Russell Bufalino

Bufalino was born on October 29, 1903, in Montedoro, Sicily, to Angelo Bufalino and Cristina Buccoleri. On July 9, 1903, his father immigrated to the United States,Passenger Manifest for the S.S. Citta di Napoli, July 9, 1903, available at Ellis Island: The Statue of Liberty. settling in Pittston, Pennsylvania, working as a coal miner.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/40093137/bufalino/|last=Mack|first=Dave|title=Bufalino: A good neighbor with a secret life|page=3|quote=In the summer before his birth, Bufalino's father, Angelo, had come to the United States. Angelo arrived at Ellis Island on July 9, 1903 and, after being processed by immigration authorities, went directly to Pittston, Pa., another Scranton suburb, where he found work in the coal mines. Before Christmas, Angelo Bufalino sent for his wife and children. They went to the sam immigration mill four days before Christmas and followed Angelo to Pittston. The family's newfound home was happy for only a few months, however. Shortly after his wife and family arrived, Angelo Bufalino died in a mine accident. Soon, Bufalino, his mother, Christina and his brothers, Giuseppe and Cataldo, returned to Sicily. The family tried again to make it in America, though, when they returned on Jan. 13, 1906. [...] records indicate his mother died in 1910, when he was seven, and young Rosario returned again in Sicily. Finally he returned to the United States. Arriving on February 15, 1914, young Bufalino, now 11, went to Pittston. Still in adolescence, Bufalino left Pennsylvania in 1917 or 1918 and went to the Buffalo area.|work=Press & Sun-Bulletin|date=October 21, 1977|access-date=July 1, 2020|via=Newspapers.com}} {{Open access}} With his mother and siblings, Bufalino entered the United States through the Port of New York in December 1903. A few months later, Bufalino's father died in a mine accident, and his family returned to Sicily. Bufalino emigrated to the United States again in January 1906.Passenger Manifest for the S.S. Brasile, January 14, 1906, available at Ellis Island: The Statue of Liberty. After his mother died in 1910, he returned to Sicily again. He returned to the United States in February 1914, settling in Pittston.Passenger Manifest for the S.S. Venezia, February 15, 1914, available at Ellis Island: The Statue of Liberty. At the age of 14, Bufalino moved to Buffalo, New York, where he became a criminal during his teenage years.{{cite news|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lists/true-story-irishman-how-accurate-are-characters-1247432/item/frank-irishman-sheeran-portrayed-by-robert-de-niro-irishman-12-films-stars-real-life-inspirations-1247654|title='The Irishman': 12 of the Film's Stars and Their Real-Life Inspirations|last=Schaffstall|first=Katherine|website=The Hollywood Reporter|date=November 30, 2019|access-date=July 1, 2020}} On August 9, 1928, he married Carolyn "Carrie" Sciandra,{{cite web|url=https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/277/270/235482/|title=Russell Bufalino, Appellant, v. John W. Holland, District Director of Immigration and Naturalization, 277 F.2d 270 (3d Cir. 1960)|work=Law Justia|quote=His applications for a marriage license dated August 9, 1928|access-date=July 1, 2020}}{{cite web|url=https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/name/carolyn-bufalino-obituary?pid=20465884|title=Carolyn Bufalino|work=Legacy.com|quote=Carolyn (Carrie) Bufalino of Kingston [...] was preceded in death by her husband, Russell, in 1994;|date=December 31, 2006|access-date=July 1, 2020}} who came from a Sicilian Mafia family.{{cite web|url=https://heavy.com/entertainment/2019/11/bufalino-crime-family-today-now/|publisher=heavy.com|title=Bufalino Crime Family Now & Then: Does it Exist Today?|date=November 27, 2019}} Bufalino worked alongside many Buffalo mobsters, some of whom became top leaders in the Buffalo crime family and other future Cosa Nostra families along the East Coast of the United States. These relationships proved very helpful to Bufalino in his criminal career. Family and clan ties were important to Sicilian-American criminals; they created a strong, secretive support system that outsiders or law enforcement could not infiltrate. A significant friendship was with his first boss, and fellow immigrant from Montedoro, John C. Montana.

