Lou Volpe – Pittsburgh Mob Pillar

Lou Volpe came from a large family with a rich underworld history. In the early 1930s, after three of his brothers were killed in early underworld strife in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Lou and his brother Joe were quickly accepted and absorbed into what would become the LaRocca Family of Cosa Nostra.

Starting as a soldier, Volpe's talent was quickly recognized, and he soon rose to a capo position in their borgata. His specialty was illegal gambling rackets .

Louis (Lou) Volpe was born on July 27, 1901, in Agropoli, Salerno, Italy, to Ignazio and Rosaria "Rosina" Volpe (nee Princepe). The family entered the U.S. in 1913 and first resided in Wilmerding. Loui became a naturalized citizen in 1914.

He resided for years at 1017 Taylor Street in North Versailles, PA. Volpe and his brother Joe also partnered in a residence down at 12850 Maple Road in Keystone Point in North Miami, Florida, which they both often used as a winter retreat.

Lou Volpe

He was also known to frequent the thermal baths at Buckstaff Bathhouse, Hot Springs, Arkansas, in the company of other top Pittsburgh hoodlums.

Volpe is recorded as first marrying Catherine Allshouse in 1923 when she was only 16 years old. They had three children together, two sons they named John Louis and Guy Joseph, and a girl they named Gloria. Catherine died very early into the marriage, in 1936, at the age of 29. Only a year later, in 1937, their young daughter Gloria passed away from rheumatic heart disease and pneumonia. She was only 11 years old.

In 1939, Lou married a 22-year-old woman by the name of Erma Hunter (she also apparently died young) before marrying Leona (nee Cioncoli) in 1944. Better known as "Lee," Lou would remain with her for the rest of his life.

Lou Volpe stood 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighed 180 pounds. He had black hair, a "ruddy" complexion, and brown eyes.

According to his obituary, Volpe was a Marine Corps veteran in World War I, a member of Variety Club International, a charter member of the Optimist club in Wilmerding, and an honorary member of the Italian Social Club, also in Wilmerding. He was also a member of the Moose Lodge in East McKeesport and the Legion of the Moose Lodge in Verona.

He usually drove a late-model four-door Cadillac and always preferred the color blue. His known hangouts included the Adrilee Motor Motel on Route 30 in Wilmerding and the Holiday House in Monroeville.

Early Betrayal

Lou Volpe came from a large family, one of eight brothers, five of whom were involved in the bootlegging rackets. Three of his brothers were killed in early underworld strife in Pittsburgh in 1932. John, Jimmy, and Arthur Volpe were ambushed and slain in the Roma Restaurant and Cafe they operated on Wylie Street in the Hill District, a heavily populated area in Little Italy where the brothers were revered by the community.

John Volpe, nicknamed “Prince Johnny,” had also been an area councilman who controlled the Italian voting bloc, which gave the Volpe Gang pivotal control over their bootlegging and Italian lottery rackets.

The brothers were set up and betrayed after an agreed-upon truce was negotiated by the newly formed national “Commission” between the Napolitani-born Volpes and their previous adversary, Siciliano-born Giovanni (John) Bazzano Sr., who was also a powerful and recognized mafia leader in their area.

Bazzano ended up breaking that truce agreement and sending a hit team after the Volpe brothers to slaughter them. But John Bazzano would later pay for his betrayal.

Invited to New York City for an important meeting of the National Commission shortly after the Volpe slayings, Bazzano was set upon by all the bosses in that meeting room. He was massacred. He was beaten, bludgeoned, stabbed over twenty times with ice picks, and his tongue was cut out for having lied to his fellow mafiosi. His trussed-up corpse was found in a burlap sack discarded on a deserted street in Brooklyn, New York.

It is interesting to note that in later years, Bazzano’s namesake son John Jr. would rise to become a member and ultimately a “caporegime” in the Pittsburgh Family, working side by side with Lou and his brother Joe. I wonder how the surviving Volpe brothers felt about that.

