Driver for Jack Parisi burns Hazleton, PA family alive...on St. Valentine's DaySpeaking of Parisi, he was peripherally connected to one of the worst murders in Hazleton, PA history. Hazleton was a big Bufalino town. They weren't just limited to Scranton, Pittston and Wilkes-Barre. In fact, Jack Parisi, Michael Carsia, and the Scalleat brothers (Joseph was Philly soldier and Albert was Bufalino) all operated here.
James Sandutch was a driver for Jack Parisi who in 1976 was paid a measly $125 dollars to firebomb Eugene Boyarski's home. Boyarski, a state trooper, was killed along with his wife and three children in the fire. The murders happened on St Valentine's Day and is one of the most famous in the city's history. The man who organized the hitmen, James Sandutch, was a driver for Jack Parisi. He worshipped Parisi and told friends he was driving "the godfather" around. He was also an associate of Michael "Hoppy" Carsia, another Hazleton Bufalino soldier. Who was this man and what drove him to burn a state trooper and his entire family alive?
Sandutch started as a cigarette thief and had a burglary crew along with Vincent "Big Jimmy" Mastrota, Henry Mangum, and Ralph Smith. They were brutal, and just months earlier shot a man during one of their robberies. Sandutch and Mastrota were convicted but sadly, Mangum and Smith are now free. There is a widespread belief that the murder wasn't just senseless, that it was ordered by someone more important. For years everyone tried to get. Many police, haunted by the Boyarski family murders have approached Sandutch in prison over the years and he has refused to talk. Here are some theories about why it happened.
1. Eugene Boyarski (the victim) was a clean cop and Hazleton was a corrupt town run by dirty cops and the Bufalinos. Boyarski was looking in to a kickback scheme with the local school district and he was killed to silence him. He had also been investigating criminal cases and was warned to stay within his civil district. The theory goes that a high up cop or politican ordered Sandutch, a psychotic criminal who would do anything for a buck, to kill him. $125 was given out, or $25 for arson-murder victim. One of the victims was Boyarski's one-month old daughter.
2. The murder was part of a larger arson war in Hazleton, and it's anyones guess whether it was mob related or connected to the government as the whole area was very corrupt, but the arson war was very real. In 1973, the arson war kicked off with the firebombing of District Justice James Scarcella's house. A year later there was a Arson fire at the Hazleton School District Administration building that destroyed subpoenaed purchase orders, invoices and payroll records two days before they were to be given to a federal grand jury investigating alleged job buying and kickbacks. Again, one can only speculate how mob connected a kickback scam was. At the very least one can speculate that Sandutch and his burglary crew kicked up to Parisi and the mob. In 1976, the infamous firebombing happened. Sandutch gave the order and his burglary crew threw the flaming bottles. This theory speculates the bombing was part of a larger pattern, starting with the Scarcella house bombing, and continuing on, because
Only 12 days after the firebombing, state troopers Anthony Sharp and James R. Powell had BOTH of their homes firebombed. There were no casualties. A month later, May 1976, Sandutch and Mastrota were finally arrested and the town has been trying to figure out exactly what series of events led to all this mayhem. Mob connected? City connected? I don't know but fortunately Sandutch is doing a life sentence as Mastrota snitched on him...only to then escape from prison, fly to Jamaica, feeling bad, fly back for no reason, and testify against Sandutch. Mastrota in his testimony says he tried to warn the Boyarski family, the firebomb targets, but Sandutch wouldn't let him. They're both scumbags. Mastrota actually threw the molotov while Ralph Smith drove the car. Sandutch would later refer tot the incident as a "party" and laugh at the $25 dollar pricetag per victim. During the trial, Sandutch's trailer was firebombed. 3 years after School District Administration building was burnt to the ground, Hazleton Junior High School suffered an arson attack. Never reopened. It is unclear to me how involved the Bufalinos were in the ongoing arson war. As implausible as it sounds, it could have all just been corrupt state troopers and corrupt government officials.
But Sandutch's ties to the Bufalinos are documented.
At his trial, someone named Michael Carsia Jr. testifed as a character witness on Sandutch's behalf. This might be Michael Hoppy Carsia, or possibly his son. Worth looking in to.
To show character testimony could have been valuable, [his lawyer] Silverman scheduled five of Sandutch's friends and relatives from the Hazleton area to testify on Sandutch's behalf Monday.
They are: Michael Carsia Jr., Lawrence Sandutch, Daniel Santucci (Some area residents with the last name "Santucci" changed their name to "Sandutch"), and Walter Betley, a close friend of Sandutch's.
Here is a paragraph on Sandutch's mob ties.
[quote]Sandutch spent a lot of time with reputed Hazleton mob figures Frank Fay, Michael ``Hoppy'' Carsia and Giaocchino ``Dandy Jack'' Parisi, who was identified as the ``ace triggerman'' for the infamous Murder Incorporated Mafia organization, Smith said.
``Jim told me Parisi was the godfather, and he used to chauffeur Parisi all around,'' Smith said.
Hazleton, for the ongoing arsons was even named "mob city". So the public believed they were connected.
Here is a timeline of other Hazleton crime.
http://www.pagenweb.org/~luzerne/patk/hazhist.htm
It seems around the time of the school arsons, there were large scale teacher strikes which could also point to labor racketeering. Again, only speculation.
