The Buffalo crime family, also known as the Magaddino crime family, the Todaro crime family, the New York State crime family, the Buffalo Mafia, the Upstate New York Mafia, and the Arm is an Italian American Mafia crime family based in Buffalo, New York. Criminal investigators assert that the family operates throughout Western New York, Erie, Pennsylvania, and Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The Buffalo family is purported to hold strong connections with the Hamilton-based Luppino and Papalia families. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the current boss of the Buffalo crime family is Joseph A. "Big Joe" Todaro Jr., having assumed the role after his father, Joseph E. "Lead Pipe Joe" Todaro Sr., retired.
History Early origins
In the early 1900s, Angelo Palmeri emerged as the first Mafia boss in Buffalo, New York. By 1912, Palmeri stepped down, assuming the role of underboss, which allowed Joseph DiCarlo to become the family's new boss.
In 1921, Stefano Magaddino, an influential member of the Castellammarese clan, fled to Buffalo to avoid murder charges in Avon, New Jersey related to the death of Camillo Caizzo, the man who had killed Magaddino's brother Pietro.Jerry Capeci The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Mafia pg.49–52 The Last Testament of Bill Bonanno: The Final Secrets of a Life in the Mafia By Bill Bonanno, Gary B. Abromovitz pg.57–58 Magaddino had first immigrated to New York City from Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily, in 1902,A Man of Honor: The Autobiography of Joseph Bonanno By Joseph Bonanno p.24-28 and joined the Castellammarese clan in Brooklyn. The Castellammarese clan consisted of mobsters originating from Castellammare del Golfo, which included the Magaddino brothers and their cousins the Bonanno brothers. In 1922, Buffalo's crime family boss Joseph DiCarlo died and Magaddino quickly succeeded him as the new boss.
The Buffalo crime family continued to gain power during the Prohibition era through bootlegging. In 1931, the family boss, Stefano Magaddino, became an original member of The Commission, the governing body of the American Mafia. Magaddino's strongest ally on the Commission was his nephew Joseph Bonanno; the two Mafia bosses were from the same Sicilian town of Castellammare del Golfo. The Commission decided in 1931 that Stefano Magaddino and his Buffalo family would control Ontario, Canada, and that Joseph Bonanno and his Bonanno family would control Quebec, Canada. The Buffalo family remained strong and relatively united until his leadership was challenged in the 1960s and split into factions.
The internal war continued after Magaddino's death from natural causes on July 19, 1974, but ended in the early 1980s when Joseph Todaro Sr. became the boss.
Todaro Sr. era
When Todaro Sr. took over the Buffalo family many members had been operating within the Laborers' International Union of North America Local 210 for years, while avoiding police scrutiny and continuing to operate illegal activities. In 1989, Joseph Todaro Sr. and his son Joseph Todaro Jr. were identified in an FBI gambling investigation as the leaders of the 45 made member Buffalo Mafia family. The FBI investigation claimed that Joseph Todaro Sr. and Joseph Todaro Jr. were in control of various criminal activities that included labor racketeering, bookmaking, loansharking and narcotics trafficking. It was also claimed that Joseph Todaro Jr. was running the Mafia family on behalf of his semi-retired father Joseph Todaro Sr. who was splitting time between his Tonawanda and Florida homes. The FBI stated that local 210 member Leonard F. Falzone controlled a loansharking operation for the Todaros and brothers Victor and Daniel Sansanese who were also members of local 210 controlled a bookmaking operation for the Todaros. It was also revealed that during the investigation the FBI had planted a recording device in Falzone's union-owned car in 1988, but that recording device was unable to provide any evidence linking the Todaros to any illegal gambling.
The information provided by the listening device planted in Falzone's '87 Buick was responsible for the dismantling of Torina drug ring which was doing "more than $2 million in street sales of cocaine annually in the Buffalo area." Special Agent George Preston, chief of the DEA's Buffalo office told reporters, "This is a mob-controlled drug ring." G. Robert Langford, special agent in charge of the Buffalo FBI office said, "Conversations overheard in the car of Leonard Falzone indicated that this drug operation was being directed by the mob hierarchy in Buffalo," although there was not enough evidence to charge Falzone or Todaro in the ongoing investigation at that time. Early arrests in this case included known mob associates: Joseph "Pepe" Cannizzaro, Albino "Sha-Sha" Principe, and Salvatore "Sam Naples" Napoli.
The investigation into the Torina drug ring revealed Todaro and Falzone were "involved in a Las Vegas-to-Buffalo pipeline for cocaine and other illegal activities." On March 20, 1990, Las Vegas police arrested three Buffalo natives Louis Giambrone, Joseph Amoia and Lawrence Panero, all three were identified as associates of the Buffalo mob. Charles Torina, a Buffalo native who was described as a key link in the drug pipeline from Buffalo to Las Vegas, had previously worked as a pit boss in a Las Vegas casino.
In 1990, Canadian police arrested 14 suspects in a drug ring that had connections to organized crime in Buffalo and Niagara Falls. According to a law enforcement official who spoke under the condition of anonymity, "Any drug activity or any organized-crime activity in St. Catharines, Hamilton and Niagara Falls must be approved by the Buffalo family." The mob families in those cities, and in Toronto, answer to Buffalo." Those arrested were described as associates of a Niagara Falls, New York, businessman named John Anticoli, who was serving a 10-year term in federal prison. Law enforcement told reporters that "two of the suspects are considered high-ranking members of a Hamilton organized-crime family under the indirect control of the Buffalo mob." Anticoli was described by the FBI as "one of the biggest drug dealers ever arrested in Western New York." He pleaded guilty to possessing 270 pounds of marijuana, conspiracy to distribute cocaine, tax evasion, and failure to pay taxes on cocaine profits. Of the 14 suspects arrested, Carmen Barillaro, Nicodemo Bruzzese, and Dominic Vaccaro were said to be "made members" of a Hamilton-based Mafia family that reports to Buffalo organized crime leaders.
