"Same IA"? You mean IP? That would be kind of hard, given that I'm in Ohio, and he's in Massachusetts.



Dude what are you flipping out for? The chart is great; I just pointed out a couple of tiny inaccuracies in it. I didn't mean to piss you off. One of the purposes of these forums is gather together the most accurate information possible about the mob.

Take it easy now.

Somebody said you guys had the same IA, he said it means internet address. Well, you two definitely know eachother really well. I just don't like to see good info somebody spent time on get tarnished.

JCB, you amazing!

I hardly know the guy; we just have a common interest in Youngstown and he is knowledgeable about it.

Thank you for coming up with the chart. I do not know Ivan, although we are both originally from Ohio. You seem to take this very offensively and you shouldn't. A chart is a chart. Where is your resource for this chart, please don't tell me news articles! Just trying to clear up some obvious questions in regards to Pittsburgh and Yooungstown.

Regards,

JCB1977

NJ Boy,

I am writing from Sandwich, MA on Cape Cod where I live. I am originally from Youngstown, OH (suburb called Poland) to be exact. I have been a "researcher" for almost 13 years and have helped several authors and other researchers with my knowledge. I have some family history of organized crime in Youngstown and while I when I got old enough to understand, I got very interested in the topic. Again, thank you for the time you spent on the chart, however, there are things on the chart that are absolutely wrong and I'm not going to spend another second wasting my time justifying myself or my knowledge to you. Other people on this site are looking for more concrete evidence than a chart. I am providing "accurate" information that I write on this forum.

Hi NJ Boy,

I'm going to point out a few mistakes on this chart.

1. Vince DeNiro-Youngstown Racketeer, was not affiliated with a family. Cleveland and Pittsburgh did not divide Youngstown up until the 1970's. Youngstown was a wide open territory prior to that, hence the car bombings in the 1960's between all the top racketeers. Most of the "early" Youngstown guys were made in Italy (Calabria region) or in New York when they got to this country by boat.

2. Ernie Biondillo-Not made, was a longtime associate of Joey Naples.


3. Eugene Chiarelli- Never made. He was an armed robber affiliated with the Chuck Porter crew from Lawrenceville. He went on trial with Porter but was never made. He was an underling at best and a drug dealer.

4. Joe DeRose Sr- He was NEVER affiliated with organized crime. He was the victim of a mistake in identity during the Naples/Carabbia war in the late 70's early 80's. They were trying to kill his son Joe DeRose Jr., and got him by mistake.

5. Joe DeRose Jr- Close friend and associate of Charlie & Ronnie Carabbia, afilliated with the Cleveland LCN. He was killed by Naples faction in the early 80's. Never made.

6. Anthony "Tony" Grosso- He was an independent numbers bank operator who paid tribute to Pittsburgh. NEVER affiliated with the Pittsburgh family, but did pay them to operate. Read a book called Pittsburgh Characters, where it is well documented.

7. Bobby Ianelli- Never made, he is a numbers operator who took over the Grosso numbers bank with Salvatore and Adolfo Williams after Grosso died. He had the same deal with the Pittsburgh LCN that Grosso had.

8. Mauro Matone- You are way off on this one. He ran drugs and did time in New York for running drugs. He was not even a significant player.

9. Dante Strollo-Never made. He was the liason between politicians and corrupt police officers that helped his brother with the gambling operations. He was more into winemaking than the rackets.

10. Paul Romeo- Close friend and associate of Big Dom Mallamo from Youngstown. He was not affiliated with any family, but was a key player in the Youngstown rackets for many years, although it was said that Big Dom made him in a ceremony in upstate New York back in the 1940's.

If you spent som much time on this chart, you better consider your source as an idiot, because there are alot of mistakes and mis-information.

Regards,

JCB1977

What is with your multiple posts? Quit posting false info, and stay away from this thread.

Come on, guys. Enough already. You're only going to end up getting reprimanded for antagonizing each other, and this thread will only end up locked.

You're right PB. I'm not going to continue with this. I'm cool.

Here is an article on Mauro Matone and his narcotics arrest, as well as an informant describing Matone as a "high level" drug dealer.



http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=19930522&id=tOAdAAAAIBAJ&sjid=VW4DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6817,3703508

Here is an article on Charles J. "Chucky" Porter, Genovese's right hand in the Pittsbugh LCN. Chucky was a very well respected, powerful underboss who held influence in Philadelphia, Buffalo, New York and Chicago.

http://www.post-gazette.com/regionstate/20001202porter2.asp

Another article on Chucky Porter and his release from prison.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=20001026&id=Z-dRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=bW8DAAAAIBAJ&pg=5441,5026033

who cares about that cornball chucky porter what kind of italian name is that lmao

He was one of the few guys to be made while only being Italian on his mother's side.

Thank you DM, for the message about JCB, knew not all the stuff he said was right regarding Pitts.

About Porter, he was half from his mother I heard.

Ivan your wasting your time arguing with NJBOY, while he talks about how accurate Meery Ferrle is in this thread when I provided him links to information from Merry Ferryle on the KC chart about made members of the KC mob he wasn't willing to accept it. I guess its on good info on Mary Ferrle if he finds it. Check out the New York charts threads, follow the links I provided you will see what I mean. These charts are 100% accurate whether they are or not LOL.

Pittsburgh is soooooooooooooooooo Corny!!!!

Primani Brothers is dogsh_t!

You're probably better off trusting a poster who supposedly knows a guy from Youngstown over the FBI files right?

your a tool

I really don't care about Chucky Porter, however, I was just providing a few articles for the people who were interested in the Pittsburgh LCN. No need to insult anybody.

