Russell Bufalino

Russell Bufalino (born Rosario Alberto Bufalino; Italian pronunciation: [roˈzaːrjo alˈbɛrto bufaˈliːno]; October 29, 1903 – February 25, 1994) also known as "McGee" and "The Old Man", was an Italian-American mafioso who became the boss of the Northeastern Pennsylvania crime family known as the Bufalino crime family, which he ruled from 1959 to 1989. Despite the family being small, Bufalino was a significant influence in the national Cosa Nostra criminal society. He was a cousin of attorney William Bufalino, the longtime counsel for Jimmy Hoffa. 2Early years Bufalino was born on October 29, 1903, in Montedoro, Sicily, and immigrated with his family to the United States through the Port of New York in 1906, settling in Buffalo, New York, where he became a criminal during his teenage years. He married Carolina Sciandra, who came from a Sicilian Mafia family. Bufalino worked alongside many Buffalo mobsters, some of whom would become top leaders in the Buffalo crime family and other future Cosa Nostra families along the East Coast of the United States. These relationships proved very helpful to Bufalino in his criminal career. Family and clan ties were important to Sicilian-American criminals; they created a strong, secretive support system that outsiders or law enforcement could not infiltrate. A significant friendship was with his first boss, John C. Montana. An immigrant from Montedoro, Montana was an early powerful figure in the Buffalo famil