Buffalo/Ontario Mob Acitivity

[B.]

You've spent many years on here, you absorb nothing, and every once in a while you choose something small, obnoxious, and random to argue about while remaining completely out of your depth. I actually like you as a guy despite that, Sonny, but I don't understand what your interest in this stuff is. A habit?

A member of a family meeting/socializing with a member of another family happens = Colombo family has a liaison to Buffalo.
That your argument?

That actually is pretty close to my argument. These guys maintain social connections and the social connections inform formal relationships. Maybe your idea of a liaison is something out of a movie but the reality is very social. You see it on virtually all wiretaps where these guys shoot the shit, briefly talk about something formal, then continue on with general conversation about other subjects and life in general.

Sonny, this should be your biggest takeaway from this. I fully see your point about all these connections being a bit of a reach. These same mobsters would probably call it reaching too, because they may not even view themselves as 'liaisons'. It's a formal term to describe informal social connections. But the moment they "liaise", they become liaisons, both in the eyes of the FBI and the media who later report it.

A similar example might be when you consider certain mob associates who might've never thought of themselves as "on-record" with anybody, or even understood the term. Instead, it might just be a mutual understanding that "if I get in trouble with anyone from 'that life,' I know to talk to my friend Joe Blow who will iron things out for me."

Exactly. A lot of these relationships are that way. Tom might never be told "Joe is a made guy whose captain is Jerry and they belong to the Marino Family whose boss is Tony." But Tom knows Joe has stature and he can go to him if someone steps on his toes. Now, Tom probably does know Joe is made and what Family he's with but it's all organic and pretty mundane on a daily, practical level.

If Tom were to flip, it would be outlined in court as "Tom is an on record associate of Joe, a soldier in the crew of capodecina Jerry of the Marino Crime Family currently headed by acting boss Tony." That is true but it wouldn't need to be stated that way on the street nor would it necessarily feel that formal. Same is true for a messenger or liaison.

Pete Lovaglio may have been told fairly casually, "hey, I need you to go talk to Joey from Philly. I also need you to talk to the Jersey guys and the West Side. Tell them this." They didn't put a cloak on him and put a scroll in his hand and say "Peter, we're making you the messaggero officiale of the Bonanno Family in all interactions with the Philadelphia, DeCavalcante, and Genovese borgate", but he was nonetheless the Family's messenger to those groups.

--

It's nothing personal Sonny -- like I said, I like you for the goofball that you are -- but you periodically decide to "care" about some random topic and double down on it while cherry-picking, insulting, and being outright wrong then wonder why you're getting put in your place.

I'm going to assume you're genuinely confused. A longtime Bonanno associate moved to Ontario, where the Buffalo Family has jurisdiction, and associated with a soon-to-be Buffalo underboss while remaining a Bonanno associate. A group of Bonanno representatives visited and inducted the Bonanno associate and included the Buffalo members in the process. Afterward, the Bonanno member recorded conversations with the Buffalo underboss where it was evident Joe Todaro was okay with this arrangement and that the Bonanno Family had reached out to them. It was even discussed how the Los Angeles Family similarly inducted someone from Ontario and this upset Todaro as he hadn't been notified. The Buffalo Family was notified about the Bonannos' plan and that itself means someone was used to communicate this message. That person is a liaison.

We don't know that the Bonannos have a single designated person who carries out this role but given it involves two geographically separate Families with fewer and fewer connections in modern times, it probably means there is a particular person who is in a unique position to carry this message. It is someone who would likely have to be introduced as an amico nostra to the Buffalo members, there being few members in this position, and this person would also have to be someone trusted to do this by both Families, again of which there are very few. The far simpler explanation is that a certain person served as a liaison rather than this all happening chaotically and randomly while somehow following traditional protocol to a tee. We don't know who this person is or why he is in a position to do this, but that is how a Family reaches out to another Family and gets approval to carry out their plan. It has been demonstrated over and over again everywhere in the world Cosa Nostra appears.

[B.]

Connections are sources of pride for mafiosi they’re badges of honor, cultivated and even passed down through generations in some cases. In modern times now that these guys are far removed from the Sicilian towns their fathers and grandfathers came from many of these cross family relationships are formed in prison. It’s not a stretch at all to think a member or a trusted associate of the Colombo family has a connection/the ability to reach out to a member or associate of the Todaro family to pass messages or set up meetings.

