Canada’s Elusive Santo Scibetta

For many years, together with his two contemporaries, this shadowy, elusive mafioso served as the Magaddino Family’s Canadian-based representative and overseer of that country’s underworld on behalf of their Buffalo-based borgata. Santo Scibetta lived his life as “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma” — who, even 40 years after his death, remains so to this very day.

Santo Edoardo Scibetta was born on April 2, 1910, in the little village of Racalmuto, Girgenti (Agrigento Province), Sicily. (Although early immigration documents list his dob as April 20, 1920). His parents are listed as Calogero and Raffaela Scibetta.

Scibetta was born into a very large family and was believed to have had eight full-blood siblings that we know about, named: five sisters who were named Lucia, Calogera, Concetta, Maria, and Vincenza, and three brothers named Giovanni Giuseppe, who was commonly called Joe; Calogero, who was nicknamed Charlie; and Salvatore, or Sam. Like Santo, most of his siblings eventually also immigrated to North America.

Santo Scibetta

Years later, after their father remarried, the Scibetta children gained five more half-brothers and sisters by the names of Ignazia, Paola, Santa, and Paolo. The fifth half-sibling, born in 1939, was another boy also named Paolo, who died during infancy. Santo’s stepmother eventually gave birth to another infant boy, whom they decided to name Paolo in honor of his deceased brother.

To this very day, much of Scibetta’s early background history remains murky at best. But it’s believed that as a starry-eyed 16-year-old youth, one day, Santo made the fateful life-altering decision to leave his homeland of Sicily and travel to North America. If true, the year would have been around 1927 or so.

There is certain documentation that points to Scibetta having traveled to Bordeaux, France, from where he was thought to have boarded a freighter ship named La Bourdonais, which was setting sail for North America. They arrived at the Port of Halifax in Nova Scotia, Canada on March 14, 1927. (An alternate arrival date points to Scibetta first stepping foot on Canadian soil on August 14, 1932.)

Either way, there is evidence that by at least the early-to-mid 1920s, early 1930s, Scibetta had already stepped foot onto American and Canadian soil and was well on his way to establishing his mafioso credentials.

Evidence suggests that Santo made the initial voyage to the North American continent with his brother Calogero. They listed their destination on immigration papers as the home of their brother Giovanni Scibetta, who had settled in Canada sometime earlier.

In the coming years after his initial arrival Santo often traveled back and forth between Canada and the United States. There is ample documentation that, through the years, he also made occasional trips back to his native Italy.

Hamilton and Buffalo

As mentioned, their brother Giovanni is believed to have been the one who initially welcomed and helped Santo and Charlie first get established on American soil. The Scibetta family reportedly also had many blood relatives and close amici living right over the Canadian/U.S. border, especially around the Buffalo and Niagara Falls area of upper New York State.

The brothers went about getting settled and establishing themselves within Canada. But some years later, around 1938 or so, Santo decided to relocate across the border to the City of Buffalo.

After relocating to Buffalo, he initially resided with a close friend of his named Raymond Parisi, who lived at 357 Barton Street. Sometime later, Santo was known to have moved in with Parisi’s brother, Nicholas Parisi, who lived nearby at 95 Trenton Avenue.

From available records, it appears that, depending on the particular circumstances involved, during those early years, Santo alternately moved back and forth between those two Buffalo addresses. In addition to these locations, in the coming decades, Scibetta also relocated back and forth between Canada and the United States, maintaining apartments in both countries.

When in Buffalo, he sometimes stayed at 104 Trenton Avenue, which was the home of a cousin of his, who, like his brother, was also named Giuseppe (Joe) Scibetta.

When in Canada, he could usually be found within the City of Hamilton, Ontario. He was known to rent a home at 388 McNab Street. But he was also known to live at 380 Mekamah Street. Located on the city’s west end, this address was the home of his good friend and fellow mafioso Charlie Bondonaro, who sometimes hosted Scibetta when he came to town.

During these years, Santo sometimes listed his occupation as that of a “common laborer” on official government documents.

