The Bufalino Family's Nick Benfante

Nick Benfante started out as an alcohol bootlegger during the 1920s-1930s Prohibition Era. But his real criminal forte came later as a labor union racketeer after he gravitated to the American labor movement. Both local and federal law enforcement authorities say that as a young man, he affiliated early on with the local Mafia faction known to be in control of the northeastern section of Pennsylvania, specifically the Family headed by boss Santo Volpe .

Nobody is certain when he was inducted, but the FBI says that by at least the mid-late 1950s, Benfante was considered to be a formally initiated “made” member within what had now been renamed the Bufalino Family after its former underboss Rosario (Russ) Bufalino took over the reins from deceased former leader, Giuseppe (Joe) Barbara Sr.

Not only was Benfante a loyal soldier and disciple of Russ Bufalino but he was also an elected politician and wasn't too happy when Reader's Digest magazine called him a "gangster!" So, he decided to do something about it.

Nicholas Salvatore (Nick) Benfante - aka Nick Benfonto, Nicholas Bonfonte, Nick Belfonte, Nicholas Benfanti, and Dominick Benfante -was born in the town of Soldier, Pennsylvania on August 24, 1906. He was one of seven children born to Salvatore and Serafina (nee’ Augello) Benfante.

The Benfante family soon relocated to the town of Pittston, some 200 miles away. This is where the Benfantes would set down roots and reside for the rest of their lives. Nick and his siblings grew up at 98 John Street in Pittston, and this is where Nick would live until he later got married. His three brothers and three sisters were named Joseph Vincenzo, Pasquale (Patty,) Anthony, Concetta, Lucia Maria, and Avoca.

Nick Benfante

Nick got married relatively late in life to a local girl named Gertrude Richardson. They wed on February 26, 1946, when Nick was already 39 years old. He and Gertrude made their home nearby at 17 Landon Street in Pittston.

Only two years later, on October 18, 1948, his father Salvatore, better known as Sam, died of natural causes. Seven years later, his mother Sarah also passed away. She died on November 24, 1955, while she living with Nick and his family.

98 John St., Pittston

17 Landon St., Pittston

Benfante is described in police files as standing 5 feet 7 inches in height, with a middleweight build at 165 pounds. He had dark brown eyes and jet-black hair that thinned out considerably by his mid-forties.

FBI #703753, Penn-State Police #B-4058

His criminal record with the local police department dates back to 1931 when he was 25. He was picked up and charged with armed robbery. This was his first arrest. But over the years, he continued to add to his anti-social register with additional arrests for offenses like rape, disorderly conduct, and violations of Pennsylvania State liquor laws.

Nick Benfante started out as an alcohol bootlegger during the 1920s-1930s Prohibition Era. But his real criminal forte came later as a labor union racketeer after he gravitated to the American labor movement. Both local and federal law enforcement authorities say that as a young man, he affiliated early on with the local Mafia faction known to be in control of the northeastern section of Pennsylvania, specifically the Family headed by boss Santo Volpe.

Nobody is certain when he was inducted, but the FBI says that by at least the mid-late 1950s, Benfante was considered to be a formally initiated “made” member within what had now been renamed the Bufalino Family after its former underboss Rosario (Russ) Bufalino took over the reins from deceased former leader, Giuseppe (Joe) Barbara Sr.

Benfante was considered to be a loyal soldier and disciple of Russ Bufalino. Other members of the Pittston family he was known to closely associate with through the years included such Family stalwarts as Family consigliere Vincenzo (Dave Osticco) Sticco, capodecina Burgio (Bill) Medico, Philip Medico, Angelo (Sandy) Sciandra and Dominick (Nick) Alaimo, and soldiers Casper (Cappy) Guimento , Samuel (Swimmy) DeBella, Charles Schifano, Salvatore (Sam) Alaimo , and Modesto (Murph) Loquasto.

Union Racketeering

Dating back as far as 1934, we have documentation that Benfante was already involved in the labor movement and connected with unions. For instance, on September 15 of that year, he was already in a powerful enough position to call for a meeting of all members of the No. 6 Colliery Union Local of the United Anthracite Miners of Pennsylvania. He sent out a dictate for all union workers to meet the following morning at 9:30 a.m. sharp in St. Aloysius’ Hall.

