Buffalo/Ontario Mob Acitivity

[Confederate]

I found Salletts comments to be very interesting. He sounds like he wants to put the stake through their heart.

What did he say, exactly? Anyone got a link to these comments? Thanks in advance.

He said something to the effect (I'm paraphrasing )that the Chicago Feds are going to focus more on Organized Crime and that they haven't forgotten about the Outfit.

[Lupara]

My post was directed at Lupara who wants to endlessly speculate

And again I ask, what is wrong with that? How does that not benefit the activity of the forum? This speculation is based on legitimate info, there are no bullshit artists here who are making stuff up like in the Chicago threads, so what's your stake in this discussion?

Lol what was made up in the Chicago threads??

There was a guy who was claiming to be the son of a deceased Chicago mobster, who turned out to be a bullshitter. There've been various amounts of similar posters over the years on the forums claiming to be relatives of mobsters with inside knowledge. There's been nothing of any sorts in this thread though. Every five, ten years we get rid of the bad blood.

[Lupara]

Back to Buffalo. With the Violin Bros possible connection to the Rizzuto murders.They were both not made at the time of Nick Rizzutos death. Rizzuto was made and possibly at the time the capo of the Bonanno Montreal Decina. So it does make sense that if they were involved, that they were doing the job for the Bonannos. Being unmade means they couldn't do it on there own to get revenge for their father and uncle's.But they could if they were asked to do it by the Bonanno or Buffalo leadership.

I don't think Montagna was depending on the Violis to do his bidding as there were plenty of guys in Montreal who could do the job, and they did. But the Violis likely had connections to some of the Calabrian mobsters in Toronto that could've been of use to Montagna. For all we know, Montagna was consulting the elder Luppinos instead when he visited Hamilton.

[Pogo The Clown]

I found Salletts comments to be very interesting. He sounds like he wants to put the stake through their heart.

What did he say, exactly? Anyone got a link to these comments? Thanks in advance.

He said something to the effect (I'm paraphrasing )that the Chicago Feds are going to focus more on Organized Crime and that they haven't forgotten about the Outfit.

"The Chicago Outfit? We haven't forgotten about you," said Chicago Special-Agent-in-Charge Jeffrey Sallet in an interview with the I-Team.

https://abc7chicago.com/reenergizing-ch ... t/2714190/

https://abc7chicago.com/with-top-chicag ... d/3550181/

[Ivan]

I found Salletts comments to be very interesting. He sounds like he wants to put the stake through their heart.

What did he say, exactly? Anyone got a link to these comments? Thanks in advance.

He said something to the effect (I'm paraphrasing )that the Chicago Feds are going to focus more on Organized Crime and that they haven't forgotten about the Outfit.

thanks

[Wiseguy]

And if you arnt interested in anything outside NY, fine.
But Canada is a reality, and it is MUCH more interesting that BOTH the Luchesse case ( which yall couldnt even discuss without degenerating into some racial nonsense, which yall never seem to be in as a hurry to interrupt...)
or the Bonnano case, shit AND the East Coast Enterprise case.

Except, when it comes to the Buffalo family, we are talking primarily about the U.S. That's where the majority of the remaining membership is. That's where almost all of the cases, few and far between as they've been, have come from. The drug bust on the Canadian side was the exception, not the rule. So, while you may find everything going on in Canada exciting, let's not apply that to Buffalo more than we should.

The funny thing is Pogo, Wiseguy, look at those excerpts. You really arnt even WRONG HERE!! Both sides are basically correct, if we stop trying to be " RIGHT" yall could see that. There WASNT much beyond the Violis happening with the Buffalo family. This entire initiative to reactivate is less than 5 years old, a VERY RECENT development. And it happened what, a year after Rizzuto died, suddenly when everyone was expecting more bloodshed. How could it be a cooincidence?

I agree there wasn't much happening beyond the Violis and their drug operation. You say that yourself above. But, like others, your conclusion is the info that has come out shows an "initiative to reactivate." When, given what we do know (not speculate) about the last 20 years, and given what we do know the feds have said, all of this is far more likely a flash in the pan anomaly than a sign of the Buffalo family coming back to life.

[Lupara]

Except, when it comes to the Buffalo family, we are talking primarily about the U.S. That's where the majority of the remaining membership is.

Do you have a (recent) membership list at hand that shows this to be the case?

[Wiseguy]

Except, when it comes to the Buffalo family, we are talking primarily about the U.S. That's where the majority of the remaining membership is.

Do you have a (recent) membership list at hand that shows this to be the case?

Well, for starters, the excerpt below is from an article posted in the linked thread. I obviously don't take that 30 member figure at face value, however.