Side Note: In addition to other top mafia bosses, Lucky Luciano's underboss Vito Genovese (a staunch Napolitani and supporter of his brethren) was most likely instrumental in lobbying for the murder of Bazzano. Years later, Genovese helped install fellow Napolitano Francesco Amato to become Pittsburgh’s boss.

Rising in Status

Lou Volpe was also a part of the notorious “Volpe Gang," who, up until the 1932 killings, dominated the alcohol and lottery rackets in the Little Italy section of Pittsburgh. The only reason he may have survived the ambush was because he was sitting in a city jail for alcohol violations when the murders happened.

Because of the Volpe Family’s rich history in the city’s underworld, Lou and his brother Joe were quickly accepted and absorbed into what would eventually become known as the LaRocca Family of LCN. Starting as a soldier, his talent was quickly recognized, and he soon rose to a “capo di decina” status in their borgata.

Volpe essentially ran his own mini mafia Family or “regime” in the designated section of Wilmerding-Turtle Creek Valley and its outer neighborhoods. His territory was said to encompass Pitcairn, East Pittsburgh, Eden Park, and Fair Oaks.

The Volpe crew was equal but separate from several other semi-independent mafia crews in the city, all under the resident mafia borgata. All were subservient to the overall recognized “Capo” over all of Pittsburgh, Sebastian (John) LaRocca.

As his second in command, Volpe picked his brother Joseph, and directly under the Volpes was a highly trusted veteran soldier and lifelong friend by the name of Joe Sica . These three would govern their faction. Joseph Rosa Sr. was also a listed soldier in the crew.

In fact, various informants and FBI surveillance records indicated that when high-level hierarchy meetings were set, Lou would often designate Joe Sica to act in his stead. It is suspected that Sica may have actually been the regime's “acting capo” and not Lou’s brother, Joe Volpe, as originally thought.

Side Note: I make this distinction because, although, at face value, one could say that’s how all Cosa Nostra Families in the country are structured, it was very different in Pittsburgh. The difference lay in the mindset and actual logistics of those “regimes.”

Boss John LaRocca maintained only loose oversight of his regime capos. They were each trusted and allowed to operate as they wished without LaRocca breathing down their necks, requiring them to toe the line, so to speak. Each capo ran his regime like a mini fiefdom, the “czar” of their own clearly delineated territory. It was a unique arrangement, to say the least.

The bottom line? It worked like a charm to everyone’s benefit for decades. They all made a ton of money.

Businesses and Associates

Lou Volpe's legitimate business interests included the J & L Cigarette Service at 95 Bridge Street in Wilmerding. He was also the president of the Rainbow Gardens Amusement Park in White Oak (which was owned by his brother Joe.)

In 1954, he became a one-third owner in the Valley Beer Distributors Co. In 1957, he had interests in the Versailles Amusement Co. in White Oak. At one time, the Volpes and Sica also operated the Vogue Terrace Supper Club. It burned down in a suspicious fire in 1963.

Volpe and Sica were also strongly suspected of owning shares in the Holiday House, a motel-supper club in Monroeville, PA.

Side Note: it is important to note that all of the above-listed businesses also had additional Pittsburgh mafiosi who held varying ownership interests in them. Volpe partnered with many noted underworld figures over the years.

In addition, Volpe was alleged to have operated a numbers lottery in Wilmerding and the surrounding areas with his brother. They also ran large crap games at the Valley Sportsmen’s Club, a casino at times, and one-armed bandits along their vending routes.

Early in their careers, in the 1930s, the Volpe brothers were also suspected of dabbling in the narcotics trade.

Side Note: A police investigation forced the Valley Sportsmen’s Club to close suddenly after the murder of a racketeer by the name of Nick Miller. In 1958, Miller was found shot dead and stuffed in the trunk of his car, which was parked near the club.

