Pittsburgh Illegal Gambling Bust

[SILENT PARTNERZ]

good article on the subject:
http://old.post-gazette.com/regionstate ... nbank1.asp

[Frank]

I would think that in the future NY or Philadelphia would probably just take over the territory. Maybe even Detroit if they grow back to a power.

[Wiseguy]

I would think that in the future NY or Philadelphia would probably just take over the territory. Maybe even Detroit if they grow back to a power.

Won't happen. Philadelphia's scope doesn't really extend beyond that city and parts of New Jersey. Florida is about the only place where the NY families have significant activity outside the northeast. I won't even mention Detroit. None of them are going to set up shop in Pittsburgh.

[FriendofFamily]

I would think that in the future NY or Philadelphia would probably just take over the territory. Maybe even Detroit if they grow back to a power.

Won't happen. Philadelphia's scope doesn't really extend beyond that city and parts of New Jersey. Florida is about the only place where the NY families have significant activity outside the northeast. I won't even mention Detroit. None of them are going to set up shop in Pittsburgh.

Chicago, Detroit, or Pittsburgh didn't take over Cleveland in the 1980's. I don't see any full take over of Pittsburgh. So the only thing NY could do is maybe set up a satellite drug operation. Remnants Locals will always try the gambling thing because it doesn't take as much capital and just slide into bars or Gambling Houses.

[JCB1977]

The wiretapped conversations were confirmed by SA Roger Greenbank...I've been trying for 3 years to get transcripts of the conversations. I should note that Roger Greenbank said "when the conversation turned to something criminal" that Mike would go outside and walk around the block with his hands over his mouth.

Man, Mike Genovese was one shrewd and smart operator, no Cirelli apartment style fiasco for him. Gotti should've used his playbook on ducking FBI audio surveillance. Just the mere fact that the man managed to stay out of jail during the 80's and 90's is a testament to his capability as a boss.. Very informative JCB, thanks..

Here are a few great articles on Mike. Torsten Ove, writer for the PPG is tremendous and detailed.

http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/Op- ... 0904190162

http://www.post-gazette.com/news/obitua ... 0611020421

[JCB1977]

I would think that in the future NY or Philadelphia would probably just take over the territory. Maybe even Detroit if they grow back to a power.

Won't happen. Philadelphia's scope doesn't really extend beyond that city and parts of New Jersey. Florida is about the only place where the NY families have significant activity outside the northeast. I won't even mention Detroit. None of them are going to set up shop in Pittsburgh.

Agreed. No city that once had a tenured mafia family will be scooped up. If that was the Case, Chicago would have guys in KC, Milwaukee, Cleveland etc.

[JCB1977]

Very interesting stuff, thanks guys!!

