Bufalino crime family
| Founded by | Stefano LaTorre |
|---|---|
| Named after | Russell Bufalino |
| Founding location | Pittston, Pennsylvania |
| Years active | c. 1900–2008 |
| Territory | Northeastern Pennsylvania Counties of Lackawanna and Luzerne, in Northwestern New Jersey, Southwestern New York and Southern Florida. |
| Ethnicity | Italian, Italian-American made men and other ethnicities as "associates" |
| Membership (est.) | Unknown |
| Criminal activities | Racketeering, counterfeiting, loansharking, extortion, illegal gambling, cartage theft, fraud, Bid rigging, Narcotics and automobile theft. |
| Allies | Buffalo, Genovese and Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Cleveland, and Patriarca crime families. |
| Rivals | other various gangs |
The Bufalino crime family, also known as the Pittston crime family, or the Scranton Wilkes-Barre family, was an American Mafia crime family active in the Northeastern Pennsylvania cities of Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, and Pittston.
In 1957, Joseph Barbara, an alleged member of the Buffalo crime family, held a Mafia Commission meeting at his Apalachin, New York home. The meeting was preceded a few weeks before by the assassination of Albert Anastasia and a smaller meeting at the New Jersey estate of Ruggiero Boiardo. The Apalachin meeting was attended by about 100 Mafia heads from the U.S., Canada, and Italy. A raid by New York State Police caught many heads of families or their deputies. Many other family heads and their deputies were suspected of being present by law enforcement but evaded detection and capture. However, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit dismissed many of the cases on legal technicalities. The initial appeal before the second circuit was brought by Russell Bufalino and was successful, therefore, vindicating him of the ensuing conspiracy and obstruction of justice charges and as a result all those other mobsters apprehended at the Appalachin debacle. The granting of Bufalino's appeal by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit greatly increased Bufalino's stature among Mafiosi on the national stage.
After John Sciandra's death of natural causes circa 1949, Russell Bufalino took control of the family as acting boss with Santo Volpe in an advisory role. Upon the death of Santo Volpe on December 2, 1958, Russell Bufalino officially took over the family. Bufalino maintained a close alliance with the New York Genovese family. Imprisoned in the late 1970s on extortion charges related to the collection of a debt, Bufalino's underboss, Edward Sciandra, became the acting boss of the family. Sciandra was aided in running the family by captains Anthony Guarnieri, James David Osticco, and Phillip Medico, Consiglieri Remo Allio, as well as soldiers William D'Elia, Angelo Bufalino, John Rizzo, Angelo Son, and Joseph Sperrazza. Bufalino was released from prison in 1980 briefly after serving his sentence for extortion. Towards the end of 1981 Bufalino was again imprisoned after being found guilty of conspiring to kill Jack Napoli, a witness in his 1978 extortion trial. Bufalino learned the whereabouts of Napoli, then in the Witness Protection Program, and conspired with Los Angeles mobster Jimmy Fratianno and another man he met in prison to murder Napoli. Fratianno turned government informant and testified against Bufalino at trial. He was sentenced to ten years imprisonment and released in 1989. Russell Bufalino died on February 25, 1994 of natural causes near Pittston, Pennsylvania.
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