The Invisible Mafia of Triple Cities – The Joseph Barbara Family

Joseph Barbara had a little-known, but dark past as a top gunman and enforcer for the Castellammarese faction of the Mafia. He was allied from boyhood with such infamous mafiosi as Vito Bonventre, John Bonventre, Joseph Bonanno , Stefano Magaddino, Frank Garofalo, Carmine Galante , Gaspare Milazzo, and the original leader of all those born in the seaside town of Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily.

The Triple-Cities Metropolitan region which comprises what’s commonly referred to as New York’s Southern Tier is located in South-Central New York. It has a population of nearly 250,000 residents.

Its primary territory includes the city of Binghamton (population 45,000) as well as Endicott (pop. 36,000), Endwell (pop. 11,000), Johnson City (pop. 15,000), Vestal (pop. 28,000), and Auburn (pop. 26,000) to name but a few of all the little towns and villages that form the entire region.

Joseph Barbara, Sr.

For many years, law enforcement was in the dark about the area’s underworld. In fact, to this very day many in law enforcement, as well as the general public and mob aficionados alike still don’t recognize and acknowledge the fact that this area has always had its very own mafia family.

Southern Tier of New York

And equally important, has played an extremely important role over the years in the mafia’s early development in the United States.

The city of Binghamton was always a notorious racketeer haven for decades since the early 1920s. But although the area had a plethora of criminals, bootleggers, gamblers, pimps, and racketeers, local police always considered them to be independent, small-time hoods. And nothing more. We now know that was definitely not the case!

It was not until the infamous 1957 “Apalachin Mafia Meeting” in Binghamton that federal law enforcement authorities started to take a closer and a more serious view of what was going on in that part of the nation.

But even then, with the Mafia finally exposed and on full display, for the public to see, the FBI and federal probers still failed to recognize the true significance that Binghamton played in the overall nationwide network known as Cosa Nostra.

This is their story!

A Virtual Unknown

The Giuseppe Barbara clan was based in Binghamton, New York. This family also had a large portion of their membership based nearby right over the state line in the towns of Pittston-Scranton and Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

Their Pennsylvania continent numbered approximately 30 to 40 members and hundreds more criminal associates. Likewise, the New York-based faction numbered around two dozen ‘made’ members and a hundred or so more associates.

‘Don’ Giuseppe Barbara Sr., more commonly called Joe Barbara and sometimes referred to as “Joe the Barber,” was the undisputed capo over a small territory, but one that produced tremendous rackets revenue and profits nonetheless. He ran his small regime for decades as a virtual unknown.

In later years, he assumed total command over the entire borgata after the death from natural causes of the clan’s previous don, Giovanni (John) Sciandra, who lived and operated from the family’s original home base of Pittston-Scranton in the anthracite coal region of Pennsylvania where they had the majority of their members.

Binghamton, New York

Binghamton and its surrounding towns and territories produced a disproportionately large contingent of gamblers, racketeers, and underworld criminal activity. And through it all, Joe Barbara largely remained in the shadows as its resident underworld potentate.

Ostensibly, he was a prominent, but shadowy businessman with a serious former police record who owned a large regional Canada-Dry Ginger Ale Bottling Company plant, and a wholesale beer distributing company, located at 9 Badger Street, Endicott, NY. He lived in a sprawling ranch-style brick home on a multi-acre estate in the quiet leafy village of Apalachin, New York.

But Barbara had a little known but dark past as a top gunman and enforcer for the Castellammarese faction of the Mafia. He was allied from boyhood with such infamous mafiosi as Vito Bonventre, John Bonventre, Joseph Bonanno, Stefano Magaddino, Frank Garofalo, Carmine Galante, Gaspare Milazzo, and the original leader of all those born in the seaside town of Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily.

He and his brother Carlo, known on the streets of New York as “Charlie,” were both gunsels during the 1920s-1930s era back in New York City.

In fact, Carlo Barbara had once been charged with the murder of a fellow mafioso named Antonio Curatola in front of his home on Chrystie Street on Manhattan’s Lower East Side during a purging of Sicilian dissidents between Castellammarese factions of the Sicilian underworld.

It was an age-old blood feud that had spilled from the hills of Castellammare del Golfo back in their homeland, to the streets of America after those same mafiosi had immigrated to the U.S.

Joe Barbara himself had been charged with murder on three separate occasions and was a prime suspect in a dozen more during his rise to power.

After becoming the caporegime over his upstate Binghamton territory, he brought his loyal brother Carlo back into the fold after Carlo’s murder conviction and subsequent 10-20 year sentence was conveniently commuted by a very friendly New York State Governor Lehman. No doubt the mafia had reached Lehman and handed him a nice fat envelope in order to help insure such a positive ruling for Carlo.

At the Forefront of the Mafia's Earliest Known History

Side Note: The Barbara brothers were clearly at the forefront of the earliest known history of the Mafia in this country. They were documented as street fighters in early conflicts between rival Sicilian factions of Castellammarese mafiosi who vied for supremacy in America.