As number two in the organization, some 30 Mafiosi are now under his command, mainly in the United States, but also in Hamilton, says Domenico Violi.
viewtopic.php?f=29&t=4122&p=96671&hilit ... hip#p96671

We know the FBI had 23 members on their 2006 chart.

These 11 members have all died since then -

Felix Borelli - dead
Leonard Falzone - dead
Frank Inserra - dead
Benjamin Nicolletti - dead
John A. Pieri - dead
Joseph R. Pieri Jr. - dead
Vincent Sicurella - dead
Vincent Scro - dead
Joseph Rosato - dead
Joe Todaro Sr - dead
Rocco Vacari - dead

Of the remaining 12 members from that 2006 chart, Pogo identified 8 below, most (if not all) of which are based on the U.S.

Frank J. “Butchie” BiFulco
Padquale Brindisi
Salvatore “Sam” Cardinale
Peter Gerace
Robert J. “Bobby” Panaro Jr.
Charles Pusitari
Victor J. Sansanese
Joseph A. Todaro Jr.

Obviously, even accounting for the 19 members above, that would still leave 4 members unaccounted for.

And, of course, we know that newer members Domenico Violi and Rocco Luppino are based in Canada.

8 identified living members + 4 unidentified members (assuming they are alive) + Violi and Luppino = 14 members.

So it would seem from the above that most of the members are in the U.S.

Unless....

People want to take that 30 member figure at face value and assume that anywhere from 14-18 guys have been made into the Buffalo family in recent years, most in Canada.

And I don't buy that for a minute.

[Lupara]

Except, when it comes to the Buffalo family, we are talking primarily about the U.S. That's where the majority of the remaining membership is.

Do you have a (recent) membership list at hand that shows this to be the case?

Well, for starters, the excerpt below is from an article posted in the linked thread. I obviously don't take that 30 member figure at face value, however.


As number two in the organization, some 30 Mafiosi are now under his command, mainly in the United States, but also in Hamilton, says Domenico Violi.
viewtopic.php?f=29&t=4122&p=96671&hilit ... hip#p96671

We know the FBI had 23 members on their 2006 chart.

These 11 members have all died since then -

Felix Borelli - dead
Leonard Falzone - dead
Frank Inserra - dead
Benjamin Nicolletti - dead
John A. Pieri - dead
Joseph R. Pieri Jr. - dead
Vincent Sicurella - dead
Vincent Scro - dead
Joseph Rosato - dead
Joe Todaro Sr - dead
Rocco Vacari - dead

Of the remaining 12 members from that 2006 chart, Pogo identified 8 below, most (if not all) of which are based on the U.S.

Frank J. “Butchie” BiFulco
Padquale Brindisi
Salvatore “Sam” Cardinale
Peter Gerace
Robert J. “Bobby” Panaro Jr.
Charles Pusitari
Victor J. Sansanese
Joseph A. Todaro Jr.

Obviously, even accounting for the 19 members above, that would still leave 4 members unaccounted for.

And, of course, we know that newer members Domenico Violi and Rocco Luppino are based in Canada.

8 identified living members + 4 unidentified members (assuming they are alive) + Violi and Luppino = 14 members.

So it would seem from the above that most of the members are in the U.S.

Unless....

People want to take that 30 member figure at face value and assume that anywhere from 14-18 guys in Canada have been made into the Buffalo family in recent years.

And I don't buy that for a minute.

Violi's statement will be sufficient, thanks. According to the information Rocco Luppino was already a member before Violi, who may very well have been made back in the days. Take note that Giacomo Luppino had 5 or so sons if I recall. At least two are now identified as made members. Then there may also be a few members left of the old Papalia crew. Papalia himself had several brothers as well. According to author Stephen Schneider of Iced: the story of organized crime in Canada, the Papalia crew consisted of a dozen members, but today most of them are probably dead. But with some new inductees there may be a full-fledged crew active in Canada today (perhaps including the Musitanos) which could bring the members to more than 20, which in turn isn't far off from Violi's statement. If the family is indeed resuscitating it would makes sense that it will focus more on its operations across the border. Violi's installment as underboss may be the first step in this transition. Just my humble endless speculation.

[antimafia]

Membership in Mafia 'better than gold,' landmark trial of two mobsters hears

https://nationalpost.com/news/membershi ... ers-hears/

GTA cocaine conspiracy was tied to ’Ndrangheta crime network, Crown says at sentencing of alleged mob boss

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2018/1 ... -boss.html

The two articles to which I posted links above were in relation to Giuseppe Ursino's and Cosmin Dracea's sentencing hearing back in November, which ended up resulting in pending sentences. On the followup date of December 5, 2018, there was either a property hearing for both or just for Dracea--I don't know because no journalist reported on the hearing.

