The Pittsburgh crime family,[4] also known as the LaRocca crime family[5] or Pittsburgh Mafia, is an Italian American Mafia crime family based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.[1][6] The LaRocca family is one of the original 26 mafia families in the United States.[7] In 2021, the boss Thomas "Sonny" Ciancutti died, he was also the last known made member of the family.[8]
Founded | 1888 |
---|---|
Founder | Salvatore "Banana King" Catanzaro |
Named after | Sebastian "Big John" LaRocca |
Founding location | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
Years active | c.1888–present |
Territory | Primarily Pittsburgh (especially in New Kensington, Arnold and Bloomfield), with additional territory throughout Allegheny County, Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Eastern Ohio.[1] |
Ethnicity | Italians as "made men" and other ethnicities as associates |
Activities | Racketeering, murder, loansharking, extortion and gambling |
Allies | |
Rivals | Various gangs in the Pittsburgh area |
In the city of Pittsburgh the Italian criminals were divided into two ethnic factions the "Sicilians" and the "Neapolitans".[9] Territory within the city was also divided as the Sicilian Mafia clans controlled the North and South sides, while the Neapolitan Camorra clans controlled the East End.[9]
The earliest known Pittsburgh Sicilian Mafia boss was Salvatore "Banana King" Catanzaro, who started his fruit and produce company in 1888, in Downtown Pittsburgh.[10][11] Catanzaro served as the treasurer for the Italian Red Cross Society and also worked alongside a network of Sicilian Mafia bosses in Western Pennsylvania.[10][11] In 1914, Catanzaro was stabbed and stepped down as boss; he later died on February 17, 1916.[11] This allowed Catanzaro's protege Gregorio Conti to assume control of his Sicilian Hill District Mafia family.[12] As the new boss, Gregorio Conti waged a war against the Neapolitan Camorra factions and by 1917, he won as the Neapolitan Camorra factions surrendered and disbanded, joining the Sicilian Mafia network.[12]
In 1919, the United States government passed the Eighteenth Amendment declaring the production, transportation and sale of intoxicating liquors illegal. Months later Congress passed the Volstead Act declaring that liquor, wine and beer all qualified as intoxicating liquors and were therefore prohibited. On September 24, 1919, Pittsburgh Mafia boss Gregorio Conti was shot and killed.[12] After Conti's death, his nephew Peppino Cusumano led the Pittsburgh Mafia group, but worked in the shadow of Salvatore Calderone, who became the most powerful boss in the Western Pennsylvania's Mafia network.[13] Calderone controlled the Mafia Network from Apollo, located 30 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.[13] On January 17, 1920, Prohibition began in the United States, banning all production, importation, transportation and sale of alcoholic beverages.
Prohibition presented a very lucrative opportunity for both Mafia factions, as they began bootlegging, the illegal making, selling and transporting of alcohol. As bootlegging operations expanded throughout America violence erupted as criminals fought for dominance. Within the city of Pittsburgh, the Italian neighborhoods of Larimer, Homewood, the Hill District and Downtown became battle grounds as Mafia factions fought for territorial control of bootlegging rackets. In the suburbs of Pittsburgh, the Mafia factions fought for control of New Kensington, Arnold, Wilkinsburg, McKees Rocks, Wilmerding and Braddock.[14] It was recorded that between 1926 and 1933, there were over 200 murders in Allegheny County.[14]
By 1925, Stefano Monastero became the new boss of the Pittsburgh Mafia family, as Salvatore Calderone stepped down and retired.[15] Monastero controlled a large organization of bootlegging supplies throughout several warehouses on the North side of Pittsburgh.[15] During Monastero's reign he was suspected of ordering the bombings of rival bootleggers facilities and for ordering the murder of his competitor Luigi "Big Gorilla" Lamendola in May 1927.[15] Monastero and his brother Sam Monastero were murdered on August 6, 1929, in front of St. John's hospital.[15][16] Pittsburgh Police suspected that Joe "the Ghost" Pangallo was responsible for ordering Monastero's murder, but were unable to prove it.[9]
After Monastero's murder Giuseppe Siragusa became the new boss of the Pittsburgh family.[15] Siragusa emigrated in 1910, from Sicily to Brooklyn and later to Pittsburgh, where he manufactured and traded in illegal alcohol in Allegheny County.[15] He became known as the "Yeast Baron", after becoming one of the largest suppliers of yeast to illegal beermakers in the area.[15] Siragusa maintained close alliance to the Castellammarese clan in New York City and paid tribute to Salvatore Maranzano.[15] On September 13, 1931, Siragusa was murdered in his Squirrel Hill home, just days after Salvatore Maranzano was murdered.[9][4][6][14][16]
