Although it never had an indigenous Mafia Family to call its own, since at least the Roaring Twenties, the State of Connecticut has played host to a variety of Cosa Nostra factions all operating within its borders. These include individual “regimes” or factions of the Genovese, Gambino, and Colombo Families of New York City as well as the Patriarca Family, which is based in nearby Providence, Rhode Island.
They were active throughout Connecticut in such cities as New Britain, Bridgeport, and Hartford, among others. Over the years, these mob factions partnered and shared as well as competed for underworld “turf” and overall supremacy within The Nutmeg State. New Jersey’s Sam DeCavalcante Family was also very well represented in Connecticut through one of its two underbosses who happened to grow up and reside in the City of Waterbury.
In fact, aside from overseeing an active DeCavalcante “regime” that operated gambling and shylock rackets in Norwalk, Bridgeport, and Hartford, Family underboss Giuseppe (Joe Buff) LaSelva and his brothers Tommy and Tony, both of whom were soldiers, and other members of their crew, held a complete “lock” over Waterbury where they were the sole Mafia faction in power From at least the mid-1940s through the 1980s, the “LaSelva Regime” controlled all underworld operations in that city with a population of over 100,000 residents.
