Former Youngstoen Mob Boss Lenny Strollo Dies

[FriendofHenry]

Lenny was definitely Pittsburgh and Ernie was NOT a made guy. Lenny did NOT have Joey wacked - period!
However Michael sent Henry to Youngstown on more or less a full time basis to make sure Lenny didn't go rogue.

[Patrickgold]

Lenny was definitely Pittsburgh and Ernie was NOT a made guy. Lenny did NOT have Joey wacked - period!
However Michael sent Henry to Youngstown on more or less a full time basis to make sure Lenny didn't go rogue.

Who had Joey whacked? And what did Strollo say about Genovese after he flipped?

[Stroccos]

I still find it interesting that Strollo didn't really seem to get utilized as much as other made members who flip.

When I posted this yesterday I noted that effectively Lenny put an end to any organized LCN activity in the Mahoning Valley.

I just always thought he might have been used in cases in Pittsburgh, other parts of Ohio or maybe Michigan. As in I always hoped he'd have Detroit info to share when he flipped. But apparently not.

Since Henry died before Lenny ratted out Bernie and everyone else in town his only fear was that if he gave the Pittsburgh people up it would have been a death sentence. If Lenny had much if any affiliation with Detroit, I never had any knowledge of that.

He did give up Sonny

Ciancutti?

Da, My bad...Lenny did give up Sonny Ciancutti. He only got away with it because Chucky Porter also gave him up. Sonny booked $500k a week.

Lenny also gave up MIke Genovese , he even testified he was the boss of the pittsburgh family in at one of the trials, IF the feds had anything on Genovese LEnny would of taken the stand against him to,

[FriendofHenry]

I think I can answer both of you. Once again, a big time bank robber who was a Marine trained sniper, shot Joey and Lenny had no knowledge of what AD did until after the fact. AD shot Joey in the "hopes" to gain favor with Lenny. To the best of my knowledge, no one knows what AD was looking for.

As far as Lenny giving up Michael as Boss, he did, but to no ones surprise. Michael was always careful and never directly discussed "family business" with Lenny. Michael carefully insulated himself by having Charlie Murgie talk to Lenny when needed. After first Ernie's death then Joey's, Michael sent Henry to more or less keep an eye on Lenny. Additionally Henry, who Michael made after so many decades of not being made, Henry never wanted that "thing" as he always called it, but could no longer refuse. I actually learned about Henry finally being made from Bernie and then I asked Henry and he nodded his head. Henry talked directly to Lenny whatever Michael need to talk to him about "family business". All in all, Lenny had nothing incriminating to report about Michael other that he was Boss. At the end of the day, the Feds had shit on Michael!

[JCB1977]

I still find it interesting that Strollo didn't really seem to get utilized as much as other made members who flip.

When I posted this yesterday I noted that effectively Lenny put an end to any organized LCN activity in the Mahoning Valley.

I just always thought he might have been used in cases in Pittsburgh, other parts of Ohio or maybe Michigan. As in I always hoped he'd have Detroit info to share when he flipped. But apparently not.

Since Henry died before Lenny ratted out Bernie and everyone else in town his only fear was that if he gave the Pittsburgh people up it would have been a death sentence. If Lenny had much if any affiliation with Detroit, I never had any knowledge of that.

Interesting. Yeah the Detroit hope was always just that. A hope. But had kind of hoped that Lenny knew a bunch of the Detroit affiliated guys in Youngstown back in the 50s-60s and had maybe had some business/social connections still with the younger guys who replaced them in Detroit. Legal or illegal.

Vincenzo “Brier Hill Jimmy” Prato was Youngstown’s conduit to Detroit...mainly Jack Tocco, The Giacalone Bros and Tony Zerilli. Also, Kelly Mannarino and John LaRocca were exceptionally close to Detroit.

[JCB1977]

I still find it interesting that Strollo didn't really seem to get utilized as much as other made members who flip.

When I posted this yesterday I noted that effectively Lenny put an end to any organized LCN activity in the Mahoning Valley.

I just always thought he might have been used in cases in Pittsburgh, other parts of Ohio or maybe Michigan. As in I always hoped he'd have Detroit info to share when he flipped. But apparently not.

Since Henry died before Lenny ratted out Bernie and everyone else in town his only fear was that if he gave the Pittsburgh people up it would have been a death sentence. If Lenny had much if any affiliation with Detroit, I never had any knowledge of that.

He did give up Sonny

Ciancutti?

Da, My bad...Lenny did give up Sonny Ciancutti. He only got away with it because Chucky Porter also gave him up. Sonny booked $500k a week.

