TO GROW AROUND ALLEGED MAGADDINO DON BIG JOE

Scott Burnstein


December 17, 2019 — A nephew to reputed Buffalo mob boss Joseph (Big Joe) Todaro, Jr. is having his business probed by the feds.

Pete Gerace, Jr. the 52-year old owner of the Cheektowaga, New York strip club, Pharoh’s, had his establishment raided by Homeland Security agents last week. In 2012, Gerace, Jr.’s dad, then owner of the club, coughed up $17,000 to the Office of Homeland Security for faulty hiring practices tied to 40 un-vetted hires.

Gerace, Sr. is married to Big Joe Todaro’s sister. His other son, Anthony Gerace, 39, was pinched on drugs and weapons charges back in the spring after Homeland Security raided his Clarence Center home and found duffel bags filled with marijuana, 14 guns and $103,000 in cash.

Retired Buffalo DEA agent Joe Bongiovanni was indicted last month for shaking down drug dealers he believed were connected to Italian organized crime in the Buffalo area. Peter Gerace, Jr. and Bongiovanni, 55, grew up together in the same neighborhood in Western New York and sources familiar with the investigation say the reference to a strip club owner phoning Bongiovanni and asking for help in dealing with an overdosed stripper in the indictment is referring to Gerace, Jr. and Pharohs.

Both Bongiovanni and Anthony Gerace have pleaded not guilty to the charges and are awaiting trial. Bongiovanni once worked for the Erie County Sheriff’s Department.

The federal government in Buffalo has long tried to build cases against 72-year old Big Joe Todaro and before him, his dad, alleged east coast mob baron Joseph (Lead Pipe Joe) Todaro, Sr,. to no avail. Being under investigation and constant intense scrutiny from law enforcement didn’t affect the Todaros in the Western New York business community in the least, as father and son pioneered the marketing of Buffalo wings with their enormously successful La Nova pizza and wing empire.

Lead Pipe Joe Todaro died after a prolonged battle with heart disease in December 2012 at 89 years old. The FBI believes he led Buffalo’s Magaddino crime family from 1984 well into the 2000s, using Big Joe as his acting boss and underboss. Big Joe resigned his leadership post in the LIUNA in the 1990s when he came under the microscope for ties to underworld activity.

Just last year, Big Joe Todaro, Jr. had his name surface in the drug conviction of Hamilton, Ontario mobster Dom Violi, who according to wiretaps in the case against him, was promoted to underboss of the Buffalo mob by Todaro, Jr. in an October 2017 meeting at a Florida hotel. Violi, 52, is the first Canadian to earn an administrative post in the American mafia. His father, Paolo Violi, was slain in a famous Montreal gangland assassination that took place inside his own social club back in 1978.

Per the indictment and Violi’s own boasts caught on a wire, Todaro, Jr. had to travel to see other mob bosses in New York City to get the okay to give him his underboss promotion. According to the indictment, Todaro, Jr. “made” Violi in the fall of 2015. Todaro, Jr. recently appeared in a Bar Stool Sports segment covering the country’s best pizza joints in NFL towns. La Nova has sponsorship deals with the Buffalo Bills of the NFL.

Do you have the Violi indictment document ? Didn’t Joey Violi boast about having access to judges, paying $150k for cases ? Paying tribute to his brother from his crew and ponder whether he should join the Bonanno or Buffalo family ?

Such a complicated situation in Canada , Buffalo and the extent of Bonnano / Gambino involvement in the war / drug trade up there.

[johnny_scootch]

Do you have the Violi indictment document ? Didn’t Joey Violi boast about having access to judges, paying $150k for cases ? Paying tribute to his brother from his crew and ponder whether he should join the Bonanno or Buffalo family ?

Such a complicated situation in Canada , Buffalo and the extent of Bonnano / Gambino involvement in the war / drug trade up there.

I don't remember seeing the actual indictment. All the info we have is from reporters who have seen the docs and attended the court hearings.

[Lupara]

I just received word from someone in the know. Buffalo ain't going to see the new new year.

That being said, they did move Klingman out just recently. So the feds are clueless.

[Angelo Santino]

If and when it comes out definitively that the entity known as the Buffalo LCN, whether it amounts to 5 or 30 members, is back as an active enterprise, the tune is going to change. Buffalo's attention from the press and law enforcement seems to coincides with its reconstitution which validates the argument that a groups' activeness correlates with its legal issues.

