One of the Pittsburgh Family's biggest mistakes they ever made was to install (and give confidence to) a guy by the name of John Verilla. The otherwise quiet, careful, and efficient LaRocca Family obviously made a grave error when they 'pinched' the finger of Verilla, 'making' him a soldier in their crew. It was a mistake that would come back to haunt them.

Every mafia family has their 'mistakes,' he was theirs!

Far from eyes,far from heart. Someone thinked that if at 180 km a guy made some cash why stop him.

Maybe so Furio. Maybe so

Very cool post. I live in Altoona. Everyone here remembers this crew from back in the 70s and 80s. I have a friend that associated with that crew. He had lots of interesting stories. Still lot of family ties here. My father did physical therapy for John Jack Verilla where he worked back in the early 80s. He told me he would come in with a few guys, or his crew.

Glad you enjoyed it so much Overcoat. Yes, this Verilla crew of Altoona was a whacky bunch. Lol. They had a nice little thing going until the fucked it all up.

He thought he became Al Capone. So stupid. Violence and stupidity sunk them all.

I'd imagine after all the BS and pinches that happened, Samuel (Sammy Fashion) Fashionatta probably ended up handling whatever action emanated out of Altoona in later years. He was alleged to be a made guy, so he most likely got tapped.

He and possibly Mike Trafficante. IMO

In all sincerity I find these off the main stream stories fascinating. Great job, love the details, names and dates etc. Great job NYMafia!

Thanks pal. Thats why I do them. It's our specialty. My feeling is that anybody can write about Gotti or Castellano. Personally I'm bored with all of that.

I like the little known guys. Its' refreshing in my view.

I agree 100%. very tired of JOHN GOTTI stuff.

I agree with both of you but why this "Mamaluke"? There's so many really interesting Pittsburgh guys that weren't chuchas ;-)

Because I tried highlighting every 'regime' or crew in different jurisdictions Pittsburgh was active in. And when I saw they were active in the small city of Altoona, I was drawn to it.

And this is what I found. Lol. Had to write about this debacle of a mob crew. Its like this Verilla was left to his own devices and actually thought he was a little Don Corleone. And 'chuch' is a perfect word for these guys.

I write about the good and bad, the sharp and dumb, the tough and weak, and the stand up and the rats. Its all part of "The Life," am I right?

Fair enough. Although I'm a nobody, the guys I grew up were somebodies and I never heard of this chooch.
That goes to show what they thought or didn't think of him. I guess it takes all kinds.