One of the most interesting Mafia Families ever established in the United States was the one based in the Anthracite coal region of Pittston, Pennsylvania.
Its founding members were early Sicilian immigrants from Montedoro, Sicily who settled in the northeast portion of the state and formed one of the most successful and long-lasting Cosa Nostra borgatas in history.
A young Sicilian immigrant named Stefano (Steve) LaTorre is attributed with laying the seeds for the Family when he brought together a small group of countrymen and formed a clan.
He soon sponsored his boyhood friend and “compare” Santo Volpe to immigrate as well by paying for his voyage to America and helping Volpe establish himself.
LaTorre then abdicated his position as leader, and Volpe assumed the mantle of power and further organized and expanded their clan into a formal Mafia borgata recognized throughout Cosa Nostra.