After the murder of Siragusa, the family came under the control of John Bazzano.[15][16] The new boss Bazzano had immigrated to the United States from Calabria in the 1890s and built a bootlegging empire selling yeast and sugar to home breweries and thereby allowing them to manufacture illegal beer.[9][14] Bazzano was a protégé of early Pittsburgh mobster Nicola Gentile and learned to keep a low profile.[17] He owned a coffee shop in the Middle Hill and a mansion in Mt. Lebanon a neighborhood outside of Pittsburgh.[17] Bazzano formed an alliance with the eight Volpe brothers, the leaders of the "Neapolitan faction" who controlled illegal rackets throughout the Turtle Creek Valley and Wilmerding.[14]
Bazzano became aggravated when the Volpe brothers began expanding into East Liberty and the North Side.[14] On July 29, 1932, Bazzano sent a hit team to murder the Volpe brothers; the team murdered three of the Volpe brothers.[14] Two of the surviving Volpe brothers went to the "Commission" in New York, and it was decided Bazzano would be held responsible for his unsanctioned hit. On August 8, 1932, Bazzano's body was found in Red Hook, Brooklyn. He had been stabbed and strangled to death.[9][4][6][14]
Vincenzo Capizzi became the new boss after Bazzano's murder, but he eventually resigned in 1937,[4] and was replaced by Frank Amato.[15][16] Amato began expanding his influence over the gambling rackets in and around Allegheny County, and formed a strong alliance with the Genovese family in New York City, who represented Pittsburgh at meetings of the eastern Commission.[9] Amato ruled until 1956, when he became ill of a kidney ailment and resigned becoming underboss.[9][4][14]
In 1956, Sebastian "Big John" LaRocca became the boss of the Pittsburgh family and reigned as boss for nearly thirty years.[16][4][18] LaRocca was born in 1901, in Sicily and moved to the United States in 1910, he later moved in 1933, with his wife to Pittsburgh.[15] He started a business selling beer equipment and concrete blocks in Oakland.[15] LaRocca later gained control of multiple illegal rackets and was convicted on several occasions for larceny, receiving stolen property and operating an illegal lottery.[15] In 1953, Immigration and Naturalization Service tried to use LaRocca's criminal record to deport him but several prominent figures testified on his behalf during the hearings and he was able to remain in the country until his death in 1984.[15]
As boss of Pittsburgh, LaRocca attended the 1957, Apalachin Meeting along with his capos Gabriel "Kelly" Mannarino and Michael James Genovese.[19] When the police raided the Apalachin meeting LaRocca was able to escape the federal authorities but Mannarino and Genovese were unsuccessful and were arrested.[4][6][18] LaRocca and capo Mannarino became partners with Tampa crime family boss Santo Trafficante Jr. in the Sans Souci hotel-casino in Havana, Cuba.[6][14][20] In 1959, Fidel Castro took control of Cuba and forced out all the mobsters in the country.[20] Through bribery LaRocca became a powerful Mafia boss by controlling politicians, police officers and other officials in the Pittsburgh area.[4] His family also maintained control of labor unions through Local 1058.[4] LaRocca's influence also grew through close ties to Gambino crime family boss Carlo Gambino, Bufalino crime family boss Russell Bufalino, Philadelphia crime family boss Angelo Bruno and Kansas City crime family boss Nick Civella.[4] In the 1960s, LaRocca's family started a conflict with the Cleveland crime family when they expanded into Youngstown, Ohio.[19] In 1964, LaRocca supported Frank Valenti's takeover of the Rochester crime family from Jake Russo.[21]
In the early 1980s, the family consisted of Boss Sebastian LaRocca, Underboss Joseph Pecora, Consigliere Michael Genovese and caporegimes John Bazzano Jr., Antonio Ripepi and Joseph Regino.[22] LaRocca died on December 3, 1984.[9][4]
Michael Genovese became the new boss of the Pittsburgh crime family, with the death of LaRocca.[9][4] He started his criminal career by controlling the numbers racket in East Liberty under LaRocca and eventually became a capo operating from Gibsonia, Pennsylvania.[23] Genovese had spent years closely working with then Boss Sebastian John LaRocca, powerful Pittsburgh mobsters Gabriel "Kelly" Mannarino and Joseph Pecora.[23] His reputation and power had increased over the years allowing him to be successfully accepted as the family's new boss. Genovese pursued members of the Pittsburgh family to create a large illegal drug trafficking network.[15] The drug trafficking activities led to increased law enforcement surveillance and investigations.[15] On March 3, 1987, longtime Underboss and West Virginia gambling leader Joseph N. "Jo Jo" Pecora died.[24] After Pecora's death Genovese promoted Charles "Chucky" Porter to Underboss of the family. According to the 1989, crime report by the Pennsylvania Crime Commission the Pittsburgh family was in decline because the family was not accepting new members and the leadership was continuing to grow older.[15]