Regards,

JCB1977

Here is a copy of the 2nd section of the FBI report on Local 1058 in Pittsburgh that was said to be under the control of the Pittsburgh LCN. Further information provided by Special Agent Roger Greenbank states that Henry "Zebo" Zottola was an LCN associate, not a made member as it has been wrongly reported on this forum. See below:


In the Matter of Local 1058
Laborers’ International Union of North America
Independent Hearing Officer

Docket No. 00-08T
Decided March 9, 2001

Order and Memorandum






Pittsburgh LCN Associates



38. Mob “associates” work for “made” members facilitating mob activities. Associates either run day-to-day illegal operations for the mob or are in legitimate businesses under the influence and control of organized crime. See District Council, 97-30T; Fallacara, 96-65D.



39. Henry A. “Zebo” Zottola (Zottola) was closely associated with “Jo-Jo” Pecora and involved in loan-sharking, gambling, and financing narcotics transactions. See GEB Exs. 92 (Excerpts from: Organized Crime in Pennsylvania: A Decade of Change”, 1990 Report (Pennsylvania Crime Commission), 105 (PA Crime Commission March 1989 Pittsburgh LCN Family Chart); Tr. 53. After Jo-Jo Pecora’s death, Zotolla associated with Porter. See GEB Ex. 92 (1990 PA Crime Report).


Allegations of Local 1058 Members’ Ties to Organized Crime

(Complaint && 5-13)

I just wanted to site where this info came from, which is the Pennsylvania Crime Commission and the FBI.

thanks i appreciate your info. the people that are commenting in a negative way never have anything good to say on these boards.

As a Pittsburgh native,what is this interest in the Pgh. LCN since it's one of the smallest families in the country? As far as I remember, it's apogee was when it was strictly LaRocca/Pecora. Since then it's declined significantly.

I appreciate that phatmattress. FYI- I have done professional research for several authors and worked with FBI personnel from Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Youngstown. I'm not trying to be a know it all, I'm just incorporating some of my research and knowledge on this forum about Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh was at a time in the mid 80's to mid 90's the strongest LCN in the state of Pennsylvania as far as structure and reach are concerned according to the Pennsylvania Crime Commission. Philly was bigger, but always in disarray since the death of Angelo Bruno.

Regards,

JCB1977

I agree, it has always been a traditionally small family. However, by the mid 80's, Genovese seized control of all of Youngstown/Warren/Akron/Canton Ohio (which was always shared with Cleveland) as well as used their connections in Western New York around the Buffalo region to control quite a bit of the waste hauling and labor unions infiltration. LaRocca was a well respected boss, but so was Genovese. In 1986, Fortune magazine ran an article on the "Top 50 Mafia bosses" in the country and Mike Genovese was listed as #25. That is quite strong considering Pittsburgh has been traditionally a smaller, yet strong and cohesive family.

Regards,

JCB1977

Here is the link to the Fortune Magazine article from November 10th, 1986 with mike genovese listed at #25, in which the rankings were based on wealth, power and influence.

http://www.kepplerspeakers.com/literature/Franzese%20M-Article%20(Fortune%20-%2050%20Biggest%20Mafia%20Bosses).pdf

Copy and paste on google and the pdf file will come up

I have copy and pasted a report from the FBI in regards to Pasquale "Patsy" Ferruccio from Canton, OH. This report also details his ties to Lenny Strollo from Youngstoown and Henry Zottola (described as an associate of the Pittsburgh LCN)


Index Terms:
ORGANIZED CRIME
FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
CANTON MAN IS GUILTY MAFIA 'SPECIALIST' ON VIDEO POKER
Author: MARK ROLLENHAGEN PLAIN DEALER REPORTER
Article Text:
A Canton man who has been described as the Mafia's "specialist" in video poker machines has pleaded guilty to a racketeering charge in U.S. District Court in Cleveland.
Pasquale M. (Pat) Ferruccio, 74, admitted leading a gambling operation that used the video poker machines in Akron, Kent and Ravenna and in Kentucky and DuBois, Pa., between 1978 and 1988.
Ferruccio entered into a plea agreement with prosecutors in U.S. District Court in Cleveland Monday. His trial on a four-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in 1989 was to begin yesterday.
The agreement says prosecutors and Ferruccio and his lawyer agreed to a 30-month prison sentence and that Ferruccio would be allowed to self-report to prison in January. Ferruccio also has agreed to forfeit $100,000 to the government. Prosecutors will drop three other charges against Ferruccio, including operating an illegal gambling business and interstate travel in aid of such a business.
John B. Gibbons, Ferruccio's lawyer, declined to comment on the plea until Ferruccio is sentenced by Judge John M. Manos after a report by the probation department.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert J. Becker, of the Justice Department's Organized Crime Strike Force, declined to comment because of two pending cases stemming from the same indictment.
Ferruccio's son, Rocco, and George McCarty, 73, both of Canton, are charged with participating in an illegal gambling business and are awaiting trial before Manos.
Prosecutors have said in court documents that a former FBI agent would testify at trial that, while the agent was working undercover in Florida, Pasquale Ferruccio was introduced as a "made" member of the Mafia by members and associates of New York's Bonnano Family.
The former FBI agent, Edward Robb, would have testified Ferruccio was introduced "as the Family's specialist in video poker machines" and Ferruccio had Robb travel to Canton to observe Ferruccio's operation in an effort to start a gambling partnership in Florida, the prosecutors said.
"Further evidence demonstrates that Ferruccio admitted he had to seek permission from the Mafia to run the Pennsylvania operation charged in the indictment," the prosecutors said.
The prosecutors also said the Pennsylvania Crime Commission and Angelo A. Lonardo, an admitted member of the Cleveland Mafia, had identified Ferruccio as an inducted member of the LaRocca/Genovese Mafia Family in Pittsburgh.
Statements by the prosecutors, Becker and Stephen H. Jigger, then head of the strike force office in Cleveland, were made in response to a motion Ferruccio filed asking that the charges be dismissed.
"That's what the government has said about him for years," Gibbons said yesterday of Ferruccio's reputed organized crime ties. "They can say what they want to say, but no one has actually proven it. It's not relevant to the case."
The indictment of Pasquale Ferruccio was the result of a 3-year investigation by the Internal Revenue Service and FBI.
The racketeering charge against Pasquale Ferruccio alleged Rocco A. Ferruccio provided the gambling operation with facilities, supplies and personnel through Liberty Vending Co., a Canton company Rocco Ferruccio owned and operated.
Pasquale Ferruccio is the former owner and president of Liberty Vending and has continued to maintain a private office there, according to a statement released by U.S. Attorney Joyce J. George yesterday.
McCarty allegedly managed gambling operations in the Dover and New Philadelphia areas of Ohio and helped repair and transport poker machines.
The machines have been determined to be illegal gambling devices because players insert money and are able to place bets during poker-like video games. Payoffs are made by owners of establishments in which the machines are installed.
Two other defendants, Randal J. Cottrill and Carole A. (Terry) Eschliman pleaded guilty last year before Judge Frank J. Battisti.
Cottrill, 29, of Las Vegas, was sentenced to four months in prison and four months of home arrest after pleading guilty to operating an illegal gambling business and interstate travel in the operation of the gambling business.
Eschliman, 52, of Canton, pleaded guilty to participating in an illegal gambling business and was sentenced to three years of probation.
Copyright 1991, 2002 The Plain Dealer. All Rights Reserved. Used by NewsBank with Permission.
Record Number: 06289126
_______________________________

