According to an entry on wikipedia, there is still a small bufalino presence.

Current status
"According to James Kanavy, a former Pennsylvania Crime Commission investigator, there is still a small presence in Northeastern Pennsylvania of mafia activity."

Thoughts?

Probably New York or Phily guys shaking down bookies in the area.

I am def interested in this situation... whats is Big Billy D'Elia doing these days?

I live in the area. Some swear there is still some form of mob activity around, hard to say. I am unsure what D'Elia has been up to anymore, retired or keeping a low profile. I know D'Elia's son lives in Russell Bufalino's old house in Kingston.

Notice how that part of the article isn't sourced?

I don't know who does it, but most defunct mob families on Wikipedia are still listed as active, with little passages at the bottom explaining their current position. Kansas City, Pittsburgh, L.A., etc. There is no real evidence to back it up. For a while that Cosa Nostra News chart was on the Buffalo family's Wikipedia page until it was thankfully deleted.

Are you saying Kansas city is defunct?

Yes Big Fella. Do you disagree?

KC doesnt currently have any structured LCN at all. The only active cities are NY, NJ, Philly, Boston/ Prov, chicago, and to a certain extent, detroit,

100% agree, Belmont.

I don't know enough to disagree, everywhere I look has them with a functioning structure, and people that live in Kansas city say thier still around, but who knows. What are your evidence that there defunct?

Are you saying Anthony civella jr is not apart of a functioning Mafia?

You guys are delusional as usual. BUFFALO HAS A STRUCTURED AND VIABLE FAMILY.

Got any evidence?

Your making the accusations nickyfromtampa, the burden of proof is on you...what do you base your evidence in? I say Kansas city is still active, thier like Detroit alot of people in that outfit is related so it might gives the appearance that thier in active

Yea read all the news articles that just came out a few months ago that has the FBI and RCMP acknowledging its structure after the huge bust

I'm sure there's bookies everywhere that were once members or connected to so called defunct families. .

What makes a don decide that he's not inducting anymore members into his family?

Everyone around him doing 100 years a piece in federal prison, for starters. That's one reason a lot of families went defunct.

(ESPN 30 for 30 music...)

What if I told you ..... 'dis thing' has always been dependent on authorities that were on the take?

I would believe it...but what if you have soldiers and talent on the streets and the boss just close ranks, like the traffic ante family, they just stopped making people

I seem to recall it being disputed whether Tampa really had much membership after the Cuba fiasco. If they did, however, then I agree. Good question. Could a boss tank their own family and basically render their made members button-less? Would they get the option of transferring?

Is it possible new York ordered currently defunct families to close thier books?

Arguably, difronzo was tanking Chicago before the change

Again, how would the DeCavs still exist if NY were ordering dead weight to let themselves die out?

I say as long as Jersey still has a family, there is at least some respect for the Commission.

But how do you explain the other defunct families?

The FBI has declared (as reported by Niagara Falls reporter Mike Hudson) that the family is dead. The city's Mafia squad was scrapped a long time ago. http://www.niagarafallsreporter.com/Stories/2013/Jan8/TodaroNicoletti.html
(There are other articles which back this up: Hudson is a dedicated Buffalo mafia researcher who did an obituary every time a high-ranking guy died, e.g. Joe Todaro).
By 1998, the Buffalo mob was "withering" as confirmed by the feds and the Buffalo News, reeling from federal convictions. http://buffalonews.com/1998/01/31/t...ned-values-and-falling-behind-the-times/
The family's last bust was in 2002, of Sonny Nicoletti Jr. Frank BiFulco was convicted in 2003 of arson as well.

Here is a well-researched article by the Buffalo News which backs this up quite nicely:
http://buffalonews.com/1998/01/31/t...ned-values-and-falling-behind-the-times/


I understand the concept of "burden of proof," but I think that if someone is going to accuse people of being delusional for not accepting a mob family exists, they need to back that up. Especially since there is not any real evidence to back up that there is a structure/hierarchy/chain of command. No, the 2017 bust is not proof that the family has a structure/hierarchy/chain of command. All the feds and RCMP stated was that there were members of the Todaro crime family arrested in Canada. Not the United States. Since the Canadian wing of the family was declared cut-off from the U.S. mob following the 1997 assassination of John 'Johnny Pops' Papaglia, I assume that whatever capos/soldiers were left there joined the arms of the (far more powerful) Canadian mafia families in Ontario, Hamilton & elsewhere. That has been seen with other mobsters, like the Violi brothers who were arrested in 2017 in a fentanyl bust. Their grandfather was a powerful Hamilton-based Buffalo mobster Giacomo Luppino, but the RCMP has confirmed that the brothers worked with the Hamilton 'ndrangheta.

If you have any evidence which proves me wrong, Rooster, I'd be happy to hear it.

http://gangsterreport.com/state-of-the-syndicate-the-kansas-city-mafia-today/


State Of The Syndicate: The Kansas City Mafia Today
Scott Burnstein

The Italian mafia in Kansas City is a small, quiet crime family, probably on its’ last legs with only a few loose remnants of a time when the syndicate operated on a much larger scale and held national prominence decades ago, per exclusive Gangster Report sources. These sources place membership in the K.C. mob at “a dozen people or less” and claim its rackets mostly consist of gambling and loan sharking with a small amount of dabbling in extortion scams, primarily within the sex, drug and strip club industry.