The Shadow

By all accounts, during his lifetime Santo Scibetta was considered to be a major underworld figure — not only among the Sicilian Mafia — but among members of the Calabrian ’Ndrangheta as well. And yet, to this very day he largely remains an enigma.

Despite having been a major investigative target of both American and Canadian law enforcement authorities for nearly a half-century, any meaningful biographical background data about him as well as photographs are exceedingly scant. And thats putting it mildly.

Searching for information about him is like trying to find the proverbial “needle in a haystack.” At best, there is a brief mention about Scibetta here, or a single sentence or paragraph about him there, but that’s about it. It’s almost as though the man didn’t even exist.

What we do know is that for a time at least he lived on Dundurn Street South in the City of Hamilton. There is also no documentation that he had ever taken a spouse or ever married. Nor was he ever known to have fathered any biological children of his own.

For all intents and purposes it appears that throughout his underworld career Santo Scibetta operated like a ghost.

A "Ghost" of a Gangster

The few records that are publicly available describe Santo as standing approximately 5 feet 7 inches tall. One document reported he had thick black hair, dark brown eyes, and a dark “Mediterranean” complexion.

What is also known is that in 1949, Scibetta was arrested for illegal possession of a revolver. But aside from that little tidbit of information, any other firm documentation about his prior criminal record in Canada or the U.S., or specifics about the types of criminal activities he engaged in, is almost nonexistent. Another tiny snippet of info came from a government document back in 1965, where he listed himself as a “store operator.”

Santo had at least one brother involved in the rackets with him. In fact, Giuseppe (Joe) Scibetta had a reputation as an old-time backhander and extortionist. We also know he had at least one brother-in-law, also thought to be criminally prone, by the name of Charles Criminisi.

Side Note: Back in 1923, Joe Scibetta and several associates were arrested in connection with the bombing of a house in Hamilton. It became a very notorious incident that was highly publicized in all the local newspapers. Charged along with Scibetta were three fellow mafiosi who police identified as Calogero (Charlie) Bordonaro, Giuseppe (Joe) Restivo, and Pasquale (Patsy) Guglielmo. But before the case could come to trial, the prosecution’s chief witness suddenly disappeared, leaving the authorities with no other viable alternative but to dismiss all the charges against Scibetta and the others and set them free.

Climbing the Ladder

Although he was still quite young at the time he left Italy, it appears that even as a young man, Santo was recognized by older mafiosi as an up-and-coming underworld figure in the making.

It's thought that he initially got his start in the local rackets working in conjunction with such formidable racketeers as Rocco Perri, who was to become one of Canada’s most powerful Prohibition-era bootleggers and racketeers. In fact, Perri became so notorious that he was later dubbed “King of the Bootleggers” and “Canada’s Al Capone.”

Rocco Perri

A Calabrian by birth, after immigrating to Canada, Perri quickly rose up the underworld ladder to become the acknowledged boss of his own Calabrian-based criminal network or clan.

After Perri’s disappearance and presumed murder in April of 1944, Scibetta continued to help lead the Calabrian faction. But this time around, he did it while carrying the flag of the Cosa Nostra after the Sicilian-born Mafia boss Stefano (The Undertaker) Magaddino assumed overall control of Perri’s former territory.

Side Note: It doesn’t take a genius to imagine who most probably gave the order to eliminate Rocco Perri.

A Most Important Guy

It is widely assumed that Santo Scibetta was a longtime inducted member of the Mafia who most probably held the formal rank of a Family soldier. Yet, whatever “official” rank he may have held during his underworld career is largely immaterial because Santo exhibited such tremendous power and influence that many in both law enforcement circles and within the underworld itself generally viewed Scibetta as a Mafia don in his own right.

In fact, the underworld power he welded was such that in later years Scibetta was one of three men commonly referred to as “The Three Dons” of Hamilton.

Santo’s relationship with Charlie Bordonaro actually went back many years. In fact, legend has it that the two men had been boyhood friends back in Italy.

Antonio Sylvestro

Partnering with two old friends, Calogero (Charlie) Bordonaro and Antonio (Tony Ross) Sylvestro, the so-called “Three Dons” were believed to have exerted control over all organized crime in Ontario and its surrounding territories for themselves and the Magaddino Family.

