Rocco Scafidi on Bufalino

[B.]

Years ago either on this board or the last BH board we had a topic "Mobsters' knowledge of their own history", something along those lines. That's always a subject of interest to me since so much of what these guys know (especially historically) is from word of mouth stories and offhand comments. As much as it can provide us with great new info or at least leads to follow, you wonder where they get some of it. This stood out to me because member informant Rocco Scafidi was a second generation Philly member with high-ranking, old line relatives and he apparently got this info from members who should be "in the know."

- In late 1966, Rocco Scafidi was told by his brother Salvatore (a Philly member for 30+ years at this point) that Russell Bufalino had formerly been a member of the Frank Costello family and that Tommy Lucchese took over for Costello, with Bufalino and all Upstate PA members now being members of the Lucchese family. Rocco was told by Salvatore that Bufalino was a capodecina in the Lucchese family over the Scranton and Wilkes-Barre area and "almost like a boss", with 20 to 25 members under him.

- Around this same time, Rocco Scafidi says he was told by Philly capodecina Alfredo Iezzi that Bufalino was a capodecina in the Lucchese family with 35 to 40 members under him.

- The FBI at this time was trying to determine exactly who the Bufalino group belonged to, if anyone, and had recordings of Joseph Falcone of Utica clearly identifying Bufalino as boss of his own family, and stating that Bufalino should check in with Stefano Magaddino before traveling to Utica to meet with Falcone (as would be protocol with a boss). The FBI also had information from another Philly source who stated that the Bufalino group in Wilkes-Barre, Scranton, and Pittston were their own family but that the members in Hazleton were with a different group; this is more or less accurate, as we know from other sources that two of the members in Hazleton were members of the Philly family.

The information Scafidi received, assuming he heard it correctly and reported it accurately, is obviously wrong on multiple levels, from Lucchese taking over for Costello to Bufalino being a member under both men. Bufalino's membership has been confused in other places as well and it's not surprising he would be connected to the Lucchese family given the strong ties both his and Lucchese's groups had to the garment industry. It's crazy to think, though, that a longtime member plus a capodecina wouldn't know that a separate family exists nearby and that one of them believed Costello was replaced by Lucchese. Also strange that both Salvatore Scafidi and Freddy Iezzi believed Bufalino was specifically a capodecina in the Lucchese family. It shows you that even with an active member source the FBI was working at a disadvantage and how important it is to get corroboration from multiple sources.

[thekiduknow]

Very interesting, thanks! I'd love to read more about the history of the mafia from the point of view of members, inaccuracies and all. Like you said, it can either provide new information or leads, or even just show how different events were perceived at the time.

[Frank]

Years ago either on this board or the last BH board we had a topic "Mobsters' knowledge of their own history", something along those lines. That's always a subject of interest to me since so much of what these guys know (especially historically) is from word of mouth stories and offhand comments. As much as it can provide us with great new info or at least leads to follow, you wonder where they get some of it. This stood out to me because member informant Rocco Scafidi was a second generation Philly member with high-ranking, old line relatives and he apparently got this info from members who should be "in the know."

- In late 1966, Rocco Scafidi was told by his brother Salvatore (a Philly member for 30+ years at this point) that Russell Bufalino had formerly been a member of the Frank Costello family and that Tommy Lucchese took over for Costello, with Bufalino and all Upstate PA members now being members of the Lucchese family. Rocco was told by Salvatore that Bufalino was a capodecina in the Lucchese family over the Scranton and Wilkes-Barre area and "almost like a boss", with 20 to 25 members under him.

- Around this same time, Rocco Scafidi says he was told by Philly capodecina Alfredo Iezzi that Bufalino was a capodecina in the Lucchese family with 35 to 40 members under him.

- The FBI at this time was trying to determine exactly who the Bufalino group belonged to, if anyone, and had recordings of Joseph Falcone of Utica clearly identifying Bufalino as boss of his own family, and stating that Bufalino should check in with Stefano Magaddino before traveling to Utica to meet with Falcone (as would be protocol with a boss). The FBI also had information from another Philly source who stated that the Bufalino group in Wilkes-Barre, Scranton, and Pittston were their own family but that the members in Hazleton were with a different group; this is more or less accurate, as we know from other sources that two of the members in Hazleton were members of the Philly family.