We, in the US, aren't accustomed to Mafia groups being formed/disbanded at ease since nearly all of them, Rochester aside, have survived intact since the 1920's. We look at the Gambinos or Philadelphia as age-old institutions and in many ways they are. It's not like the Mafia in Sicily, which at various points due to external factors would disband (unform the groups) and undergo a restructuring, sometimes splitting groups, forming new groups, dissolving others. For what it's worth, the Mafia model doesn't form easily, it requires a necessary biosphere and newly formed groups are usually built on the foundations of what existed prior. If Buffalo was located in Sicily, its potential resurgence from an inactive state wouldn't be controversial and its boss Todaro would likely live in close to Palermo to be in the political center of it all leaving underlings to run his interests in his designated city.

America isn't Sicily, but like I said prior, it's their organization, we don't get to tell them what we think constitutes what. William D'elia was the only member active in the Scranton Family and was treated by both the Colombos and Philadelphia (a tough city to get involved with politically) as an intermediary boss. If in some alternative reality D'Elia was around today as a so-called boss, people would dispute that citing Scranton's zero remaining members and any arguments about his dealings with Philadelphia and New York would be discounted. If D'Elia happened, Buffalo is very possible, thirty members or five.

[AntComello]

I just received word from someone in the know. Buffalo ain't going to see the new new year.

That being said, they did move Klingman out just recently. So the feds are clueless.

What do you mean by that and who’s Klingman?

[CabriniGreen]

I just received word from someone in the know. Buffalo ain't going to see the new new year.

That being said, they did move Klingman out just recently. So the feds are clueless.

What do you mean by that and who’s Klingman?

Godfather 2 reference...

[AntComello]

I just received word from someone in the know. Buffalo ain't going to see the new new year.

That being said, they did move Klingman out just recently. So the feds are clueless.

What do you mean by that and who’s Klingman?

Godfather 2 reference...

Lol sorry that one went right over my head

[Wiseguy]

If and when it comes out definitively that the entity known as the Buffalo LCN, whether it amounts to 5 or 30 members, is back as an active enterprise, the tune is going to change. Buffalo's attention from the press and law enforcement seems to coincides with its reconstitution which validates the argument that a groups' activeness correlates with its legal issues.

We, in the US, aren't accustomed to Mafia groups being formed/disbanded at ease since nearly all of them, Rochester aside, have survived intact since the 1920's. We look at the Gambinos or Philadelphia as age-old institutions and in many ways they are. It's not like the Mafia in Sicily, which at various points due to external factors would disband (unform the groups) and undergo a restructuring, sometimes splitting groups, forming new groups, dissolving others. For what it's worth, the Mafia model doesn't form easily, it requires a necessary biosphere and newly formed groups are usually built on the foundations of what existed prior. If Buffalo was located in Sicily, its potential resurgence from an inactive state wouldn't be controversial and its boss Todaro would likely live in close to Palermo to be in the political center of it all leaving underlings to run his interests in his designated city.

America isn't Sicily, but like I said prior, it's their organization, we don't get to tell them what we think constitutes what. William D'elia was the only member active in the Scranton Family and was treated by both the Colombos and Philadelphia (a tough city to get involved with politically) as an intermediary boss. If in some alternative reality D'Elia was around today as a so-called boss, people would dispute that citing Scranton's zero remaining members and any arguments about his dealings with Philadelphia and New York would be discounted. If D'Elia happened, Buffalo is very possible, thirty members or five.

If and when? You talk like you're expecting some kind of definitive evidence that Buffalo is back as an active enterprise will actually come forth. While your point about us not "getting to tell [the mob] what constitutes what" is one of the stronger arguments, allow me to unburden you of any futile expectations or unnecessary anxiety. Here's what's going to happen...

Time will march on, as it always does. The local press in and around Buffalo will lose interest, move on, and the question of "Is the Buffalo Mob back?" will fade away. As more time goes by without any of the expected earth-shattering revelations, certain people will start to become confused. Even, dare we say, disappointed. This will lead to them increasingly grasping - even more so than they're doing now - at any shred of news regarding Buffalo, no matter how small or insignificant, as evidence that the Buffalo resurgence is still real. That the 2017 drug bust, Violi being made underboss, etc. weren't just anomalies. That there's more to Buffalo than the remnants we see in other cities. Others will contend that those 30 Buffalo members, much like their brethren in Detroit, have learned to avoid law enforcement and remain active in the shadows. Yeah, that's got to be it. Some will hold out longer than others. Some will act like they never really cared in the first place. That it was just a passing interest. But eventually, we'll be 14 years down the road, like we currently are after the 2006 Detroit gambling bust. And like Detroit, by then even the currently most convinced among us - assuming they'll still be around - will have been reduced to crickets. Chirp...chirp...chirp. The silence will be deafening. And then, at some point, we'll get a new poster on the forum who will start a thread asking what ever happened with Buffalo. Far from the tune changing, it will be the same sad old song we've seen and heard time and again.