Per 1990 PA Crime Commission Reports on Organized Crime

By the late 1970s, because of advancing years and ill health, LaRocca had yielded much of the family leadership to Gabriel Mannarino, Joseph Pecora, and Michael Genovese. Pecora was convicted of gambling in 1979, and Mannarino died in 1980. Michael Genovese, 71, then became the boss of the Pittsburgh Family in 1985, with Pecora staying on as underboss until his death in March 1987. As boss, Genovese continued LaRocca's low profile style of running the crime Family, but noticeable shifts soon emerged in the Family's power structure and in the scale of its criminal activities. Charles Porter, current underboss, emerged as Genovese's chief lieutenant and narcotics trafficking assumed more status as a major money maker for the Family. The Pittsburgh LCN had become somewhat lethargic under LaRocca. No new members were added for a number of years and drug trafficking was, at least formally, prohibited. Some members were involved in narcotics, but without LaRocca's consent. For many members and associates of the Family, Genovese was a "breath of fresh air." The Family became more active and aggressive both in reasserting its dominance in the Pittsburgh area and in expanding into new territories in Ohio and Erie. New members and associates were added to the Family's membership rolls. While remaining firmly entrenched in traditional criminal activities including gambling and loansharking, the Family moved into the video poker market and expanded its narcotics business. Under Genovese, there is also less strict adherence to the concept of "territories" as the sole province of specific Family members. Prior to LaRocca's death, Family members operated in designated areas in Western Pennsylvania. For example, LaRocca operated in the City of Pittsburgh; Gabriel Mannarino, and later Thomas Ciancutti, had New Kensington; Joseph Sica, and later Louis Raucci, were in the Penn Hills area; and Frank D. Amato, Jr., had the eastern suburbs such as Braddock and North Versailles. Territories still exist under Genovese but are not as strictly defined, and one member's territory often overlaps that of another member. For example, Porter and Raucci share the areas of Monroeville, Verona, and Penn Hills. Primo Mollica, a major bookmaker from Glassport and a close associate of Porter, oversees gamblingoperations throughout parts ofWestern Pennsylvania. Expansion into Erie and Ohio Markets Encouraged by the declining influence in Erie of the Magaddino LCN Family of Buffalo, NY, the Pittsburgh
Family expanded its involvement in the late 1970s. This decline began with the death of Stefano Magaddino in 1974, after which the family splintered into small groups headed by the capos. Also, the Magaddino members and associates operating in the Erie area were advancing in years, and some members were affected by arrests and convictions on gambling related charges in the early 1980s. As these members either retired or died, the Pittsburgh crime Family's influence in the Erie gambling market became more pervasive. Illegal gambling activities in Erie were dominated by James "Westfield Jimmy" Salamone, a "made member" of the Magaddino Family, from the 1950s through the 1970s. In the early 1980s, Salamone scaled back and eventually relinquished his gambling activities. At the same time, other Magaddino associates were experiencing problems with law enforcement. Dominic Adiutori, a Salamone associate, was convicted of federal gambling charges in 1984, after which he retired from the gambling business. Anthony D. Ciotti, who ranked next to Salamone as a major gambling operative in Erie, was convicted of drug charges in 1981. He failed to report to serve his term and remained a fugitive until he was apprehended in 1985, when he was sentenced to five years imprisonment for failing to report. This sentence runs concurrently with the 15-year term he received for the drug conviction. In the late 1980s, the three major gambling organizations in Erie had links (e.g., "layoff" activity) to Pittsburgh LCN Family associates. These organizations (headed by Raymond Ferritto, Jack Miller, and Leonard Alecci) have been laying off action to Pittsburgh LCN Family-affiliated bookmakers, including Robert Iannelli, Manuel Xenakis, John Sabatini, and Frank Unis, Jr. The Pittsburgh LCN Family has similar alliances in the Johnstown and AItoona area; for example, Alfred Corbo, a major gambling operative in Altoona, has been linked to the Paul Hankish gambling network. The Pittsburgh Family's involvement in Ohio, already well established prior to the 1980s, expanded during the decade as the Family took advantage of the vacuum created by the successful prosecutions of the hierarchy of the Cleveland LCN, including both its boss and its underboss. James "Jack White" Licavoli, the Cleveland boss, was convicted of racketeering and conspiracy and sentenced to 17 years in federal prison in 1982, leaving the underboss Angelo Lonardo as acting boss until his conviction in 1983. Lonardo was sentenced to 103 years for his role in a RICO drug case (and subsequently became agovernment witness and one of thehighest ranking mafioso to turn informant). The expanding involvement of the Pittsburgh LCN in Ohio also demonstrates the continuing working relationships that exist between the two LCN Families, despite their violent dispute in the early 1980s. Both LCN Families, also, are represented on the LCN Commission by the New York Genovese LCN Family. The Cleveland LCN relinquished control of the vending and gambling businesses in the Greater Youngstown (OH) area to the Pittsburgh LCN in the 1970s. The two Families worked out an agreement in which Cleveland received 25 percent of the profits from illegal activity, with Pittsburgh and the local Youngstown mob faction splitting the remainder.

