Text Box: Broadcasting Niagara’s Best to the World Text Box: The Stefano Magaddino Story Stefano Magaddino was one of the longest serving bosses in American Cosa Nostra history, although his crime family in Niagara Falls was considerably smaller than the New York families, Magaddino still managed to wield a great amount of influence when the commission was approved in 1931. Magaddino was born in Castellammare, Sicily, on October 10th 1891. He left Sicily in 1921 for New York. Along with him, Magaddino took his brother Antonino, and settled in Brooklyn, New York, leaving behind them a feud with a rival gang known as the Buccellato brothers, which left Magaddino's younger brother murdered. On August 16, 1921, he was arrested as a fugitive and shortly after Magaddino and Gaspar Milazzo were ambushed by members of the Buccellato clan who had followed Magaddino to New York. The attempted ambush happened when Milazzo and Magaddino walked out of a store, the ambush turned out to be a disaster as 2 innocent bystanders were murdered. However Magaddino retaliated leaving several members of the Buccellato clan dead. Following the murders of the Buccellato clan members, Magaddino left Brooklyn for Niagara Falls, were he set up a huge bootlegging empire, thanks largely to being so close to the Canadian border. However a rival gang from Cleveland tried to muscle in but in 1933 the murder of a Cleveland family member forced the Cleveland family back and in turn Magaddino had won his first war with a rival gang. Magaddino also kept strong ties with some the vast New York families and was the cousin of one of the future crime bosses, Joe Bonanno. These ties would always give Magaddino and the Niagara Falls crime family a seat on the commission when it was set up in 1931 following the murders of Joe Masseira and Salvatore Maranzano. Magaddino was well respected throughout the entire American Mafia; he was without doubt a real Cosa Nostra traditionalist. He didn't use unnecessary amounts of violence and was very practical when it came to disputes within his own family, because of this Magaddino was well liked throughout his family, hence the long number of years he stayed in control of his crime family. When prohibition had ended Magaddino was looking to extend his families influence, and therefore laid down plans to make moves into Ohio and into Canada. But it wasn't all happy times for Magaddino in 1936 he survived an assassination attempt but lost his sister when a bomb was detonated in the wrong house. Magaddino however popular, like all Mafia bosses, Magaddino wasn't without his enemies over the years. Magaddino was instrumental in setting up one of the biggest Cosa Nostra summits ever to take place on American soil when he helped organize the 1957 Appalachian summit. Magaddino was one of the mobsters that escaped through the window following the intrusion of the state police. By the 1960's Magaddino found himself having to take a larger hand in things with the Commission. Magaddino felt that his cousin was trying to muscle in on Canadian territory that belonged to him, and so set up a meeting with the ruling body to try and come to a beneficial agreement that would suit all involved, but Bonanno refused to show up, a decision enraged Magaddino. Magaddino continued his argument with the commission and in doing so Bonanno lost his leadership of his family, but the disagreement was far from settled. In 1964 Magaddino’s brother Antonino kidnapped Bonanno. He was reportedly held for 6 weeks before he was released. Magaddino ordered Bonanno to remain in Tuscan where Bonanno had been living for some time. He also told Bonanno about the possibilities of defying the commission and decreed that he retire in Tucson for his own good. After this Magaddino and Bonanno relinquished all ties with each other, as they never saw each other again. This gave Magaddino the opportunity to align himself with another big Canadian mobster the up and coming Johnny "pops" Papalia. By the late 1960's Magaddino now thought it was time he gave up some of his Responsibilities as leader of the Buffalo crime family, by allowing his second in command Fred Randaccio to take control of the day-to-day operations, as Magaddino gradually loosened his grip of the Buffalo crime family. In the early 70's Buffalo family members felt as if Magaddino was taking more than his fair share of the family profits and so Magaddinos leadership was now finally at it's end. Magaddino was also plagued by a number of heart problems. Stefano Magaddino succumbed to a heart attack on July 19, 1974. His funeral was attended by hundreds of people. Among the crowd were FBI agents who took down license plate numbers outside of St. Joseph's Church in Little Italy Niagara, Pine Avenue, Niagara Falls, NY. NiagaraTimes.Com copyright 2002 Little Italy Niagara LLC copyright 2002