Pretty sure Bifulco was locked up with Anthony Donato

If true, that is a very good detail to know. Johnny makes a great point that prison relationships are a huge factor in these connections, especially today. You see these group photos of guys from different Families and that is just scratching the surface. Guys who do good time together end up like brothers.

[Newyorkempire]

Connections are sources of pride for mafiosi they’re badges of honor, cultivated and even passed down through generations in some cases. In modern times now that these guys are far removed from the Sicilian towns their fathers and grandfathers came from many of these cross family relationships are formed in prison. It’s not a stretch at all to think a member or a trusted associate of the Colombo family has a connection/the ability to reach out to a member or associate of the Todaro family to pass messages or set up meetings.

Pretty sure Bifulco was locked up with Anthony Donato

If true, that is a very good detail to know. Johnny makes a great point that prison relationships are a huge factor in these connections, especially today. You see these group photos of guys from different Families and that is just scratching the surface. Guys who do good time together end up like brothers.

And Bella use to travel out to MN all the time to see Bifulco.

A. Gerace is locked up with Colombo Michael Sessa in Lewisburg right now

[PolackTony]

If these two groups have any connections whatsoever (even down to a Colombo using a laundrymat that Buffalo owns), there would be formal introductions made, that's the mafia at play as a network. It's not exciting or sexy. It's as simple and easy as a Buffalo member attending a Gambino party and encountering one of the few remaining New Orleans' members (or a Chicago member or a Philly member, take your pick). They'll be formally introduced as brothers and what, if anything, they decide to do is their own business.

A very knowledgeable and reliable source has told me that Russell Papalardo in Cleveland still enjoys this sort of treatment as a "brother" in this way by other mafia figures and Cleveland is still regarded as "represented" amid mafia matters by him even though the family is defunct and he's the only made guy still living.

Since you brought up Papalardo, you might recall the case against Rudy Fratto in Chicago several years back, where he was recorded talking to a forklift company guy from Vegas who was getting squeezed by some Cleveland guys over a debt and ran to Fratto for help. In the transcript, Fratto told the guy to go back to the Cleveland guys and tell them that he was under the protection of a guy who was “the same as [REDACTED NAME]”, presumably referring to Papalardo. Showing that, of course, guys in Chicago knew who Papalardo was and recognized him as the same thing as them (which is not revelatory) and also suggesting that LCN membership was something that still carried significant weight even for guys in a city like Cleveland where the outfit is on the cusp of being extinct.

[antimafia]

Peter Edwards and Antonio Nicaso indicated in their 2015 book, Business or Blood, that two years earlier (i.e., 2013), the NYC Families with the most influence in Ontario "were the Luccheses and Gambinos, and to a lesser extent the Genoveses." (p. 223)

I haven't asked the authors for the source, but we can easily guess it: law enforcement.

I personally don't have any doubt that all the five NYC Families are involved in illicit activity in Ontario. YMMV.

Very interesting.

I wonder what the basis is for specifying the Luccheses. We already have reason to suspect the Gambinos and the Genovese of course are capable of anything. I'd be surprised if the Colombos had much actual involvement in Ontario but they are all part of the same network and their ties to the Buffalo-Ontario Family make it possible they also have contacts in Canada though I'm reluctant to assume much. [snip]

The extent of some US-based LCN Families' activities in Canada in, for example, the 1970s, can be gleaned in an excerpt from the Iced (2016) book by Stephen Schneider, as well as in a couple of articles from Ontario-based newspapers -- the latter were used as sources for the content in that excerpt.

From Iced, ch. 8:


Source (recall that the Genovese Family invested in a Toronto hotel in the 1970s):


Source:


If anyone is interested in the 1975 British Columbia report cited by Schneider, see https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-libra ... ngs-report and https://search.worldcat.org/title/855445493.

The excerpts below from Adrian Humphreys's book about Marvin Elind, The Weasel, offer another look at the value of networking. The story calls to mind how in the early 2000s the Gambino Family in NYC wanted someone in Ontario to shield the Sicilian mafioso Michele Modica, a duty that was taken up by Peter Scarcella. The Corrigan mentioned in the screenshots below is the New York-born Tommy Corrigan who came to Toronto in 1960 via Chicago, becoming the leader of three unions but garnering no respect in Canada's labour movement. The Robbie mentioned is Det. Al Robinson, at the time a member of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Intelligence Branch; Robbie was Marvin's handler.