The information Scafidi received, assuming he heard it correctly and reported it accurately, is obviously wrong on multiple levels, from Lucchese taking over for Costello to Bufalino being a member under both men. Bufalino's membership has been confused in other places as well and it's not surprising he would be connected to the Lucchese family given the strong ties both his and Lucchese's groups had to the garment industry. It's crazy to think, though, that a longtime member plus a capodecina wouldn't know that a separate family exists nearby and that one of them believed Costello was replaced by Lucchese. Also strange that both Salvatore Scafidi and Freddy Iezzi believed Bufalino was specifically a capodecina in the Lucchese family. It shows you that even with an active member source the FBI was working at a disadvantage and how important it is to get corroboration from multiple sources.

The Lucchese succeeding Costello seems more off the wall, unless is it possible that Lucchese worked for Costello sometime before 1930.

[DPG]

I've often thought of things in the Mafia along the lines of a linear hw champ if anyone gets that. He may not have meant he took over Costello's family as much as he may have meant he took over a lot of Costello's operation/filled the void when Frank retired. I may be way off base though and I'm sure someone will let me know either way.

[johnny_scootch]

Mob guys have little to no idea about the true history of the mafia and most of them don't give a shit either. That's why reading to much into things said by guys like Stango about historical facts is fruitless.

[B.]

Very interesting, thanks! I'd love to read more about the history of the mafia from the point of view of members, inaccuracies and all. Like you said, it can either provide new information or leads, or even just show how different events were perceived at the time.

Along the lines of Philly members not knowing about Bufalino having his own family, Greg Scarpa only found out about the DeCavalcante family in the 1960s when another member told him there was a sixth family based in Jersey with 30 old time members under a boss called "Leone" or another similar name he couldn't remember. Here he was a member for over a decade in a family with a large NJ crew and he was a former captain in Brooklyn, where the DeCavalcantes had a presence, but he didn't know about their family.

The most "curious" anecdotal history I've come across is DeCav captains Stango and Rotondo plus the FBI all saying the DeCavalcantes were one of, if not the first, families in the US. There was an FBI press release even before Rotondo flipped that made that claim which makes you wonder where they got the info. Al D'Arco was also told by his sponsor that the first US family was in Newark, not New Orleans, and that the Luccheses split off from that family. Similar to D'Arco, in Stango's inarticulate rambling he said the five families split off from the DeCavalcantes.

Yet we also have Joe Colombo giving a speech to his captains about the first US family being in New Orleans and how NO didn't report to the Commission out of respect for being the first family. Other sources have given similar stories and other logical info would back it up.

Without calling the DeCav captains, the FBI, and D'Arco completely wrong, it could be that there was some element of truth in what they said that got distorted over the years as the story was passed around, i.e. NJ wasn't the first family, but maybe early members/leaders in NJ had first been members/leaders in New Orleans or otherwise among the first mafia members to enter the US. Or maybe those guys were right and we just don't have enough info to comprehend how or why. Even with the knowledge we have on the mafia there are details that don't follow expected logic or conflict with other info, so who is to say what the truth is in areas where we don't have anything.

Another complication to all of this is that the earliest verbal history of the mafia would have come from uneducated men speaking Sicilian dialect, who themselves may not have known the full picture, and that eventually made its way to Americanized guys from different backgrounds. There have been some cases where we've heard of mafia leaders giving basic history and other stories at formal meetings but most of this info is passed around casually and off the cuff, little more than "street talk".

Mob guys have little to no idea about the true history of the mafia and most of them don't give a shit either. That's why reading to much into things said by guys like Stango about historical facts is fruitless.

When multiple people make similar statements it's at least worth comparing them and putting it up against other info. Random comments from bugs and informants have provided worthwhile leads even when they seem like nonsense.

[johnny_scootch]

When multiple people make similar statements it's at least worth comparing them and putting it up against other info. Random comments from bugs and informants have provided worthwhile leads even when they seem like nonsense.

Yeah I hear you. Especially those statements about the oldest family being in Jersey which I think considering the facts is pretty much impossible. It would be nice to find out how that started and ended up being spread amongst members.

[thekiduknow]

Very interesting, thanks! I'd love to read more about the history of the mafia from the point of view of members, inaccuracies and all. Like you said, it can either provide new information or leads, or even just show how different events were perceived at the time.

Yet we also have Joe Colombo giving a speech to his captains about the first US family being in New Orleans and how NO didn't report to the Commission out of respect for being the first family. Other sources have given similar stories and other logical info would back it up.