[JCB1977]

LaRocca Crime Family Operating Style

First, as is true of other LCN families, the Pittsburgh Family is hierarchical, with a boss, top lieutenants, soldiers, and associates. Charles Porter functions as the "underboss" while Joseph Sica and Charlie Imburgia serves as the consiglieres. It is Genovese's "management" style to have direct and frequent contacts with some of his chief lieutenants, as well as with soldiers and associates who are good moneymakers. During LaRocca's regime, when Genovese and Mannarino were LaRocca's chief lieutenants, they were as powerful as the designated underboss Joseph Pecora. Second, Genovese, as boss, and his top lieutenants typically go through channels and have buffers between them and the actual criminal activity. At the street level, are the soldiers and the many associates who report to the Family hierarchy. Genovese is in control of all members. Each member, in turn, has a number of associates who are required to report to him. Furthermore, many of these associates run their own operations and have associates who report to them. Third, the Pittsburgh Family has fewer "made" members than most other LCN families. it has a network of ambitious associates who benefit from the resources and reputation of the Family and, interestingly, consider themselves a part of, or as belonging to, the" organization." Some associates may even believe that they are "made" members, a status achieved not by way of formal rites of initiation, but by long-standing loyalty and money-making prowess for the Family. This belief is encouraged by the Family hierarchy. Fourth, while the Family may be hierarchical and heavy-handed, its money-making activities are decentralized and entrepreneurial. A member or associate has responsibilities to make money for the Family (often with his captain as conduit); but he is not an employee, nor does he have a supervisor in the conventional sense of that word. A member's or associate's stature in the Family is based largely on his ability to make money for himself and for the Family by whatever means possible. In turn, members and associates of the LaRocca Family have their own, often interlocking, networks of criminal associates and supporters. Fifth, the Family typically receives "tribute" of one kind or another on the varied criminal enterprises which take place within the territories occupied by the Family. The hierarchy "licenses" such criminal enterprises and receives payments for restricting market entry or for other services. The Family also has mechanisms for settling disputes (including the "sitdown" meeting), whether these occur between Family members or with members or associates of other LCN Families. Finally, in some instances, it uses simple extortion, e.g., the "street tax" assessed on gambling operators. These organizational features have allowed a comparatively "small" crimefamily to exert a great deal of influence and amass considerable wealth in Western Pennsylvania, maybe more so than Philadephia considering they control all of Western PA, the panhandle of West Virginia, Northeast Ohio, Erie, PA and parts of Western NY.

[BillyBrizzi]

In the late 1980s, the three major gambling organizations in Erie had links (e.g., "layoff" activity) to Pittsburgh LCN Family associates. These organizations (headed by Raymond Ferritto, Jack Miller, and Leonard Alecci) have been laying off action to Pittsburgh LCN Family-affiliated bookmakers, including Robert Iannelli, Manuel Xenakis, John Sabatini, and Frank Unis, Jr.

Is this the Ray Ferritto who killed Danny Greene and testified against the Cleveland bosses?

[JCB1977]

In the late 1980s, the three major gambling organizations in Erie had links (e.g., "layoff" activity) to Pittsburgh LCN Family associates. These organizations (headed by Raymond Ferritto, Jack Miller, and Leonard Alecci) have been laying off action to Pittsburgh LCN Family-affiliated bookmakers, including Robert Iannelli, Manuel Xenakis, John Sabatini, and Frank Unis, Jr.

Is this the Ray Ferritto who killed Danny Greene and testified against the Cleveland bosses?

Yes it is...and I still cannot for the life of me figure out why anybody did business with him. However, he was given the blessing of Westfield Jimmy Salamone, longtime rackets boss in Erie and closes friend of John LaRocca. I should say that Ferrito did not have direct contact with anybody in Pittsburgh. His action was layed off through associates

[JCB1977]

Ferrito was related through marriage to Serafino Romeo (cousin of Paul and Mike Romeo from Youngstown) who was the longtime Rackets Boss in Erie from the 1930's-1960's. Serafino Romeo held alot of weight through his cousins Paul and Mike.

[FriendofHenry]

Wasn't ferrito the rat that drove RC to the parking lot where Green's car got the "Youngstown Tune-up"?

[SILENT PARTNERZ]

Wasn't ferrito the rat that drove RC to the parking lot where Green's car got the "Youngstown Tune-up"?
[/quo
Yes. Feritto was one of the bombers. He was
spotted leaving the scene and arrested/flipped.

[JCB1977]

Wasn't ferrito the rat that drove RC to the parking lot where Green's car got the "Youngstown Tune-up"?

Yep

[FriendofHenry]

Wasn't ferrito the rat that drove RC to the parking lot where Green's car got the "Youngstown Tune-up"?

Yep

I'm sorry, it was a loaded question. I believe that RC met with a friend in Niles on his way to Cleveland that fateful day.