Present day Steubenville and WV

[Tocco686]

Does anyone have any info on the present day LCN activity in Steubenville Ohio. Is it run now by Pittsburgh guys or Cleveland? I also heard there is a lot of activity in Weirton WV.

[Frank]

I thought both those Families we're defunct. Maybe these Families aren't inactive,just more secretive.

[Ivan]

The made guys are gone, some independent bookmakers are still around. That's it.

[FriendofHenry]

The made guys are gone, some independent bookmakers are still around. That's it.

Totally agree!

[Angelo Santino]

Pretty amazing that "Pittsburgh" extended from Altoona to Youngstown (and Steubenville) to Wheeling (3 states, 4 large cities whereas "Cleveland" never expanded beyond the state and 2 large cities, maybe 3 if you count Toledo, still a large area but 1/3 the size of Pittsburgh. And while territory isn't always revealing in a family's power, it's amazing that both groups controlled Ohio and Western PA with a relatively small amount of made members. Maybe I'm wrong here but I haven't "found" any captains with large crew (*of "made" soldiers and not just associates) outside of Cleveland, Youngstown and Pittsburgh. All the other cities of interest: Toledo, Akron, Kent, Youngstown (factoring in Cleveland interests and not the traditional Youngstown Crew), Erie, Wheeling, Altoona, maybe Uniontown had maybe 1-3 no more than 5 made members that we know of as best. It was nothing like the supercrews of NY with 10-30 soldiers under a captain. In "Cleveland" and "Pittsburgh" the captain (with 1-2 solders if that under him) or the soldier in charge of an area seemed to command the criminal activity with a core of associates in a crew like fashion as well as local gamblers, bookmakers, sometimes junk men who frequented their mob hangouts. And the connections some of these "local bosses" commanded: local politicians, judges, chief of police. It was quite an era!

[Angelo Santino]

And I know this is supposed to be present but since that doesn't exist, rather than start a new thread I'll ask it here.

Does anyone have any take on "Buffalo's" and "Detroit's" influence in the ORV? I'm seeing Detroit and Buffalo surnames appearing there in the 1920's. Something was going on.

[FriendofHenry]

Does anyone have any info on the present day LCN activity in Steubenville Ohio. Is it run now by Pittsburgh guys or Cleveland? I also heard there is a lot of activity in Weirton WV.

Any organized activity in Weirton WV would greatly surprise me. Back in the day I knew of a corrupt county prosecutor that turned on Jo Jo Pecora. Maybe there's still some limited activity in Wheeling WV where Paul Hankish was the man? If so then very limited.

[Tocco686]

I wonder if guys like Quattrone and Tripodi are still around. I thought Tripodi ran the Spot bar there?

I know Paul Hankish used to run book out of Wheeling WV. Wheeling itself was complex and really depended on which vices you were talking about. Gambling was headed up by Bill Lias (Greek ethnicity), and he was allied with, but not controlled by, Pittsburgh Mafiosi. The names commonly associated with gambling in Wheeling included only one Italian family (Zambito), although there were others of Italian extraction who worked as underlings for the other families, and the Sparachanes were involved in Marshall County. There were also significant Jewish and Lebanese family connections involved (the Lebanese group was also heavily involved in fencing stolen property), and one German family (Glessner), but everyone who operated in gambling had to kick up to Lias.

I know some people might have a fit about this but I heard Sheriff Abdalla is crooked. That just what I heard from people who grew up in Steubenville.

[FriendofHenry]

I wonder if guys like Quattrone and Tripodi are still around. I thought Tripodi ran the Spot bar there?

I know Paul Hankish used to run book out of Wheeling WV. Wheeling itself was complex and really depended on which vices you were talking about. Gambling was headed up by Bill Lias (Greek ethnicity), and he was allied with, but not controlled by, Pittsburgh Mafiosi. The names commonly associated with gambling in Wheeling included only one Italian family (Zambito), although there were others of Italian extraction who worked as underlings for the other families, and the Sparachanes were involved in Marshall County. There were also significant Jewish and Lebanese family connections involved (the Lebanese group was also heavily involved in fencing stolen property), and one German family (Glessner), but everyone who operated in gambling had to kick up to Lias.

I know some people might have a fit about this but I heard Sheriff Abdalla is crooked. That just what I heard from people who grew up in Steubenville.

I haven't been to "Stupidville" in decades so I can't say for sure if Tripodi or his family is running the Spot.

As far a who was the man in Wheeling: I'm sure you'll find that Paul took over that title from Bill, one way or another

[Cheech]

always found Steubenville interesting. that city pops up in a lot of stories. too many for it to be coincidence.

[Cheech]

can anyone recommend a book on steubenville and OC? you know in between playing a pretend mobster online I like to read.

[Dwalin2014]

can anyone recommend a book on steubenville and OC? you know in between playing a pretend mobster online I like to read.

I know only about this one:

https://www.amazon.com/Mobsters-Madams- ... e+mobsters

It's an interesting book, but not all crimes described here are gang or mafia related, sometimes for example policemen got killed when trying to stop a drunk bar fight or domestic violence etc (if I remember correctly). But others are about organized crime, for example many Prohibition agents got killed by the mob, then gangsters killing each other etc, after all Steubenville was among those towns who got the nickname "Little Chicago" for crime activity. A shorter book though, compared to some others, but still a good one imo.

[Cheech]

thanks Dwalin. all the best to you

[JCB1977]

I wonder if guys like Quattrone and Tripodi are still around. I thought Tripodi ran the Spot bar there?