Aside from Scibetta’s early affiliation with Rocco Perri and his close friendships with Bordonaro and Sylvestro, throughout his years in the underworld, Scibetta interacted with many n’dranghestista and mafiosi and other local hoodlums.

But among his closest criminal associates included many men who were considered to be the creme de la creme of the local underworld, especially the Calabrian-based faction of the local underworld. They included significant hoodlums and racketeers.

Giacomo Luppino

Aside from Sylvestro and Bondonaro, they included a man widely considered to have been the most senior and powerful Ndrangheta boss of them all — the grand old man himself — “Don” Giacomo Luppino .

It is Luppino who was generally viewed as the top overseer over all Hamilton-based operations on behalf of Steve Magaddino himself. It is my feelings, and that of many other knowledgeable mob historians, that, in fact, Scibetta and Luppino had actually served side-by-side at the behest of Magaddino as his Family’s co-overseers of their Canadian interests.

There is also data to suggest that Scibetta only relocated over the border to Canada from the U.S. after agents of the U.S. Immigration & Naturalization Service had started a criminal investigation into his background with an eye toward deporting him from the country. Once they commenced formal deportation proceedings against him, Santo decided it was time to cross the border into Canada rather than let the United States Government deport him back to his native Italy.

Giacomo Luppino

So the ever resourceful Santo moved a mere 63 miles away and just continued operating from his new home. Nonetheless, he became an untouchable because that 63 miles technically delivered him into another country altogether, out of the clutches of the immigration authorities.

So the ever cagy Santo Scibetta crossed right the border into Canada, while still remaining nearby. It turned out to be the best of both worlds because he never missed a criminal beat.

As it turned out, it was a genius chess move. Magaddino quickly commissioned his trusty soldier to assist another longtime aide named Giacomo Luppino with overseeing the Family’s vast Canadian interests.

Subsequently, throughout the years, Canadian law enforcement came to view Scibetta as one of the primary representatives and overseers for the American Mafia’s extensive criminal interests in the country.

Complimenting the task Magaddino had assigned to them, and as a necessary byproduct related to their job, Scibetta and Luppino are also largely credited with being very instrumental in resurrecting, solidifying, and expanding the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta’s power within the Ontario region.

The Three "Dons"

Although he had been somewhat active during the 1920s Prohibition era, Scibetta’s true rise to power greatly accelerated shortly after the disappearance of mob boss Rocco Perri. Thereafter, and for decades to come, Santo and his partners, the so-called — “Three Dons” — ruled over the territory with an iron fist.

Legend has it that at the height of Scibetta’s underworld power and influence local mobsters would seek his blessing before starting up a new racket or engaging in any significant criminal activity.

Giovanni G. Scibetta

Side Note: As mentioned above, it appears that Santo’s older brother Joseph was also deeply enmeshed in “The Life.” Born in 1903, there is ample evidence that Joe Scibetta was also an inducted member of the Magaddino Family who served as a “soldier” within his brother Santo’s regime. Born in 1903, Giuseppe Scibetta, aka Joe Scibetta and Bill Scibetta, passed away in 1995 at the ripe old age of 92 years old. Other historical records report Giuseppe Scibetta passing away in 1974. But this confusion could possibly be due to a cousin of the same name who may have been mistaken for Santo’s brother. There is documented evidence that a Giovanni Giuseppe Scibetta, born in 1896, who also went by the nicknames of Joe Scibetta and Bill Scibetta, died at Buffalo in July of 1974. That would make this particular Joe Scibetta approximately 77-78 years old.

Connections Across the Border

Other important mob figures Scibetta regularly interacted with over the years — some of whom he is believed to have supervised — included Giacomo Luppino’s sons; Charlie’s Bordonaro’s nephew, Ignazio (Harold) Bordonaro; Tony Sylvestro’s son-in-law, Dante (Danny) Gasbarrini; the brothers Charles Cipolla and Frank Cipolla; Antonio (Tony Popa) Papalia; and his sons, John (The Enforcer) Papalia, Frank Papalia, Dominic Papalia, and Rocco Papalia; Michele (Mike the Baker) Racco, Cosimo (Cosmo) Staltieri, Rocco Zito, Domenico (Dom the Beast) Musitano, and Rocco Scopelliti.