Plain Dealer, The (Cleveland, OH)
February 26, 1992
Edition: FINAL / ALL
Section: METRO
Page: 4B

Index Terms:
GAMBLING
MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO GAMBLING CHARGE
Author: MARK ROLLENHAGEN PLAIN DEALER REPORTER
Dateline: CLEVELAND
Article Text:
A Canton vending company owner yesterday pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Cleveland to conducting an illegal gambling business.
Rocco A. Ferruccio, owner of Liberty Vending Co., was the last of five defendants to plead guilty in a video-poker gambling case brought by the Justice Department's Organized Crime Strike Force in 1989 after an investigation by the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigation Division. Liberty operates cigarette and video game machines in the Canton area.
Ferruccio's father, reputed organized crime figure Pasquale (Pat) Ferruccio, previously pleaded guilty to a racketeering charge in the case and was sentenced last week to 2 years in prison.
The indictment in the case says Pasquale Ferruccio, 74, organized, managed and financed the illegal gambling business and had an office at his son's company. Rocco Ferruccio supplied the gambling business with office space, supplies, equipment and personnel, according to the indictment.
Rocco Ferruccio, whose trial was to begin next week, pleaded guilty to a charge that said he was involved in the acquisition and distribution of illegal draw poker machines that were placed in bars in the Canton area.
The charge carries a maximum possible sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, but a plea agreement says that prosecutors and Ferruccio have agreed the fine will be $2,000.
The agreement also says prosecutors will not argue against Ferruccio's request to Judge John M. Manos for probation rather than a jail term.
Ferruccio declined to comment following his plea. He remains free on bond and will be sentenced following a review by the court's probation department.
"After three years, pleading guilty was a decision that was not easily made," Cleveland lawyer Roger Synenberg said after Ferruccio entered his plea. "However, this will allow Mr. Ferruccio to get back to devoting his full attention to his business and his family and to proceeding on with his life."
Copyright 1992, 2002 The Plain Dealer. All Rights Reserved. Used by NewsBank with Permission.
Record Number: 06557064

__________________________________

Plain Dealer, The (Cleveland, OH)
April 11, 1992
Edition: FINAL / WEST
Section: METRO
Page: 2B
VENDING FIRM OWNER RECEIVES PROBATION
Dateline: CLEVELAND
Article Text:
A Canton vending company owner yesterday was sentenced to two years' probation and fined $2,000 for his involvement in the distribution of illegal draw poker machines.
Rocco A. Ferruccio, owner of Liberty Vending Co., had pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Cleveland in February to conducting an illegal gambling business. He was sentenced yesterday by Judge John M. Manos.
He was one of five defendants to plead guilty in a video-poker gambling case brought by the Justice Department's Organized Crime Strike Force in 1989 after an investigation by the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigation Division.
Ferruccio's father, reputed organized crime figure Pasquale (Pat) Ferruccio, previously pleaded guilty to a racketeering charge in the case and was sentenced to two years in prison. Pasquale Ferruccio, 74, was the leader of the video poker operation and had an office at his son's company, according to the indictment.
Copyright 1992, 2002 The Plain Dealer. All Rights Reserved. Used by NewsBank with Permission.
Record Number: 06602134

______________________________

Plain Dealer, The (Cleveland, OH)
March 1, 1995
Edition: FINAL / ALL
Section: NATIONAL
Page: 1A

