Although always considered a small mafia group, but during their heyday, the Bufalino Family was a good-sized borgata with over 50-60 members and hundreds of associates.
At the height of their power during the 1930s through 1960s period what has become commonly referred to as the Bufalino Family of Northeastern Pennsylvania was estimated to have approximately 50 to 60 formerly inducted members.
Although some original members would die over the years, through the continued induction of recruits they were believed to have maintained these membership numbers until approximately the mid-1970s.
Note: For more history, please see Rackets & Business Infiltration of The Bufalino Family and The Barbara-Bufalino Family Leadership Chart, a comprehensive pictorial membership chart. In addition, The Invisible Mafia of Triple Cities: The Joseph Barbara Family and our extensive bio, King of the Night: The Shadowy Santo Volpe – Pittston’s Representante provides even more historical information on this mafia family.
From that point forward, the boss of this Cosa Nostra network, Rosario (Russ) Bufalino, was said to have stopped inducting any new soldiers. He allowed the borgata to slowly dwindle down its membership roster to the point that by the mid to late 1980s the Family was thought to have no more than 25 or so inducted mafiosi.
Thereafter, they continued to conduct their existing business and racket operations through an expanding network of uninitiated underworld “associates.”
The early Sicilian immigrant Stefano (Steve) LaTorre is generally credited as being the first mafioso to organize a formal network or ‘clan’ of inducted members to operate as a Cosa Nostra Family around the Pittston-Scranton section of Northeastern Pennsylvania’s coal mine region.
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