In other Canadian cities, the Luppino-Scibetta combine maintained close connections to underworld contemporaries like Montreal boss Vic Cotroni and his brothers, the Violi brothers, and the Commisso and Volpe brothers, among many others.

Also, remember that because Scibetta previously lived in the Buffalo area for years before fleeing up to Canada, he became intimately familiar with most of the top members of their Buffalo-Niagara Falls membership, including the boss himself, Stefano (The Old Man) Magaddino.

There is data to suggest that Scibetta only relocated over the border to Canada from the U.S. after agents of the U.S. Immigration & Naturalization Service had started a criminal investigation into his background with an eye toward deporting him from the country. Once they commenced formal deportation proceedings against him, Santo decided it was time to cross the border into Canada rather than let the United States Government deport him back to his native Italy.

Stefano Magaddino

So the ever resourceful Santo moved a mere 63 miles away and just continued operating from his new home. Nonetheless, he became an untouchable because that 63 miles technically delivered him into another country altogether, out of the clutches of the immigration authorities.

So the ever cagy Santo Scibetta crossed right the border into Canada, while still remaining nearby. It turned out to be the best of both worlds because he never missed a criminal beat.

As it turned out, it was a genius chess move. Magaddino quickly commissioned his trusty soldier to assist another longtime aide named Giacomo Luppino with overseeing the Family’s vast Canadian interests.

Subsequently, throughout the years, Canadian law enforcement came to view Scibetta as one of the primary representatives and overseers for the American Mafia’s extensive criminal interests in the country.

Complimenting the task Magaddino had assigned to them, and as a necessary byproduct related to their job, Scibetta and Luppino are also largely credited with being very instrumental in resurrecting, solidifying and expanding the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta’s power within the Ontario region.

Although he had been somewhat active during the 1920s Prohibition era, Scibetta’s true rise to power greatly accelerated shortly after the disappearance of mob boss Rocco Perri. Thereafter, and for decades to come, Santo and his partners, the so-called — “Three Dons” — ruled over the territory with an iron fist.

Legend has it that at the height of Scibetta’s underworld power and influence local mobsters would seek his blessing before starting up a new racket or engaging in any significant criminal activity.

The End of the Line

Even in his waning years as an old man, after nearly seven decades of Mafia activity, Santo was still reportedly looked upon as a much sought-after senior advisor and “consigliere” to a new and younger generation of mafiosi among Canada’s Italian clans.

Santo Scibetta passed away on Monday, May 6, 1985. At the time of his death, he was reportedly under a physician's care, receiving treatment for an unspecified ailment as an in-patient at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Hamilton, Ontario.

The wily mafioso was 76 years old.

He was waked for several days and nights at the Friscolanti Funeral Chapel located at 43 Barton Street East, Hamilton. The notoriously “mobbed-up” funeral home was reportedly literally “mobbed” with people who came to pay their last respects to this legendary mafioso.

On the morning of his burial, Scibetta was first given a formal Christian Mass at the nearby Saint Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church. Thereafter, the hearse carrying his body and all the cars within the funeral procession headed towards Holy Souls Mausoleum, where Scibetta would be interred.

For their part, Canadian law enforcement authorities quietly followed their elusive prey all the way to the grave. Maybe they needed to make sure that Santo — their longtime quarry — was finally, really gone.

Either way, numerous uniformed police officers, as well as plainclothes detectives and federal agents, conducted a near round-the-clock surveillance of Santo’s wake and funeral.

In the formal reports that law enforcement officials later memorialized about the event, agents noted what they described as an “extremely rare show of solidarity” at Santo’s wake, mass, and funeral. They wrote that Scibetta’s wake and funeral were attended by almost every major Canadian Mafia leader of note and by every known local underworld figure.

I think their assessment pretty much sums up Santo Scibetta in a nutshell, no?

Until next time…”The Other Guy”

Canada’s Elusive Santo Scibetta

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