John C. Montana

John C. Montana (born Giovanni Montana) (July 1, 1893 – March 18, 1964) was a Buffalo, New York labor racketeer, political fixer, and elected politician who eventually became the underboss and/or consiglieri of the Buffalo crime family.

Born in Montedoro, Sicily, Montana immigrated to the United States in 1907. By the 1920s, with the start of Prohibition, Montana allegedly became involved in bootlegging. His attendance at a national Mafia conference at Chicago in 1931 signaled the rise of his criminal career within organized crime, eventually becoming #3 of the Buffalo family. He had been elected to public office and held numerous prominent positions. Montana was able to walk in all circles of life in Buffalo - with rich businessmen, powerful politicians, and ruthless gangsters. After being caught in 1957 as he attended a national Mafia meeting that was raided by State Police in Apalachin, New York, Montana's criminal ties became known and the popular public figure was reduced to a "former gang boss."

Born in Montedoro, Sicily on July 1, 1893, Montana came to Buffalo at the age of 13 in 1907 and quickly began to show his entrepreneurial business talents. In grade school, Montana made his first dollars as a messenger for a West Side candy shop running errands and messages. With his brothers Salvatore, Angelo, Peter and Joseph, the 17-year-old John Charles Montana first pushed a popcorn cart through Buffalo’s Little Italy at a time when Italians lived in a high density area on the Lower West Side and downtown. Because the demand was so great, the Montana brothers had to fold their first business as they couldn’t supply the many people who wanted their goods.

In time, Don Stefano Magaddino would become the boss of the Mafia in Buffalo and organize an empire with John Montana at the top. Years down the road, Montana’s nephew Charles would marry the oldest daughter of Don Stefano; Don Stefano’s only son Peter also married Montana’s niece. Through family ties, John Montana merged with the most ruthless criminal leader this city has ever seen. Montana was a smart businessman though. He never fit the description of what a Mafioso was supposed to be.

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