Edward (Eddie Buff) Lanzieri: Waterfront Henchman

Edward (Eddie Buff) Lanzieri was a soldier in the Genovese Family active in waterfront rackets. He had several brothers involved, who were collectively known as the "Buff Brothers." See The Waterfront Rackets of the Mob to learn more about the mob's waterfront rackets.

Edward (Eddie Buff) Lanzieri was born on July 8, 1916, and raised at 592 East 3rd Street in Brooklyn. He later moved to 2066 61st Street, where he resided for years.

He stood 5-foot 7-inches tall and weighed a solid 190 pounds with medium brown eyes and thinning hair.

Edward (Eddie Buff) Lanzieri

Lanzieri had several brothers who worked in the ILA as officials on the Brooklyn piers and were listed as Genovese henchmen by the NY/NJ Waterfront Commission. With his older brothers Louis and Salvatore, the three were known collectively as the “Buff brothers”.

It was reported by reliable informants that both Eddie and Sal were formally “inducted” soldiers in the Vito Genovese Family of LCN, and Louis was an “associate member.”

He served honorably in WWII and was discharged with the rank of sergeant in 1945.

His criminal activities included waterfront rackets, strong-arm enforcer, extortion, labor kickbacks, and cargo theft.

He was allegedly a trusted right-hand man and aide in his regime.

Lanzieri had a long list of close criminal associates that were considered high-ranking members of the underworld. These included:

Salvatore (Little Sally) Celembrino - an intimate of Vito Genovese himself, Sally was identified as a “capo di decina” and was a very well-respected mafioso operating in the Little Italy section where he kept a low key profile but ran a very active crew nonetheless. He was an important waterfront racketeer and onetime “organizer” for the ILA in Brooklyn.

Salvatore (Sally Buff) Lanzieri - born in 1912 in Brooklyn. Raised at 133 Columbia Street in Red Hook, and later in at an apartment at 911 Newkirk Avenue. FBI # 2658960, NYPD # B-112665. ILA-lic # 54C23. Listed as superintendent/hiring agent at Pier #39, Brooklyn docks, also served as foreman. He stood 5-foot 7-inches tall and weighed 210 lbs, with black hair, brown eyes, and a fair complexion. Sally’s record listed three arrests: 1933 burglary, 1950 disorderly conduct, 1957 felony assault on an officer (fists).

Louis (Louie Buff) Lanzieri - FBI # 573239E. Born 1906 in Naples, Italy. He resided at 977 Lorimer Street, Greenpoint, Brooklyn. By 1943 he listed employment as a Longshoreman on the Brooklyn docks.

Salvatore (Sally Burns) Granello - FBI # 2120006. A notorious Genovese soldier, who was later murdered for threatening the borgata hierarchy after his son Michael was murdered.

Peter DeFeo - NYCPD # B-253224. A top hoodlum and caporegime operating from the Elizabeth Street section of Little Italy. He also controlled racket operations on the Westside docks where he held hidden ownership in Ross Trucking Co., which held an exclusive and very lucrative contract to haul bananas off the piers.

Michelino (Mike) Clemente - a notorious waterfront hoodlum who gained prominence after taking over control of the Fulton Fish Market after the conviction and jailing of crime czar Joseph (Joe Socks) Lanza and was widely seen as Lanza’s heir.

Joseph (Joe Shep) Schipani - born on 1912, he was a well-known soldier based in the Brooklyn crew of Gaetano (Toto) Marino. Schipani held sway over the Cartmen’s Assn. of Lower Manhattan for the Family. He was also active in Brooklyn gambling rackets, and was a one-time intimate of deported racket boss Joe Adonis.

Vincenzo (Jimmy Doyle) Plumeri - a top capo in the Lucchese mob since the 1930s based in Manhattan who was considered a prominent labor and garment racketeer.