As the years passed, Nick Benfante became a labor union official with several different unions. But his most important and lucrative appointment was when he was named to the presidency of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Needleworkers Association then headquartered in the Kehoe Building in Downtown Pittston.

This potent umbrella union was composed of an amalgamation of various garment trades connected to Pittston’s large apparel industry. Benfante’s key union post allowed him to conduct labor extortion, union treasury fund embezzlement, shakedowns of employers and employees, and other nefarious activities on behalf of the Bufalino crime Family .

Recognized as the dominant behind-the-scenes power within Northeastern Pennsylvania’s extensive garment manufacturing industry, members of the local Mafia gained a virtual lock on the sub-contracting and hauling of dresses and other apparel work contracted out from Manhattan’s famed Garment District into Pennsylvania to be assembled with non-union labor. The finished garments were then trucked back into the Big Apple for distribution to wholesalers or shipped directly to wholesale buyers nationwide.

The Northeastern Pennsylvania Needleworkers Association soon became the premier union supplying workers to the dozens and dozens of dress factories located in the area. Benfante found himself in the unique position of having a proverbial whip at the ready to extract monies from various companies doing business within the apparel industry.

As time passed, Nick got stronger and stronger within the industry and started making real money. So, he eventually invested some of his profits and bought an area motor lodge called the Air-Port Motel in Avoca, PA.

Strong-Arming and Other Pastimes

As the president of a sprawling collection of union locals, Benfante also headed another offshoot union named the Northeastern Pennsylvania Trailer Workers Association, which was an affiliate of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Needle Workers Association.

Referred to as a “catch-all union,” these union locals had the authority and latitude to organize workers in a variety of industries, including cigar factory workers and the electricians and allied electrical trades.

In January 1956, one of the unions Nick was affiliated with, Local #1 of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Cigar Workers Union, struck the manufacturing plant of the Consolidated Cigar Corporation in South Pittston which caused the workers to stage a weeks-long walkout.

After more than one month out on strike, labor mediators were finally able to get the company’s management and the union officials representing the striking workers to the bargaining table.

Benfante complained that the labor strife started after employees of the South Pittston cigar factory cast their ballots to form a workers union and decided Benfante’s Local #1 would be their chosen bargaining agent. When the plant’s managers then refused to recognize his union, the workers walked out and refused to go back to work.

Catch-Alls

The Pennsylvania Trailer Workers Union (PTWU) held key contracts in a variety of industries including 90 plant workers they represented who built mobile homes as employees of a local factory of the Imperial Mobile Home Corporation, located at 111 Boston Avenue in West Pittston.

In August 1957, the PTWU came into conflict with Local #4 of the United Automobile Workers Union (AFl-CIO) which was trying to wrest control of the plant’s employees from Local #4 and become the recognized bargaining agent for the plant’s assembly line employees.

Around this same period, Benfante’s union came into conflict with both the United Auto Workers Union and Teamsters Union over their representation of 116 workers employed by a different company. A bitter fight quickly ensued between the two labor organizations, but, in the end, the plant’s workers chose to switch affiliations and allow the UAW to represent their interests as bargaining agent.

It was a major loss for Benfante’s union which the National Labor Relations Board declared was unfit for a ballot vote, citing, “It doesn’t qualify because the union is not in conformance with the Federal “Taft-Hartley Act.”

Atlas Chain & Manufacturing Company of West Pittston was another firm whose labor contract was expiring that December and up for reelection. That became another battle royal between the Teamsters, United Auto Workers, and Benfante’s union.

During those fledgling years, Benfante and the mob actively flexed their muscles to secure various union contracts with employers and establish themselves among Northeastern Pennsylvania’s commerce and industry.

On the Hot Seat

By February of 1957, Benfante’s name was getting bandied around a lot, too much, in fact. And he soon came to the attention of federal investigators.

His constant labor battles, many of which were controversial in nature, had brought him to the forefront in local newspapers. He was soon on the minds and tongues of federal agents who had started probing Mafia influence within the American labor movement.

A team of FBI agents, together with their law enforcement brethren, approached several U.S. Senators about the unsavory practices and corruption among labor unions in various cities and towns across the country.

A United States Senate Subcommittee was soon formed to conduct hearings about these allegations. For over a year, the committee traveled from coast to coast to hear testimony. They eventually came to Pennsylvania, placing a special emphasis on the cities of Scranton and Pittston as they probed allegations of rivalry and racketeering in the needle trade unions.