Law enforcement in Kansas City consider “old timers” John (Johnny Joe) Sciortino and Peter (Las Vegas Pete) Simone, the crime family’s boss and underboss, respectively. Both date back to the once-powerful Civella mob and are convicted felons. Simone, 70, has been the K.C. mafia’s No. 2 man since the early 1990s, controlling all the syndicate’s gambling interests. The 72-year old Sciortino, a one-time driver and protégé of his predecessor, Anthony (Tony Ripe) Civella, became don when Tony Ripe passed away of a heart attack in 2006. Johnny Joe had been Civella’s street boss, senior juice-loan specialist and main go-between for the duration of Tony Ripe’s tenure on the throne.

Tony Ripe Civella was the nephew of legendary Midwest Godfather Nick Civella and son of his less-refined sibling and strong arm, Carl (Corky) Civella. His brother-in-law was the Civellas’ top lieutenant, the highly-feared, Carl (Tuffy) DeLuna. Nick and Corky Civella were at the center of the American mafia’s lordship over Las Vegas in the 1960s and 70s, using Tuffy DeLuna as their point man.

The K.C. mob traditionally doesn’t recognize the post of consigliere, but the FBI in Missouri believes Frank DeLuna, Tuffy’s younger brother and a longtime local produce peddler, serves Sciortino in a de-facto consigliere capacity and is his No. 1 advisor. Tuffy DeLuna died of natural causes in 2008.

Other powerful figures in what’s left of the Kansas City mafia include among them, William (Little Willie) Cammisano, Jr. Peter (P.J.) Ribaste and Vince Civella, per sources. Little Willie Cammisano is the son of deceased syndicate don William (Willie the Rat) Cammisano and a suspect in a number of unsolved Kansas City gangland slayings. Ribaste, a strip-club owner and veteran Pete Simone operative, spends portions of the year in Las Vegas. Vince Civella is Tony Ripe’s son. If the term “captain or capo” is thrown around with these three individuals or any others, it’s purely ceremonial and doesn’t denote the fact that they lead a crew of soldiers, according to sources.

Willie the Rat Cammisano was the Civellas’ chief enforcer and hitman before assuming the reins as boss from Nick Civella upon Civella dying of cancer in 1983. According to federal informant files, Willie the Rat dispatched his son on multiple murder assignments, starting in the 1970s when he was Civella’s street boss and into the 1980s when he ascended to don, a role Little Willie allegedly cherished with tremendous pride. The younger Cammisano and Vince Civella were convicted together in a 2010 bookmaking bust.

In terms of a youth factor in the ranks of the modern-day K.C. mob, the local FBI office is said to keep tabs on Joseph (Joe Pete) Simone, the 43-year old son of Las Vegas Pete Simone and a sometime actor and former minor league baseball player. Joe Pete was held in contempt of court in 1991 for refusing to testify in front of a federal grand jury probing bookmaking and mafia activity in Missouri and was convicted of possessing gambling records in 1992. He pitched in the Houston Astros organization and was acquitted of extortion charges in 2001. Currently, Joe Pete is starring in an internet tv show entitled “Kill’em All,” about a fictional gangland war in Kansas City fought between the Italian and Irish mobs.

One source asserts Joe Pete is a “made guy,” and received his button in the syndicate’s last making ceremony which took place in the late 1990s or early 2000s. Another source with intimate knowledge of FBI inquiries into Missouri mob affairs over the past four decades reveals Joe Pete was a “person of interest” in the Harold Ash murder investigation almost 20 years ago.
Joseph (Joe Pete) Simone

Joseph (Joe Pete) Simone

Ash, a reputed bookie in the Kansas City area, was slain on November 27, 1996, gunned down in front of his suburban home after winning several thousand dollars at a nearby Harrah’s riverboat casino. An FBI document cites an unidentified figure wearing a hooded sweatshirt matching Joe Pete Simone’s description, flanked by two men matching descriptions of mob associates Louis (Cuban Louie) Lerida and Timmy Sears, being seen on casino surveillance following Ash, 64, from the casino to the parking garage. Joe Pete himself denies being a member of the mafia and any criminal wrongdoing since his last conviction. Nobody has ever been charged in the Ash murder case.

Johnny Joe Sciortino, said to be “stepping back” lately in his day-to-day duties running the Kansas City mob, and Pete Simone had their names surface in the 1990 murder of federal witness Larry Strada, a suburban K.C. bar owner who was shot dead in his driveway after appearing in front of a grand jury investigating sports gambling in the area. John Mandacina, a K.C. mafia soldier and Irish hood Patrick McGuire were imprisoned for the crime. The pair met with Johnny Joe and Las Vegas Pete at Simone’s Avenue Social Club in the hours prior to Strada’s slaying. Simone was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in Mandacina and McGuire’s first-degree homicide indictment.

Sciortino and syndicate elder statesman Frank DeLuna can often be found nights at Jasper’s, a popular Italian restaurant in Kansas City. The Simones main hangout is Gilhooley’s, a tavern and grill more in a dive-bar design and rumored to be silently owned by Las Vegas Pete.

I disagree with one thing, there's no such thing as a ceremonial tittle in lcn, either your involved, semi-involved or retired, that's it! If somebody has a tittle of capo in lcn either they have a crew or thier direct with the boss...and it doesn't account for the young people that was made that people know nothing about. We don't know everybody ligambi's made or everyone Merlino has made since he's been free. People on this board said Detroit was defunct and thier titles was merely ceremonial, and I argued against that also

Nowhere in the history of lcn has anyone ever held a ceremonial tittle, so I don't know where you guys get that from

Rooster?

I will conduct my own independent research and report back