In the late 1980s, the FBI increased its investigation into Pittsburgh's top cocaine traffickers, Charles "Chucky" Porter and Louis Raucci, Sr.[25] In March 1990, an indictment charged Charles "Chucky" Porter and Louis F. Raucci Sr., along with seven associates, on charges of drug distribution, extortion, conspiracy to commit murder, robbery, gambling and racketeering.[23][26] The Pennsylvania Crime Commission considered Porter to be Genovese's "right-hand man," while Raucci was said to "sit on the left side" of the boss.[23] Both Porter and Louis F. Raucci were convicted numerous charges of drug distribution, extortion and racketeering. The family's Underboss Charles Porter decided to cooperate with the government leading the conviction of many top members and associates of the Pittsburgh family.[26] By 1992, there was only a few members and associates operating in western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio.[15] The Pittsburgh family's main source of income was illegal sports and numbers gambling.[15] In 1996, former capo Louis Raucci, Sr. died in prison.[23] Genovese's former underboss Charles Porter was released from prison in 2000 after his 28-year sentence was halved for helping the FBI investigate mob operations from New York, New Jersey, Florida and California, including narcotics operations in Pittsburgh.[23] On October 31, 2006, boss Michael Genovese died after of years of fighting with bladder cancer and heart disease.[15][23] John Bazzano Jr. took over as boss, until his death on July 28, 2008.[27]
In 2008, Thomas "Sonny" Ciancutti became boss of the Pittsburgh family.[8][28] Ciancutti himself was one of the few remaining made members operating in Pittsburgh, after the late 1990s, when many members were imprisoned and older members started to pass away.[4] According to the FBI, Ciancutti controlled a large illegal gambling ring with top bookmakers Robert Iannelli, John "Duffy" Conley, Jeff Risha and Ronnie "Porky" Melocchi, whom all paid him protection.[8]
On September 5, 2013 "Operation Pork Chop" concluded charging associate Ronald “Porky” Melocchi and others with bookmaking and illegal gambling.[29] In 2013, retired FBI special agent Roger Greenbank spoke about the Pittsburgh family and said "There's no real structure anymore. There's no real family."[30] In 2016, Sonny Ciancutti's most trusted associate Jeff Risha died of cancer.[8] Ciancutti maintained a low profile using associates to run the Pittsburgh's local bookmaking and illegal gambling operations. In 2019, Robert Iannelli, a longtime Pittsburgh area sports gambling and bookmaker, was arrested along with his son and others.[8]
On July 26, 2016, a gambling investigation at the Spartaco Sporting Club resulted in five of the club's officers and four employees being arrested during a raid by the Pennsylvania State Police Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement. A total of 19 illegal video gambling devices, along with computer motherboards for the devices, money and various documents were seized. Thomas "Sonny" Ciancutti was a member of the club during this time.[31]
On December 28, 2019, former Pittsburgh family associate Samuel Rende, 90, was shot in the head and killed while in a pickup truck near Calvary Cemetery in Greenfield.[32][33] The police arrested and charged Anthony Miller with the homicide and robbery of Rende.[32]
On July 8, 2021, Pittsburgh family boss Thomas "Sonny" Ciancutti died.[8][34][35] Ciancutti was the last known made member in the Pittsburgh family.[8]
On June 3, 2023 Michael "Mike The Greek" Xenakis passed away at the age of 76. He was an associate of the Pittsburgh family and one of the most prominent bookies. He served 18 months in prison for running a numbers scheme.[36]
The last known made member was boss Thomas "Sonny" Ciancutti who died on July 8, 2021.[8]
The Pittsburgh family used associates to control the illegal gambling and loansharking operations in Youngstown, Ohio and throughout the Mahoning Valley. During the early 1970s the faction gained control of the gambling rackets in Youngstown and shared some of the profits with the Cleveland crime family.[125]
The Pittsburgh family used associates to control the illegal gambling and loansharking operations in Wheeling, West Virginia and the surrounding areas.
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