Index Terms:
CASINO GAMBLING
REVENUE
CITY FINANCES
PROFILE
Series: RIVERBOAT CASINOS
INSTANT RICHES OR BROKEN DREAMS?
VIDEO POKER'S BAD HAND TREMENDOUS MACHINE PROFITS SPUR RASH OF ILLEGAL GAMBLING ACTIVITIES
Author: MARK ROLLENHAGEN and DOUGLAS MONTERO PLAIN DEALER REPORTERS
Article Text:
Mobsters and large, publicly owned gambling companies know the same thing about video poker: It's a gold mine.
Dockside casinos in Mississippi feature rows of video poker machines. At truckstops in Louisiana, rooms full of the machines are called casinos.
And in Ohio, where poker-for-profit is illegal whether it's played on a felt table or on a video screen, liquor agents seize and destroy hundreds of the machines each year.
The machines smuggled into Ohio have been repeatedly linked to organized crime figures.
Liquor control agents say that even in VFW halls, where access is limited to club members, a single video poker machine takes in as much as $1,000 a week. The take from video poker and slot machines accounts for 65 to 70 percent of a legal casino's revenues.
It's little wonder then that Ohio's vending companies would like to see the machines legalized if the state expands gambling beyond the lottery, horse racing and charitable bingo.
The Ohio Video Lottery Coalition, a political action committee formed by the vending companies, told a gambling study committee created by the legislature that video poker machines installed in taverns and private clubs would produce $603 million for Ohio vending companies and $251 million a year in state tax revenue.
The vending business describes video poker machines as "low stakes" gambling because bets can be as low as a quarter and payouts usually don't exceed $1,000.
But Ohio Liquor Control agents say the devices can cause big trouble for some gamblers.
At the Akron Liquor Control office, agent Ed Diuk held a laminated, magnetic key card needed to open the door of a southern Ohio veterans club. It came in the mail along with a brief note that said the club allowed illegal gambling.
"It's probably from a wife whose husband lost the paycheck there last week," Diuk said. "That's the way we get a lot of them."
The volume of cash generated by video poker machines has long made them attractive to organized crime figures. None of the 50 contributors to Ohio Video Lottery Coalition has been accused of being a mobster, but two have ties to illegal gambling activities.
Martin J. Sarcyk, 43, of North Royalton, who contributed $3,300 to the group in 1992 and 1993, is the target of an IRS and FBI investigation into a sports betting and numbers operation.
Documents recently unsealed in U.S. District Court say agents raided Sarcyk's Union Vending at 7753 Broadway in January 1994 and seized more than $100,000 in cash.
An affidavit by FBI Agent John B. Sommer and IRS Agent Mark J. Harris described Sarcyk as one of the biggest bookmakers in Cleveland.
One informant told the agents that Sarcyk handled $100,000 to $300,000 a week in sports and numbers bets. Another informant said Sarcyk ran his own "super lotto," offering a $30,000 weekly jackpot.
Another contributor to the Ohio Video Lottery Coalition, Michael Stevenson, of Euclid, was convicted of six misdemeanor counts of operating a gambling house and one felony count of possession of criminal tools. He was sentenced to two years of probation.
The charges were the result of a raid in 1986 at Stevenson's Plaza Party Center in Euclid. Police seized nine blackjack tables and other gambling equipment.
Stevenson had billed an evening of casino-style gambling as a fund-raiser for Rainbow Babies and Childrens Hospital, but hospital officials were unaware of it. Stevenson said he didn't mean to violate the law, but he didn't know the state's rules regarding charitable gambling. He said he eventually gave the money to charity.
Stevenson, who contributed $400 to the PAC in 1991, said the vending business was no more corrupt than any other business, and regulators could make sure video poker is operated cleanly.
"As long as you have checks and balances tied to a central computer to show the money going in and out, it is controllable," he said.
A third contributor to the PAC has had video poker machines seized by liquor control agents. In February 1991, agents who raided fraternal clubs in the Columbus area seized six machines owned by George Music, an Akron firm whose owners Philip George and Philip George Jr. contributed $1,000 to the Ohio Video Lottery PAC in 1992.
Philip George Jr. last week said his firm leased the machines to fraternal organizations as amusement devices, not for gambling.
"We can't be responsible for someone taking the machine and using it in a wrongful way," George said.
But both the Ohio Supreme Court and a federal judge have said traditional video poker machines, which accumulate credits used to calculate payoffs to winning gamblers, are illegal gambling devices and can be seized by state or federal agents.
If liquor agents find a video poker machine that works when they stick money in it, they seize it and file an administrative charge of permitting gambling in a liquor establishment. The charge can result in a fine or suspension or revocation of a liquor license.
If the agents can show that a club or bar is actually making payoffs from behind the bar - a difficult task because clubs are reluctant to make payoffs to strangers - they sometimes pursue criminal gambling charges.
Patty Haskins, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Liquor Control, said agents don't seize the small countertop games often found in taverns because they do not offer payouts or free games.
"Typically, they don't award a prize," Haskins said.
Traditional video poker machines tally credits or free games that a player can continue to wager with or cash in with the bartender. The allowable countertop games offer only a specific number of hands for a quarter or dollar.
Kurt Gearhiser, a Columbus lawyer who represents fraternal organizations in gambling cases, said the Liquor Control Commission had warned clubs that if agents learn of payoffs on the countertop machines, they can seize the machines.
The Ohio Video Lottery PAC has raised $83,262 from vending companies and handed out $16,250 in contributions since 1990, including $6,000 to Gov. George V. Voinovich, $4,978 to former Attorney General Lee Fisher and $2,000 to the Ohio House Democratic Committee.
While none of the video poker PAC contributors has been accused of having organized crime ties, others in the vending business have.