Lenny also gave up MIke Genovese , he even testified he was the boss of the pittsburgh family in at one of the trials, IF the feds had anything on Genovese LEnny would of taken the stand against him to,

Once Chuckie Porter began to cooperate, he gave the feds all the information on Mike Genovese. The reason Mike was not prosecuted was because when Chuckie was on trial, he perjured himself over 150 times on the witness stand rendering his information useless in a court of law. Lenny Strollo did in fact name Mike Genovese as boss and also explained to the federal court when he was made in 1987 with Mike Genovese present. That was the only time that Lenny was ever in the same room with Mike Genovese, Mike only gave orders through specific people and by the time Lenny took over in 1991, all of his dialogue was with Henry Zottola and Charlie Imburgia. Mike insulated himself from meeting with anybody outside his very small circle. Lenny couldn’t have testified against Mike because any info Lenny had was heresay since he did not meet personally with Mike. Lenny also testified about Bonnano Member Steve Maruca who had some operations going in Youngstown. When Lenny went to trial, the feds were more concerned with the judges and politicians who were on the take as opposed to other mobsters. Lenny also testified that he brokered a deal between John Gotti and BJ Allen fireworks CEO Bruce Zoldan. He did testify about Pat Feruccio and Charlie Imburgia as well...

[Patrickgold]

What I’m confused about. If Lenny was still under Pittsburgh, why was he still active while Pittsburgh by all intents and purposes inactive by the late 90s. That was the case right?

[FriendofHenry]

Pittsburgh was inactive other than the All American Club which was more or less a casino, craps, roulette, black jack, etc. The All American Club was conservatively estimated to provide $22. million annually for number of years right up until Lenny went to trial 1999. It was essentially Lenny's run by his life long friend, Bernie the Jew. Lenny hired Bernie to kill Ernie Biondillo then ratted out Bernie in Federal Court for a light sentence and kept all his millions. Bernie went to the jail for life where he actually died. So for $22.million a year, Pittsburgh was alive and well at least in the Mahoning Valley

[JCB1977]

Was Strollo even really under Pittsburgh? I mean who gave him permission to whack two made men and use blacks on top of it. Sounds like he was independent. He was the one that should have been whacked. Possibly he went independent when the leadership in Pittsburgh broke down

Strollo answered to Henry Zottola until Zebo died in 1998, then answered strictly to Charlie Imburgia aka Charlie Murgie who was Michael’s Consigliere and lived in Warren, OH, close by to Youngstown.

Going back to the beginning of time, Pittsburgh always operated like a Camorra with territory bosses and even in the 1990s, Pittsburgh operated with territory bosses who had free reign to call the shots within their respected territories. Lenny used the blacks to bring in drug dealing gamblers at the illegal casino that Bernie the Jew was running called Sharkey’s. Nothing more, nothing less.

[JCB1977]

What I’m confused about. If Lenny was still under Pittsburgh, why was he still active while Pittsburgh by all intents and purposes inactive by the late 90s. That was the case right?

No, Pittsburgh was still very active through the 1990’s into the early 2000’s.

Crews operating: Sonny Ciancutti New Kensington. Lenny Strollo Youngstown, OH, Pat Feruccio Canton, OH.

High ranking associates/big money earners

Beaver County- Frank Unis Jr (high ranking associate)

Bobby Iannelli Organization- Greater Pittsburgh $30 million per year

Sabatini Brothers Gambling Network- Pittsburgh/Portage County, OH

Sal, Junior & Gene Williams Gambling Organization- Hill District, Pittsburgh ($20 million per year)

Fred Piera/Alfred Corbo Gambling Network- Johnstown, PA

Larry Amodie/Mike Gulino Gambling Network- Lawrence County, PA (New Castle, Sharon and Hillsville)

Hundreds of other bookmakers. After the 2000 indictment of Sonny Ciancutti, it all went down hill from there...but Mike was still getting envelopes until he died in 2006

[FriendofHenry]

Nothing bad but probably best that all things Pittsburgh be directed directly to JCB. He's a very competent and through researcher.
I only know what I know about Pittsburgh from my own personal experiences. Hard to believe, these guys never talked "shop" with me.

[The Greek]

What I’m confused about. If Lenny was still under Pittsburgh, why was he still active while Pittsburgh by all intents and purposes inactive by the late 90s. That was the case right?

No, Pittsburgh was still very active through the 1990’s into the early 2000’s.

Crews operating: Sonny Ciancutti New Kensington. Lenny Strollo Youngstown, OH, Pat Feruccio Canton, OH.

