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Pittsburgh (LaRocca) Mob leaders

Largely independent Mafia organizations sprang up in the Italian and Sicilian immigrant communities of cities and towns in western Pennsylvania. The South and North Sides and the central Hill District of Pittsburgh hosted Sicilian Mafiosi. A Calabrian criminal network, which took root in mining communities, existed throughout the region. By the early 1900s, the Sicilian criminal societies formed a regional association. As U.S. Prohibition arrived, the Sicilian association engulfed Calabrian and Neapolitan criminal societies in western Pennsylvania. Over time, the various entities merged into a single crime family. The family's territory expanded east through Altoona, Pennsylvania, northwest into Youngstown, Ohio, and west and south into the Chester, Wheeling and Morgantown areas of West Virginia. The organization's underworld influence could be felt as far away as the Rochester area in New York State. It was known to engage in rackets in remote territories, such as slot machine gambling in Cuba. In the 1990s, it attempted to control a gambling at the Rincon tribal casino north of San Diego, California. The Pittsburgh Mafia has historically maintained close relationships with other Pennsylvania Mafia organizations (Philadelphia and Northeastern Pennsylvania) as well as the nearby Cleveland Mafia and the Genovese Crime Family of New York City.

Map of western Pennsylvania area

Western Pennsylvania area


Gregorio Conti

Conti

1915 - Gregorio Conti (Born Comitini, Sicily, March 17, 1873. Killed Pittsburgh, PA, Sept. 24, 1919.) In his autobiographical work Vita di Capomafia, Nick Gentile indicated that Conti became leader of the Mafia in central Pittsburgh by 1915. It is possible that Conti took over an organization built by Salvatore "Banana King" Catanzaro (perhaps forced into retirement following a serious stabbing incident in 1914). Conti was not the only Mafia boss in the region at this time. Gentile indicated that a number of bosses cooperated through a council overseen by Salvatore Calderone. Conti tolerated extortion of area Sicilian immigrants by a Calabrian-Neapolitan organization, led by Ferdinando Mauro and a Johnstown, Pennsylvania, resident named Fortunato CalabrĂ³. According to Gentile, Conti financially benefited from that organization's extortion rackets.

1917 - An unauthorized but effective gangland war waged by Conti underling Gentile by about 1917 convinced the Neapolitan and Calabrian criminals to quit preying upon Sicilians and to join forces with the Mafia.

1919 - Conti and his nephew Peppino Cusumano, also a Mafioso, ran the pre-Prohibition Pittsburgh Wine & Liquor Company at 801 Wylie Avenue at the corner of Chatham Street. As the Wartime Prohibition Act became effective in summer of 1919, rumors indicated that Conti took advantage of business partners by selling large quantities of mislabeled liquor. He then sold his business and prepared to move with his family back to Sicily. On Sept. 24, 1919, he was shot to death inside his car, reportedly as he showed it off to someone posing as an interested buyer. Police learned that J.C. Catalano, his cousin Philip Catalano and Orazio Leone were with Conti at the time of his murder. A coroner's jury found no evidence that the men were responsible for killing Conti.


1919 - Salvatore Calderone (Born Termini Imerese, Sicily, June 29, 1858. Died Apollo, PA, April 16, 1933.) Calderone held a position akin to chairman on the Mafia's western Pennsylvania ruling panel during Conti's reign in Pittsburgh. Following Conti's murder, the central Pittsburgh boss is uncertain - it may have been Conti nephew Peppino Cusumano. But Calderone continued to oversee the regional underworld. During Prohibition, the Calderone family ran the Apollo Bottling Works. Calderone is believed to have moved gradually into retirement from Mafia affairs.


Stefano Monastero

Monastero

1925 - Stefano Monastero (Born Caccamo, Sicily, March 3, 1889. Killed Pittsburgh, PA, Aug. 6, 1929.) Monastero was the son of Caccamo mafioso Pietro Monastero, who was tried - but not convicted - of the 1890 assassination of New Orleans Police Chief David Hennessy. Monastero and other codefendants were victims of a lynch mob that stormed Orleans Parish Prison. Stefano Monastero and two brothers settled in the Pittsburgh area between 1905 and 1911. During Prohibition, Stefano sold supplies - corn sugar, stills, bottles, etc. - to moonshine operations from his business on Pittsburgh's North Side. The Monastero organization contended for control in downtown Pittsburgh.

