James LaDuca, of 5114 Dana Drive, Lewiston, N.Y., was born in Buffalo. N.Y., on October 10, 1912. He is married and has two children, Joanne and John. His wife, the former Angeline Carmela Magaddino, is the daughter of Stefano Magaddino (reputed to be the No. 1 man in organized crime in the Buffalo-Niagara Falls area.) Prior to his arrest at Apalachin, on November 14, 1957, La Duca had no criminal
record, but associated with members of organized crime. In 1939 he drove a taxicab for the Van Dyke Taxi Co., owned by John C. Montana, another Apalachin delegate.
At one time he was secretary and treasurer of the Hotel and Restaurant Workers Union, Buffalo, NY.; secretary and treasurer of the Magaddino Memorial Chapel Inc., of Niagara Falls, and is alleged to have had concealed interest in Charles Distributing Co., former holder of wholesale beer license, Niagara Falls, through his wife Angeline.
LaDuca is known to have associated with such people as Stefano Magaddino, his father-in-law, Willie Moretti and Paul Palmeri, New Jersey hoodlums, Joe DiCarlo of Youngstown, Ohio and Buffalo, N.Y. (formerly Buffalo public enemy No.1) and John C. Montana. At the time of his arrest outside Apalachin, he was in a car with John Scalish of Clevelend Ohio, and John DeMarco of Shaker Heights Ohio. While in New York City just before the Apalachin meeting, LaDuca placed numerous calls to Joseph Falcone, leader of the Utica, NY underworld. On May 21, 1959 federal agents launched a nationwide manhunt for LaDuca and Anthony Magaddino. A sealed indictment charging conspiracy to obstruct federal narcotics and labor racketeering investigations, was returned by a federal grand jury in New York City May 13, 1959.
The indictments accused all 27 delegates of giving "false fictitious and evasive testimony" about the Apalachin meeting.
On Tuesday January 22, 1962 LaDuca and Issie Morgenstern of Rochester, NY former president of the Richford Hotel in Buffalo, NY, went on trial in federal court on charges of violating the Taft-Hartley law. LaDuca was accused of receiving and Morgenstern of paying $10,833 over a period of November 1, 1955 to December 21, 1957, while LaDuca was an officer of a union that represented employees of the hotel. The indictment was returned in January 1959, while he was in hiding from federal authorities. The Taft-Hartley case before Federal Judge H. P. Burke, involved a charge that LaDuca received $433.33 a month from Morgenstern during the 2 years he was financial secretary-treasurer of Local 66, Hotel and Restaurant Employees. LaDuca was ultimately acquitted of the charge. On February 20, 1961 the indictment charging LaDuca with "conspiracy to obstruct justice" was dismissed in the U.S. district court,New York City.
