Racketeer Snapshot: Magaddino Soldier Stephen Coppola

Stephen Coppola was a soldier in the Magaddino Family or the Buffalo Crime Family of Cosa Nostra. Although he was not publicly identified as a top racketeer and mafioso as often as many of his underworld brethren were, nonetheless, Coppola was a devout hoodlum through and through. And he had a lengthy criminal arrest record to prove it, including for murder!

Stephen Coppola - Early Life

Stephen F. (Steve) Coppola - aka “Steve Cappola” and “Stefano Coppola” (TN) - was born on October 28, 1904, in Buffalo, New York. He lived with his father and mother, Salvatore and Maria (nee’ Siccalese), and a brother named Salvatore at 77 Dante Place in Buffalo. The brothers grew up and later resided in the Coppola family compound for many years to come.

Stephen Coppola

As a young man, he Stephen met and married a local girl named Mamie Arrigo. Unfortunately, she died early into their marriage. After her death, Coppola married a second time to a woman named Josephine Farece. These marriages produced a total of five children. A boy named James, and four girls, Joan, Rosalie, Geraldine, and Rita Ann.

FBI # 240905, Buffalo-PD# 23330

Coppola stood 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighed in at a solid 190 pounds. Early mugshots show a hoodlum with dark brown, close-cropped hair and a receding hairline, brown eyes, a fair complexion, and a medium frame. He also wore eyeglasses.

During his early twenties, he was still residing at 77 Dante Place. In later years, after he married, he and his family resided at 324 Hudson Street in Buffalo. Police say among Coppola’s favorite mob haunts were Santore’s Restaurant and the Park-Edge Restaurant. Both establishments were located in the Downtown Buffalo area. The FBI said Coppola was also known to regularly frequent the City of Cleveland, Ohio.

A Lack of Evidence

Although he was not publicly identified as a top racketeer and mafioso as often as many of his underworld brethren were, nonetheless, Stephen Coppola was a devout hoodlum through and through. And he had a lengthy criminal arrest record to prove it.

Dating back to 1928, when he was only 24 years old, Stephen Coppola started notching up arrests with the Buffalo Police Department. Over the years, he was charged with such offenses as grand larceny, robbery, first-degree murder, reckless driving, and numerous violations of Federal Liquor Laws. Coppola served several short prison terms for a string of liquor law convictions.

In 1939, he was charged with the gangland slaying of a rival hoodlum named Luigi (Louie) Sariano four years earlier in 1935. The victim, who had been found in the road, bleeding profusely, had been shot in the hand and neck. He died three hours later of his wounds. The sole piece of evidence used to indict Coppola for the crime was the deathbed statement of Sariano.

The dying declaration was taken from Sariano shortly before he expired at Our Lady of Victory Hospital in Lackawanna. He named as his killers Steven Coppola and his brother, Salvatore Coppola, known as “Scarface Sal.” The victim claimed they had been his two companions that evening, prior to his shooting.

At his arraignment, authorities said Stephen Coppola maintained a rigid, cool indifference to the accusation.

“I’m going to miss a couple of swell ball games” was Coppola's only comment when taken into custody near his Dante Place residence by Detectives Richard J. Conroy and Frank Felicetta.

Coppola did not even request an opportunity to obtain a lawyer. “We met him in the street,” said Detective Felicetta. “Conroy and I stopped him and asked him his name. He admitted his name was Stephen Coppola and told us he lived at 77 Dante Place.”

“We told him he was under arrest in connection with the Sariano murder. He just shrugged his shoulders and said, “That’s too bad, I’m going to miss a couple of swell ball games.”

“The man made no effort whatsoever to obtain legal advice or communicate with a lawyer, relatives, or friends. He admitted having heard of Sariano, but declared he had never had any trouble with him.”

Authorities said that “Scarface” Coppola, who they believed was the only other person present at the killing, was nabbed on a vagrancy charge by the Los Angeles Police Department in 1938. They called the Buffalo Police, who later flew out to California to bring the suspect back to New York.

At the time, the police stated, “The killing was an outgrowth of the illicit alcohol racket feuds which have claimed 15 lives in Buffalo’s underworld since 1928.” They recalled that three weeks prior to his death, the victim had been arrested in a raid on an illicit still in the Town of Depew and that he was awaiting trial on a charge of illegal possession of a revolver at the time of his murder.

All charges against the Coppola brothers regarding Sariano’s murder were later dismissed by a judge for lack of evidence.

The authorities also stated that all through the years Coppola was never known to have been involved as either a salaried employee or an investor in any legitimate business or employment whatsoever.

Liquor, Narcotics, and More

But for many years, Stephen Coppola was known for being a top smuggler of contraband across the United States-Canadian border. He reputedly got his start as both a wholesaler and a distributor of illicit untaxed alcohol throughout the Western New York area. By the early 1950s, he was also known to be heavily engaged as a narcotics trafficker obtaining his supply from over the Canadian border as well as from fellow mafiosi located in New York City.

In fact, Coppola was well known to the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (FBNDD) which considered him to be one of Western New York’s top Mafia-connected drug traffickers.

His brother Salvatore was said to have been a highly-respected mafioso in his own right in the Buffalo area and in Southern Ontario until his untimely death in 1952.

Stephen Coppola numbered among his closest criminal associates most of the top members of the Stefano Magaddino Family, including Family underbosses Frederico (Freddy Lupo) Randaccio and Salvatore (Sam) Pieri, capos Rosario (Roy) Carlisi and Pasquale (Patty Titters) Natarelli, soldiers Samuel Brocato, Daniel (Boots) Sansanese, and Salvatore (Sam) Rizzo, as well as boss Steve Magaddino himself.

Although nothing would come from it, during testimony before the United States Senate Hearings, the so-called McClellan Hearings that were held in 1963 to investigate organized Crime in Western, New York, Coppola was identified as a “soldier” of the Stefano Magaddino Crime Family.

In his later years, Stephen Coppola seems to have faded into the background. No more was heard about him regarding his involvement in any organized crime activity. It is believed that Coppola died in 1984.

Until next time…”The Other Guy”

Racketeer Snapshot: Magaddino Soldier Stephen Coppola

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Racketeer Snapshot: Magaddino Soldier Stephen Coppola

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