In 1996, Joseph Todaro Sr. and his son Joseph Todaro Jr. were listed among 24 alleged organized crime figures who were accused of influencing the Laborers International Union of North America since the 1960s. The Laborers local 210 forced Joseph A. Todaro Jr., Frank Bifulco, Salvatore Cardinale, John Catanzaro, Leonard Falzone, Sam Frangiamore, Bart Mazzara, Robert Panaro, Donald Panepinto, John A. Pieri, Joseph R. Pieri, Charles Pusateri, Joseph Rosato, Danny Sansanese Jr., Victor Sansanese, Louis Sicurella and Vincent "Jimmy" Sicurella out of the union.
In late 1996, the Buffalo family, along with the Los Angeles crime family, joined forces to take over a loan sharking and auto insurance fraud racket in Las Vegas controlled by Herbert Blitzstein, a Chicago Outfit associate. The L.A. underboss Carmen Milano, along with L.A. soldiers Stephen Cino and Louis Caruso, and L.A associates Johnny Branco and Peter Caruso, originally planned to rob and steal Blitzstein's jewelry. After robbing Blitzstein, the L.A. mobsters planned to have Buffalo family soldier Robert "Bobby" Panaro fence the stolen jewelry. Carmen Milano decided that Buffalo family boss Joseph Todaro Sr. would receive a piece of Blitzstein's Las Vegas rackets. The job of robbing Blitzstein was given to Peter Caruso, but Caruso changed the plan and decided to murder Blitzstein and take over his Las Vegas operations. On January 6, 1997, L.A. associates Antonio Davi and Richard Friedman shot and killed Blitzstein in his own home.
In 1997, the Buffalo family's Canadian faction boss Johnny Papalia and his lieutenant Carmen Barillaro were murdered by hit man Kenneth Murdock. When the police arrested Murdock in 1999, he decided to become a government witness. Murdock told authorities that he was ordered by brothers Pasquale "Pat" Musitano and Angelo Musitano of the Musitano crew to murder both Papalia and Barillaro. According to Murdock, the Musitano brothers had been fed up with being a satellite (crew) of the Buffalo family and having to pay tribute money to the family. Murdock also claimed that he was waiting for Pat Musitano to approve the murders of four Luppino crew members, Natale Luppino and Vincenzo Luppino (the two sons of Giacomo Luppino) and Domenic Violi and Giuseppe Violi (the two sons of Paolo Violi). Also revealed by Murdock was that Pat Musitano had discussed with Quebec Mafia boss Vito Rizzuto and Gaetano Panepinto about Rizzuto investing in Ontario. The Canadian intelligence agencies had observed meetings in October 22–23, 1997, between Pat Musitano and Rizzuto, which become more significant after the deaths of Papalia and Barillaro. Eventually, these agencies were convinced that the Musitano brothers did not act alone in the murders of Papalia, Barillaro, and Enio Mora.
In 1998, these factors led Lee Coppola, veteran organized crime reporter for The Buffalo News, to write an article titled "The Withered Arm". In it he stated: "Today's Buffalo mob—disorganized and all but penniless—is a far cry from its heyday" and that the "last visible remnants of mob power in Buffalo disappeared." However, Coppola's pronouncement was premature.
A 1999 article reported that Canadian intelligence indicated a new "crime lord" linked to the "powerful Todaro crime family" had been installed over the Golden Horseshoe region of Ontario. According to CISC intelligence, the new, yet unidentified, Buffalo boss had a strong relationship with outlaw bikers, unlike his predecessor Johny Papalia, who refused to work with them. As a result of this new, yet shaky, alliance, organized crime expert Detective Sergeant Peter Polcetti of the CISC said: "The Todaro family now controls Niagara, Hamilton, Toronto and Montreal." Gerald "Skinny" Ward was a locally powerful criminal in the Niagara Peninsula who purchased his cocaine from the Magaddino family, and in 1998 began his alliance with the Hells Angels.Langton, Jerry Showdown: How the Outlaws, Hells Angels and Cops Fought for Control of the Streets, Toronto: John Wiley, 2010 p.21 In 2000, Ward and his gang joined the Hells Angels. The police estimated in 2008 that Ward and the Niagara chapter of the Angels were responsible for selling about 75% of cocaine in the Niagara region. After the Hells Angels national president Walter "Nurget" Stadnick was arrested in 2001, Ward became one of the co-leaders of the Canadian Hells Angels.Langton, Jerry Showdown: How the Outlaws, Hells Angels and Cops Fought for Control of the Streets, Toronto: John Wiley, 2010 p.142
In 1999, Joseph E. Todaro Sr. along with his son Joseph A. Todaro Jr. and 16 others were named in a civil racketeering lawsuit for controlling local 210 through the years by various racketeering acts. The court complaint identified Joseph E. Todaro Sr. as boss and his son Joseph A. Todaro Jr. as underboss of the Buffalo family and the owners of La Nova Pizzeria. Todaro Sr. never belonged to local 210, but his son Todaro Jr. served as Local 210 business manager in 1990 before resigning. The charges were based on the testimony of Ronald M. Fino, a former business manager of Local 210 before he became an FBI informant.