Without calling the DeCav captains, the FBI, and D'Arco completely wrong, it could be that there was some element of truth in what they said that got distorted over the years as the story was passed around, i.e. NJ wasn't the first family, but maybe early members/leaders in NJ had first been members/leaders in New Orleans or otherwise among the first mafia members to enter the US. Or maybe those guys were right and we just don't have enough info to comprehend how or why. Even with the knowledge we have on the mafia there are details that don't follow expected logic or conflict with other info, so who is to say what the truth is in areas where we don't have anything.

Another complication to all of this is that the earliest verbal history of the mafia would have come from uneducated men speaking Sicilian dialect, who themselves may not have known the full picture, and that eventually made its way to Americanized guys from different backgrounds. There have been some cases where we've heard of mafia leaders giving basic history and other stories at formal meetings but most of this info is passed around casually and off the cuff, little more than "street talk".

From reading up on the early history, it seems to me that the New Orleans family was probably the earliest, as Morello and his family went there before setting up in New York. Plus the shooting of that cop and the lynchings that followed, although I admit I don't know much about the DeCavalcantes and how far they go back.

That's a good point about the dialect/verbal history complication. I remember reading somewhere that a lot of the Sicilian dialect they spoke was in metaphors, so that would complicate the stories as they passed from generation to generation

[B.]

Very interesting, thanks! I'd love to read more about the history of the mafia from the point of view of members, inaccuracies and all. Like you said, it can either provide new information or leads, or even just show how different events were perceived at the time.

Yet we also have Joe Colombo giving a speech to his captains about the first US family being in New Orleans and how NO didn't report to the Commission out of respect for being the first family. Other sources have given similar stories and other logical info would back it up.

Without calling the DeCav captains, the FBI, and D'Arco completely wrong, it could be that there was some element of truth in what they said that got distorted over the years as the story was passed around, i.e. NJ wasn't the first family, but maybe early members/leaders in NJ had first been members/leaders in New Orleans or otherwise among the first mafia members to enter the US. Or maybe those guys were right and we just don't have enough info to comprehend how or why. Even with the knowledge we have on the mafia there are details that don't follow expected logic or conflict with other info, so who is to say what the truth is in areas where we don't have anything.

Another complication to all of this is that the earliest verbal history of the mafia would have come from uneducated men speaking Sicilian dialect, who themselves may not have known the full picture, and that eventually made its way to Americanized guys from different backgrounds. There have been some cases where we've heard of mafia leaders giving basic history and other stories at formal meetings but most of this info is passed around casually and off the cuff, little more than "street talk".

From reading up on the early history, it seems to me that the New Orleans family was probably the earliest, as Morello and his family went there before setting up in New York. Plus the shooting of that cop and the lynchings that followed, although I admit I don't know much about the DeCavalcantes and how far they go back.

That's a good point about the dialect/verbal history complication. I remember reading somewhere that a lot of the Sicilian dialect they spoke was in metaphors, so that would complicate the stories as they passed from generation to generation

If you're interested in the early history, I highly recommend you check out the May 2014 edition of Informer Journal (written by a couple of members who post here) if you haven't:
http://informer-journal.blogspot.com/20 ... ormer.html
http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/739915?__r=4693

Breaks down the roots of the five families as best as anyone can and dates them back much further than previously thought. It looks like the mafia was already in place in the US in some form as far back as the Sicilian Revolution of 1848 or earlier.

[thekiduknow]

Thanks for the suggestion B., I have the one about Profaci/the Colombo family. I'll get this one next, thanks again!

[Angelo Santino]

It wouldn't surprise me if someone stated N'orleans others misheard it as Newark some time ago, and it kinda evolved as an obscure rumor. We've pretty much disproved why it's simply impossible but we cannot locate the origins of that rumor. But given that Mafia history is passed down by and upon individuals' whose primary aim and motive is status and money, accuracy is less important than legends and traditions: from the Sicilian Vespers of the 1400's, the Beati Paoli or Luciano's mass-execution of older members.

Joe Bonanno stated MAFIA was an acronym for Morte Alla Francia Italia Anela. Would anyone here have interrupted him to explain that Sicilians didn't speak Italian dialect at that time so these words would not have been spoken in Palermo at that time? Probably not.

Re. Scranton, it was a secondary-city that New York Italians began relocating to in the 1880's. In 1902 Vito LaDuca ended up there after the Barrel Murder in NYC and in 1910 a few fringe players made their way there as well as Rochester, however for whatever reason an autonomous Family was formed in the former. "Scranton" like its Philly, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Buffalo counterparts operated in an area- the eastern half of PA- as opposed to being confined to one city. Actually the Mafiosi on the outskirts of Philly had more links to upstate PA than they did to the city of Philly where America's Favorite Family grew and evolved.

