One of the most underrated Mafia Families to ever operate in the United States was the borgata formed around Buffalo-Niagara Falls in Upstate New York. The Buffalo Family, which became better known as the Stefano Magaddino Family, is one of the longest-established and, at one time, one of Cosa Nostra’s most powerful networks. In fact, this particular “Family” was deceptively powerful.
The Maggadino Crime Family ruled over a far-flung fiefdom that fanned out over a variety of cities and towns throughout Upstate New York and several other states, including Erie, Pennsylvania and Youngstown, Ohio, and Hamilton, Ontario Province, Canada. The Magaddino Family also maintained close ties over the years with several Mafia Families back in Sicily, including the infamous Mafia-laden town of Castellammare del Golfo, Steve Magaddino’s birthplace, and the nearby towns of Alcamo, Calatafimi, and San Vito Lo Capo.
Magaddino initially settled and operated in New York City upon immigrating to the U.S. But during the early 1920s, he was forced to flee the city and relocate up to the Buffalo area because of the intense police scrutiny he received after being arrested in a highly publicized Mafia “vendetta” murder investigation. With his arrival Upstate, he soon became a major force within a Mafia “Family” first developing there under the leadership of fellow mafiosi Angelo (Buffalo Bill) Palmeri and Giuseppe (Joe the Wolf) DiCarlo.
Within a few years, Steve Magaddino had risen to the hierarchy. He played a pivotal role during the infamous so-called “Castellammarese War” which was fought between 1929 and 1931. Magaddino continuously supplied gunmen, guns and ammunition, and financial support to his compare New York City leader Salvatore Maranzano and fellow Castellammarese “amici,” which greatly helped in the fight against their rival Giuseppe (Joe the Boss) Masseria and his troops.
After Maranzano and his faction won the conflict, Steve Magaddino became one of the most important Mafia figures in the nation. Magaddino was catapulted further up the Mafia ladder and its national chain of command. He was selected to head the Buffalo Family as the new boss or “Representante.” He also gained a “seat” on the newly formed national governing body of Cosa Nostra, better known as “The Commission,” which was based downstate in New York City.
Magaddino was one of the original bosses to sit on this Commission. With the subsequent deaths and imprisonment of fellow bosses such as Lucky Luciano and Vito Genovese, as the years passed, Magaddino eventually became the Commission’s most “senior” member and the so-called “chairman” of Cosa Nostra’s governing body within the U.S.
