(There's also pictures at the link below)


Who will lead now that Todaro, Nicoletti gone?
Mike Hudson, Niagra Falls Reporter
January 8, 2013


With the ground covering Joe Todaro and Sonny Nicoletti still fresh, both law enforcement and the legion of mafia buffs who make their home in Western New York have busied themselves trying to figure out who might next head up the tattered remains of the once formidable Magaddino crime family.

I’ve been covering organized crime in Buffalo for the better part of 15 years. There are some great stories, lots of colorful characters and some genuinely decent people who have been negatively affected by this kind of speculation.

Personally, I don’t get it. Because what nobody has been asking is “why anyone would want to be the head of the Buffalo mob?”

Even the most optimistic observers say the old Magaddino outfit has but 20 made guys left at most, and the majority of them have long since qualified for Social Security.

The formerly subservient Utica and Hamilton, Ont., crews have their own problems, with alleged Utica crime lord Russ Carcone still reeling from a 2000 shoplifting bust and the Canadian crew as dead as charity since the assassination of John “Johnny Pops” Papaglia in 1997.

Given all the agita that goes along with being a mob boss in a third-rate American city, is it really worth becoming a target both for law enforcement and any two-bit wannabe punk looking to make a name for himself?

Just ask the highly respected Papaglia, whose storied career ended when he got shot in the back of the head by a bumbling Irish alcoholic named Ken Murdoch who took the contract for just $2,000 and 40 grams of cocaine.

Even Todaro, who the FBI claims was the last official don of the Buffalo family, reportedly gave up his position in 2006 in order to spend more time with his family and enjoy the fruits of the lucrative La Nova pizza business he founded decades earlier.

The leading contender for the top spot, Frank “Butchie Bifocals” BiFulco, was alleged to have been a feared enforcer and a capo in the Magaddino organization going back to the 1960s. But he’s currently indisposed, serving a 10-year, 10-month stretch in Club Fed for the 2001 torching of a leased Nissan in the parking lot of Walden Galleria.

According to the FBI, Leonard “The Calzone” Falzone took over as acting boss of the family when Todaro stepped down in 2006, after years of serving as an enforcer, hit man and finally a capo in the organization. Falzone has of course denied this.
Still, the feds say Falzone was ultimately named consigliere to the Buffalo family in 1987.

Aside from a misdemeanor conviction for possession of stolen property in 1971, Falzone had never been in trouble with the law until the mid-1990s, when a federal investigation of Laborers Local 210 in Buffalo put him in the spotlight. Falzone was then an administrator of the local’s $80 million pension fund, and he became a huge target for the investigators.

At the time, Buffalo crime circles were lousy with paid informants, stool pigeons and squealers of every stripe. And it didn’t take the feds long to put together a case based on the allegations of these disreputable individuals.

The RICO and RICO conspiracy charges set forth in Falzone’s indictment covered a period of time from approximately September, 1985 through August, 1989, during which Falzone was alleged to have engaged in the business of loansharking - charging extremely high interest rates on loaned money.

In 1995, Salvatore "Sammy" Spano told a federal jury he needed Falzone's protection and approval to establish a loansharking operation in Las Vegas. His testimony was the latest piece in the case federal prosecutors were trying to build against Falzone, who stood accused of being a renowned mob enforcer who escaped numerous investigations without a conviction.

"I asked him (Falzone) if I could move to Vegas and if I could use his name while out in Vegas," Spano said on the witness stand. Also testifying against Falzone were the contemptible Ron Fino and Ronald "Ronnie" Raccuia, a degenerate gambler and onetime Buffalo Common Council Chief of Staff.

Falzone was tried in the local media as well. Following his conviction, the Buffalo News editorialists felt vindicated. "Over the years, Falzone had developed a reputation among some as untouchable,” an unsigned editorial read. “No more. This felony conviction cracks his slick reputation for invincibility."

The other name currently being batted about as a possible successor to Todaro is that of successful businessman Bobby Panaro, a Las Vegas area resident for the past four decades who spends some time in Buffalo.

Like Falzone, Panaro was also ousted from Laborers Local 210 for allegedly associating with organized crime figures. At age 57, he was sentenced in 1999 by U.S. District Judge Philip Pro to 7-1/2 years in prison for conspiring to extort longtime mob associate Herbert "Fat Herbie" Blitzstein, who was slain in January 1997.

At the time, Panaro was running an auto dealership known as Good Fellows. "They're giving me 7 1/2 years," he told reporters following his conviction. "For what? What did I do?"

A jury acquitted Panaro of all charges related to the Blitzstein slaying, but the four-week trial left him branded a "mafia soldier." "I'm no mob soldier," he said. "I never have been. I never would be."

Federal prosecutors had accused Panaro and Steve “The Whale” Cino of authorizing the Blitzstein killing as part of a plot to take over the victim's business activities in Las Vegas.

At the trial, prosecutors described Panaro as a member of the Buffalo family and Cino as a member of the Los Angeles mob. "Because I'm Italian?" Panaro asked. "Get out of here."

There are people in law enforcement, perhaps, whose jobs depend on whether or not there is a mafia, a “Cosa Nostra,” organized crime, or whatever you want to call it, in the city of Buffalo, New York.

And there are other people, lots of them, who study mob politics and machinations in the same way that Civil War buffs examine Sherman’s March to the Sea.

But if you ask me, I think Leonard Falzone and Bobby Panaro need to be head of the Buffalo crew like they need another hole in the head.

http://www.niagarafallsreporter.com/Stories/2013/Jan8/TodaroNicoletti.html

Interesting, Ivy. I'm glad the author called the Hamilton, Ontario crew formerly subservient.