After receiving a few anonymous tips, several investigators with the U.S. Labor Department were also assigned to travel to Scranton to see what they could dig up.

The Garment Gangster

Investigators were only in the Scranton area for several weeks before they turned their attention to Pittston (Lucerne County,) after their interest was peaked and suspicions were aroused by the fact that labor leader Nick Benfante, head of the Northeastern Needleworkers Association, had filed a $100,000 libel suit against the publishers of Reader's Digest magazine.

Only the month before, in their January issue, the magazine had released a scathing article titled “The Lady and The Gangsters,” which highlighted the struggles of Min Matheson, the Wilkes-Barre manager for the International Ladies Garment Workers Union. She had been attempting to organize needle trade workers in the area.

Benfante was named in the article along with several other Pittston men. Almost simultaneously, he filed the $100,000 libel action lawsuit in the Southern District Federal Court in Manhattan, charging that he had been slandered by Readers Digest for stating that “he was and is” a gangster, without any justification.

The lawsuit stated that Benfante had been libeled and “brought into scandal and reproach by the false, scandalous, malicious, defamatory and libelous article.”

Among the more salacious allegations and libelous statements in “The Lady and The Gangsters” article, according to Benfante’s complaint were the following:

That the article inferred Benfante was “a member of an underworld gang” and that his being constable and a tax assessor “was merely a subterfuge and a cover-up for his illegal underworld activities.”

That the plaintiff has organized a union which was “dissolved by court order because of the unsavory character of the leaders” but later joined up with another questionable “union” which used strong-arm methods in getting needle work plants to sign up with their local.

That the Northeastern Pennsylvania Needle Workers Association “was not a bonafide and lawful union but was merely an illegal and unlawful front for illegal activities carried on by the plaintiff.”

And, finally, “That the plaintiff illegally and unlawfully threatened and instilled fear in the owners and operators of various dress factories to capitulate to his demands.”

Surprisingly, on March 25, 1959, Benfante won his lawsuit. Readers Digest agreed to settle the libel suit against them, with a one-time payment to Benfante for $5,000. The settlement offer came within days before the court action was scheduled for trial in the U.S. Southern District Court.

Benfante’s Scranton-based attorney later publicly announced and disclosed that his client was “paid the sum of $5,000 in full settlement of his action against the Readers Digest .”

The lawsuit was settled in Nick’s favor, but this high-profile incident and court case would only help to expose Nick to further law enforcement scrutiny and lead to investigations by both the Labor Racketeering Section of the U.S. Justice Department and the FBI.

Side note: This has to be one of the only times that a hoodlum, (a mafioso no less,) has not only sought legal action against a newspaper or periodical but has actually won in court. Generally speaking, mafiosi are usually dissuaded from such thoughts. And the few times they have been allowed to file a court action by the bosses, their lawsuits were typically laughed out of court by the judge.

The Numbers Racket

On December 3, 1960, State Police conducted a series of raids in Pittston against several local gambling operations, resulting in the arrests of ten suspects. Nick’s brother Patrick was one of those taken into custody.

Pasquale (Patty) Benfante was charged with operating a policy-numbers lottery out of a private residence located at 96 John Street, which Police Sergeant Ed McGroarty said was the gambling ring’s base headquarters.

Arresting officers stated that they found Benfante in a second-floor room, behind by a barricaded steel-reinforced security door and iron-bar windows, attempting to burn up numbers slips and gambling records in trash cans before he unlocked the doors for troopers to enter.

After police gained entry, McGroarty stated he burned his hands trying to retrieve some of the burning papers, which he believed to be numbers slips. A small amount of money was also confiscated from Benfante at the time of his arrest.

Subsequent to Benfante’s arrest, troopers also secured a search warrant for his home, located at 56 Parnell Street, where they recovered several illegal handguns, one of which had the serial numbers filed off of it.

Patty Benfante was subsequently hauled before a judge at the Wilkes-Barre Courthouse that evening and held on $500 cash bail. Police said he was later bailed out by his hoodlum brother, Nick Benfante.

Police later explained that Benfante operated his lottery business by telephone, receiving numbers bets from other lottery operations in the Wilkes-Barre area. They went on to explain that the Benfante ring operated what amounted to a policy “lay off” service, which smaller policy-operators utilized to “hedge” off extra bets they had accepted but were hesitant to book themselves.