1927 - Monastero gang influence was increased with the May 20, 1927, murder of Luigi "Big Gorilla" Lamendola, reportedly a castoff from Al Capone's Chicago organization. Lamendola was shot to death in front of his Chatham Street restaurant/headquarters.

1929 - Monastero notched some early wins in a feud to control the Pittsburgh underworld. On May 20, 1927, his organization was believed responsible for the bombing of a rival bootleg supply warehouse. Months later, another rival warehouse was bombed. But on Aug. 6, 1929, Monastero went to visit underling Charles Spallino, recovering from appendix surgery at St. John's Hospital, on the North Side. He made the trip in a heavily armored automobile. As he stepped from the car, he was struck by shotgun discharges fired from a nearby parked vehicle. When Monastero fell, one of the gunmen emerged from his vehicle, got close to the boss and fired a pistol several times at his head.


Giuseppe Siragusa

Siragusa

1929 - Giuseppe Siragusa (Born Palermo, Sicily, May 18, 1882. Killed Pittsburgh, PA, Sept. 13, 1931.) Gang leader Joe "the Ghost" Pangallo was generally suspected of orchestrating the hit against Monastero, but the primary beneficiary of Monastero's demise appears to have been Giuseppe Siragusa (also spelled "Siracusa"). Known as "the Yeast Baron," Siragusa was becoming wealthy selling yeast to moonshine operations. With strong New York connections, Siragusa became the most powerful Mafia boss in western Pennsylvania.

1930 - Siragusa became a supporter of an insurrection against the rule of boss of bosses Giuseppe Masseria. The Pittsburgh boss's prestige grew when Salvatore Maranzano defeated Masseria in the Castellammarese War in spring 1931 and became the new boss of bosses.

1931 - When news of Maranzano's September 1931 assassination in Manhattan reached Pittsburgh, Siragusa rival John Bazzano saw opportunity. Bazzano had Siragusa killed at his Squirrel Hill home.


John Bazzano

Bazzano

1931 - John Bazzano (Born Palizzi Marina, Calabria, Italy, May 22, 1889. Killed Brooklyn, NY, Aug. 8, 1932.) The Pittsburgh Mafia leadership met to select a new boss following Siragusa's murder. With support from the well-connected Nicola Gentile, city coffee shop owner Bazzano was chosen. Like previous local bosses, Bazzano made his money supplying sugar and yeast to moonshine operations. Like Siragusa, Bazzano had strong support from New York mafiosi. His allies included recently installed boss Vincent Mangano of Brooklyn and Mangano's underboss Albert Anastasia. His closest ally - both in terms of geography and sympathy - may have been Frank "Ciccio" Milano. A fellow Calabrian, Milano was leader of Cleveland's Mafia and a member of a newly formed national underworld dispute-resolution panel known as the Commission.

John Volpe

John Volpe

1932 - John Bazzano made a show of partnering with the aggressively expansive Volpe Brothers from the Wilmerding area east of Pittsburgh, but he plotted to eliminate the brothers. A meeting was arranged for Bazzano's Rome Coffee Shop on July 29, 1932. Gunmen fatally shot three of the Volpes - Vincent "James," Arturo "Arthur" and Giovanni "Prince Johnny" - at the shop. New York-based Vito Genovese, underboss to the powerful Salvatore "Charlie Luciano" Lucania, was enraged by the murders and suspected Milano, Mangano, Anastasia and others of conspiring with Bazzano. Bazzano was summoned to New York to answer for the hit. His response was an appeal to Sicilian and Calabrian bosses to destroy their Neapolitan peers. The Volpes were originally from Agropoli, south of Naples. The gangland "ethnic cleansing" argument was not an acceptable response. Bazzano's corpse, bearing dozens of ice pick wounds, was found in a large sack in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn on Aug. 8, 1932.


