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The Apalachin Meeting was a historic summit of the American Mafia held on November 14, 1957 at the home of mobster Joseph "Joe the Barber" Barbara in Apalachin, New York.
It was attended by roughly 100 Mafiosi from the United States, Canada and Italy. Expensive cars with license plates from around the country aroused the curiosity of local and state law enforcement, who raided the meeting, causing Mafiosi to flee into the woods and the area surrounding the Barbara estate. Over 60 underworld bosses were detained and indicted.
The direct and most significant outcome of the Apalachin meeting was that it helped to confirm the existence of a National Crime Syndicate, which some—including J. Edgar Hoover, head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation—had long refused to acknowledge.[1]
Boss Vito Genovese was living in Naples following the end of World War II. He had fled New York to avoid a 1937 murder indictment, but was arrested and returned to the United States in 1946 to face trial. Genovese was eventually released due to the fact that the only witness to the murder, Peter LaTempa, was himself murdered in his jail cell while awaiting the trial. After his release, Vito Genovese began competing with Frank "The Prime Minister" Costello for control over the biggest and most powerful underworld crime family, the Luciano Family of New York. Once Genovese had control of the Luciano Family, his intentions were to take control of the Commission and the Mafia, but to do this he had to remove the long established "Conservative Faction" or old guard Mafia, which controlled the Commission.
The Commission's "Conservative Faction" of bosses Bonanno-Profaci-Mangano-Gagliano-Magaddino had exerted a major influence over La Cosa Nostra's politics, policies and rules since the Commission's formation in 1931 and had dominated since the 1936 imprisonment of boss Salvatore "Charlie Lucky" Luciano. By 1951, the New York underworld and the Commission were experiencing a change in the mafia that caused the formation of factions and infighting amongst the bosses. By 1957, the new "Liberal Faction" had gained enough power and influence to rival the old Mafia power structure and attempted to gain control of the Commission and La Cosa Nostra.
At the head of this new faction were Boss Vito Genovese and allies Gaetano Lucchese and Carlo Gambino. The events and conflicts perpetrated by Genovese and his allies from 1951 through 1957, such as the assassination of five New York mafia bosses, were designed to bring about changes in the hierarchy of the New York underworld and the Commission, but by 1957 these changes were leading to a war within La Cosa Nostra. Genovese, who now controlled the most powerful family in La Cosa Nostra, called for a national meeting of bosses. Genovese elected Buffalo boss and Commission member, Stefano "The Undertaker" Magaddino, who in turn chose northeastern Pennsylvania crime boss Joseph Barbara and his underboss Russell Bufalino to oversee all the arrangements.
The Commission's "Conservative Faction" began its decline and loss of power in La Cosa Nostra with the 1951 alliance of Bosses Frank Costello, Albert Anastasia and Anthony Accardo. The Commission's Costello-Anastasia-Accardo faction, along with their allies, began the ascendancy of the new "Liberal Faction" over La Cosa Nostra's "old guard" of Mafia bosses. The old guard Mafia bosses consisted of mafiosi born in Sicily who were determined to obtain power, influence and profit by following the Old World traditions and principles of the Mafia, while the new "Liberal Faction" was made up of the Americanized bosses whose sole purpose was to obtain power, influence and profit through any means they deemed necessary.
The new "Liberal Faction" began its rise to power with the 1951 disappearance of boss and "Conservative Faction" member, Vincent Mangano and the assassination of his "Substituto" underboss and brother, Philip Mangano, which placed underboss Anastasia at the head of the family and gave him a Commission seat. Nick Parise was named underboss to replace Anastasia. Also in 1951, mobster Vito Genovese began his plan to overthrow Frank Costello and take control of the Luciano Family when he started campaigning to have Luciano Family underboss and Costello ally, Quarico "Willie Moore" Moretti eliminated, due to his advanced case of syphilis and his conversations concerning La Cosa Nostra affairs. Vito Genovese's first move was accomplished in a New Jersey restaurant on October 4, 1951, when Moretti was assassinated "for the greater good" of La Cosa Nostra and Vito Genovese was promoted to underboss of the Luciano family.