That fact led police to label Benfante’s operation as a major policy “bank” that essentially handled the overflow betting volume of other local gambling networks.

Pittston Mob Politician

As early as 1931, the exact same year he was arrested for the first time, Nick Benfante first entered his name in a race for public office. That was the year he ran for the post of constable for the City of Pittston’s Eight Ward.

Several of Nick’s friends, who were also “friends of his friends,” were also elected that year as public servants. Samuel Marranca was elected in the 9th Ward while Ross Giarratano was elected to Pittston’s 10th Ward.

Nick was subsequently reelected and went on to serve for several years. In 1939, Benfante decided to run for Pittston City Council. During this time, numerous public functions were held for various events related to his post and he attended many other public dinners and ceremonies related to Pittston’s political parties.

By 1954, Benfante had switched political parties and was campaigning as a Republican. He was elected that year to be constable for Pittston’s 10th Ward. Two years later, in 1956, now a staunch Republican Party supporter, he was appointed by the Luzerne County Assessors Office to a cushy job as county sub-assessor.

But our boy Nick was a very versatile character. Like a chameleon, just three years later, in 1957, he switched back and ran for a position on the Pittston City Council on the Democratic ticket.

In fact, during his career as a “politician,” he waffled back and forth between parties on numerous occasions. For instance, in September 1939, he lost a race for a city council seat running as a Democrat. He ran fifth in a race of six candidates.

Helping "The Family"

In May 1955, he attended several functions as an active member of the Building Committee of The Greater Pittston Chamber of Commerce. Nestled into between the hundreds of other attendees that evening, were mafiosi who were later identified by the FBI as representing the “hierarchy” of the local Cosa Nostra.

Among the underworld glitterati that evening were such notorious racketeers as Pittston Mafia boss Rosario Bufalino as well as some of his most important and senior capo di decina like William (Bill) Medico, Samuel J. Gelso, Angelo Medico, Philip Medico, and Lou Pagnotti . Other mobbed-up characters included Leo Osticco (a relation of consigliere Dave Osticco,) and of course, our boy, good ole’ Nick Benfante.

Russ Bufalino

Aside from other matters on the schedule for discussion that evening were matters regarding lucrative new building development projects and the awarding of multimillion-dollar contracts by the Luzerne County Highway Department.

His growing influence was such that by the early 1960s, Benfante had also been elected to serve as the president of the Italian-American Citizens Club of Pittston’s Eight Ward.

Through the years, for decades, Benfante was continually elected or reelected to public office, despite an extensive criminal record and his widely-known reputation as a racketeer and mafioso. Such was life among Pittston’s residents, that known hoodlums and racketeers were put on the ballot, year after year, and were actually elected to public office without so much as a raised eyebrow by the public.

Another good example of this complacency by local residents was in November of 1955. That year, Nick ran without any opposition for the office of constable for the Tenth Ward, while in Pittston’s First ward, a hoodlum buddy of his by the name of Ross Giarratano had no opposition in his bid for Judge of Election.

Side Note: Despite his serious police record, nonetheless, dating back to 1931, Benfante always made it his business to involve himself in civic affairs by joining various local philanthropic organizations and unabashedly running for public office.

Despite his lifelong propensity and desire to rub elbows with the upper world, Benfante actively engaged in alcohol-tax evasion, gambling, arson for profit, labor extortion, and strong-arm activities as well.

But his most important function and asset to the Bufalino Crime Family was the important role he played for decades as their premier Mafia figure tasked with cracking the whip against would-be malcontents who dared to buck the Mafia’s wishes within Northeast Pennsylvania’s garment industry.

The Sun Slowly Sets

In 1977, Nick’s devoted wife Gertrude died at Wilkes-Barre at the age of 63 years old. They had been married for 31 years. Seven years later, it was NIck’s turn.

Nicholas Benfante passed away on May 18, 1994. At the time of his death, he had relocated out to Santa Clara, California to be near his sister Connie and her family who had moved to the West Coast years earlier.

Benfante was buried locally, in Santa Clara Mission Cemetery. Nick was 87 years old.

Until next time…”The Other Guy”

The Bufalino Family’s Nick Benfante

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