Bufalino - by Charles Bufalino (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Written by the legendary crime boss Russell Bufalino's cousin, this gripping insider's account is an epic tell-all of the Pennsylvania Mafia family's origins, both personal and criminal, from its coal-mining Black Hand days in Pittston, to their national rise and control of the Teamsters Union, while also offering convincing clues as to what became of Jimmy Hoffa.

Russell Bufalino was considered the most powerful Mob boss of his day, if not all time, who rivaled the likes of Carlo Gambino, Vito Genovese, and Lucky Luciano in their prime. But until now, no one has ever traced, so personally, Russell's career back to the coal fields of Northeastern Pennsylvania, or explored so completely the legacy of the Pittston crime family Russell would inherit. Charles Bufalino, cousin and caretaker of the family's explosive history, also offers the most authentic and probable solution to the greatest Mob mystery of all time: What really happened to Jimmy Hoffa?

Stretching back to the Bufalino roots in Sicily and the emigration of the men of Montedoro to the turn-of-the-19th-century Pennsylvania coal fields, this gripping story lays the groundwork for the inception of an organized crime empire. Once in America, the Bufalinos penetrated both sides of the labor-versus-management conflict to magnify their own power and ultimately influence events on the national stage. By the 1950s, in the wake of Black Hand threats, murder, kidnapping, and bombings, Russell would be named boss--the Don of all Dons. Blood ties and extended family were his to control. Likewise, his enemies, including Teamsters president, Jimmy Hoffa.

Delving deeply into corroborated family documentation, Charles Bufalino separates fact from fiction and corrects the presumed history of his ruthlessly enterprising ancestors to paint an intimate, epic, and riveting portrait of one of the most storied crime families of the 20th century.

Review Quotes

Praise for BUFALINO

"In this brand-new tell-all that can only be told from the inside, Charles Bufalino unearths a century of unknown family history to show how entrenched the Bufalino family became in 20th century America." --Meyer Lansky II, grandson of Meyer Lansky and author of The Lansky Legacy: The Life and Letters of Meyer Lansky

"Charles Bufalino's fascinating and detailed account of the history of the Bufalino Mafia family is a must-read. Of particular note is the complicity that Russell Bufalino had with the disappearance and the obvious murder of Jimmy Hoffa. The mystery of the final resting place of Hoffa continues, but the scenario articulated in this story sheds light on one of the most brazen criminal acts ever committed by the Mafia." --Frank Storey, former Deputy Assistant Director of the New York FBI division in charge of the Organized Crime Program and author of The FBI's War Against the Mafia

About the Author

Charles Bufalino is a scion and historian of the Bufalino family of Pittston, Pennsylvania. He is the owner and caretaker of the property where Russell Bufalino, boss of the Bufalino crime family, and Teamster attorney and Jimmy Hoffa associate, William E. Bufalino, spent their youth. Himself raised at the property by close relatives of both Russell and Bill, Charles is steeped in the oral traditions of the family, which he has corroborated with documented history to offer a unique, informed portrait of the genesis of a crime family and a compellingly possible last chapter of the Hoffa story.