Michael C. Tascarella, alias "Torch" and "Mike Torch" was born in Buffalo, N.Y., on February 7, 1921. He was first arrested in Buffalo on December 12. 1944, for accepting bets on horseraces (sec. 986 Public Law). He paid a $25 fine and returned to booking horses in a more cautious and lucrative manner. He was next arrested for burglary and grand larceny, second degree, on May 23, 1948. These charges were later dismissed. In Lockport N.Y. (a city close to Buffalo), Tascarella was again arrested on December 18, 1949 for burglary third degree. He was convicted of attempted grand larceny on February 27, 1950 and sentenced to 1 year 3 months to 2 years 6 months, in Attica State Prison. Investigation of this burglary disclosed that his accomplices were Salvatore Bonito, Arthur Weiss, David Nines, and Anthony Domino. A large arsenal was confiscated, including a .45 caliber army automatic, three other revolvers, burglar tools and nitro glycerine.

While out on appeal for his conviction, he was again arrested on July 26, 1950, and charged under Federal law with conspiracy to counterfeit. He was convicted and sentenced to 5 years in the Allenwood, Pa., Federal Prison Camp. After his release from Allenwood, Tascarella was next arrested on June 5, 1962, near Hamilton Ontario, Canada for possession of $50,000 worth of heroin. He and Joseph Augello of 7th Street Buffalo, were arrested by Royal Canadian Mounted Police when they stopped their car on a West Flatborough (a suburb of Hamilton) farm road. He was sentenced to 14 years for this crime. Before his present confinement, Tascarella was considered to be a major source of the distribution of large scale narcotics between Canada and the western New York area, representing the typical syndicate narcotic operations. Tascarella's rise in the local crime syndicate is not a stellar one. He was a lower echelon type, doing menial jobs for the syndicate for either pay or favor.