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Old 02-21-2009, 03:13 AM
 
Location: Pittsburgh, Pa
94 posts, read 422,701 times
Reputation: 67

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I've been told that Pittsburgh use to have a lot of Mafia activity in the 60's and 70's...

But I've also been told that there is currently a lot of Mafia activity still going on today thats related to Chicago? And included people in the local Pittsburgh gov't and even part of the Rooney family?

Is there any truth to this? Has anybody else ever heard this before?

Mafia history is one of my favorite subjects...
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Old 02-21-2009, 03:17 AM
 
Location: Hell with the lid off, baby!
2,193 posts, read 5,801,979 times
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There's already another(older) thread concerning this topic in Pittsburgh.

Yes, it still exists here. Is it what it used to be? No. As far as the rest of your post, I have no clue, and have not heard that before.
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Old 02-21-2009, 04:46 AM
 
Location: Pittsburgh, USA
3,131 posts, read 9,372,560 times
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I think the major mafia influence around here was out of New Kensington. That town rocked when they were here, it was prosperous, not like today. I know they had dealings in the city of Pgh. so that's why I think they were the biggest faction. They left during the earlier part of the 1970s.

McKeesport is another town where they were said to be. I don't know for sure. There is at least minor organized illegal activities but I don't know that it's mafia and the last I knew of it was the early 1990s.

The rest of what you mentioned I don't know anything about. I think if the Rooneys were involved they wouldn't have been searching around for someone to buy a part of the Steelers.

What do you think about this North Versailles restaurant?

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Old 02-22-2009, 09:15 AM
 
457 posts, read 1,279,968 times
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It's all over the city and counties surrounding the city. Everyone knows it.
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Old 02-22-2009, 09:29 AM
 
448 posts, read 1,470,720 times
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Sharon Pa use to have a pretty good size mafia ring. Not sure what its like now.
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Old 02-23-2009, 09:25 AM
 
Location: Hell with the lid off, baby!
2,193 posts, read 5,801,979 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by floridaorbust View Post
Sharon Pa use to have a pretty good size mafia ring. Not sure what its like now.
Yep, that's about the general area I live in now. Sharon, Sharpsville and Farrell, PA used to be hotbeds of mafia activity, along with nearby Youngstown and Warren, OH. It's all but gone in this area now though.
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Old 02-23-2009, 11:51 AM
 
91 posts, read 139,004 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TheReason View Post
I've been told that Pittsburgh use to have a lot of Mafia activity in the 60's and 70's...

But I've also been told that there is currently a lot of Mafia activity still going on today thats related to Chicago? And included people in the local Pittsburgh gov't and even part of the Rooney family?

Is there any truth to this? Has anybody else ever heard this before?

Mafia history is one of my favorite subjects...
Then you'll love it here! We have lots of Italian neighborhoods and people here! Probably one reason why our food is so good!
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Old 02-23-2009, 12:08 PM
 
2,751 posts, read 5,362,544 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TheReason View Post
I've been told that Pittsburgh use to have a lot of Mafia activity in the 60's and 70's...

But I've also been told that there is currently a lot of Mafia activity still going on today thats related to Chicago? And included people in the local Pittsburgh gov't and even part of the Rooney family?

Is there any truth to this? Has anybody else ever heard this before?

Mafia history is one of my favorite subjects...
I don't know how much you know but Pgh's mafia history is rich. If you'll forgive my lack of details, as far as exact years and such, I might be able to share a story...

Back in the 30's there were two regimes vying for control over the Pgh mob, the Volpes from New Kensington and the Bassanos from the Hill. Exactly what businesses were most in contention, can't say for sure, but if we assume gambling, prostitution and what was left of the black market liquor business we might be on pretty safe ground.

Anyway, at the height of this, Bassano sets a meet at his Wyile Avenue eatery, (Roma Hotel)? with two of the Volpe Brothers. During which course, antipasti or primo, or wheter it was over plates of veal scallopini or pasta fagiole, I just don't know, but both Volpes were gunned down and killed. This was without the ok from New York and Charlie "Lucky" Luciano, who was in the middle of trying to orgnaize the five families in New York, and whose motivation was to minimize "loose cannon" violence.

Luciano, after hearing of the Volpe hit, summons Bassano to New York and summarily evens the score, in the form of, I'm forgetting the exact number of ice pick wounds, but dozens, and the body thrown out a moving car on a Brooklyn street.

In later years, East Liberty and the North Side were mafia central in Pgh. proper, the Rosa Villa Hotel on the North Side headquarters for "peaceful" capo di tutti capi, John LaRocca.
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Old 02-23-2009, 01:33 PM
 
Location: Cortland, Ohio
3,343 posts, read 10,932,937 times
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Also the Pittsburgh and Cleveland mobs were always fighting for control of nearby Youngstown.
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Old 02-23-2009, 04:35 PM
 
142 posts, read 406,520 times
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Im not sure how strong it is today, but it was def. here in the past. Youngstown had a lot of mob back in its day too.

I think its not just Italian in Pitt, but Irish as well.
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