When you view a map and start plotting points, you can see how most of the American NE was divided up by Families who operated in wide territories. Include Chicago and you can expand out to include the entire USA.

[thekiduknow]

Joe Bonanno stated MAFIA was an acronym for Morte Alla Francia Italia Anela. Would anyone here have interrupted him to explain that Sicilians didn't speak Italian dialect at that time so these words would not have been spoken in Palermo at that time? Probably not.

I've always found the old myths like the "Death to France is Italy's Cry" or the "Mi fia! Mi fia!", interesting. I can totally see Bonanno buying into it, even if he knew somewhere it was most likely myth. He really loved talking up the fraternal/"noble" aspect of the Mafia.

[SILENT PARTNERZ]

Thanks for the suggestion B., I have the one about Profaci/the Colombo family. I'll get this one next, thanks again!

To learn about the origins of the Bufalino Family, order
the Informer Issue that contains the article titled:
"The Men Of Montedoro". Excellent resource on a
very seldon written about family. The only book
written about the family is by Matt Birkbeck. It
is not much more than information gleaned from
newspaper articles and indictments.

[B.]

Celeste Morello (author of "Before Bruno" books) wrote an essay in 2017 challenging the "Men of Montedoro" and goes as far as to claim the Scranton/Bufalino family never existed:

https://digital.library.villanova.edu/I ... 328%2C3000

As usual with Morello, she does solid research but makes extremely biased and at times ridiculous conclusions and her motivation seems to be simply to attack other mob authors / researchers and, strangely, to minimize Russell Bufalino's stature. She makes some good points about the background of the mafia in that area and it's worth reading since we don't see much academic sparring about the mafia but anyone familiar with Morello's "style" won't be surprised.

- She dismisses or ignores the wealth of info about the Bufalino family existing, citing only weak info that backs up her point that the family didn't exist.

- She claims that Joe Bonanno "implies" a family existed in Endicott. I checked Bonanno's book and he only says there was a Castellammarese community in Endcott and that area, nothing about Barbara being a "father" or the Castellammarese in Endicott being their own family. Endicott mafiosi have been identified as members of the Bufalino family, so I'm not sure why the need to split hairs. She claims that because mafiosi from San Cataldo and Montedoro were subservient to Castellammaresi (Milazzo) in Detroit and Buffalo (Magaddino, etc.), that would mean they were subservient to a Castellamarese in Endicott area (Barbara). She seems to believe that because Castellammaresi were of a higher class in Sicily, the mafiosi from Montedoro and San Cataldo couldn't outrank them.

- Because Anthony Guarnieri was identified by some LE source as the "right-hand man" of Barbara, she says this "implies" Guarnieri was Barbara's underboss which means Bufalino couldn't have had the position as Barbara's underboss. She says that because Guarnieri was later identified as a captain it means he was demoted from underboss. She is making some huge jumps here, not only in stating as fact that Barbara was boss of the family, but that "right hand man" means "underboss". Anyone who has seen even a few informant reports will see phrases like "right hand man" or "top man" and it has no bearing on rank or even membership.

- She also repeatedly says that because Nick Gentile talks about Pittsburgh but not a Scranton family, Scranton must not have existed. She says similar about Bonanno's lack of references to the Scranton/Bufalino family. You can't use a lack of evidence as evidence, especially in the limited space of a biographical narrative, plain and simple. Gentile also doesn't talk about the DeCavalcantes even though one of his close friends was Riberese and he was well-traveled in the Agrigento-US network -- and obviously the DeCavs existed.

- She seems to be upset that the Scranton family has been called Pennsylvania's first mafia family by the government and that Sicilians were blamed for corruption in the mining industry. Given her focus and residence in Philadelphia and what I would consider "cheerleading" for early Philly mafiosi, I suspect she is personally offended by the idea that Philadelphia isn't considered the first PA family. Given that she is also extremely pro-Sicilian, I also suspect she is offended by the idea that Sicilians are "blamed" for mining industry corruption.

- She mainly draws from murky early info from LE to back up her points, trying to tear apart LE reports from the 1950s and early 1960s when the FBi and other LE had less definitive sources. She makes no mention of Billy D'Elia or other post-1970 info on the Bufalino group.

- She did some pretty valuable research into the towns of San Cataldo and Montedoro, the mining industry of those towns and their context in the Sicilian mafia, plus how that translated to immigration to the US / Pennsylvania. I can't take anything away from the efforts she makes as a researcher and she could be one of the best authors in the field if her conclusions weren't always so biased and she wasn't pissed off and hostile at every other mob researcher, author, and journalist.