[Fughedaboutit]

It must be your goal in life to belittle anyone dare say a smaller family is still an active family. Christie made some very valid points.

[Lupara]

It must be your goal in life to belittle anyone dare say a smaller family is still an active family. Christie made some very valid points.

He did, but that did nothing to change the tone of certain people.

I don't think anyone here would really give a shit if it does turn out this was an 'anomaly'. That's not even the point.

[Moscone65]

If and when it comes out definitively that the entity known as the Buffalo LCN, whether it amounts to 5 or 30 members, is back as an active enterprise, the tune is going to change. Buffalo's attention from the press and law enforcement seems to coincides with its reconstitution which validates the argument that a groups' activeness correlates with its legal issues.

We, in the US, aren't accustomed to Mafia groups being formed/disbanded at ease since nearly all of them, Rochester aside, have survived intact since the 1920's. We look at the Gambinos or Philadelphia as age-old institutions and in many ways they are. It's not like the Mafia in Sicily, which at various points due to external factors would disband (unform the groups) and undergo a restructuring, sometimes splitting groups, forming new groups, dissolving others. For what it's worth, the Mafia model doesn't form easily, it requires a necessary biosphere and newly formed groups are usually built on the foundations of what existed prior. If Buffalo was located in Sicily, its potential resurgence from an inactive state wouldn't be controversial and its boss Todaro would likely live in close to Palermo to be in the political center of it all leaving underlings to run his interests in his designated city.

America isn't Sicily, but like I said prior, it's their organization, we don't get to tell them what we think constitutes what. William D'elia was the only member active in the Scranton Family and was treated by both the Colombos and Philadelphia (a tough city to get involved with politically) as an intermediary boss. If in some alternative reality D'Elia was around today as a so-called boss, people would dispute that citing Scranton's zero remaining members and any arguments about his dealings with Philadelphia and New York would be discounted. If D'Elia happened, Buffalo is very possible, thirty members or five.

If and when? You talk like you're expecting some kind of definitive evidence that Buffalo is back as an active enterprise will actually come forth. While your point about us not "getting to tell [the mob] what constitutes what" is one of the stronger arguments, allow me to unburden you of any futile expectations or unnecessary anxiety. Here's what's going to happen...

Time will march on, as it always does. The local press in and around Buffalo will lose interest, move on, and the question of "Is the Buffalo Mob back?" will fade away. As more time goes by without any of the expected earth-shattering revelations, certain people will start to become confused. Even, dare we say, disappointed. This will lead to them increasingly grasping - even more so than they're doing now - at any shred of news regarding Buffalo, no matter how small or insignificant, as evidence that the Buffalo resurgence is still real. That the 2017 drug bust, Violi being made underboss, etc. weren't just anomalies. That there's more to Buffalo than the remnants we see in other cities. Others will contend that those 30 Buffalo members, much like their brethren in Detroit, have learned to avoid law enforcement and remain active in the shadows. Yeah, that's got to be it. Some will hold out longer than others. Some will act like they never really cared in the first place. That it was just a passing interest. But eventually, we'll be 14 years down the road, like we currently are after the 2006 Detroit gambling bust. And like Detroit, by then even the currently most convinced among us - assuming they'll still be around - will have been reduced to crickets. Chirp...chirp...chirp. The silence will be deafening. And then, at some point, we'll get a new poster on the forum who will start a thread asking what ever happened with Buffalo. Far from the tune changing, it will be the same sad old song we've seen and heard time and again.

Gee wiz you must be fun at a party

[Fughedaboutit]

It must be your goal in life to belittle anyone dare say a smaller family is still an active family. Christie made some very valid points.

He did, but that did nothing to change the tone of certain people.

I don't think anyone here would really give a shit if it does turn out this was an 'anomaly'. That's not even the point.

Indeed.

[cavita]

Just don't throw the baby out with the bath water. That would be a real mistake.