John C. Montana - Early Career

Early Career

Born in Montedoro, Sicily on July 1 of 1893, Montana came to Buffalo at the age of 13 in 1907 and quickly began to show his entrepreneurial business talents. In grade school, Montana made his first dollars as a messenger for a West Side candy shop running errands and messages. With his brothers Salvatore, Angelo, Peter and Joseph, the 17 year old John Charles Montana first pushed a popcorn cart through Buffalo’s Little Italy at a time when Italians lived in a high density area on the Lower West Side and downtown. Because the demand was so great, the Montana brothers had to fold their first business as they couldn’t supply the many people who wanted their goods.

In time, Don Stefano Magaddino would become the boss of the Mafia in Buffalo and organize an empire with John Montana at the top. Years down the road, Montana’s nephew Charles would marry the oldest daughter of Don Stefano; Don Stefano’s only son Peter also married Montana’s niece. Through family ties, John Montana merged with the most ruthless criminal leader this city has ever seen. Montana was a smart businessman though. He never fit the description of what a Mafioso was supposed to be.

In 1922, John Montana formed the Buffalo Taxi Company – his first stab at joining Buffalo’s booming transportation industry. A few years later, he bought and merged with the Yellow Cab Company in an effort to consolidate cars and call centers as well as eliminate the taxi competition.

Through political backing among leading Italians as well as prominent W.A.S.P. Buffalonians, Montana was given the Republican nod to run for the City’s Common Council; he was first elected a representative from the Niagara District in 1927 and then re-elected again in 1929. For four years Montana served the City of Buffalo on the Council and saw major advances in an already booming city. On the Council, he was the Chairman of the Housing and Slum Clearance Committee, which gave his Mafia associates a direct influence over where people lived and what reconstruction efforts would be made. He also served as Chairman of the Labor Relations and Compensation Committee, allegedly giving the Mafia some influence in different unions in the area.

While his role in the Magaddino Mafia was never made public during his time in office and he was applauded for his civic achievements, John Montana lived a double life as both a trusted advisor to the Mafia’s kingpin and a trusted advisor to the Mayor. In fact, when Mayor Schwab (German former brewer-turned-mayor, who was raided for booze during Prohibition and indicted while sitting as mayor) was fighting hard to create the first public buses in Buffalo, most leading businessmen in the transportation industry opposed the idea to public busing (which would take passengers away from taxis, trolleys and trains). John Montana, however, used his political influence to secure a sweetheart contract furnishing the first ever buses in Buffalo with seats, cushions, and everything else needed on board; he created the Montana Company which was awarded the first bus furnishing contract in the city’s controversial push for public transportation.

While a City Councilman, Montana saw the opening of the Buffalo airport (in Cheektowaga). He allegedly passed legislation regarding the opening of the Peace Bridge, Buffalo’s international gateway to Canada. He was instrumental in overseeing the two-year long construction of the New York Central Station, which was “a 17 floor combination office and terminal building” on the East Side. He passed legislation to build the new City Hall building, still a landmark among Buffalo’s downtown skyline. Many major changes came to the Queen City during his time as a political leader, and John Montana made sure that his hidden partnerships never came to light while still placing people in positions to reap the benefits of the construction and transportation boom. Montana’s taxis, for instance, were given a sweetheart contract to be the sole cab operators at the new Central Terminal station; 200 trains a day were said to go through Buffalo, and Montana’s taxis were the only ones allowed to pick up passengers that wanted a ride – Buffalo police even ticketed and towed other cab companies that sought fares from the train station.

During a successful re-election season for Montana, the Councilman was involved in a major business deal that left him as the most powerful taxi tycoon in the area. In late June 1929, Montana, who had previously acquired the Yellow Taxi Cab Company, convinced Fred Van Dyke to give up his business – the largest cab competitors in Western New York. Eight years before, Fred Van Dyke had bought the Charles W. Miller Transportation Company of Buffalo that had been a family-owned business for two generations; it was Buffalo’s first permanent transportation company. In 1929, Montana merged his cabs with Van Dyke’s pulling together more than 200 cars with 60+ call stations. While Montana already owned a franchise at the Central Terminal, he was in a good position to grow more powerful in an increasingly mobile city. As a business-savvy communicator, John Montana informed city riders that while he now owned the second largest cab company in the state, he would keep fares the same as they were with the Yellow Cab Company – 50 cents for the first mile and 10 cents for the next three miles. (For years, taxi operators complained that Montana maintained a monopoly on taxis in Buffalo, and some claimed that the other smaller taxi companies in town were run by associates of Montana who kept businesses going solely to save Montana's companies from anti-monopoly legal proceedings).

While accusations were rare and unconfirmed, some opinions stated Montana’s cabs were corrupt. While working at a legitimate and successful business, Van Dyke drivers were said at times to transport gambling paraphernalia and liquor. In the decades of prohibition on the Niagara Frontier, between 100 and 150 people were killed in Mafia-related slayings; another 125-150 people died from drinking poisoned alcohol. But while many of Montana’s associates were involved in bootlegging, the Councilman was never publicly linked to the alcohol trade until after the "Noble Experiment" of Prohibition was proven a failure and repealed. During the decade of illegal alcohol, Montana’s important role with Stefano Magaddino’s Mafia Family was never discovered.