I know Paul Hankish used to run book out of Wheeling WV. Wheeling itself was complex and really depended on which vices you were talking about. Gambling was headed up by Bill Lias (Greek ethnicity), and he was allied with, but not controlled by, Pittsburgh Mafiosi. The names commonly associated with gambling in Wheeling included only one Italian family (Zambito), although there were others of Italian extraction who worked as underlings for the other families, and the Sparachanes were involved in Marshall County. There were also significant Jewish and Lebanese family connections involved (the Lebanese group was also heavily involved in fencing stolen property), and one German family (Glessner), but everyone who operated in gambling had to kick up to Lias.

I know some people might have a fit about this but I heard Sheriff Abdalla is crooked. That just what I heard from people who grew up in Steubenville.

Tripodi was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 1987 and went into his garage and blew his brains out with a .38 revolver. Cosmo Quattrone died back in 1986 in Baltimore, MD of cancer. And Paul Hankish died in federal prison back in 1998. His son Chris just died in 2007. Weirton, WV was overseen by Silvio "Birdie" Pinciaro. Are your questions serious?

[JCB1977]

always found Steubenville interesting. that city pops up in a lot of stories. too many for it to be coincidence.

Hi Cheech,

Unfortunately, there is not alot written about Steubenville. Madams, Mobsters, Mayhem by Susan Guy has a few chapters dedicated but nothing in depth. Several Dean Martin books refer to the Steubenville underworld as Dean Martin was born Dino Crocetti

Please see the attached FBI file links for a more in depth understanding of Steubenville.

FYI: Vincenzo "Jimmy" Tripodi aka El Padrone ran Steubenville for the better part of 50 years along with his right hand man and fellow made member Cosmo Quattrone. Both Tripodi and Quattrone married into each other's families, many of them still around today. Both were Calabrians which was common in the Ohio River Valley which had the largest number of Calabrian immigrants settle in the area from Pittsburgh to Cleveland than anywhere else int he country. Tripodi was very close to Rocco Pellegrino in Westchester County as well as Steve Zoccoli in San Jose. Half of Pittsburgh transferred out to San Jose when Sal Marino moved out there in the 1950's along with his son Angelo, both originally from Sharon, PA which is just north of Hillsville, PA.

Tripodi was close to Tony Milano in Cleveland as well as Dominic "Big Dom" Mallamo and Paolo "Paul" Romeo and Michele "Mike" Romeo in Youngstown. Tripodi was also close to Antonio Ripepi in Pittsburgh as well as Joe Regino in Johnstown, Gabe Mannarino in New Kensington and John Bazzano Sr. and Jr. (Ironic they are all Calabrians )



https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... 4&tab=page

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... 5&tab=page

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... 3&tab=page

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... 9&tab=page

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... 2&tab=page

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... %20Tripodi

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... %20Tripodi

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... 3&tab=page

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... %20Tripodi

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... %20Tripodi (Went to L.A. for the funeral of Pete Milano's wife)

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... 4&tab=page

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... %20Tripodi

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... %20Tripodi

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.htm ... 8&tab=page

Excerpt from book on Dean Martin:

From Dino: Living High in the Dirty Business of Dreams, by Nick Tosches:

"The padrone of Steubenville, the man who oversaw it all, the one to whom the Irish and the Jews and the rest paid tribute, was James Vincent Tripodi, born Vincenzo Tripodi aka James Trepod, whom no one ever described as a gentleman. Born in Italy in December 1899, Vincenzo Tripodi had established himself early and violently as the demon lover of the Democratic bosses, as the evilest dark breeze in that lush and fruitful garden. He lived at 638 Broadway with his wife. They called her Mae or Mabel, but her name was Amelia. She too had come from the other side, and was a girl of eighteen with Tripodi married her in 1926. There were semi-legitimate businesses: the J.V. Tripodi Restaurant on North Sixth Street, the beer distributorship that had grown out of a Prohibition monopoly. But Tripodi’s sub-rosa interests were everywhere his will decided them to be. He knew others of his kind, men in Cleveland, Detroit, New York. They would come to his daughter’s wedding and embrace him. But he neither sought nor cultivated their company, desiring no such shadow other than his own in the garden he held as his sacrosanct domain. He would end it many years later as he had begun it, with his hands and his will, blowing out his brains with a thirty-eight, alone in his garage, on a wintry afternoon in December, 1987, eleven days before his eighty-eighth birthday.

Tripodi was the first of many such characters whom Dino would encounter in his life: men — America called them the Mafia — who sought to wet their beaks (fari vagnari u pizzu, as the Sicilians said) in the lifeblood of every man’s good fortune. He shared many traits with these men, traits born of the old ways: the taciturn harboring close to the heart of any thought or feeling that ran too deeply; that emotional distance, that wall of lontananza between the self and the world; a natural, unarticulated belief in the supreme inviolability of the old ways themselves; a devout sense of Catholicism, based upon the power of its rituals and predicated on God’s special forgiveness for the sins of those whose faith was founded in the ancient, sacred grain of the old ways’ moralita. He shared these traits with them, but he did not share his money with them; and the more he came to know them — and he came to know them as few would — the more he hated them for the predators they were, and the more intent he became on beating them at their own racket. It was not a matter of bravado. He did not share that trait with them. It was a matter, rather, of menefreghismo. Deep down, that, as much as anything, was what he was, a menefreghista — one who simply did not give a fuck."

Here is an article from Scott B on Gangster Report, I helped him with the info:

http://gangsterreport.com/dean-martin-t ... blue-eyes/