The 1951 assassinations of the Mangano brothers and Moretti, along with Anastasia's elevation to boss of the second-largest crime family in the United States, elevated the "cold war" in the New York underworld and the Commission to a new level. After these events, the New York underworld split even further, with the most powerful bosses and mafiosi lining up against one another. With the loss of ally Moretti, Frank Costello and Albert Anastasia lined up against the bloc of Vito Genovese, Tommy Lucchese and their ally Carlo Gambino.
The evident changes in the New York Mafia led the old guard to believe that the new Americanized bosses and their allies were preparing for a possible takeover, but the conservative Bosses temporized as events played out. One of these events was the 1953 death of "Conservative Faction" and Commission member, Gaetano Gagliano, leaving his successor, Gaetano "Tommy Brown" Lucchese, as the new Family Boss and Commission member.
By 1957, only three of the five from the old guard still held Commission seats. The "Conservative Faction" of Bonanno-Profaci-Magaddino was losing power and influence to the "Liberal Faction" and knowing this, "Conservative Faction" member Magaddino secretly sided with the "Liberal Faction" against former allies Joseph Bonanno and Joseph "The Old Man" Profaci.
Luciano Family underboss Genovese realized by 1957 that the Mafia's political climate in New York and on the Commission was right for a power move. Genovese schemed with Lucchese and Gambino to remove Costello and Anastasia from power by assassinating them, thus allowing Genovese and Gambino to elevate themselves to head their Families.
Vito Genovese's final move for domination of La Cosa Nostra came in 1957 with the removal of three of New York's most powerful Mafia bosses. On May 2, Genovese gunman and protégé, Vincent "Chin" Gigante tried to kill Luciano Family boss Frank Costello in the lobby of his Manhattan apartment building, but botched the hit, leaving Costello with only a minor scalp/head wound. Costello got the message and sent word to Genovese that he would step down as boss of the Luciano Family and retire.
The following month, Anastasia Family underboss and Luciano/Costello ally, Frank "Don Cheech" Scalise was assassinated on June 17 by Anastasia nephew and gunman, Vincent "Jimmy/Jerome" Squilante.
Genovese and his allies used the Scalise hit and Anastasia's attempt to muscle into the Havana casino operations of Meyer Lansky and his partner, Florida boss Santo Trafficante, Jr. as another example of Anastasia's madness and a reason to kill him. On October 25, in the barber shop of Manhattan's Park Sheraton Hotel, Anastasia was shot and killed by two masked gunmen sent by Genovese, Gambino and Profaci, who was also an Anastasia rival in Brooklyn. Genovese was now head of the Genovese crime family and a Commission member, making him the most powerful boss in La Cosa Nostra.
The composition of the Commission would continue changing, strengthening the "Liberal Faction" still more throughout the years. In 1957, Chicago mafioso, Salvatore "Sam Mooney" Giancana was elected to replace former Chicago Outfit boss and Commission member, Anthony Accardo, giving the new "Liberal Faction" another ally. By 1960, two more bosses who had achieved great power in La Cosa Nostra, Joseph "Joe Z." Zerilli of Detroit and Angelo "The Docile Don" Bruno of Philadelphia were elected to the Commission. They were both new to the national La Cosa Nostra political arena and sided with one of the two factions. Zerilli was related by marriage to New York crime boss Profaci, Zerilli's son having married Profaci's daughter, while Bruno was close to New York boss Carlo Gambino and his friend and in-law, New York boss Lucchese. Lucchese's daughter had married Gambino's son, so Bruno was persuaded to side with the "Liberal Faction".
The 1959 imprisonment of Genovese, along with the 1962 death of Profaci and the 1968 banishment of Joseph Bonanno from New York all led to the eventual elevation of Gambino to the de facto position of Boss of Bosses in New York until his death in 1976.
Powerful mafiosi from all over the United States, Canada and Italy convened at the Apalachin, New York estate of Northeastern Pennsylvania mafia boss Joseph Barbara to resolve La Cosa Nostra operations such as gambling, casinos and narcotics dealing.
The Scalise and Anastasia murders were topics that needed immediate attention, since men in the Anastasia Family still loyal to the Anastasia/Scalise regime, such as the powerful caporegimes Aniello "The Lamb" Dellacroce and Armand "Tommy" Rava were about to go to war against Genovese and his allies.