It was noted that Volpe’s close criminal associates, over the years, included most significant members of the Pittsburgh crew, including his brother Joseph Volpe*, Sebastian (John) LaRocca, Frank Amato Sr., Mike Genovese, Samuel (Sam) Mannarino and his brother Gabriel (Kelly) Mannarino , Joseph (Jojo) Pecora, Joseph Sica*, Vincenzo (Jimmy) Tripodi , Joseph Rosa Sr.*, Joseph Rosa Jr.*, Joseph (Little Joe Ragno) Regino, Frank Valenti, John Scardino, Salvatore (Little Sally) Celembrino, Ernest (Eddie Buff) Lanzieri, Vincent (Jimmy Doyle) Plumeri , William (Sarge) Botti *, Mike Tomko*, Tommy Nelis *, Morris (Red) Whitman *, Harry (Sonny) Gest*, Charles Stupak*, Henry Katz *, and Giuseppe (Joe Peachy) Pici (he was later deported back to Italy in the 1940s).

Side Note: For over fifteen months in the aftermath of the 1957 state police raid on the ill-fated Apalachin Mafia Meeting in Upstate New York, Volpe hid his good buddy Kelly Mannarino out from federal investigators who searched in vain to apprehend him after a subpoena was issued for his testimony.

Side Note: The 11 names with an asterisk listed above were considered direct subordinates in Volpe’s group. It should also be noted that several of these longtime, trusted minions had brothers and cousins who served in the local police department and political machine.

It was also suspected that the Volpe regime used these connections to subvert juries and sway investigations their way. Several of his crew members had actually been arrested and tried on bribery charges for attempting to reach a juror hearing a criminal case against some of their crew.

The Big Arrest

I had a difficult time accessing any significant police records for Louis Volpe. He had a bootlegging conviction for which he served a short 6-month jail sentence on a liquor law violation as a young man during the Prohibition era. He had several other arrests for simple assaults and one for malicious mischief for busting the windows of storefronts and homes of independent political candidates and those opposing the Volpe’s sway over city politics.

Other than those few early minor arrests, there wasn’t much else. This makes me believe that his record was limited at best. He seems to have learned a valuable lesson early in life about the streets—stay in the shadows, make money, not headlines! It would be his mantra for the remainder of his career.

The one criminal case I did connect him to late in his career was a doozy, though.

In 1969, he was indicted along with other top members of his borgata, including John LaRocca, Joe Sica, Frank Rosa, Frank Amato, and Gabriel Mannarino, and important key members of New York’s Genovese and Lucchese mobs, including Salvatore Celembrino, Peter DeFeo, Ernest Lanzieri, Salvatore Granello, and James Plumeri.

Salvatore Celembrino

Several men connected to the Central States Teamsters Pension Fund were also arrested, including Teamsters auditor David Wenger, lawyer Angelo DiSpirito, mortgage broker John Kelly, and several others. Additionally, a top member of Detroit’s mob was pulled into the case as well, Dominick Corrado and his associate Samuel Marroso.

They were accused in a series of five separate but connected federal conspiracy indictments involving the illegal granting (embezzlement) of various business investment “loans” from the Central States Pension Fund in Detroit totaling millions of dollars.

In a rare reversal of fortunes after a lengthy trial in New York, they all were acquitted, with only the lawyer and Teamsters auditor getting convicted on all counts. Volpe and the others skated free by the skin of their teeth on this one. Great lawyering to say the least.

After that unwanted exposure, Volpe did his best to fade back into the shadows for the rest of his underworld career. He had seen it all;- the good, the bad, and the very ugly. He allowed his trusted aide, Joe Sica, to man the helm in most situations requiring a “sitdown” or public negotiations, preferring to stay comfortably in the background.

Luigi (Lou) Volpe died on June 3, 1987, at the age of 85 years old from kidney failure. But try as he did, the notorious Volpe surname is not a name the people of Pittsburgh are soon to forget!

Until next time..."The Other Guy"

Lou Volpe – Pittsburgh Mob Pillar

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Lou Volpe – Pittsburgh Mob Pillar

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