High ranking associates/big money earners

Beaver County- Frank Unis Jr (high ranking associate)

Bobby Iannelli Organization- Greater Pittsburgh $30 million per year

Sabatini Brothers Gambling Network- Pittsburgh/Portage County, OH

Sal, Junior & Gene Williams Gambling Organization- Hill District, Pittsburgh ($20 million per year)

Fred Piera/Alfred Corbo Gambling Network- Johnstown, PA

Larry Amodie/Mike Gulino Gambling Network- Lawrence County, PA (New Castle, Sharon and Hillsville)

Hundreds of other bookmakers. After the 2000 indictment of Sonny Ciancutti, it all went down hill from there...but Mike was still getting envelopes until he died in 2006

I wonder if the New Castle Larry Amodie is the father of Melissa the judge. I think she was in my sisters graduating class. Was he made? Were any of the NC guys made? I remember our athletic director Angelo Fornataro gut busted for taking bets when I was in school.

[coldshoulder]

On this subject of Lenny Strollo:
1.) The initial Vindicator article about Lenny's death was, to me, not very well written--it felt rushed, unorganized, and just sloppy writing overall, you would have thought they would have had most of it pre-written, but appears not.
2.) The one nugget that has come out of all this, which I had never heard before, was that Prato was involved in the Charlie Crab set-up, not that it surprises me but because I've never heard or read that specific detail anywhere else before. Maybe I wasn't following along closely enough.
3.) If it is somewhat common or even begrudgingly accepted knowledge that Dinsio was the sniper who killed Joey, why hasn't he been prosecuted for that? Or has he, and I missed that too?
4.) Strollo tried to give up some of the Pittsburgh guys, but Porter's flip was much more important, and Lenny's testimony was only confirmation of what was already known; plus Lenny's prosecutors were more focused on the the politicians and judges in the Youngstown area that had been in on the game previously.
5.) As others have noted, the Pittsburgh outfit was still humming pretty good into the late 90's, and likely a little beyond.

[JCB1977]

I still find it interesting that Strollo didn't really seem to get utilized as much as other made members who flip.

When I posted this yesterday I noted that effectively Lenny put an end to any organized LCN activity in the Mahoning Valley.

I just always thought he might have been used in cases in Pittsburgh, other parts of Ohio or maybe Michigan. As in I always hoped he'd have Detroit info to share when he flipped. But apparently not.

Since Henry died before Lenny ratted out Bernie and everyone else in town his only fear was that if he gave the Pittsburgh people up it would have been a death sentence. If Lenny had much if any affiliation with Detroit, I never had any knowledge of that.

He did give up Sonny

Yes...Porter got the investigation going with his information pipeline...Lenny confirmed it.

[JCB1977]

What I’m confused about. If Lenny was still under Pittsburgh, why was he still active while Pittsburgh by all intents and purposes inactive by the late 90s. That was the case right?

No, Pittsburgh was still very active through the 1990’s into the early 2000’s.

Crews operating: Sonny Ciancutti New Kensington. Lenny Strollo Youngstown, OH, Pat Feruccio Canton, OH.

High ranking associates/big money earners

Beaver County- Frank Unis Jr (high ranking associate)

Bobby Iannelli Organization- Greater Pittsburgh $30 million per year

Sabatini Brothers Gambling Network- Pittsburgh/Portage County, OH

Sal, Junior & Gene Williams Gambling Organization- Hill District, Pittsburgh ($20 million per year)

Fred Piera/Alfred Corbo Gambling Network- Johnstown, PA

Larry Amodie/Mike Gulino Gambling Network- Lawrence County, PA (New Castle, Sharon and Hillsville)

Hundreds of other bookmakers. After the 2000 indictment of Sonny Ciancutti, it all went down hill from there...but Mike was still getting envelopes until he died in 2006

I wonder if the New Castle Larry Amodie is the father of Melissa the judge. I think she was in my sisters graduating class. Was he made? Were any of the NC guys made? I remember our athletic director Angelo Fornataro gut busted for taking bets when I was in school.

You are 100% correct. Melissa’s dad ran Lawrence County sports bookmarking and numbers lottery in conjunction with the group from Johnstown, PA (and also with Joey Naples’ organization in Youngstown while he was still alive).

Look at Chucky Porter’s kid below, he’s running for Judge in Allegheny County. And, he has the Zappala family endorsement, probably the most influential political family in Pennsylvania history...The Zappala’s married into the Bazzano family in Pittsburgh, mob heavyweights and politically connected all the way to the highest echelon.

https://www.chuckporterforjudge.com/