Bufalino crime family

Under Volpe's leadership, the family took control of local bootlegging, counterfeiting, Italian lottery, and "black hand" extortion rackets.

Volpe was later succeeded as boss by Giovanni "John" Sciandra, a partner in the Knox Coal Company of Luzerne County.

[17] The family controlled a large territory in Northeastern Pennsylvania—which included Pittston, Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Wyoming, Luzerne, Allentown, Hazleton, Bethlehem, Lancaster, and Easton—as well as Binghamton, Endicott, Endwell, Johnson City, and Auburn, in the Southern Tier of New York state.

[18][19][20] In November 1957, boss Russell Bufalino and Buffalo crime family caporegime Joseph Barbara held a national Cosa Nostra meeting at his Apalachin, New York estate.

[24] He owned at least seven dress factories in the Pittston area and exercised complete control over the region's garment industry.

[27] After Bufalino was imprisoned in the late 1970s on extortion charges related to the collection of a debt, William "Big Billy" D'Elia became the family acting boss with the support from underboss Edward Sciandra.

Towards the end of 1981, Bufalino was again imprisoned after being found guilty of conspiring to kill Jack Napoli, a witness in his 1978 extortion trial.

As boss, D'Elia worked with the other crime families in New York City, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Southern Florida, and Los Angeles.

In the 1990s, D'Elia was linked to a money laundering scheme involving numerous Northeastern Pennsylvania bookmakers, escort services, corrupt politicians, and associates of Russian organized crime.

[31] On May 31, 2001, agents from the Criminal Investigation Division of the IRS, US Postal Inspectors, and Pennsylvania State Police executed search warrants at the homes of D'Elia, his mistress Jeanie Stanton, Thomas Joseph, and Marranca, who has been identified as an informant working for the FBI and the Pennsylvania State Police.

While D'Elia was free on bail, he solicited a U.S. Customs Agency informant to murder a witness in the case and was remanded to prison until his eventual guilty plea and sentencing.

[35] D'Elia cooperated with the government and testified against Louis DeNaples, the owner of Mount Airy Casino Resort in the Pocono Mountains.