In the early 1920s, Bufalino started working with Joseph Barbara, another upstate New York bootlegger in Endicott, New York. Bufalino later moved to Kingston, Pennsylvania in 1940. The Northeastern Pennsylvania crime family controlled organized crime activities in Pittston, Scranton and Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and upstate New York areas.

In the early 1950s, the Immigration and Naturalization Service tried to have Bufalino deported several times, failed because the Italian government would not accept him back into the country.

{{main|Apalachin meeting}}

In 1957, after taking control of the Luciano crime family from boss Frank Costello, boss Vito Genovese wanted to legitimize his new power by holding a national Cosa Nostra meeting. Genovese elected Buffalo, New York boss and Commission member, Stefano "the Undertaker" Magaddino, who in turn chose northeastern Pennsylvania crime boss Joseph Barbara and Bufalino to oversee all the arrangements.{{cite news|last=Glynn|first=Don|title=Glynn:Area delegates attended mob convention|url=http://niagara-gazette.com/opinion/x681291359/GLYNN-Area-delegates-attended-mob-convention|access-date=May 28, 2012|newspaper=Niagara Gazette|date=November 11, 2007}}{{cite news|author-link=Ray McHugh|last=McHugh|first=Ray|title=Federal Attack, Internal Fights Trouble Crime Clan|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=cjozAAAAIBAJ&pg=6806,4852987&dq=magaddino+blame+apalachin+meeting&hl=en|newspaper=Lodi News-Sentinel|page=16|date=August 26, 1963|access-date=July 1, 2020}}

On November 14, 1957, powerful Mafiosi from the United States and Italy convened at Barbara's estate in Apalachin, New York.{{Cite news|url=http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper4/Binghamton%20NY%20Press%20Grayscale/Binghamton%20NY%20Press%20Grayscale%201957.pdf/Binghamton%20NY%20Press%20Grayscale%201957%20a%20-%204247.pdf|pages=34|last1=Fitchette|first1=Woodie|first2=Steve|last2=Hambalek|title=Top U.S. Hoods Are Run Out of Area After 'Sick Call' on Barbara|work=Binghamton Press|location=Binghamton, New York|date=November 15, 1957|access-date=July 1, 2020}}{{Cite news|url=http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper4/Binghamton%20NY%20Press%20Grayscale/Binghamton%20NY%20Press%20Grayscale%201957.pdf/Binghamton%20NY%20Press%20Grayscale%201957%20a%20-%204258.pdf|page=8|last1=Fitchette|first1=Woodie|first2=Steve|last2=Hambalek|title=Hoods Run Out of Area--|work=Binghamton Press|location=Binghamton, New York|date=November 15, 1957|access-date=June 24, 2020}} Cuba was one of the Apalachin topics of discussion, particularly the gambling and narcotics smuggling interests of La Cosa Nostra on the island. The international narcotics trade was also an important topic on the agenda.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=wggwAAAAIBAJ&pg=6688,4469677&dq=apalachin+meeting&hl=en|title=Narcotic Traffic Called Topic In Apalachin Talks|newspaper=Toledo Blade|location=Toledo, Ohio|page=1|publisher=Associated Press|date=February 28, 1960|access-date=May 27, 2012}} The New York garment industry interests and rackets, such as loansharking to the business owners and control of garment centre trucking, were other important topics on the Apalachin agenda.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=DToxAAAAIBAJ&pg=7143,3653278&dq=apalachin+meeting&hl=en|title=Narcotics Agent Calls Racketeers Black-Handers|newspaper=Toledo Blade|page=2|date=July 1, 1958|access-date=May 27, 2012}}

