Joseph (Joe Buff) La Selva – “Nutmeg Mafioso”

Joseph La Selva controlled almost all organized gambling in the Waterbury area (bribing town officials) and was very active in the cities of Bridgeport and Hartford as well, where the La Selva brothers ran a large-scale sports betting operation that operated through their mob proxies.

Joseph (Joe Buff) La Selva - aka “Joe Buff” and “Joe LaScala” - was born in 1907. He resided and operated all his life in the Waterbury section of Connecticut.

Joseph La Selva was originally named an “underboss” for the Connecticut membership by former family boss Nicholas (Nicky Dell) Delmore in the 1950s.

Joseph La Selva

La Selva continued to maintain his high status during the subsequent administration of Simone DeCavalcante. The active “capo di decina” in Connecticut for many years serving under La Selva’s guidance was Michael (Mickey Poole) Puglia.

He is suspected to have been “made” during the 1930s or early 40s.

By 1965, the FBI identified him as a veteran “soldier” in the DeCavalcante Family who was elevated to “capo di decina” over the Connecticut membership.

La Selva was actually identified by the FBI as an “underboss,” one of two in the Family - the other being, of course, longtime underboss Frank Majuri .

Frank Majuri

This was a rarity in Cosa Nostra (each borgata typically had only one underboss.)

Joe had two brothers, Anthony (Tony Buff) and Thomas (Tommy Buff), both DeCavalcante associates, later said to have been formally inducted as “soldiers” in his Waterbury regime.

La Selva's activities included bookmaking, policy, dice and card games, shylocking, extortion, bribery/corruption, and strong-arm.

He owned and operated the General Automatic Transmission Co., in Waterbury for many years. Anthony and Thomas also worked here, and it was considered a base for their operations. The “Buff Brothers” could be contacted there on a daily basis.

He controlled almost all organized gambling in the Waterbury area (bribing town officials) and was very active in the cities of Bridgeport and Hartford as well, where the La Selva brothers ran a large-scale sports betting operation which operated through their mob proxies.

By 1967, after law enforcement surveillance, authorities listed associates and subordinates of La Selva under his supervision to include;

• Michael (Mickey Poole) Puglia - a reputed Family “capo” for Connecticut

• Louis (Lu Lu) Di Giovanna -- a “key” suspected soldier

• Joseph (Pipi) Guerriero - suspected soldier

• Frank Carbone - soldier

• Anthony La Selva - soldier

• Thomas La Selva - associate (probably inducted)

• Eugenio (Gene) Puglia - associate (brother of Michael)

• Noxie Diorio - associate

• Hugo Allegrini - associate

• Carmen Yovino - associate

• Daniel Tesesco - associate

Additional associates and crew members included Michael Auilante, Robert (Bobby Apples) Appicello, Caesar Telesca, and Frank Salerno.

...... among many other hoodlums more loosely affiliated with this criminal network.

Joseph La Selva's brother, Thomas

The La Selva brothers were also said to operate an active “shylock” business in Connecticut.

Carmen Yovino was alleged to run dice and card games on behalf of La Selva.

Frank Carbone, an Italian-born hoodlum, who had a long record and was considered a strong-arm enforcer and debt collector for the crew, was affiliated with Guerriero and Tedesco in extensive policy operations in the Hartford and New Britain area for La Selva.

Guerriero was said to have exclusive dominion over the “black” numbers action in the New Britain section.

They based operations out of Trinacria Club (a mob social club) and Giovanni’s Italian Restaurant in Hartford.

Trinacria Social Club logo.

In 1965, La Selva came under intense FBI scrutiny after his name was repeatedly captured on a “bug” illegally installed in Sam DeCavalcante’s NJ plumbing office describing him as an underboss and the Connecticut faction head.

In 1966, Joe and Tony “Buff” were detected leaving Ange & Min’s Restaurant in Kenilworth, NJ, after a get-together with Sam DeCavalcante and other Family members for a meeting at that location.

Also surveilled that date were cars in the restaurant parking lot registered to Carbone, Di Giovanna, Guerriero, and Puglia.

From that date forward, all were considered by the FBI as suspected (inducted) “members” in that Family.

In 1967, it was reported that Puglia operated the Bahama Holidays of Bridgeport, a travel agency that arranged gambling “junkets” to the Grand Bahamas Island.

In 1968, after the death of the La Selvas mother in Waterbury, various DeCavalcante Family members or NJ license plates on a number of cars registered to them were observed at the wake, including Sam DeCavalcante and Corky Vastola .

Corky Vastola

Note: Puglia was also known to operate “floating dice games” extensively in partnership with La Selva in the Bridgeport area where Puglia controlled many varied gambling enterprises, including policy and bookmaking, on behalf of the Family.

Joe Buff La Selva died in 1983..... and to my understanding, had a pretty smooth and successful mob “career”!

Joseph (Joe Buff) La Selva – “Nutmeg Mafioso”

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Joseph (Joe Buff) La Selva – “Nutmeg Mafioso”

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You May Also Enjoy

Racketeer Snapshot: Connecticut’s Frank (The Cigar) Piccolo

The Anthony Strollo Regime of NY/NJ

The Day Charlie (the Bug) Workman Saved a Horse

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