Liquor agents raided American Legion Post 38 in Martins Ferry and hauled out two machines manufactured by New Jersey-based Greyhound Electronics in 1993.
The company and its former president, Carmen Ricci, were convicted of running an illegal gambling business in 1991. New Jersey prosecutors said Ricci, who had to sell off his interest in the company as part of a plea agreement, shared profits of his video poker business with members and associates of Philadelphia's Bruno/Scarfo mob family.
In the same year, Pasquale Ferruccio pleaded guilty to a racketeering charge for operating video poker routes out of his Canton vending company.
Federal prosecutors said Ferruccio was a member of the Pittsburgh Mafia family. When fellow mobsters introduced Ferruccio to an undercover FBI agent, they described him as the mob's "specialist in video poker," according to court documents.
And last summer, federal prosecutors in Louisiana charged members of the New York and New Orleans organized crime families with setting up a front company to secretly obtain the exclusive right to distribute Bally video poker machines in that state.
In Ohio, liquor control agents seized 633 video poker machines in the past two years.
The agency destroys the machines after liquor permit violations stemming from their use are resolved before the Liquor Control Commission.
Caption:
PHOTO BY: RAMON OWENS / PLAIN DEALER PHOTOGRAPHER Patty Haskins of the Ohio Department of Liquor Control stands in a warehouse full of confiscated video gambling machines.
Memo:
FOURTH OF FIVE ARTICLES
BOX BY: NO CREDIT
About the series
Sunday: Seeking the glamour of casino gambling, Ohioans take their money to other states. Can Ohio afford to see its tax money leave the state, or is the social cost of compulsive gambling so high that the state is better off without it?
Monday: In Illinois and Missouri, the riverboats and the cities they are in are hardly glamorous. But communities are using the tax money to make long-needed capital improvements.
Yesterday: Casinos have helped cities in Mississippi and Louisiana recover from hard times. Not many of the communities' businesses or neighborhoods have seen any money come their way from the riverboats.
Today: Illegal machine gambling in Ohio is a gold mine for mobsters. Officials worry that legal gambling would be an opportunity for organized crime to make a resurgence.
Tomorrow: Just down the Ohio River from Cincinnati, Lawrenceburg, Ind., is being tempted with hundreds of millions of dollars in redevelopment money from the gambling industry.
Copyright 1995, 2002 The Plain Dealer. All Rights Reserved. Used by NewsBank with Permission.
Record Number: 08060116
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Plain Dealer, The (Cleveland, OH)
August 8, 1996
Edition: FINAL / MEDINA / SUMMIT
Section: METRO
Page: 1B
DRUG-RUNNING SUSPECT LINKED TO MOB WADSWORTH PILOT HELD IN MARIJUANA SMUGGLING
Author: STEVE LUTTNER PLAIN DEALER REPORTER
Article Text:
Marijuana-smuggling suspect is linked to organized crime MEDINA - A Wadsworth man consorted with organized crime figures and smuggled marijuana through a Medina County airfield, according to allegations in an affidavit accompanying a federal search warrant.
Hugo Martinsons, who is now in Medina County Jail, faces more than 150 federal and county indictments on charges such as drug trafficking, burglary and receiving stolen property.
The indictments followed a May 10 raid on Martinsons' Wadsworth home by the Cleveland office of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Summit County Sheriff's Department and the Wadsworth Police Department.
The federal search warrant that was used to gain access to Martinsons' home, where he lived with his elderly parents, was recently made public. It shows that police had for years been building a case around his alleged marijuana dealing.
Police allegedly confiscated 84 pounds of marijuana during that raid, but also netted millions of dollars' worth of allegedly stolen goods such as jewelry, coins and musical instruments. The items were allegedly stockpiled in the modest home.
Citing unidentified sources, the affidavit by ATF Special Agent Charles E. Turner said Martinsons was a pilot who smuggled hundreds of pounds of marijuana from Texas to Medina County. The marijuana is believed to have largely been distributed in the Akron area.
The affidavit states that a source told federal agents that in November or December 1994, Martinsons smuggled 250 pounds of marijuana aboard an airplane he flew into the Medina municipal airport.
The source and Martinsons took the marijuana to Akron and "at the direction of Martinsons, broke the marijuana down and weighed it up into one-pound freezer bags."
The source said he accompanied Martinsons on 10 trips to Texas where they brought back 100 to 200 pounds of marijuana to northeast Ohio during each trip, the affidavit states.
The affidavit said police served subpoenas to telephone companies to get access to Martinsons' long-distance telephone records.
Other sources said Martinsons, 52, had contact with several alleged organized crime figures, including Pat Ferruccio of Canton.
One source told police that Martinsons oversaw a burglary ring "that was connected to Mafia (La Costra Nostra) figures in the Canton and Youngstown, Ohio, areas."
Another source told police that he had engaged in illegal gambling activities with Martinsons and had bought between 2 and 4 pounds of marijuana on six or seven different occasions from Martinsons at the intersection of Interstate 76 and Ohio 224 in southern Medina County.
On March 6, 1996, police concealed a body transmitter on a source who met Martinsons at the Speedway Gas Station on Lake Rd. in Westfield Township, the affidavit states. The source, using money supplied by police, then bought about 3 pounds of marijuana from Martinsons for $4,200.
The affidavit had originally been sealed, which means it was not a public record, because at least one of the sources cooperating with police feared "reprisal/intimidation" from "Martinsons and/or his organized crime (La Cosa Nostra) associates ..."
Martinsons' parents, brother and a female acquaintance have also been indicted in connection with the items confiscated during the May 10 raid and two subsequent raids of Summit County storage facilities that were linked to Martinsons. In all, police have confiscated an estimated $7 million worth of goods including 184 pounds of marijuana.
Copyright 1996, 2002 The Plain Dealer. All Rights Reserved. Used by NewsBank with Permission.
Record Number: 08721079
_____________________