A local state trooper named Edgar D. Croswell had been aware that Carmine Galante had been stopped by state troopers following a visit to Barbara's estate the previous year.{{cite news|last=Blumenthal|first=Ralph|title=For Sale, a House With Acreage. Connections Extra.; Site of 1957 Gangland Raid Is Part of Auction on Saturday|page=1|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/31/nyregion/for-sale-house-with-acreage-connections-extra-site-1957-gangland-raid-part.html|access-date=June 2, 2012|newspaper=The New York Times|date=July 31, 2002}} A check of Galante by the troopers found that he was driving without a license and that he had an extensive criminal record in New York City. In the time preceding the November 1957 meeting, trooper Croswell had Barbara's house under occasional surveillance. He had become aware that Barbara's son was reserving rooms in local hotels along with the delivery of a large quantity of meat from a local butcher to the Barbara home.{{cite news|last=Narvaez|first=Alfonso A.|title=Edgar D. Croswell, 77, Sergeant Who Upset '57 Mob Meeting, Dies|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/11/21/obituaries/edgar-d-croswell-77-sergeant-who-upset-57-mob-meeting-dies.html|access-date=May 28, 2012|newspaper=The New York Times|date=November 21, 1990}} That made Croswell suspicious, and he, therefore, decided to keep an eye on Barbara's house.{{cite news|title=Host To Hoodlum Meet Dies Of Heart Attack|newspaper=Ocala Star-Banner|page=7|agency=Associated Press|date=June 18, 1959|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=OcswAAAAIBAJ&pg=4958,4554355&dq=apalachin+meeting|access-date=May 27, 2012}} When the state police found many luxury cars parked at Barbara's home they took down license plate numbers. Having found that many of these cars were registered to known criminals, state police reinforcements came to the scene and set up a roadblock.

Having barely started their meeting, Bartolo Guccia, a Castellammare del Golfo native and Barbara employee, spotted a police roadblock while leaving Barbara's estate. Guccia later said he was returning to the Barbara home to check on a fish order. Some attendees attempted to drive away but were stopped by the roadblock. Others trudged through the fields and woods ruining their expensive suits before they were caught.{{cite news|title=20 Apalachin Delegates Are Convicted; Officials Hail Intelligent Verdict|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Mq4rAAAAIBAJ&pg=3943,4938333&dq=joseph+barbara+apalachin+meeting&hl=en|newspaper=The Telegraph|date=December 19, 1959|access-date=May 28, 2012}} Many Mafiosi escaped through the woods surrounding the Barbara estate.{{cite news|url=http://www.mafia-news.com/apalachin-raid-on-mafia-reverberates-50-years-later/|title=Apalachin raid on Mafia reverberates 50 years later|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100212065600/http://www.mafia-news.com/apalachin-raid-on-mafia-reverberates-50-years-later/|work=Mafia News|date=November 11, 2007|archive-date=February 12, 2010|quote=a police raid sent Mafia bosses, their underbosses and capos running through the woods of Apalachin|via=Wayback Machine}}

The police stopped a car driven by Bufalino, whose passengers included Genovese and three other men, at a roadblock as they left the estate; Bufalino said that he had come to visit his sick friend, Barbara.{{Cite web|url=https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/285/408/161203/|title=United States of America, Appellee, v. Russell A. Bufalino, Ignatius Cannone, Paul C. Castellano,joseph F. Civello, Frank A. Desimone, Natale Evola, Louis A.larasso, Carmine Lombardozzi, Joseph Magliocco, Frank T.majuri, Michele Miranda, John C. Montana, John Ormento,james Osticco, Joseph Profaci, Anthony P. Riela, John T.scalish, Angelo J. Sciandra, Simone Scozzari and Pasqualeturrigiano, Defendants-appellants, 285 F.2d 408 (2d Cir. 1960)|website=Justia Law|date=June 9, 1960|access-date=July 1, 2020}}{{cite news|last=Tully|first=Andrew|title=Mafia Raid Confirms 20-year Undercover Findings by T-Men|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=DbwbAAAAIBAJ&pg=5550,341775&dq=joseph+barbara+apalachin+meeting&hl=en|access-date=May 28, 2012|newspaper=The Pittsburgh Press|date=September 2, 1958}} All those apprehended were fined, up to $10,000 each, and given prison sentences ranging from three to five years, however, all the convictions were overturned on appeal in 1960.{{cite news|title=20 Apalachin Convictions Ruled Invalid On Appeal|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=3HpOAAAAIBAJ&pg=5387,2690893&dq=joseph+barbara+apalachin+meeting&hl=en|access-date=May 28, 2012|newspaper=Toledo Blade|date=November 29, 1960}}