The war between the Buccellato faction from Castellammare, and their arch-rivals , the alliance of the Bonventre-Magaddino-Bonanno families, which later became known as “The Good Killers,” was one of the first, if not the first, all-consuming mafia war seen in America.

Over the course of a half-dozen years or so, police in both New York City and their law enforcement counterparts in Detroit, Michigan, documented over 60 killings as being part of this conflict. The Curatola murder being just one of them.

Felice Buccellato, Francesco Buccellato, Vito Buccellato, Pietro Magaddino, Felice Puma, Antonio Bosco, Camillo Caiozzo, Pietrino Caiozzo, Guiseppe Saraceno, etc., were just some of the names of mafiosi killed during this internal conflict.

The murders went on and on, back and forth between the clans, until enough of the Buccallato clan was wiped out and retreated back to Castellammare del Golfo, where they continue to be leaders of the local mafia clan to this very day.

Next came the infamous Castellammarese War, which was fought over an eighteen-month period between 1929 and 1931. Sicilian strongman Guiseppe (Joe the Boss) Masseria declared unmitigated war, and no uncertain death, to all those mafiosi hailing from the little seaside village of Castellammare del Golfo. They had refused to capitulate to Masseria’s demands for “tribute” payments.

As the recognized leader of the largest and most powerful mafia family in the United States (which today is known as the Genovese Family,) he demanded and received fealty and money tributes from all other mafia factions throughout the country.

But the fiercely proud and highly independent Castellammarese clan refused to recognize Masseria on bended-knee as he demanded of them. They were a wily and resourceful bunch. They had always been. And they were not about to become subservient to a mafioso whom they viewed as a low-class ‘cafone,’ and a crazed madman at that…Trouble soon ensued.

After many bloody battles fought on the streets of New York City, Detroit, and even back in their hometown of Sicily, the Castellammarese clan, led by their wartime leader Salvatore (Don Turiddo) Maranzano prevailed in the conflict.

With the murder of Masseria at Scarpato’s Restaurant one afternoon in Coney Island, Brooklyn at the hands of several of his men who had betrayed him (Lucky Luciano and Vito Genovese paramount among them,) Maranzano and his Castellammarese followers declared victory.

As a primary combatant, Joe Barbara’s underworld stock rose significantly. He soon migrated to the Pittston-Scranton area where he became the top gunman under territory boss Santo Volpe and his second-in-command Stefano La Torre.

Over the next decade or so, Barbara would become the prime suspect in numerous killings of all those deemed contrary to Volpe Family interests. He was also pivotal to the group’s takeover of area bootlegging rackets from independents and also helped the borgata infiltrate several labor unions related to the multimillion-dollar coal industry.

With Santo Volpe’s retirement from the boss seat, Joe Barbara continued under the reign of succeeding boss John Sciandra. And with Sciandra’s passing in 1949, Barbara was named official “Capo” or “Representante” over the entire family. But by the early 1940s, he had relocated back to New York State purchasing a large tract of land in Upstate New York where he erected a sprawling residential estate.

Rosario Bufalino

Although he was, in fact, the boss of the Pittston-Scranton-based family, Joe Barbara himself resided and ruled the borgata from his home base of Binghamton, New York. He named Russ Bufalino as his underboss, and it was Bufalino who largely governed their Pittston membership while Joe Barbara operated from Binghamton and maintained their New York faction.

Over the years, Barbara had developed a large network of Italian racketeers, some of whom became ‘inducted’ mafia soldiers in his personal upstate regime. So, he had a ready underworld network at his fingertips.

Barbara is largely credited with having almost singlehandedly expanded the small Pennsylvania-based family into New York State. This mafia network became a major underworld player among all of Cosa Nostra.

The Bufalino Confusion

Side Note: Because Joe Barbara largely left Russ Bufalino to his own devices in overseeing their Pittston-based membership, the FBI repeatedly made the mistake through the years of assuming that Bufalino was the boss. That was not the case. He was in fact, the second-in-command as underboss.

Until Barbara’s death from natural causes in 1959, he remained the “representante” of this Cosa Nostra network. Bufalino assumed the mantle of power thereafter.

Additionally, the chronology of leadership for the Pittston-based borgata was as follows: Stefano La Torre, Santo Volpe, John Sciandra, Joe Barbara, Russ Bufalino, and lastly Edward Sciandra. The family saw its final days while under Eddie Sciandra’s watch.

A Precursor to Apalachin

Over the years, it has been well-documented by both local and federal authorities that Joe Barbara maintained close relations with other mafia bosses and families. Among his closest ‘amici’ were thought to be Steve Magaddino (who Barbara was often misidentified as being ‘under,’) Joe Bonanno, and his underboss Carmine Galante.

In fact, in 1956, the FBI documented Galante’s travels up to the Binghamton area where it’s believed he was housed and protected by Barbara while he was under investigation. Galante was actually arrested near Binghamton after he produced a phony driver's license to a NY State Policeman who had pulled his automobile over for speeding.

It’s also believed that Joe Barbara had hosted a major Cosa Nostra conference that the same year that was attended by many top bosses including Bonanno and Magaddino.

