History of Pittsburgh Mafia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
One Pittsburgh crime Family was part of the Sicilian mob that began to influence the local government in the 1920s. Italians, specifically Sicilians, began to immigrate from Sicily to escape Benito Mussolini in 1922. They operated in Arnold, Wilkinsburg, McKees Rocks, Wilmerding, Braddock and New Kensington.
The industry they began to rule was bootlegging(the illegal making, selling, or transporting of alcohol). “Between 1926 and 1933, there were more than 200 gangland killings in Allegheny County, according to old news accounts. About one half of them went unsolved. Many bootleggers simply disappeared.” All major mob bosses began with their control of yeast. The first major boss was Sicilian John Bazzano Sr., who was a manager of a theater and eventually gained control of sugar and yeast. Because of his greed he decided he wanted to expand his controlled territory by plotting to murder a group of other mob bosses, the Volpe 8.
The Volpe eight was a band of brothers that controlled Turtle Creek Valley and Wilmerding, the two territories Bazzano needed to expand his empire. Bazzano offered a partnership and the Volpe brothers readily consented. A coffee shop Bazzano owned on Wylie Avenue was made into their headquarters and soon Bazzano made them comfortable with the relationship. After gaining the brothers’ trust Bazzano decided the time had come to murder all eight brothers on July 29, 1932. The drive-by shooting took place by the coffee shop and murdered three of the eight. During the period of grieving held for the three brothers 50,000 people visited their home. Proving that because of the fear of these brothers, people from the area felt the need to make an appearance. The remaining brothers planned their revenge on Bazzano so “on August 8, 1932, his body turned up in the middle of a street in Brooklyn, NY, wrapped in a burlap sack.” ([www.post-gazette.com..)]
However, before it’s execution this murder plan had to be shown to La Cosa Nostra Commission, a group “formed to oversee mafia disputes.” Overtime, other mob bosses succeeded Bazzano. The other godfather that left a major mark was John LaRocca, an immigrant that United States courts had tried and failed to deport came into control. In 1958 he was caught attempting to sell $50,000 of ammunition to soldiers of Fidel Castro. This event proved his influence spread along the east coast and on to foreign countries. After almost being caught with this action he kept a low profile and was even donned “a man of respect” by the Pennsylvania Crime Commission. He died in 1984 and was succeeded by life-long friend, Michael Genovese to rule the Pittsburgh Family.
Since the bootlegging and ammunition trading industries were finished, Genovese turned to gambling and drugs. By this time, around the 1980s, the mob was slowly losing its influence on the government so the FBI quickly saw path the mafia was about to take and, unhindered by the non-existent influence of the mafia, the FBI pursued them. The FBI quickly traced Genovese’s cocaine trail to his two top men, Charles “Chucky” Porter and Louis Raucci Sr. Another change the mob had was finding new people for the Family. The two chosen were Joseph Naples and Lenne “Lenny” Strollo, who were inducted in 1987. However the major fall the mafia took over the years and decline of political and governmental power led to the murder of Naples by Strollo in 1991 and the arrest of Strollo in 2000 for “running a gambling ring in Fayette County.”
Genovese, however was not forgotten, nor were Porter and Raucci. Porter is now in prison as reported in November of 2000 for a 28 year sentence that was shortened because of his cooperation with giving information about the current mob. Credit to finding the evidence to lock the mobsters away is given to FBI agent Roger Greenback and his crew. He tracked Porter and closely surveyed him until he acquired enough evidence to imprison him for his drug dealing along with forty others including Raucci. Because of this major hit to the Pittsburgh mafia the Pennsylvania branch of La Cosa Nostra was destroyed. There are only a few remaining mob bosses all aging over seventy therefore the years of the Pittsburgh Mafia are numbered. Greenburg is still pursuing the few left by traveling to West Deer, Penn Hills, Shadyside, and Squirrel Hill all places where other bosses live, have lived, or owned businesses. Soon the bloody, scandalous and enthralling story of the Pittsburgh Family will end.
[edit] References
Ove, Torsten, “Mafia Has Long History Here From Bootlegging Days,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 5 November 2000.
Ove, Torsten, “Local FBI Agent Plays Key Role In Dismantling Region’s Organized Crime Family,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,5 November 2000.
