Pittsburgh crime family

The Pittsburgh crime family, also known as the LaRocca crime family or the Pittsburgh Mafia, was an Italian American Mafia crime family based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and throughout the Greater Pittsburgh area. The organization formed during the late 1880s under Salvatore "Banana King" Catanzaro and was named after Sebastian "Big John" LaRocca, the family's longest-serving boss, from 1956 until his death in 1984.

The Pittsburgh family rose to prominence during the Prohibition era under the leadership of Stefano Monastero, who distributed bootlegging supplies from warehouses on Pittsburgh's North Side beginning in 1925. Stefano Monastero was shot dead along with his brother, Sam, on August 6, 1929, and he was succeeded as boss of the Pittsburgh Mafia by Giuseppe "Joseph" Siragusa, a successful local bootlegger. Siragusa, who paid tribute to New York Mafia boss Salvatore Maranzano in order to operate in Allegheny County, was shot and killed on September 13, 1931, as a faction led by Maranzano's rival Lucky Luciano gained power in New York. John Bazzano became boss of the crime family after Siragusa, and his reign was defined by his rivalry with the Volpe brothers. After Bazzano killed three of the Volpe brothers on July 29, 1932, the two surviving brothers complained to the Commission in New York. As Bazzano's killings had not been sanctioned by the Commission, he was lured to New York, where he was stabbed and strangled to death in August 1932. Bazzano was succeeded by Vincenzi Capizzi followed by Frank Amato Sr., who expanded the influence of the crime family beyond Allegheny County.

After Amato stepped down to become underboss in 1956, John LaRocca took over the Pittsburgh family. Under LaRocca's leadership, the crime family became powerful in Pittsburgh's labor unions and established rackets in Northeast Ohio, in which it partnered with the Cleveland crime family. LaRocca also brought the Pittsburgh Mafia into an agreement with the Trafficante crime family of Tampa to manage the Sans Souci casino in Havana. As LaRocca battled ill-health in the late 1970s and early 1980s, leadership of the Pittsburgh family was overseen by a series of acting leaders. LaRocca died from natural causes on December 3, 1984.

Michael James Genovese became the boss following LaRocca's death, and aggressively perused the drug trade. Although Genovese avoided prosecution, his decision to lead the Pittsburgh Mafia into narcotics trafficking led to the convictions of senior members as well as younger associates, eliminating the organization's line of ascension. The Commission also forbade the Pittsburgh family from inducting new members. The convictions, along with general attrition, resulted in the crime family becoming defunct. The boss and last known "made" member of the family, Thomas "Sonny" Ciancutti, died in 2021.