Plain Dealer, The (Cleveland, OH)
May 10, 1997
Edition: FINAL / ALL
Section: NATIONAL
Page: 9A
TRAFICANT AIDE NAMED IN AFFIDAVIT MEETING WITH CRIME FIGURE DESCRIBED BY FBI
Author: MARK ROLLENHAGEN PLAIN DEALER REPORTER
Dateline: YOUNGSTOWN
Article Text:
A top aide to Rep. James A. Traficant Jr. met last fall with organized crime figures, including two men the FBI says conspired to kill a rival in a struggle for control of illegal gambling operations in the region, according to an FBI agent's affidavit.
Charles O'Nesti, the director of Traficant's district office, met with Lenine Strollo, Dominic Strollo, Lawrence P. Garono and Bernard Altshuler at the Captain's Table Restaurant in Liberty Township, near Youngstown, at lunchtime Nov. 6, 1996, the affidavit said.
Lenine Strollo controls organized crime activities in the Mahoning Valley and last June conspired with Altshuler to murder Ernie Biondillo, who was trying to take over part of Strollo's operation, according to the FBI.
The affidavit of FBI Agent John Stoll was filed in U.S. District Court on Thursday by federal prosecutors seeking to revoke Altshuler's probation and return him to prison for associating with felons, including Strollo.
The affidavit does not accuse O'Nesti of committing any crime and it does not say what was discussed at the restaurant meeting.
Neither O'Nesti nor Traficant could be reached for comment yesterday.
"I have no comment because I really don't know anything about it," said Paul Marcone, Traficant's press secretary.
Marcone said O'Nesti, who is paid $75,200 a year, has served as Traficant's district director since January 1985 when Traficant, a Youngstown Democrat, began serving in Congress.
The affidavit isn't the first time O'Nesti has been associated with organized crime figures.
When Traficant was on trial for bribery and tax evasion in 1983, O'Nesti testified that he had received two envelopes of cash from Youngstown racketeering underboss James V. Prato, now deceased, for Traficant's sheriff campaign.
O'Nesti testified that he believed that the money was from the sale of tickets for Traficant campaign events. Traficant said he returned the money to Prato.
Traficant was accused of receiving $163,000 in donations from Prato and other organized crime figures in exchange for not interfering with their illegal gambling operations, but he was cleared of the charges by a federal court jury.
Federal authorities have been investigating organized crime activities in the Youngstown area for at least the last year.
Agents searched Lenine Strollo's home in Canfield in January. Dominic Strollo, Lenine's brother, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh last month along with Canton organized crime figure Pasquale Ferruccio on charges that they conspired to secretly gain control of a casino on the Rincon Indian reservation in California.
"We're looking into the whole group and their criminal activity," said Van Harp, head of the FBI in northern Ohio. "And anyone who has been observed associating with them, we've identified them."
Lenine Strollo was convicted of racketeering in 1990 for running an illegal gambling business and paying bribes to a Mahoning County sheriff's deputy and a local police chief. He has not been charged with any new crimes since the search of his home.
The affidavit filed Thursday says an informant told the FBI in January 1995 that Strollo was upset with Biondillo because Biondillo had set up video poker machines in Pennsylvania without Strollo's permission.
The informant also said Bion- dillo had begun "to pay off politicians in the Youngstown area and was not telling Strollo, nor was he sharing these advantages with Strollo," the affidavit said.
Strollo's lawyer, Orville Stifel of Cleveland, declined to comment on the allegations made in the affidavit.
Copyright 1997, 2002 The Plain Dealer. All Rights Reserved. Used by NewsBank with Permission.
Record Number: 09130094