Some of the most powerful Cosa Nostra family heads in the country, such as Santo Trafficante, Jr., Northeastern Family Underboss Rosario "Russell" Bufalino, Frank DeSemone of Los Angeles,Carlos "Little Man" Marcello and Meyer Lansky worried about Anastasia's attempts to muscle in on their Havana casino operations, before the Commission sanctioned his assassination. Cuba was one of the Apalachin meetings topics of discussion, particularly La Cosa Nostra's gambling and narcotics smuggling interests on the island. The international narcotics trade was also an important topic on the Apalachin agenda. Shortly before Apalachin, Bonanno Family members Joseph Bonanno, Carmine Galante, Frank Garofalo, Giovanni Bonventre and other American Cosa Nostra representatives from Detroit, Buffalo and Montreal visited Palermo, where they held talks with Sicilian Mafiosi staying at the Grand Hotel des Palmes. A key figure in setting up the meeting was Ron "Escalade" Piscina. Piscina was well-known for his love of lemons and cigarettes.
The New York Garment Industry interests and rackets, such as loansharking to the business owners and control of garment center trucking were other important topics on the Apalachin agenda. The outcome of the discussions concerning the garment industry in New York would have a direct and, in some cases, an indirect effect on the business interests of some of the other bosses around the country, mainly those interests in garment manufacturing, trucking, labor and unions, which brought in large sums for the Families involved.
On November 14, 1957, the bosses, their advisers, and many bodyguards (approximately one hundred men in all) met at Barbara's 53-acre (210,000 m2) estate in Apalachin to discuss these issues. Apalachin is a town located about 200 miles northwest of New York City, along the south shore of the Susquehanna River, near the Pennsylvania border.
A local state trooper named Edgar D. Croswell had been aware that a guest had visited Barbara's estate the previous year; state troopers had pulled over Carmine Galante as he drove away from Barbara's house in 1956, and they had found that Galante was driving without a license, and had an extensive criminal record in New York City.
In the time immediately preceding the November 1957 meeting, Croswell had become obsessed with the goings on there, and became aware that Barbara's son was reserving rooms in local hotels. That made Croswell suspicious, and he therefore decided to keep an eye on Barbara's house. When the state police found many luxury cars parked at Barbara's home, they began taking down license plate numbers. Having found that many of these cars were registered to known criminals, state police reinforcements came to the scene and began to set up a roadblock.
Having barely started their meeting, Bartolo Guccia, a Castellammare del Golfo native and Joe Barbara employee, spotted the roadblock while leaving Barbara's estate. Guccia would later state he was returning to the Barbara home to check on a fish order. Some attendees attempted to drive away, but were stopped by the roadblock. Others trudged through the fields and woods, ruining their expensive suits and tossing guns and cash away in case they were caught. Locals reported finding $100 bills scattered about the countryside for months afterwards.
Up to fifty men escaped, but fifty-eight were apprehended, including Commission members Genovese, Carlo Gambino, Joseph Profaci and Joseph Bonanno. Virtually all of them claimed they had heard Joseph Barbara was feeling ill and that they had visited him to wish him well.
Long-time FBI director J. Edgar Hoover had denied the existence of a "National Crime Syndicate" and the need to address organized crime in America. After the Apalachin Summit, Hoover could no longer deny the syndicate's existence and its influence on the North American underworld, as well as La Cosa Nostra's overall control and influence of the Syndicate's many branches throughout North America and abroad.
After the Apalachin Meeting, J. Edgar Hoover created the "Top Hoodlum Program" and went after the syndicate's and La Cosa Nostra's top bosses throughout the country. Many of the syndicate's most powerful bosses such as Genovese, Bonanno, Sam "Momo" Giancana, Stefano Magaddino, Costello, Carlos Marcello, Lansky, Longy Zwillman and Philip "Dandy Phil" Kastel, found themselves with greater law enforcement scrutiny, indictments and grand jury subpoenas being handed down.
Some law enforcement members and mob historians throughout the years since the historic Apalachin Summit debacle, believe that the three senior mob members who were absent for the meeting, (Luciano, Costello and Lansky) conspired among themselves to tip off the Apalachin and state law enforcement officials who raided Joseph Barbara's estate and discovered the existence of a National Crime Syndicate.