- She claims her relative(s) from Sciacca who settled in Norristown via NYC were mafia members who continued to be members of New York families while living in PA, but her interview with a 90+ year old relative in Norristown who she says is a mafia member gives her no admissions about anything mafia related in the interview. I've never seen his name (Rosario Montalbano) mentioned as a member anywhere, so I'm not sure how she confirmed he was a mafia member let alone still an NYC member while living in Norristown. There is reason to believe there were mafiosi from Sciacca in Norristown and surrounding areas so I have no reason to challenge her on that, or even that her relatives were members, but I have no clue how she came to the idea that they were still NYC members while in PA. She seems to use this as "evidence" that the Bufalino group were also members of an NY group.

- She claims Ianni's A Family Business was based around her relatives. Her relatives were from Monreale and Sciacca and the book is believed to be based on the NYC Morellos, who despite the last name aren't from Monreale or Sciacca but Corleone. Not sure what her basis is for this and it's clear to me from reading Morello's work over the years that she overemphasizes her "mafia bloodline" and its influence on her life. She says Ianni never replied to a letter she wrote to him, so how would she have confirmed it was about her family even if that were true?

Re. Scranton, it was a secondary-city that New York Italians began relocating to in the 1880's. In 1902 Vito LaDuca ended up there after the Barrel Murder in NYC and in 1910 a few fringe players made their way there as well as Rochester, however for whatever reason an autonomous Family was formed in the former. "Scranton" like its Philly, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Buffalo counterparts operated in an area- the eastern half of PA- as opposed to being confined to one city. Actually the Mafiosi on the outskirts of Philly had more links to upstate PA than they did to the city of Philly where America's Favorite Family grew and evolved.

When you view a map and start plotting points, you can see how most of the American NE was divided up by Families who operated in wide territories. Include Chicago and you can expand out to include the entire USA.

What you said stands out with Morello's paper in mind. It's not just that the families themselves were based around fairly large territories, but individual leaders could and did live outside of the "HQ" of the territory. Philly is a great example because Joe Bruno never lived near Philadelphia, being in New Brunswick and Bristol, followed by Joe Ida who lived remotely.

If Morello was right about a family originally being based in Endicott, it wouldn't dismiss negate the existence of the Scranton / W-B / Pittston element of the same family or somehow make them separate groups. Because I do believe there were a larger array of smaller families in the earliest days of the mafia that later joined more centralized families, it's possible Endicott did have its own family that was later brought into the upstate PA group, similar to how I believe the Utica group may have been its own family that joined the Buffalo family, but I haven't seen any evidence for that one way or another.

Glad to see you back around, man. If you have time I'm curious what you think of the Morello essay.

[Angelo Santino]

She forms her conclusion first and then accepts evidence that supports her claim and refutes evidence that takes away from it.

Imagine an extreme scenario where I am obsessive over the notion that Jew's and Italians are part of the larger overarching National Crime Syndicate. I cite Veasey and Knapik/Merola as examples of the Italian rule not being in place, discount Joe Bonanno entirely and cite James Fratianno's book about Lanksy having his own Family set up like the Italians as further evidence.

When it comes to Philadelphia Morello gets kudos for researching the origins of these men. But her attempts to divide up those she likes and those that don't support her theory into two categories of Sicilian Mafiosi and Mainland gangsters shows her biased agenda. Especially considering that Sicilian Mafiosi in Philadelphia, unlike in Pittsburgh at the time, had records just as bad as anyone else. They weren't blowing up eachother's businesses to settle old world disputes using their methodology they were moving their goods to another location, blowing the storefront to shit, blaming the 'so-called Black Hand' and collecting insurance money. The city's mafiosi then, like now, weren't fucking rocking scientists.

It wouldn't surprise me if (the area of) Scranton goes pretty far back, 1870's perhaps, certainly 1880. At this stage they would have had links to NY and New Orleans. But when they became an autonomous group is the question. Baring in mind the mafia was more fraternal and less capitalist, there was never any notion of New Orleans or NY wanting "control" over this new expanding area between them. It was rather like: there's alot of us there, so that area needs its own rappresentante, someone they can go to, someone we can go to, in the event there's something that concerns the area. Let's say the NO boss has a made nephew who's moving to the area for work, you need someone to receive the letter of transfer/recommendation in that area. Or someone ran afoul of NO and fled to another part of the country, the boss can send the word to SF, SL, Chicago, NY, Scranton that so-and-so has a death sentence on him.