[Ivan]

If these two groups have any connections whatsoever (even down to a Colombo using a laundrymat that Buffalo owns), there would be formal introductions made, that's the mafia at play as a network. It's not exciting or sexy. It's as simple and easy as a Buffalo member attending a Gambino party and encountering one of the few remaining New Orleans' members (or a Chicago member or a Philly member, take your pick). They'll be formally introduced as brothers and what, if anything, they decide to do is their own business.

A very knowledgeable and reliable source has told me that Russell Papalardo in Cleveland still enjoys this sort of treatment as a "brother" in this way by other mafia figures and Cleveland is still regarded as "represented" amid mafia matters by him even though the family is defunct and he's the only made guy still living.

Since you brought up Papalardo, you might recall the case against Rudy Fratto in Chicago several years back, where he was recorded talking to a forklift company guy from Vegas who was getting squeezed by some Cleveland guys over a debt and ran to Fratto for help. In the transcript, Fratto told the guy to go back to the Cleveland guys and tell them that he was under the protection of a guy who was “the same as [REDACTED NAME]”, presumably referring to Papalardo. Showing that, of course, guys in Chicago knew who Papalardo was and recognized him as the same thing as them (which is not revelatory) and also suggesting that LCN membership was something that still carried significant weight even for guys in a city like Cleveland where the outfit is on the cusp of being extinct.

Yup, my source told me all about the Adventures of Russ and Rudy, but you have a couple details here I didn't know, so thanks!

Papalardo according to him is mostly "enjoying his golden years," hanging around Little Italy a lot, but still gets a piece of the Sinister Staffing Agency and still "reps Cleveland" (his words) in Cosa Nostra in 2024. After he's gone, I imagine the family will be dead dead, but as of this writing the old cocaine-dealing real estate whiz is still keeping the fire going in the twilight of his life.

Should throw in the disclaimer that a couple of guys who were rumored to have been made by Iaccobacci (Ralph Bucci, Johnny O, I think one or two others) are also still alive but that was never confirmed.

[johnny_scootch]

If true, that is a very good detail to know. Johnny makes a great point that prison relationships are a huge factor in these connections, especially today. You see these group photos of guys from different Families and that is just scratching the surface. Guys who do good time together end up like brothers.

Just to add a bit to the whole prison thing that I don't think people realize happens is that guys families will even get close during a bid and I mean personal families. You can have a guy from the Bronx and a guy from Brooklyn who normally wouldn't be friends but they get close in jail and at the same time their families become close from spending all that time together in the visiting room. They'll end up traveling to the prisons together even spending holidays together, I've seen it happen. I had a close relative doing time who became friends with another guy who didn't have much of a family besides a sister and mother. I can't tell you how many times we drove his mother up for visits and she became very close with my mother and spent a few holidays with us. Those kind of auxiliary connections form all the time.

[Angelo Santino]

If true, that is a very good detail to know. Johnny makes a great point that prison relationships are a huge factor in these connections, especially today. You see these group photos of guys from different Families and that is just scratching the surface. Guys who do good time together end up like brothers.

Just to add a bit to the whole prison thing that I don't think people realize happens is that guys families will even get close during a bid and I mean personal families. You can have a guy from the Bronx and a guy from Brooklyn who normally wouldn't be friends but they get close in jail and at the same time their families become close from spending all that time together in the visiting room. They'll end up traveling to the prisons together even spending holidays together, I've seen it happen. I had a close relative doing time who became friends with another guy who didn't have much of a family besides a sister and mother. I can't tell you how many times we drove his mother up for visits and she became very close with my mother and spent a few holidays with us. Those kind of auxiliary connections form all the time.

Prison is a very interesting topic. The next article I have to write will be about the prison system in Italy. As it relates to America, alot of immigrating mafiosi previously served time, and when they served time they were introduced to Italians from different regions so there's a good chance coming that alot of these guys in America met in prison in Italy. And when they served time in US prisons, they made friends there as well and would remain in contact. Guys in the midwest would get it and follow an inmate they met in prison to the west coast upon release.

[Stroccos]

Connections are sources of pride for mafiosi they’re badges of honor, cultivated and even passed down through generations in some cases. In modern times now that these guys are far removed from the Sicilian towns their fathers and grandfathers came from many of these cross family relationships are formed in prison. It’s not a stretch at all to think a member or a trusted associate of the Colombo family has a connection/the ability to reach out to a member or associate of the Todaro family to pass messages or set up meetings.