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Plain Dealer, The (Cleveland, OH)
October 26, 1997
Edition: FINAL / ALL
Section: NATIONAL
Page: 1A
AGENTS INVESTIGATE MOB IN MAHONING VALLEY AREA
Author: MARK ROLLENHAGEN PLAIN DEALER REPORTER
Dateline: YOUNGSTOWN
Article Text:
Ernie Bion- dillo drove along Murdock St. on his usual route to work last summer when he came upon a car with its hood raised.
The block-long, one-way street with overgrown vacant lots and old houses just east of downtown is so narrow that Biondillo could not maneuver his Cadillac around the other car. Before he could back up, another car boxed him in from behind.
Two men wearing ski masks and carrying shotguns rushed toward Biondillo, spraying his car with nine or 10 rounds of deer slugs and pellets. One of the attackers reached into the car and pulled a ring - with the initials "EB" spelled out in small diamonds - from Biondillo's finger.
The ambush lasted only seconds, but the fallout is far from over. The June 3, 1996, murder of Biondillo, the owner of a vending machine company, is one of the primary areas of focus of the most intensive investigation of organized crime activities in the Youngstown area in at least 15 years.
The investigation is wide-ranging, but one of the primary targets is clear: Lenine "Lenny" Strollo, a Canfield man who authorities say is a member of the Pittsburgh La Cosa Nostra family and the boss of organized crime in the Mahoning Valley.
The last nine months have seen a flurry of public activity surrounding the organized crime in this city with a lengthy mob history.
Internal Revenue Service and FBI agents searched Strollo's home in January, seizing financial and gambling records, floppy disks, a stun gun and a slot machine, according to search warrant records filed in U.S. District Court in Akron.
Agents also searched the office of Youngstown lawyer Stephen Garea and seized 30,000 to 40,000 pages of documents believed to be connected with Strollo's business affairs.
In May, an FBI agent implicated Strollo in Biondillo's murder, alleging in an affidavit that Strollo conspired to have Biondillo killed because of a dispute over video poker machines and bribes paid to politicians.
`Bearing down on him'
"It appears that the federal authorities are bearing down on him," said Youngstown Police Chief Randall Wellington. The chief said Strollo is believed to have controlled organized crime in the region since the 1991 murder of mob figure Joseph "Joey" Naples Jr.
The FBI last year dispatched several agents from its Cleveland office to Youngstown to assist in the organized-crime investigation and has asked its headquarters in Washington for more agents, according to Van Harp, the agent in charge of the FBI in northern Ohio.
"There's a substantial opportunity to have a definite impact on the organized crime problem in Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley," Harp said.
Prosecutors have said a mob-led racketeering enterprise in Youngstown has been involved in a gamut of illegal activities that include murder for hire, gambling, extortion, bribery of public officials, drug trafficking, robbery and burglary.
At the same time, the FBI is investigating other unrelated fraud and public-corruption matters, including a review of the financial dealings of the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District, which supplies water to Youngstown and Niles, according to a state audit.
But Harp said the bulk of the FBI's attention in the Youngstown area is devoted to the organized-crime investigation.
Strollo, 66, and his Cleveland lawyer, Orville Stifel, declined to comment on the investigation. Strollo suggested in an interview with the Youngstown Vindicator in January that he is the victim of a vendetta by an overzealous FBI agent.
Businesses, casino in probe
According to court records and statements prosecutors have made in court, authorities are looking at these areas in addition to the Biondillo murder:
Strollo's alleged ownership of a hotel and gambling casino in Puerto Rico with Pasquale "Pat" Ferruccio, a retired Canton vending company owner who the FBI also says is a member of the Pittsburgh La Cosa Nostra family and was once the mob's expert on video poker operations.
Mob influence at the Rincon Indian Reservation Casino near San Diego. Ferruccio and Strollo's brother, Dominic, were indicted this year by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh on charges of concealing their ownership interest in a company that bribed a tribal council member to land a contract to finance and manage a casino on the reservation. Ferruccio pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiring to obstruct the National Indian Gaming Commission and was sentenced to a year in prison. That sentence will be served at the same time as a two-year sentence imposed for associating with Strollo while on probation. Dominic Strollo is awaiting trial.
Ace Fireworks, a Conneaut firm that prosecutors say is linked to Dominic Strollo. Some of the money paid to the Rincon tribe under terms of the casino management contract passed through Ace's corporate bank account.
Internet gambling on the island of St. Kitts and a numbers lottery on the island of St. Maarten.
Miray Fund Raising Foundation, a company that provided bingo and Monte Carlo night supplies to nonprofit groups. One of the incorporators of Miray was Raymond Hertz, the son of Lenny Strollo's longtime girlfriend and who prosecutors have said is part of Strollo's racketeering enterprise.
Ex-lawyer implicated
Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig S. Morford also said during a recent court hearing that George Alexander, a disbarred Youngstown attorney and former adviser to Rep. James A. Traficant Jr., Democrat of Youngstown, has been involved in the racketeering enterprise.
Alexander served as an adviser to Traficant during the congressman's 1986 trial in U.S. Tax Court. Traficant was found liable for taxes on bribes accepted from mob figures even though he had been cleared of criminal charges.
Previously, the FBI reported observing Strollo and other reputed organized crime figures meeting with Charles O'Nesti, director of Traficant's district office, at the Captain's Table Restaurant in Boardman in November 1996.
Traficant spokesman Paul Marcone said O'Nesti was not meeting with any of the people the FBI saw him with, but had run into them at the restaurant by chance. He said O'Nesti had gone to high school with one of the men and thanked the man for recommending homeopathic medicine for his wife, who was suffering from cancer at the time and has since died.
Marcone said Alexander and Traficant have not spoken to each other in many years.