It was a precursor of sorts to the large ‘national’ conference of Mafia bosses and their top underlings the following year on November 14, 1957. That event arguably became Cosa Nostra’s most embarrassing moment in their storied history when a little-known state trooper named Sgt. Edgar D. Croswell noticed the inordinate amount of fancy late-model automobiles with out-of-state license plates descending upon his quiet little town of Apalachin.

Of course, any mob aficionado knows all about what happened next. The infamous “Apalachin Mafia Meeting” was raided by teams of New York State Troopers after Sgt. Croswell requested and then got the okay from police higher-ups to investigate what was going on at Barbara’s vast estate property.

Sixty of the nation’s most notorious racketeers (all of the Italian ethnicity) were detained and questioned back at police barracks. It was suspected that dozens more mafiosi had escaped the dragnet after successfully evading the police barricades and sweep.

The FBI eventually joined the investigation and determined that nearly each of those detained was either considered a top criminal in their respective part of the country or a suspected mafia member who had police ‘yellow jackets’ a mile long.

Never before had law enforcement been able to put all the pieces of this complex puzzle together. The picture that now emerged was shocking, to say the least.

No longer could FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover stand there and claim that there was no such thing as the mafia. No longer could he deny to the American people that there was no nationwide monolithic underworld operating as one massive entity. The raid on the Barbara estate is now viewed as the watershed moment that America finally woke up to Cosa Nostra.

From that time forward, continuing to this very day, federal law enforcement has viewed the Italian mafia as the single most powerful force in the American underworld - and it all started at the home of Joseph Barbara in the quiet little environ of Binghamton, New York.

The Apalachin Aftermath

A Federal Grand Jury was quickly empaneled to investigate the entire affair. And after subpoenaing and grilling all the bbq attendees that day at Barbara’s estate, investigators realized that those men identified as belonging to the Barbara/Bufalino family represented a disproportionate number of mafiosi who had been invited to that infamous barbecue.

Joe Barbara’s closest aides and assistants were among a handful of local soldiers who attended the underworld powwow. His son Joseph Barbara Jr., Pasquale (Patsy) Turrigiano, Bartolomeo (Bart) Guccia, Pasquale (Patsy) Sciortino, Emanuel (Manny) Zicari, Saverio (Sam) Monachino, his brother Pasquale (Patsy) Monachino, and the young soldier Ignazio (Sonny) Cannone.

Also in attendance that chilly November day was his most important soldier, who also served as his top torpedo, and was eventually elevated to caporegime status over the entire Binghamton membership - Anthony (The Governor) Guarnieri.

Over the years, “Gov” Guarnieri had become the prime suspect in several high-profile gangland-style killings ordered around the Triple-Cities region. Small-time gamblers and police informants such as Anthony (Tony) Gance, James (Jimmy Flip) DeFilippo, and Martin Agricola were all thought to have met their demise by Guarnieri’s hand.

Additional members who also attended the mob barbecue from their Pittston-Scranton faction included family underboss Russ Bufalino, as well as, capos Vincenzo (Jimmy Osticco) Sticco, Dominick (Nicky) Alaimo, Angelo J. (Sandy) Sciandra.

Altogether, fourteen documented Barbara clan members were known to have participated at Apalachin that fateful day. It’s very possible that even more clan members had successfully made their escape. The authorities suspected as much.

A Plethora of Rackets

Among the primary rackets the New York faction operated were alcohol stills and smuggling bootlegged liquor in from Canada, a wide variety of gambling rackets, various heists and thefts, unlicensed after-hours clubs around the city, and garment rackets.

Bookmaking, horse parlors, floating crap games, slot machines, policy numbers, illegal ticket lotteries, and other types of gambling were major money makers for the Binghamton crew; so was garment industry racketeering.

A good portion of the regime’s soldiers owned and operated dress contracting factories or garment trucking firms that serviced dress manufacturers and related companies in Manhattan’s garment district.

The New York State membership worked in partnership with their ‘blood brothers’ right over the Pennsylvania line in the quiet little towns of Pittston-Scranton, and Wilkes Barre where the borgata also maintained a major portion of their membership.

The Pittston-Scranton-based members, led by underboss Rosario (Russ) Bufalino, were deeply enmeshed in the family’s garment operations. Nearly all top members owned garment firms or were affiliated with the garment industry in some way.

The Pennsylvania-based membership had also deeply infiltrated the anthracite region’s coal industry decades earlier and was now pivotal to that industry’s function and operation. Many top capos and soldiers were the listed, registered owners of major coal companies.

What follows below is the known membership for the family from its early inception through its final years of existence.

The Invisible Mafia of Triple Cities – The Joseph Barbara Family

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The Invisible Mafia of Triple Cities – The Joseph Barbara Family

Unlock This Door to the Underworld

Take the Journey!

You May Also Enjoy

The Anthony Strollo Regime of NY/NJ

The Day Charlie (the Bug) Workman Saved a Horse

Racketeer Profile – San Francisco’s “Jimmy the Hat” Lanza

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