Pretty sure Bifulco was locked up with Anthony Donato

Did they segregate aids inmates back then ? I was nervous to even shake Bifulco hand

[Stroccos]

If these two groups have any connections whatsoever (even down to a Colombo using a laundrymat that Buffalo owns), there would be formal introductions made, that's the mafia at play as a network. It's not exciting or sexy. It's as simple and easy as a Buffalo member attending a Gambino party and encountering one of the few remaining New Orleans' members (or a Chicago member or a Philly member, take your pick). They'll be formally introduced as brothers and what, if anything, they decide to do is their own business.

A very knowledgeable and reliable source has told me that Russell Papalardo in Cleveland still enjoys this sort of treatment as a "brother" in this way by other mafia figures and Cleveland is still regarded as "represented" amid mafia matters by him even though the family is defunct and he's the only made guy still living.

It's truly the essence of what makes the mafia the mafia. If criminality were the sole factor "the Italians" would have died out long ago.

One of the more mind-blowing epiphanies I've had about the mafia is that the reflexive and cynical they're-just-after-money take on the mafia, while having a grain of truth to it, is for the most part pseudo-sophisticated bullshit, while the corny Joe Bonanno thing about it being an old tradition of brotherhood/honor/respect is more or less true.

But when you think of it as a network, what incentive is there to let it die? That could equate to keeping communication with Chicago, Detroit, Buffalo, Pittsburgh (if there is anything left) and New York. It doesn't have to be Papalardo plotting to "rebuild" (ie a Family structure complete with captains with Moltistanti-style grunt 'made men') which is what most outsiders would expect and in fact, would argue he's nonviable if he doesn't.

Cleveland is a really fascinating example of the network that encompasses associates, legit businessmen, labor, unmade criminals etc. surviving the family's "death." What was once a "structured crime family" has evolved into a network of shady but mostly legit guys centered on a certain staffing agency, with a lot of familiar surnames popping up if you examine who's a part of that network.

Anyway, I would be shocked if Papalardo and Todaro were not personally acquainted, given the above factors and the fact that their cities are "right down the road" from one another.

Allot of these guys where connected from back when the unions were still under control . Allot of Buffalo / cleveland connections over the years
I know loose has been to Buffalo for some meetings I even have a photo of loose in La nova pizzeria hat .

[Newyorkempire]

Connections are sources of pride for mafiosi they’re badges of honor, cultivated and even passed down through generations in some cases. In modern times now that these guys are far removed from the Sicilian towns their fathers and grandfathers came from many of these cross family relationships are formed in prison. It’s not a stretch at all to think a member or a trusted associate of the Colombo family has a connection/the ability to reach out to a member or associate of the Todaro family to pass messages or set up meetings.

Pretty sure Bifulco was locked up with Anthony Donato

Did they segregate aids inmates back then ? I was nervous to even shake Bifulco hand

Ouch. He couldn't resist the prostitutes that's for sure. He had a disease cocktail I heard.

[Newyorkempire]

If these two groups have any connections whatsoever (even down to a Colombo using a laundrymat that Buffalo owns), there would be formal introductions made, that's the mafia at play as a network. It's not exciting or sexy. It's as simple and easy as a Buffalo member attending a Gambino party and encountering one of the few remaining New Orleans' members (or a Chicago member or a Philly member, take your pick). They'll be formally introduced as brothers and what, if anything, they decide to do is their own business.

A very knowledgeable and reliable source has told me that Russell Papalardo in Cleveland still enjoys this sort of treatment as a "brother" in this way by other mafia figures and Cleveland is still regarded as "represented" amid mafia matters by him even though the family is defunct and he's the only made guy still living.

It's truly the essence of what makes the mafia the mafia. If criminality were the sole factor "the Italians" would have died out long ago.

One of the more mind-blowing epiphanies I've had about the mafia is that the reflexive and cynical they're-just-after-money take on the mafia, while having a grain of truth to it, is for the most part pseudo-sophisticated bullshit, while the corny Joe Bonanno thing about it being an old tradition of brotherhood/honor/respect is more or less true.

But when you think of it as a network, what incentive is there to let it die? That could equate to keeping communication with Chicago, Detroit, Buffalo, Pittsburgh (if there is anything left) and New York. It doesn't have to be Papalardo plotting to "rebuild" (ie a Family structure complete with captains with Moltistanti-style grunt 'made men') which is what most outsiders would expect and in fact, would argue he's nonviable if he doesn't.