File:Bufalino crime family chart of 1989.png

Following Barbara's death in June 1959, The Commission recognized Bufalino as the official family boss.{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SFBzj16S7LkC&q=bufalino+1981+sentenced+10+years+napoli&pg=PA327|title=Profile of Organized Crime, Mid-Atlantic Region: Hearings Before the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Governmental Affairs, United States Senate, Ninety-eighth Congress, First Session, February 15, 23, and 24, 1983|first=United States Congress Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on|last=Investigations|date=November 30, 1983|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|via=Google Books}}

In 1972, after singer Al Martino had the role of Johnny Fontane in The Godfather stripped from him and given to Vic Damone, he went to Bufalino, his godfather, who then orchestrated the publication of various news articles that claimed director Francis Ford Coppola was unaware of producer Albert S. Ruddy's having given Martino the part.{{cite news|author-link=Mark Seal|last=Seal|first=Mark|title=The Godfather Wars|work=Vanity Fair|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2009/03/godfather200903|date=February 4, 2009|access-date=July 15, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714155852/http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2009/03/godfather200903.print |archive-date=July 14, 2014 |url-status=live|via=Wayback Machine}} Damone eventually dropped the role because he did not want to provoke the mob, in addition to being paid too little.{{cite book|last=Jones|first=Jenny M.|year=2007|title=The annotated Godfather|page=50}} Ultimately, the part of Johnny Fontane was given to Martino.

On April 20, 1973, Bufalino was arrested in a Scranton nightclub in an FBI raid, charged with interference with interstate commerce, obstruction of justice, gambling and transporting stolen property, but later released on $50,000 bail.{{cite news|author-link=Paul L. Montgomery|last=Montgomery|first=Paul L.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/04/22/archives/18-charged-after-fbi-raids-on-crime-figures-upstate-and-in.html|title=18 Charged After F.B.I. Raids on Crime Figures Upstate and in Pennsylvania|work=The New York Times|quote=Mr. Bufalino recently lost a 15‐year battle against deportation. However, last week the Italian Government announced that it would not readmit him to the country, which means that he is free to stay in the United States. [...] Russell Bufalino, 69 years old, of Kingston, Pa., who was arrested in a Scranton night club, [...] was booked and released in $50,000 bail.|page=30|date=April 22, 1973|access-date=July 1, 2020}}

In 1977, Bufalino was indicted on extortion charges after Jack Napoli, who was in the Witness Protection Program, testified that Bufalino had threatened to kill him for failing to pay a $25,000 debt to a jeweller in New York. Once Bufalino was indicted, he took steps to reduce the possibility of further criminal charges. He named caporegime Edward Sciandra as the acting boss and removed himself from the day-to-day operations of the family.{{cite news|url=https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/80711NCJRS.pdf|title=Pennsylvania Crime Commission|quote=Edward Sciandra, who was identified in 1980 as a capo (lieutenant) in the Bufalino family, allegedly has been elevated to Acting Boss during the past year.|access-date=July 1, 2020}} On August 8, 1978, Bufalino was convicted and sentenced to four years imprisonment for his part in the extortion attempt. He served almost three years.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/10/24/nyregion/man-convicted-of-a-conspiracy-to-kill-witness.html|title=Man Convicted of a Conspiracy to Kill Witness|first=Arnold H.|last=Lubasch|work=The New York Times|page=26|date=October 24, 1981|access-date=July 1, 2020}}

Bufalino was released in May 1981 but was indicted again, this time for conspiring to kill the witness, Napoli. The main prosecution witness, Jimmy Fratianno, said that he and Michael Rizzitello had been asked by Bufalino to kill Napoli in 1976. In November 1981, Bufalino was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment, held at United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth.

With Bufalino again in prison and the family under federal investigation, the organization's strength began to wane. In 1989, Bufalino was released from prison, and the operations of the remainder of the Northeastern family were given to Billy D'Elia.

