Russell Bufalino
| Russell Bufalino | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | September 25, 1903 Montedoro, Province of Caltanissetta, Sicily |
| Died | February 25, 1994 (aged 90) Kingston, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Heart attack |
| Resting place | Denison Cemetery, Forty Fort, Pennsylvania |
| Nationality | Sicilian, Italian, American |
| Citizenship | Italian |
| Occupation | Crime boss, Mafioso, Mobster, Bootlegger, Businessman, Racketeer |
| Known for | Boss of the Bufalino crime family |
Russell A. Bufalino also known as "McGee" and "The Old Man" (September 25, 1903 – February 25, 1994) was a Sicilian-born American mafioso who became the boss of the Northeastern Pennsylvania crime family (also known as the Bufalino crime family) which he ruled from 1959 to 1989. Despite being the boss of a small crime family, Bufalino was a significant influence in the national Cosa Nostra criminal organization.
Born in Montedoro, Sicily, as Rosario Alberto Bufalino, Bufalino's family immigrated to Buffalo, New York, where he became a criminal during his teenage years. Bufalino worked alongside many Buffalo mobsters, some of whom would become top leaders in the Buffalo crime family and other future Cosa Nostra families along the East Coast of the United States. These relationships proved very helpful to Bufalino in his criminal career. Family and clan ties were important to Sicilian-American criminals; they created a strong, secretive support system that outsiders or law enforcement could not infiltrate. A significant friendship was with his first boss, John C. Montana. An immigrant from Montedoro, Montana was an early powerful figure in the Buffalo family.
As a young man, Bufalino involved himself in traditional underworld rackets such as gambling, extortion, robbery, theft and debt collection. By the time Bufalino reached his mid-20s, his criminal record showed arrests for petty larceny, receiving stolen goods, conspiracy to obstruct justice, drug dealing, and fencing stolen jewelry. When Prohibition was enacted in 1919, Bufalino quickly became involved in the lucrative new business of bootlegging.
In the early 1920s, Bufalino started working with Joseph Barbara, another young upstate New York bootlegger. Both men were Sicilian and shared friends in the Buffalo underworld. Bufalino soon moved with his new wife to Endicott, New York, in Barbara's territory. Bufalino and Barbara built a close working relationship throughout the 1930s. In 1940, when Barbara became boss of the Northeastern Pennsylvania crime family, he named Bufalino as underboss. Bufalino moved to Kingston, Pennsylvania, a central location that let him supervise family operations.
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