Cleveland is a really fascinating example of the network that encompasses associates, legit businessmen, labor, unmade criminals etc. surviving the family's "death." What was once a "structured crime family" has evolved into a network of shady but mostly legit guys centered on a certain staffing agency, with a lot of familiar surnames popping up if you examine who's a part of that network.

Anyway, I would be shocked if Papalardo and Todaro were not personally acquainted, given the above factors and the fact that their cities are "right down the road" from one another.

Allot of these guys where connected from back when the unions were still under control . Allot of Buffalo / cleveland connections over the years
I know loose has been to Buffalo for some meetings I even have a photo of loose in La nova pizzeria hat .

As I said. I know him and Sidari know each other. I'm sure he knows Papalardo. Great authentic as it gets Little Italy. 3 hours from Buffalo. Borgata is a great spot. Guy named Tommy owns it.

Can you share pic of Loose??

[johnny_scootch]

Prison is a very interesting topic. The next article I have to write will be about the prison system in Italy.

Looking forward to it.

[Stroccos]

Connections are sources of pride for mafiosi they’re badges of honor, cultivated and even passed down through generations in some cases. In modern times now that these guys are far removed from the Sicilian towns their fathers and grandfathers came from many of these cross family relationships are formed in prison. It’s not a stretch at all to think a member or a trusted associate of the Colombo family has a connection/the ability to reach out to a member or associate of the Todaro family to pass messages or set up meetings.

Pretty sure Bifulco was locked up with Anthony Donato

Did they segregate aids inmates back then ? I was nervous to even shake Bifulco hand

Ouch. He couldn't resist the prostitutes that's for sure. He had a disease cocktail I heard.

I dunno what he all had , was slowly dying for the last 15 years or so before he died ,but He defiantly had aids I am superseded he made it as long as he did

[Stroccos]

If these two groups have any connections whatsoever (even down to a Colombo using a laundrymat that Buffalo owns), there would be formal introductions made, that's the mafia at play as a network. It's not exciting or sexy. It's as simple and easy as a Buffalo member attending a Gambino party and encountering one of the few remaining New Orleans' members (or a Chicago member or a Philly member, take your pick). They'll be formally introduced as brothers and what, if anything, they decide to do is their own business.

A very knowledgeable and reliable source has told me that Russell Papalardo in Cleveland still enjoys this sort of treatment as a "brother" in this way by other mafia figures and Cleveland is still regarded as "represented" amid mafia matters by him even though the family is defunct and he's the only made guy still living.

It's truly the essence of what makes the mafia the mafia. If criminality were the sole factor "the Italians" would have died out long ago.

One of the more mind-blowing epiphanies I've had about the mafia is that the reflexive and cynical they're-just-after-money take on the mafia, while having a grain of truth to it, is for the most part pseudo-sophisticated bullshit, while the corny Joe Bonanno thing about it being an old tradition of brotherhood/honor/respect is more or less true.

But when you think of it as a network, what incentive is there to let it die? That could equate to keeping communication with Chicago, Detroit, Buffalo, Pittsburgh (if there is anything left) and New York. It doesn't have to be Papalardo plotting to "rebuild" (ie a Family structure complete with captains with Moltistanti-style grunt 'made men') which is what most outsiders would expect and in fact, would argue he's nonviable if he doesn't.

Cleveland is a really fascinating example of the network that encompasses associates, legit businessmen, labor, unmade criminals etc. surviving the family's "death." What was once a "structured crime family" has evolved into a network of shady but mostly legit guys centered on a certain staffing agency, with a lot of familiar surnames popping up if you examine who's a part of that network.

Anyway, I would be shocked if Papalardo and Todaro were not personally acquainted, given the above factors and the fact that their cities are "right down the road" from one another.

Allot of these guys where connected from back when the unions were still under control . Allot of Buffalo / cleveland connections over the years
I know loose has been to Buffalo for some meetings I even have a photo of loose in La nova pizzeria hat .

As I said. I know him and Sidari know each other. I'm sure he knows Papalardo. Great authentic as it gets Little Italy. 3 hours from Buffalo. Borgata is a great spot. Guy named Tommy owns it.

Can you share pic of Loose??

Borgata no interest is going there , maybe the food is good? , never heard anyone really talk about it ,
everyone is pretty much dead now anyways ,

No don’t want it spread all over the internet family members is in the photo who are still alive , if they died before me then I will post it