Wellington said Strollo has been considered the leader of organized crime activity in the Mahoning Valley since 1991, when Naples was killed by a sniper while visiting the construction site of a home he was building in Beaver Township, near Youngstown, Wellington said.
Strollo and Naples had jointly controlled illegal video poker machines, numbers lotteries and casinos in the Youngstown area since the retirement of reputed mob boss James V. Prato, who died of a heart attack in 1988, in the mid-1980s, informants have told the FBI.
But Strollo and Naples maintained their own factions controlled different areas of Mahoning County, an FBI agent said in an affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in May.
Racketeering conviction
In 1990, Strollo was convicted of a racketeering charge for running an illegal gambling operation, including a large casino known as the All-American Club in Campbell and bribing a Mahoning County sheriff's deputy and a local police chief.
As Strollo was preparing to begin serving a 14-month prison sentence, he met regularly with Naples, but feared Naples would take over his gambling operations once he went to prison, an informant told the FBI in October 1990.
The FBI says Strollo currently controls area gambling in association with Henry "Zebo" Zottola of Pittsburgh, described by the FBI as a high-ranking associate of the Pittsburgh La Cosa Nostra family and the liaison between the Pittsburgh crime family and its members and associates in Youngstown.
In Mahoning County, Strollo's close associates have included Bernard Altshuler and Lawrence Garono, who pleaded guilty to operating an illegal gambling business in the same 1990 case in which Strollo was convicted, according to the FBI.
Altshuler was sentenced to 18 months in prison earlier this year for violating his probation in a North Carolina bank burglary case. Prosecutors said Altshuler violated his probation by associating with felons, including Strollo, and by conspiring with Strollo and others to kill Biondillo.
Altshuler issued a murder contract on Biondillo, offering the killers $35,000, according to the affidavit of FBI agent John E. Stoll.
Agents first learned Biondillo might be in danger in January 1995, when an informant told them that Biondillo was trying to take over parts of Lenny Strollo's organized crime operation, Stoll said in the affidavit.
That rivalry probably led to the vending company owner's death, said the informant quoted in the affidavit. This is what happened, according to affidavit:
Biondillo, who had been close to Naples, began to pay off politicians without telling Strollo or "sharing the advantages." Biondillo also put video poker machines in private clubs in Hillville, Pa., which was considered Strollo's area, without telling Strollo.
When Strollo found out, he demanded that Biondillo either remove the machines or share the profits.
Biondillo "refused to fall in line," and the informant believed Strollo would have Biondillo killed.
Warning from agents
Agents warned Biondillo that someone might try to kill him, and he began to wear a bulletproof vest.
Biondillo's killers stalked him for more than a year before he was killed, according to another affidavit filed last month by FBI Agent Robert G. Kroner Jr.
Kroner's affidavit said another informant told agents that Biondillo was to be killed because he was doing something illegal in Canada with "mustaches," a slang word for older organized crime figures, and cutting other people out.
So far, two Youngstown men have been charged in Biondillo's murder. George Wilkins, 24, pleaded guilty to a federal charge of committing murder to further a racketeering enterprise. No sentencing date has been set.
Cleveland Blair, 25, was arrested on a warrant charging him with the same crime last month and is in the custody of federal marshals awaiting indictment.
Wilkins and Blair were the two men who did the shooting while two other men drove the cars, according to Kroner's affidavit.
Kroner wrote that the diamond ring with the initials "EB" taken from Biondillo's finger moments after he was shot was pawned by Wilkins earlier this year at a jewelry store in Pittsburgh.
Caption:
PHOTOS BY: NO CREDIT PHOTO 1: FERRUCCIO PHOTO 2: ALTSHULER PHOTO 3: STROLL PHOTO 4: NAPLES PHOTO 5: BIONDILLO BOX: INVESTIGATING THE MAFIA LENINE "LENNY" STROLLO STROLLO, OF CANFIELD, OHIO, IS IN CHARGE OF ORGANIZED CRIME ACTIVITY IN THE MAHONING VALLEY AND IS A MEMBER OF THE PITTSBURGH LA COSA NOSTRA FAMILY, ACCORDING TO THE FBI. STROLLO WAS INDUCTED INTO THE FAMILY ALONG WITH JOSEPH "JOEY" NAPLESIN 1987 BY MICHAEL GENOVESE, WHOM THE PENNSYLVANIA CRIME COMMISSION IDENTIFIED AS THE BOSS OF THE PITTSBURGH CRIME FAMILY. STROLLO WAS CONVICTED OF RACKETEER- ING IN 1990 FOR A GAMBLING OPERATION HE CONTROLLED IN CAMPBELL. ERNIE BIONDILLO BIONDILLO, 53, WAS MURDERED JUNE 3, 1996, WHILE DRIVING TO WORK AT UNITED MUSIC INC., A YOUNGSTOWN VENDING-MACHINE BUSINESS PREVIOUSLY OPERATED BY JOEY NAPLES. BIONDILLO, OF CAMPBELL, WAS INVOLVED IN ILLEGAL GAMBLING IN THE YOUNGSTOWN AREA, THE PENNSYLVANIA CRIME COMMISSION SAID IN A 1992 REPORT. THE FBI HAS SAID BIONDILLO WAS CLOSE TO NAPLES AND WAS PART OF THE NAPLES FACTION OF ORGANIZED CRIME FIGURES IN THE MID- TO LATE 1980S. BERNARD ALTSHULER ALTSHULER, 64, IS A TOP AIDE TO LENNY STROLLO, ACCORDING TO THE FBI AND YOUNGSTOWN POLICE. ALTSHULER, OF YOUNGSTOWN, WAS CONVICTED IN 1990 OF RUNNING AN ILLEGAL GAMBLING BUSINESS WITH STROLLO. IN 1993, ALTSHULER WAS CONVICTED OF BANK ROBBERY IN CHARLOTTE, N.C., AND SERVED 18 MONTHS IN PRISON. HE WAS SENT BACK TO PRISON FOR ANOTHER 18 MONTHS FOR VIOLATING PROBATION FOR ASSOCIATING WITH FELONS, INCLUDING STROLLO. AN INFORMANT TOLD THE FBI THAT ALTSHULER PUT OUT THE MURDER CONTRACT ON BIONDILLO'S LIFE, ACCORDING TO AFFIDAVITS FILED IN U.S. DISTRICT COURT. JOSEPH "JOEY" NAPLES JR. ON AUG. 19, 1991, NAPLES WAS SHOT TO DEATH WHILE VISITING THE SITE OF A HOME HE WAS BUILDING IN SOUTHERN MAHONING COUNTY. THE MURDER HAS NOT BEEN SOLVED. NAPLES, 58, AND LENNY STROLLO CONTROLLED ORGANIZED CRIME ACTIVITY IN VARIOUS AREAS OF THE MAHONING VALLEY AFTER REPUTED MOB BOSS JAMES V. PRATO RETIRED IN THE MID-1980S, ACCORDING TO FBI AFFIDAVITS. PASQUALE "PAT" FERRUCCIO FERRUCCIO, 80, OF CANTON, WAS SENTENCED TO TWO YEARS IN PRISON THIS YEAR FOR VIOLATING HIS PROBATION BY ASSOCIATING WITH LENNY STROLLO AND HENRY ZOTTOLA, WHOTHE FBI HAS SAID IS A HIGH-RANKING ASSOCIATE OF THE PITTSBURGH LA COSA NOSTRA FAMILY. FBI AGENTS SAID THEY SAW STROLLO AND ZOTTOLA MEETING WITH FERRUCCIO IN FERRUCCIO'S OFFICE ACROSS THE STREET FROM THE FBI OFFICE IN CANTON. FERRUCCIO, AMEMBER OF THE PITTSBURGH FAMILY, IS LIAISON BETWEEN THE CLEVELAND AND PITTSBURGHCRIME FAMILIES, ACCORDING TO COURT RECORDS.

Post Gazette article on Lenine Strollo from youngstown, OH.

http://www.post-gazette.com/regionstate/19990221strollo7.asp