Bufalino Soldier – Salvatore (Sam) Alaimo

Salvatore (Sam) Alaimo was a soldier in the Bufalino Family of Pittston-Scranton, Pennsylvania. Active in gambling and garment racketeering , Sam and his capo brother Dominick were partners with boss Russ Bufalino in a dress factory in Pittston.

Sam and Dominick were even suspected of holding hidden ownership interests in garment factories in Manhattan .

Continue reading to learn more about the life of Salvatore (Sam) Alaimo in this snapshot profile.

Sam Alaimo - Early Life

Salvatore (Sam) Alaimo - aka “Samuel Alaimo” - was born on January 2, 1914, in Pittston, Pennsylvania to Giovanni (John) and Giuseppina (nee’ Falcone) Alaimo.

He was one of six children born to their family including two sisters named Rose and Kate, and three brothers named Charles, Gregory, and Dominick.

The Alaimo clan originally hailed from the town of Montedoro, Sicily. With the exception of Sam and his Sicilian-born older brother Dominick, who was called Nicky, by all accounts, the remaining Alaimo children all lived legitimate lives far away from the underworld.

Salvatore (Sam) Alaimo

Sam Alaimo had a small frame at 5-feet 5-inches tall and was slimly built at 140 pounds. He had brown eyes and sported a thick mane of dark brown hair in a 1950s mugshot. He had smooth facial features and was generally considered a nice-looking man.

As a young man, Alaimo met and soon married a local Italian girl named Rose Rallo. The couple had one daughter they named Josephine after Sam’s mother.

Sam and Rose eventually bought a small home for themselves at 45 Elizabeth Street in Pittston.

This is where they would reside and raise their daughter. It is also where they lived for the rest of their lives.

FBI #2878224, Penn-SP #B-19463

By the late 1940s, Alaimo was being viewed by the Pittston Police Department and the Pennsylvania State Police as a local hoodlum.

By the early 1950s, the FBI started to take an interest in him as well. After a preliminary investigation, they labeled Sam a racketeer in league with his older, more notorious brother Nick.

Sam had a limited criminal record with the local police department. He was first arrested in 1942 for pandering. Over the next decade, he was arrested two more times on illegal gambling charges .

A Bufalino Soldier

By the mid-1950s, federal authorities were listing Sam Alaimo as a known organized crime figure and suspected mafia “soldier” aligned with the Pittston-Scranton family of Cosa Nostra.

By that time, the Family was being headed by boss Giuseppe (Joe) Barbara Sr. and his trusted underboss and future successor Rosario (Russ) Bufalino . Sam’s brother Dominick served as a “capo” directly under Russ Bufalino.

Dominick was a highly placed mafioso, indeed. This fact became clearly evident by his attendance and subsequent capture by the NYS Police after they raided the infamous Apalachin Meeting held at Joe Barbara’s home in Upstate New York, on November 14, 1957.

In their internal records, federal agents said Sam was actively engaged in gambling, labor-union extortion and shakedowns, and garment racketeering with Dominick.

They also referred to Sam Alaimo as a “strong-arm” enforcer for the Mafia in the Pittston area.

Alaimo was known to hold ownership in the Jane Hogan Dress Company in partnership with Nick. This was a large dress factory and a thriving business known to be Mafia controlled.

Sam and Dominick were also partnered with Russ Bufalino and capo Angelo Sciandra in the Alaimo Dress Company of Pittston.

In addition, the Alaimos were suspected of holding a hidden ownership in several other dress factories around the Pittston-Scranton area and in Manhattan’s Garment District.

Their positions of power were greatly assisted by the fact that, for many years, Dominick Alaimo was a top labor union official. This allowed him to gain favorable treatment for their garment firms by keeping them “non-union.”

In this way, the companies could pay lower wages and avoid providing union benefits to their factory workers.

Sam Alaimo passed away while still a relatively young man in April 1976. He was only 62 years old.

His brother Dominick died fourteen years later in April 1990.

Bufalino Soldier – Salvatore (Sam) Alaimo

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Bufalino Soldier – Salvatore (Sam) Alaimo

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You May Also Enjoy

The Anthony Strollo Regime of NY/NJ

The Day Charlie (the Bug) Workman Saved a Horse

Racketeer Profile – San Francisco’s “Jimmy the Hat” Lanza

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