John Praino operated out of the Bronx.

Philadelphia has something of a tradition of high-ranking guys splitting their time between home and Florida. Guys like John Simone, Santo Idone, etc. Now Joey Merlino. Haven't had a Florida crew though. Simone's operations were still based out of Trenton. Idone's operations remained based out of Chester and the surrounding area.

They had legitimate business in New York City and Florida. Florida some of the members had a second house and maintained a trusted associate or two down there. They supposedly had a made member there in eastern Florida, who was once part of the Lanzetti gang in Philadelphia, but made peace with Joe Bruno after the convictions of the top members in 1940, through Joe Ida. The guys name is unknown, and was involved in gambling, cigarette machines, owned a restraunt, and boat repair shop. Direct with Joe Ida, served Angelo Bruno, retired in the late 1960s, and passed away sometime in the 1970s. Bruno had an aluminum company down there, and a second home in the Miami area. Nicky Scarfo had a home in Ft. Lauderdale, and Joey Merlino lives in Boca Raton.

How was Philadelphia comparable to The Bufalinos? How did Angelo Bruno stack up to Russell Bufalino?

Simple....Russell had all of northern Pa.....whear as Don Bruno.had southern pa. & south N.J. & Atlantic City......Bruno controlled everything in phila...had all the unions tied up including my old man @ Keebler cookie co. @ what was then @ G & Hunting Park ave.....it's not there anymore..but Russell held a small but strong hold on Angie....sad 2 say...the 2 were peas in a pod...got along well despite the travel arrangements ...Russell was more powerful in his seat than Don Bruno...BUT they were good friends...I can attest 2 that & so can my mother...Good Night.

Good observation. Generally until recently, guys like Bufalino ( Patriarca, Marcello etc) have been seen as second Bananas to the NY bosses and the full extent of their power not fully examined or understood.

Russell also was a more influential man than Bruno due 2 his presence on his seat on the commision during the 50 & 60s..it is my understanding that Russell was high in ups the of the Genovese ppl. as well as the rest of N.Y.......he was big way b4 Don Bruno was boss circa 59'.

In my opinion, Philly was an overrated Family, and I mean that with all due respect, but I think because its a major city, the impression is that it was a powerhouse crew. And I'm saying this in comparison to the other east coast Families. With that being said, this is a hypothetical question but What does everyone think of Philly and The Decavalcante's as one group? I think we would be talking about a powerful regime. Who do you think would've been Boss? Bruno or Sam the Plumber?

Bruno had Carlo's support. That made him and his borgata untouchables.
The answer to your question about Sam the Plumber, is whom he had allegiance with. I always assumed he was with the Genoveses, but some folks claim he was pretty much independent.

As someone said earlier at this thread, Tony Bananas had big operation in Jersey. Funzi wanted to get it. It was a great move: Caponigro is made believe he has Frank's ok, Bruno is dead and AC is there waiting someone just to grab it. Frank has a legit reason to get rid of Tony B, kills him and takes over rackets in Jersey. All that was the beginning of the end for Philly crew and big win for the Genoveses.

I always said, in my opinion, one of the biggest "mafia what-ifs" is: What if Philly and Jersey had been one Family??? Who would've lead Bruno or Sam The Plumber?? How powerful could that have been???

I just listened to a podcast about a guy operating in Jonestown, Pa named Russell Shorto who was supposedly connected to a philly guy named "Little Joe". Does anybody have knowledge of these guys, Ive never heard of them. I thought maybe this "Shorto" was with the Bufalinos but I couldn't find anything, maybe one of our philly guys know about this Little Joe?

Id bet money little Joe is Joe Scalleat he was a philly fam soldier out of Hazleton which isnt far from Jonestown..its odd he was w Philly since Hazleton is most definitely Buffalino turf and Russ’s house was like 30 min outside Hazleton

Joseph Regino. He was actually with Pittsburgh family and a close confidant of LaRocca. He ran Johnstown and surrounding areas. Big in the gambling scene. His strongest and one of his key associates who was an enforcer was Samual Fascionatta. I believe both died in the 1980s around the same time of each other. They did business with Bufalino and Philadelphia guys in the gambling scene. Friend of Henry's I think has more information on him and the guys he was around. I think he was a capo of 3 to 4 soldiers.

Sammy Fashionatta helped control the town of Altoona, PA., for LaRocca. He and Jack Verilla worked together. The brash Verilla later fell hard. While Fashionatta continued on low-keyed and successfully.

Maybe Friend Of Henry knows of the Pittsburgh connection for this Russell Shorto? Apparently he had pinball machines

Hes talking about Jonestown which in eastern pa not far from reading.. johnstown is outside Shittsburgh theres no way this Little Joe is Philly soldier and any farther west than Harrisburg.. im telling u its Joe Scalleat from Hazleton