1932 - Vincenzo "James" Capizzi (Born Villarosa, Sicily, March 12, 1893. Died St. Petersburg, FL, Feb. 8, 1967.) Bazzano's nominal successor was Vincenzo Capizzi, a grocer originally from Villarosa, Sicily. While Capizzi held the title of boss, and was influential among the Sicilians on the North Side, the real strength of the crime family rested with his underboss Frank Amato, a native of the Naples area and close ally of Vito Genovese.

1937 - Though it had lasted just five years, at the time of his 1937 retirement his reign was the longest known of any Pittsburgh Mafia boss.


Frank Amato

Amato

1937 - Frank Amato (Born Roccarainola, Italy, Feb. 15, 1893. Died Braddock, PA, Feb. 18, 1973.) For five years, Amato had been the power behind Capizzi's throne. Upon Capizzi's retirement, Amato took over the top spot. Amato brought an extended period of leadership stability to the crime family. During his reign, the organization specialized in coin-operated gambling devices - slot machines, pinball games and other entertainments. These were produced and distributed through the Coin Machine Distributing Company run by Amato, his in-law Sam Mannarino, John LaRocca and others.

1956 - Health problems forced Amato into retirement around 1956. He remained a trusted adviser to local Mafia leaders and reportedly retained control of coin operated machines throughout his hometown of Braddock, Pennsylvania.


Sebastian John LaRocca

LaRocca

1956 - Sebastian LaRocca (Born Villa Rosa, Sicily, Dec. 18, 1902. Died McCandless, PA, Feb. 8, 1998.) "John" LaRocca took over as boss of the Pittsburgh family from 1956, retaining former boss Frank Amato as his adviser. Under LaRocca, the Pittsburgh Mafia became a force in regional labor unions and entered into profitable partnerships with criminal organizations in Cleveland, Tampa and elsewhere.

Late 1950s - Mafia gambling ventures in Havana, Cuba, made extensive use of Pittsburgh Mafia coin-operated device expertise. Pittsburgh bosses became partners with Tampa's crime family in the management of Havana's Sans Souci casino.

1957 - LaRocca was one of the attendees of the Apalachin, New York, Mafia conference. He was accompanied by his lieutenants, Michael James Genovese and Gabriel "Kelly" Mannarino.

1970s hierarchy of Pittsburgh Mafia

Pennsylvania Crime Commission's view of Pittsburgh Mafia hierarchy in 1970.

1978 - Aging and in poor health, LaRocca established a panel of bosses to handle day-to-day business of the crime family. The panel included Michael Genovese, Gabriel "Kelly" Mannarino and Joseph "Jo Jo" Pecora of West Virginia. A prison sentence for gambling immediately took Pecora off the ruling panel.


Michael Genovese

Genovese

1980 - Michael Genovese (Born East Liberty, PA, April 9, 1919. Died West Deer, PA, Oct. 31, 2006). Genovese became sole acting boss under the ailing Sebastian LaRocca, as Gabriel "Kelly" Mannarino died July 11, 1980, of cancer. Under Genovese's leadership, the Pittsburgh mob became a middle man in drug deals with distribution rings in the Midwest and Northeast and began making moves into Ohio territory abandoned by a weakened Cleveland Mafia. The family was also linked with an attempt to infiltrate an Rincon tribe casino near San Diego.

1990 - The Pittsburgh organization began to crumble after successful prosecutions of underboss Charles Porter and lieutenant Louis Raucci Sr. and the subsequent defections of Porter and Lenny Strollo.

2000 - With former underboss Charles Porter released from prison, authorities wondered if Porter would make an effort to take control of the Pittsburgh organization. Federal agents eventually concluded that Michael Genovese, then 82 and living in rural West Deer, PA, remained in command of the remnants of the Pittsburgh Mafia family.

2006 - Genovese died in 2006 at the age of eighty-seven. Though he had served some time behind bars for refusing to testify, prosecutors were never able to assemble a successful racketeering case against him. The man authorities believed had served as Genovese's underboss was John Bazzano, Jr., son of the earlier boss executed in 1932 and son-in-law of former crime family lieutenant Antonio Ripepi. Bazzano Jr. died in the summer of 2008 at the age of eighty-one. Charles Porter died eight years later, at the age of eighty-two.