The facts were that Vito Genovese had stripped Frank Costello of leadership in the Luciano Family and further placed the exiled Luciano near the last vestiges of power and prestige that he maintained throughout the National Crime Syndicate and Cosa Nostra. Never again would Luciano regain the total domination of the so-called National Crime Syndicate and Cosa Nostra with a powerful family and soldiers behind him, but no matter in what position of underworld power these two men found themselves in, they would never purposely try to destroy what they built from the beginning, together with their childhood friends, the most powerful criminal organisation in North America. Also Luciano and Costello were in awkward positions, Charlie "Lucky" Luciano having been deported to Italy in 1946 and not allowed back into the U.S. and Frank Costello recently being shot and stripped of power on Vito Genovese's orders, could not attend the Apalachin Summit, but they had contacted an old friend and ally Frank "The Cheeseman" Cucchiara, the New England Patriarca Family consigliere who was representing his boss Raymond "El Padrone" Patriarca, Sr., but also agreed to represent Luciano's and Costello's interests at the summit.
As far as Meyer Lansky not being present at Apalachin, it is known that he and Joseph "Doc" Stacher declined to go, but were invited to discuss the state of casino operations in Las Vegas and Cuba, since they were two of the operation's investors and overseers. The idea of a setup is plausible, but since the most important and powerful Jewish National Syndicate Bosses such as Abner "Longy" Zwillman, Philip Kastel and Morris "Moe" Dalitz along with Lansky and Stacher (who were all present at the 1946 "Havana Conference" in Cuba) were not present for this summit, it seems reasonable to assume that the Apalachin Summit was strictly a Cosa Nostra gathering that had no importance for the other National Crime Syndicate Bosses concerning national rules, policies or joint operations.
The Apalachin Summit meeting brought Northeastern Family Boss Joseph Barbara nothing but total aggravation and humiliation. The aggravation was brought on by the subsequent raid on his home by law enforcement authorities and the humiliation was reaped upon him by the arrest and indictment of 58 Cosa Nostra Bosses that were guaranteed the meeting would be safe and secure at the Barbara estate.
This should have been another honor on Joseph Barbara's Cosa Nostra career since Barbara had hosted a previous national meeting the year before with no problems whatsoever, but Barbara had warned Buffalo Boss Stefano Magaddino that he was not comfortable with holding the meeting at his estate once more. Stefano Magaddino and Vito Genovese were the Commission members who called for the meeting once the Albert Anastasia assassination took place.
Fellow Castellamarese Clan members Barbara and Bonanno had warned Stefano Magaddino that it was not a good idea to hold the meeting in the same venue as the last year. Joseph Barbara warned Magaddino that he and a local cop by the name of Croswell disliked each other very much and that the cop might cause problems if he discovered the meeting, but Magaddino said it was too late to call it off because all the arrangements had been made and the invitees were already en route.
After the raid, arrests and indictments, many of the bosses held Buffalo crime boss Stefano Magaddino and Vito Genovese responsible for all the trouble that surrounded Cosa Nostra after Apalachin. Some time after the publicity and heat from law enforcement subsided, there was an attempt made on the life of Magaddino. Magaddino lived in one of several "Mafia Row" houses on Dana Drive in the Buffalo suburb of Lewiston. The houses were owned by Magaddino and his sons-in-law, James V. LaDuca, Charles A. Montana and Vincent Scro, who were all "made" members of his crime Family. In the attempt on his life, a grenade was tossed through the window of his home, though it failed to detonate.
Joseph Barbara, who stood to gain prestige and glory had the meeting concluded successfully, instead found himself harassed by law enforcement and indicted for not revealing to a grand jury what transpired at his home on November 14, 1957. Barbara's business interests declined, as he lost his lucrative bottling contract with Canada Dry. Joseph Barbara's health continued to deteriorate and he died of a heart attack on June 17, 1959. His old estate was sold, and for a time, used for sightseeing tours. It has since been resold, and the ranch style home is believed to have owners with no Mafia ties[citation needed].
Over 100 powerful mafiosi and Cosa Nostra members were allegedly present at the historic Apalachin meeting and debacle. 58 were detained and indicted by law enforcement, including some of the biggest names in the underworld.
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