“Eddie Buff” mostly frequented Brooklyn and the Lower Eastside of Manhattan, where he and his brother Sally Buff operated as soldiers in the regime of old-time mafioso Sal Celembrino.

He listed employment for years at the Frank B. Hall Company, at 67 Wall Street, which was a waterfront firm that also employed Celembrino’s youngest daughter as a clerk and typist. Lanzieri had previously been a hiring boss at Pier # 39 until it was closed down.

Lanzieri had earlier been listed as a Longshoreman who held the position of a “dock foreman” for the Pittston Stevedoring Co.

In 1964, informants had reported that Eddie and Sally Buff had taken over a lucrative Hi-Lo concession and warehouse for “kentile in the Brooklyn area about 1962. The company was named the Major Equipment Co.

In May of 1968, Lanzieri was among a slew of top mafiosi from several Families who were indicted in a major kickback fraud attempted against the Teamsters Union. They were accused of conspiracy to commit pension loan fraud for conspiring to solicit and receive kickbacks for arranging a huge $2,500,000 Teamsters loan from the union’s Central States Pension Fund. Other counts were wire fraud, bribery, and interstate travel in aide of racketeering.

Indicted along with Lanzieri were Genovese capos Celembrino and DeFeo, top soldier Granello; Lucchese capo Vincent (Jimmy Doyle) Plumeri, David Wenger, a CPA and auditor for the Teamsters Union Pension Fund, lawyer Angelo Di Spirito, mortgage broker John Kelly, and several others.

Another related follow-up indictment in 1969 also charged virtually the top “administration” of the Pittsburgh Family of LCN including boss Sebastian John LaRocca, and top capos Joseph Sica, Frank Rosa, Frank Amato, and Gabriel Mannarino.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, in a third indictment several important members of the Detroit mob were grabbed as well. Dominick (Fat Dom) Corrado and Samuel Marroso were accused of conspiring to wrangle a $60,000 kickback on a $1,260,000 pension fund loan. Teamsters International President James R. Hoffa was named as an unindicted co-conspirator.

One scheme was to have the loan granted to a real estate investment firm (which later went defunct), for the building of a massive hotel complex at LaGuardia Airport in Queens called “LaGuardia Hotel East”. Collectively five separate cases and 13 defendants, involving more than $7,800,000 in loans were involved. “Jimmy Doyle” Plumeri and Wenger figured prominently in every case.

These became very complex criminal cases tying into labor lawyer Herbert Itkin, a notorious conman, double-dealer, and fraudster who also led an undercover existence as a longtime FBI informant on the side.

Itkin later gained some infamy after he was outed as the rat who helped trap New York City Water Commissioner James L. Marcus, a key member of Mayor John Lindsey’s administration in another kickback scheme tied to the mob for the awarding of an $860,000 no-bid contract to refurbish a city reservoir, waiving competitive bidding in return for a large kickback.

Mob boss Tony (Ducks) Corallo and bakery union leader and mob associate Daniel Motto were also indicted in that case.

The five separate, but interlocking indictments were handed down related to massive kickbacks to the underworld for using their influence and mob connections in arranging several multimillion-dollar mortgage loans from the Teamsters Pension Fund.

In a reversal of fortunes and a nice turnaround for the mob, after a jury trial in 1970 on all the varied charges, Wenger and Kelly were convicted, but all eight alleged mafia defendants were acquitted on all counts. Wenger was described as a “bagman” of Hoffa for kickbacks. I’m sure the mafiosi each got a good chuckle out of that one.

For most of his mob career Lanzieri operated under the radar, with the loan kickback case being by far the most exposure and publicity he ever got.

Edward “Eddie Buff” Lanzieri was never again charged in a high profile case, or low profile case for that matter.

He died in 1982, outliving his older brother Sally by almost 15 years who had died in 1967.

Until next time..."The Other Guy"

Edward (Eddie Buff) Lanzieri: Waterfront Henchman

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Edward (Eddie Buff) Lanzieri: Waterfront Henchman

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