Civella, Nick (1912-1983)

Born Kansas City, MO, March 19, 1912.

Died Kansas City, MO, March 12, 1983.

During Nick Civella's reign, from the late 1950s to the early 1980s, the KC mob moved aggressively into Las Vegas casinos and reportedly had large interests in the Stardust (opened in 1955), the Fremont (opened in 1956) and later the Landmark Hotel (opened in 1969). The move west was done in concert with Mafia families from Cleveland and Chicago.

Kansas City-born Civella was closely tied to the Teamsters Union during Jimmy Hoffa's presidency and the later presidency of Roy Williams (1915-1988) and appears to have had access to the Teamster pension fund. (After the mob boss's death, Roy Williams told authorities that he was intimidated into doing Civella's bidding.)

Civella is believed to have been an attendee at the 1957 Apalachin, NY, crime convention, though he was able to escape Joseph Barbara's estate without being noticed by authorities. Police found Civella and KC Mafia big shot Joseph Filardo in a taxi at the train station in nearby Binghamton, New York. Civella probably was not yet official boss of the KC crime family at the time, but his underworld faction - including relatives Carl and Anthony Civella and Carl "Tuffy" DeLuna - had become the most powerful in the local mob.

Thanks to his skimming from the Stardust, Civella earned an early place on the Nevada Gaming Commission's Exclusion List. He, his brother Carl and nine others were the first to be named on the list in 1960. In the 1970s, FBI wiretaps revealed the extent of the organized crime conspiracy to skim from the casinos.

Civella spent the later years of his life in prisons. He was released in failing health in 1980 and passed away in March 1983.


Related Links:

• Crime boss listing

Bufalino, Rosario "Russell" (1903-1994)

Born Montedoro, Sicily, Sept. 29, 1903.

Died Kingston, PA, Feb. 25, 1994.

Bufalino rose to the leadership of a Pittson, Pennsylvania, based Mafia Family. The Family territory included northeastern Pennsylvania and part of upstate New York.

Bufalino became acting boss for the Family possibly as early as 1949 but certainly by the mid-1950s. He succeeded to the top spot in the Mafia organization upon the death of John Sciandra. Former boss Santo Volpe likely served in an advisory capacity until his death near the end of 1958.

Some believe Joseph Barbara served as boss of the Pittston Mafia from about 1949 through 1957. However, this appears to be an expansion of Barbara's underworld role encouraged by media sensationalism following the 1957 Apalachin convention. Barbara appears to have served as capodecina of a remote Buffalo Mafia outpost in Endicott, New York.

Bufalino avoided law enforcement notice until late in 1957, when the Apalachin revelations put him in the spotlight. In the wake of Apalachin investigations, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service discovered that Bufalino's claim of a U.S. birth was false and began work to have him deported. That effort ultimately failed when Italy refused to accept him.

Bufalino won an acquittal when he was tried as leader of an interstate burglary ring in 1969. He also was acquitted when charged with conspiracy, extortion and robbery in 1973.
By the 1970s, Bufalino was regarded as one of the more influential crime bosses. He is widely believed to have had a part in the disappearance and murder of former Teamster President Jimmy Hoffa. Hoffa was known to have a close relationship with Frank "the Irishman" Sheeran, a Bufalino lieutenant. When Hoffa was released from prison and attempted to retake control of the Teamsters' union, Bufalino is widely believed to have ordered Hoffa eliminated in order to maintain the status quo.

Bufalino's courtroom luck wore out in 1977, when he was convicted of extortion. After his appeals failed, he entered Danbury CT Federal Prison in 1978, leaving Edward Sciandra and William D'Elia to run the Pittston Crime Family in his absence. Bufalino was released from prison in 1981 but was almost immediately convicted of conspiring in an attempted murder of a government witness. He went back to prison in 1982, serving six years and eight months of a ten-year sentence.

Bufalino died Feb. 25, 1994, at Nesbitt Memorial Hospital in Kingston, Pennsylvania. His apparent successor as boss of the Pittston Crime Family was D'Elia. Edward Sciandra reportedly remained involved from a distance - his home was in Bellmore, New York. Sciandra later retired to Florida, where he died in July of 2003.

Related Links:

•  Informer (Apr. 2011): Men of Montedoro
•  Hoffa disappearance article
•  Crime boss listing - Mafiahistory.us

Barbara, Joseph "Barber" (1905-1959)

Born Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily, Aug. 9, 1905.

Died Johnson City, NY, June 17, 1959.

A wealthy gangster operating in New York, Barbara owned the Apalachin, NY, estate that was the site of 1957's Mafia convention. Police crashed the gathering, taking most of those present in for questioning (a number of Mafiosi are believed to have eluded arrest either by escaping through the woods around the Barbara estate or by remaining out of sight in Barbara's home).

Barbara came to the United States from his native Sicily on May 26, 1921. He participated in Mafia bootlegging operations and had underworld contacts in New York City, Buffalo and Endicott, New York. In the post-Prohibition years, he gained control of the beer/soft drink distribution in the Binghamton, NY, region.

Barbara was suspected of involvement in a number of gangland killings. During World War II, authorities noted that rationed gasoline was being stolen from Barbara's bottling plant. Just after the war, he was convicted of the illegal acquisition of sugar, a federal crime.

Many believe that Barbara led a Mafia organization with a territory that included northeastern Pennsylvania and adjacent New York. However, it appears far more likely that he was a Buffalo Mob capodecina with regional authority in the Endicott area. The northeast Pennsylvania Mafia appears to have been an independent crime family ruled by the "Men of Montedoro."

The 1957 Mafia convention was organized by Buffalo crime boss Stefano Magaddino after New York City crime boss Tommy Lucchese requested it on behalf of new bosses Vito Genovese and Carlo Gambino. Barbara's Apalachin estate had been used for a Mafia convention one year earlier.

After they were apprehended, many of the 60-plus Mafiosi told authorities that they were at Barbara's home to look in on him after his recent heart attack. Barbara was in ill health at the time and was able to avoid much post-convention interrogation due to his heart condition (his son, however, was repeatedly interrogated). After having chest pains for several days, Barbara collapsed at his home in Endicott on May 29, 1959. He was rushed to Wilson Memorial Hospital in Johnson City. He died there on June 17.

Related Links:

•  Informer (Jan 2009): The Mob's Worst Year - 1957.
•  "Party-crashers" (Writers of Wrongs - 14 Nov 2016)
•  Read about Joe Barbara in:
  Dicarlo: Buffalo's First Family of Crime - Vol. II