The sentencing hearing resumes tomorrow, January 9. I'll try to provide an update to all of you before the articles are published in some of the major Canadian newspapers, i.e., the National Post, the Toronto Star.

The Crown (Tom Andreopoulos, deputy chief federal prosecutor for the Public Prosecution Service of Canada) and the Defence (Ursino's lawyer Dragi Zekavica) completed their sentencing submissions today after some preliminaries, notably that Dracea will have another forfeiture hearing (property hearing) on Tuesday, January 22. The next date for the sentencing hearing is Thursday, February 28. (Incidentally, Andreopoulos is very familiar with the documents revealed at Domenico Violi's recent hearing in December, having been quoted about it in several newspapers articles, but I'm not sure he was the Crown prosecutor at Violi's hearing.)

The Crown is seeking 15 years for Ursino, 14 years for Dracea.

Ursino's lawyer submitted some new exhibits relating to Ursino's health. There is a history of heart problems in Ursino's family; he has had two cardiac operations. Both his mother and father died of heart attacks; Ursino's sister has heart problems. Ursino is on a regimen of nine medications, and his lawyer wants to ensure that Ursino has proper medical treatment while serving time at Millhaven Institution, a well-known maximum-security prison in Bath, Ontario. Ursino, who is under house arrest, has been wearing an electronic bracelet for approximately 3.5 years at this point. He is required to be in the presence of his surety, his wife, 24 hours a day -- his lawyer argued that this results in her being unable to work and to bring in any income. (Ursino is retired).

[SonnyBlackstein]

@ Lupara:
Let’s also look at context.

14 members inducted appears a large number, until its put into context, that this would be from 2006. That’s 13 years. Meaning an inductee per year, odd. Or one induction every 4 years with 4/5 inductees.

The math on these equations doesn’t appear incredibly unrealistic.

We also need to take into account that it is unlikely the FBI would be aware of all members. It’s not at all unlikely they were unaware of 4-5 members.

And taking into account Canada, which could easily constitute a reasonable portion, 5-10 possible members.

A mix of all three possibilities, in any weight, and you quite easily arrive at a ballpark 30 number.

I don’t see why Violi’s statement considering the above appears extraordinarily unbelievable.

Even for a minute.

[antimafia]

Re: my previous post about the sentencing hearing for Ursino and Dracea.

I spoke with Adrian Humphreys after the hearing, and he alerted me to the fact that he just recently posted on Twitter the links to two YouTube videos that feature Ursino speaking with police agent Carmine Guido; Humphreys put together the videos, which are parts 1 and 2, by himself. Links:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imnP1gU ... e=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZuXa05 ... e=youtu.be

Link to Humphreys's tweet:

https://twitter.com/AD_Humphreys/status ... 3698766849

[scagghiuni]

People want to take that 30 member figure at face value and assume that anywhere from 14-18 guys have been made into the Buffalo family in recent years, most in Canada.

And I don't buy that for a minute.

considering the mafia war in canada both in montreal and ontario, the bonanno's that need manpower to fight the rizzuto faction, i wouldn't be surprised they made several guys in the latest years and the buffalo family has 30 members in total, i think the bonanno's wanted to rebuild the family and forced todaro jr to make violi and the others
anyway even a family with 15 members can be viable, italian police in italy for example considers viable also small families based just in a little town, and italy is full of it... you don't need 200 members like the gambino's to be viable and active

[Moscone65]

Musitano's are viable and they don't have many members.

[Pogo The Clown]

@ Lupara:
Let’s also look at context.

14 members indicted appears a large number, until its put into context, that this would be from 2006. That’s 13 years. Meaning an inductee per year, odd. Or one induction every 4 years with 4/5 inductees.

The math on these equations doesn’t appear incredibly unrealistic.

We also need to take into account that it is unlikely the FBI would be aware of all members. It’s not at all unlikely they were unaware of 4-5 members.

And taking into account Canada, which could easily constitute a reasonable portion, 5-10 possible members.

A mix of all three possibilities, in any weight, and you quite easily arrive at a ballpark 30 number.

I don’t see why Violi’s statement considering the above appears extraordinarily unbelievable.

Even for a minute.

Well in 2013 the Feds had them at 20 members so it doesn't look they were making anyone from 2006-2012. Factoring in deaths since 2013 they would have had to have inducted over a dozen new members since 2013 to reach the numbers people are using. And really how likely is that? Philly hasn't even made that many in that period and that is a far far more active group that regulalry makes new members. I mean that is reaching 5 family levels of recruitment there.


Also how likely is that this massive recruitment drive would somehow escape LE attention despite them having a member informant recording Violi?


Pogo