Mafia: Organized Crime in New Kensington, Pennsylvania
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Abstract
On a cool November day in 1957 New York State troopers sent several well-dressed men scurrying into the countryside surrounding the Apalachin home of alleged mob boss Joseph "the Barber" Barbara. While many of the men who traveled there claimed to have come to visit their friend Barbara, it was alleged to be more of a meeting of leading national Mafiosi and their representatives. Among those darting into the woods was Gabriel "Kelly" Mannarino from the small western Pennsylvania town of New Kensington. The actions of the New York State police that day called into question the investigative priorities of the Federal Bureau of Investigation which, under Director J. Edgar Hoover, had long denied the Mafia's existence, despite Senate investigations pointing to the contrary. The Apalachin incident forced Hoover to act, and in doing so he created the Top Hoodlum Program, which required all FBI field offices to maintain surveillance on their region's "top ten hoodlums." The Pittsburgh field office, which covers twenty-five counties in Pennsylvania and all of West Virginia, included Gabriel Mannarino and his older brother Samuel among their top ten.
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Pennsylvania History is the official journal of the Pennsylvania Historical Association, and copyright remains with PHA as the publisher of this journal.