Origins
The first known boss of Buffalo was Angelo "Buffalo Bill" Palmeri, who immigrated from the Sicilian town of Castellammare del Golfo, in 1908 or 1909. Palmeri was a well-known Sicilian mafioso who took over Buffalo's Little Italy by extracting extortion money from groceries, pushcart vendors and Italian food vendors. He also consorted with (and possibly led) a group of Black Hand extortionists who preyed on both legal and illegal businesses, including the "taxing" of local pimps, prostitutes and drug dealers. Palmeri's affiliation was with the Mafia group known as the Castellammarese Clan, which had satellite groups all across the United States, from the big cities of New York, Philadelphia, Detroit, and Chicago to smaller towns such as Scranton, Pennsylvania.
Read more about this topic: Buffalo Crime Family
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