On February 25, 1994, Bufalino died of natural causes at Nesbitt Memorial Hospital in Kingston, Pennsylvania, aged 90. He is buried in Denison Cemetery in Swoyersville, Pennsylvania.{{cite news|last=Kalinowski|first=Bob|url=https://www.citizensvoice.com/news/bufalino-film-to-premiere-at-new-york-film-festival/article_7dd96e82-6924-5084-9f2a-e223de02e35f.html|title=Bufalino film to premiere at New York Film Festival|work=The Citizens' Voice|quote=Bufalino, who died at age 91 in 1994 at Nesbitt Memorial Hospital in Kingston, lived in a relatively modest house on Dorrance Avenue in Kingston, but he was one of the most powerful Mafia figures in the country. He is buried in Denison Cemetery in Forty Fort.|date=July 29, 2019|access-date=July 1, 2020}}

Bufalino is portrayed by Joe Pesci in Martin Scorsese's 2019 film The Irishman. Pesci was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance.{{cite news|last=Olsen|first=Mark|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2020-01-13/joe-pesci-earns-his-third-oscar-nom-with-quiet-menace-of-the-irishman|title=Joe Pesci earns his third Oscar nomination with quiet menace for 'The Irishman'|work=Los Angeles Times|quote=The role in “The Irishman” has earned Pesci his third Oscar nod for supporting actor; he was also nominated by the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. for the Golden Globe Awards, SAG-AFTRA for the Screen Actors Guild Awards and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts for the BAFTA Awards.|date=January 13, 2020|access-date=July 1, 2020}}

The Quiet Don: The True Story of Mafia Kingpin Russell Bufalino by Matt Birkbeck was published in October 2014 by Berkley Books.

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book|last=Capeci|first=Jerry|author-link=Jerry Capeci|title=The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Mafia|location=Indianapolis|publisher=Alpha Books|year=2002|isbn=978-0-02-864225-3}}
• {{cite book|last=Neff|first=James|author-link=James Neff|title=Mobbed Up: Jackie Presser's High-Wire Life in the Teamsters, the Mafia, and the FBI|location=New York|publisher=Atlantic Monthly Press|year=1989|isbn=978-0-87113-344-1}}
• {{cite book|last=Scott|first=Peter Dale|author-link=Peter Dale Scott|title=Deep Politics and the Death of JFK|location=Berkeley|publisher=University of California Press|year=1993|isbn=978-0-520-08410-0}}
• {{cite book|last=Birkbeck|first=Matt|title=The Quiet Don|location=New York|publisher=Berkley Books|year=2013|isbn=978-0425266854}}
• {{cite book|last=Brandt|first=Charles|author-link=Charles Brandt|title-link=I Heard You Paint Houses|title=I Heard You Paint Houses|location=New Hampshire|publisher=Steerforth Press|year=2004|isbn=1-58642-077-1}}
• {{cite book|author=Pennsylvania Crime Commission|title=Report On Organized Crime|publisher=Office of the Attorney General|year=1984}}
• {{cite book|author=Permanent Sub-Committee on Investigations of the Committee on Governmental Affairs|title=Profile of Organized Crime: Mid-Atlantic Region|publisher=United States Senate|year=1984}}
• {{cite book|last=Sifakis|first=Carl|title=The Mafia Encyclopedia|location=New York|publisher=Da Capo Press|year=2005|isbn=978-0-8160-5694-1}}

{{s-start}}

{{s-other|American Mafia}}

{{s-bef|before=Joseph Barbara}}

{{s-ttl|title=Bufalino crime family
Boss|years=1959–1994}}

{{s-aft|after=William D'Elia}}

{{end}}

{{Bufalino crime family}}

{{American Mafia}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bufalino, Russell}}

Category:1903 births

Category:1994 deaths

Category:American male criminals

Category:American crime bosses

Category:American gangsters of Italian descent

Category:Bufalino crime family

Category:Criminals from Pennsylvania

Category:Italian emigrants to the United States

Category:People of Sicilian descent

Category:People from Buffalo, New York

Category:People from Kingston, Pennsylvania

Category:People from Pittston, Pennsylvania

Category:American gangsters of the interwar period