For the most part, those guys on the other side of the Canadian border aren't even listening to the New York City families anymore. They sure as fuck aren't gonna take any shit from a bunch of old men in Buffalo.

Oh, and it speaks volumes that Todaro gave up being Don Corleone to make pizzas .

I think it's more likely "formerly subservient" mean things have simply dried up there in the way of American LCN operations. I'm not really sure if there is anything left in Hamilton to break away from whatever family is left in Buffalo.

I am from Hamilton and the mob in itself is no where near what it was but the few things going on and there is still some activity but most of these guys have a lot of legit income from clubs to bakery's and bar's, construction companies.

All in all though it is not the sicilians who really control things here the calabrese do.

I also have mentioned on this site before that Bobby Panaro was made and I was told no but I don't think he would be mentioned or considered for anything if he wasn't.

He got assimilated into the mainstream American business world. And given that it's the most successful independent pizzeria in the country, and that he was about a thousand years old when he stepped down, he'd have to have been nuts not to.

That sort of thing is what's really killing off the mob, not RICO and rats.

Interesting that the article doesn't mention Todaro Jr.'s crimes or made-guy status. I've heard he has a habit of Googling himself and then threatening to sue anyone he finds calling him a gangster. No idea if that's actually true though.

Be careful he might sue you lol.

Scalish, now this is where I wholeheartedly agree with you bud. I'm originally from Buffalo and went to school with some gangster wannabe sons and grandkids of mob guys there. My good friend and a member of the Sinatra Society in Vegas is the one who helped me with the chart I made, and he happens to know the author of the book written on Buffalo. You're right on Panaro for sure. There's no way he wasn't made an official member of Buffalo's Mob Family.

Save the "yeah right" stuff people, I know who you are, but wasn't trying to say I knew people, or that I'm connected in any way, just simply that I went to grade school and high school with people who were related to some Buffalo hoods.

Stern,

I beleive you bro i never doubt anyone who has not given me reason to doubt before.

I know you know your shit on Buffalo and I like discussing it with you.

As far as going to school with some of these fellas or people related to them I am from Hamilton and went to school with some of these guys and actually still keep contact with a certain few.

These people are regular people they go to school church malls just like we do.

Keep up the good chat stern.

P.S

I am just tired of people telling me no such and such is not made.

Bobby Panaro has been around along time and was also brother in law of Todaro you know he was made just like Gerace who is the son in law of Todaro.

Yeah, some of these people on boards tend to think going to school with a gangsters son is like going to school with a presidents son. LOL! Funny but so true!!! It's hard to understand some folks at times, that's all. But, you're absolutely right and a cool person. Thanks bud.

Agreed! Like Hudson said, "there's 20 made guys in the Buffalo outfit." So, there's still a lot of guys and all twenty I put up on my chart.

Muk is in the process of making a picture chart on Buffalo, which shall be very interesting to see.

I agree bro if you want PM me and maybe we can put something together crews and all even though there ain't much.

Exactly my point, Ivan .

when they say Todaro stepped down, don't they mean the son..?? He wasn't that old, like late 50's I think...

Todaro Jr is currently 69 years old when he stepped down was in 06 which he would have been 62 or 63 years old.

And to be honest he stepped down but still holds all the power in Buffalo.

Todaro, Jr. still holds a tremendous amount of power. His pizza is fantastic, as well. They do need to get rid of a guy that works there. Last time I went he was very rude, not Todaro, Jr., though. I've only seen him once there, but didn't want to just walk up to him, because I'm sure he gets enough people going over there to try to get a glimpse of The Godfather, and I'm sure he knows the type. Didn't want him thinking I was one of them. It would be like going to Enzo's Pizzeria in L.A. just to meet Lenny Montana, who actually was made, too.

lol.they are just people like you and i.

Who are reguler people, the fools that want to get their pic taken with a goodfella, or the mob guys themselves? If It's the later, not true, they aren't regular guys.

a guy who is made isnt different from average joe.they are business owners,managers, super visors, drug dealers,bookies. just guys. the only difference is they have had there 'fingers pricked'. so what?ever been in/around a gang? its the same thing.they are still people.

I've personally done this to the poor guy. He wasn't able to spot and avoid me.

The funniest part of that whole episode was that my mother was with me, and on the way there she kept flipping out over all the "scary black people" who were probably just ordinary guys walking down the street, but she had no misgivings whatsoever interacting with a man who had been specifically identified by the FBI as a Cosa Nostra underboss.

How is the pizza there anyways?

That's 20 total made guys, of course. Not how many are active. As I've mentioned before, not a lot of mob activity up there in recent years. At least what would be indicative of a well organized, cohesive family. Most of the busts seem to have been one guy here, or a couple there, doing their own thing.



They're talking about Todaro Sr., who recently died.

It's decent but I don't see what the big deal is. Imagine a very high quality version of chain pizzeria pizzas like those from Domino's or Pizza Hut and you get the general idea.

Though I think much of the restaurant's success is driven by the wing business; I didn't try the wings there.

Well, forgive me, Ivan. I don't want to sound like a food snob. But Buffalo ain't exactly the pizza capital of the USA. Doesn't their success have a little bit to do with that?

Chicago is the pizza capital

get out of here!

I'm heavily outnumbered, but it's true. Help me out Mark!

Look, I don't even want to have this argument. That Chicago deep dish is some delicious stuff. I'm not arguing that fact. I really like it when I visit Chicago. But it's not traditional pizza. It doesn't even resemble anything you'd get in Italy. So on that basis, it's the Northeast that puts out pies that are more on par with what you'd find in Rome or Naples.