Was Joseph Barbara a boss?

[JoelTurner]

The two things that I had heard about Joe Barbara were that he hosted the Appalachin summit and that he was the boss of the NE Pennsylvania family before Russell Bufalino.

My first stop, Wikipedia, gave contradictory information. The historical leadership section of the Bufalino Family page lists him as boss from 1949-59. However, his own Wikipedia page says “he was a caporegime in the Maggadino Family of Buffalo (some wrongfully believe he became the boss of the Bufalino crime family)”.

Who thinks he was Boss?

An informant said that Barbara was the head of what’s now called the “Bufalino Family”. He had previously identified Barbara as a capo but said this was incorrect. (https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... oe_Barbara)

18/4/1958, PH T-4 said that Dominic Alaino, Russell Bufalino, James Ostico, Angelo Sciandra, and Joe Barbara were in a Sicilian group led by Santo Volpe and that Barbara was #3 or #4.

A file for an informant in Albany shows a close relationship between Santo Volpe and Barbara dating back at least till the 30s including implied murders on his behalf. (https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... oe_Barbara)

On 10/3/1955, PH T-8 said that Bufalino was in charge of mafia activities in the anthracite area and that his immediate superior was Joseph Barbara. However, he also said that there was a man on the level of Barbara who operated out of Philly or Delaware (https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... h=superior)

Who doesn’t think he was a boss?

4/3/1965, PH T-6 gives a line of succession for the NE Pennsylvania family saying it went: Santo Volpe-> John Sciandra-> Russ Bufalino. He also says that Bufalino used to be employed by Joe Barbara in Endicott. (https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... ciandra%22)

On page 25, the same informant says that Bufalino was appointed head of the family by Sciandra and that he was a capo(maybe in the past?)

The American Mafia history website similarly draws a line of succession. It further notes that the leaders of this family were from Montedoro in Sicily contrasting with Barbara and the Buffalo family who were Castellammarese.

Joe Bonanno lays the blame for Appalachin principally on Steve Magaddino. If Barbara was a boss, Bonanno should have blamed him too. As far as I remember, he refers to him as being influential with the Castellammarese in Endicott but doesn’t call him a “Father”.

Who was confused?

Carmine Lombardozzi said in 1968 that Russell Bufalino was introduced to him as the head of the Pittston family at Appalachin. (https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... elPageId=3)

Carmine Lombardozzi said in 1969 that Joe Barbara had been the head of a family that’s now the Bufalino family. (https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... elPageId=2)

The FBI themselves were confused, saying “the Bureau may not wish to go on record saying there is such a thing as the Bufalino family” (https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... oe_Barbara)

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Personally, I think he was a captain in the Buffalo Family who was heavily involved with NE Pennsylvania family because of his proximity in Endicott. He may have come up with Volpe but that isn’t always a guarantee that he’d be made with them

[davidf1989]

Wasn't at Barbara House that the mobsters gathered for the Appachlin meeting called by Genovese?

[JoelTurner]

Wasn't at Barbara House that the mobsters gathered for the Appachlin meeting called by Genovese?

Yeah, the famous Appalachin summit was held at his place.

[B.]

He chaired the committee (council?) who presided over Stefano LaTorre's underworld trial, everyone else was a confirmed Bufalino member. His right hand man Guarnieri was also ID'd in later decades as a captain in the Bufalino Family. Not sure if he was actually the boss, but the stronger evidence to me is he was a high-ranking Bufalino member.

[JoelTurner]

He chaired the committee (council?) who presided over Stefano LaTorre's underworld trial, everyone else was a confirmed Bufalino member. His right hand man Guarnieri was also ID'd in later decades as a captain in the Bufalino Family. Not sure if he was actually the boss, but the stronger evidence to me is he was a high-ranking Bufalino member.

That’s a pretty solid piece of evidence that he was with the NE Pennsylvania family. For the sake of debate, has a member of another family ever sat on a “mob trial”?

I was just wondering out loud, because of their proximity to Buffalo, he could have been there to represent the nearby, more powerful family.

There certainly were a lot of ties between him and high level NE Pennsylvania figures. He may have been a driver for Santo Volpe, a boss in that family.

[B.]

It was an internal issue within the Pittston-Endicott Family, so I don't think there was reason for Buffalo to attend. LaTorre was summoned to a meeting with Barbara and other important Bufalino members where they decided to put him on the shelf. Barbara seems to have chaired the meeting.

Barbara was also part of an earlier meeting that arbitrated a business dispute between LaTorre and his son-in-law Angelo Parrino who was a member. Like LaTorre's underworld trial that resulted in him being shelved, it was attended only by important Bufalino members.