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This episode is for our Pittsburgh supporter and Wiretapper Robb Starr. Rob is a talented artist and sometimes bruised up skateboarder. I found a story about a Pittsburgh long-time mob member named Sam Mannarino on The American Mafia website.  Sam Mannarino was a prominent La Cosa Nostra figure in Western Pennsylvania, and he and his brother, Gabriel “Kelly” Mannarino controlled gambling and related activities in New Kensington for the Pittsburgh Crime Family. Of interest is that Sam Mannarino also had an interest in the Sans Souci casino in Cuba in the 1950s. Pittsburgh Mob boss John LaRocca forced Sam Mannarino into retirement in 1958. He had drawn too much attention with many run-ins with law enforcement and his health was bad. After this forced retirement, his boredom led him to start meeting with the FBI for informal talks over coffee. The agents assigned him an informant number and wrote reports on his information without his knowledge. He was what my friend Steve St. John calls a professional verifier. He never gave up accurate, current info, but he helped them understand what happened in the past. They often referred to him as a “retired racketeer” when they wrote reports on his information.

An example of the information that Sam Mannarino told federal agents was about his early days in the Pittsburgh Family. He said he started as a driver for gangster Pittsburg boss Giovanni Bazzano. He ran errands and took Bazzano to meetings with other gangsters. Mannarino recalled all of Bazzano’s old associates had handlebar mustaches. He said Bazzano liked him and helped him get started with his mafia life. Giovanni Bazzano was murdered in less than a year for taking part in an unsanctioned hit. Mannarino remembered that Bazzano was called to a sit-down in New York. Later he learned that several guys killed his boss with about 80 ice pick stabs. Mannarino said he thought his boss had it coming and felt no sympathy for his mentor

Sam Mannarino explained how he helped the Pittsburgh Crime Family muscle into gambling clubs in the 1920s and 1930s. He said he and a guy named Joseph Rosa first offered a fair price for ½ ownership then used intimidation and violence and if the owner of a gambling club resisted, Mannarino said they first their property and then escalated to breaking their bones. He told one story about they convinced the owners of one gambling club to cooperate by lining them up against the wall at gunpoint and threatening to kill them in the style of the “St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.” Mannarino said, “the two operators broke completely and pleaded to be allowed to share their gambling profits.” Mannarino said that when “Jewish gamblers” saw him walking down the street, “they all disappeared as though hiding from the plague.”

Sam Mannarino admitted to the FBI that he was a member of “La Cosa Nostra or whatever you want to call it.” FBI agents asked him if Pittsburgh Crime Family boss John LaRocca had sponsored him and his brother into the organization, and he grinned and replied, “Who else?” Mannarino shared the details about his induction ceremony. At the time he divulged this information, few other LCN members had ever talked about their induction ceremonies with federal law enforcement. He told agents that his finger was pricked during the ceremony, but no holy card was used nor was any fire ever lit. Mannarino couldn’t say if holy cards were used in other induction ceremonies, but he personally “never got no burns on my hands that way.” He claimed that Pittsburg had not conducted any induction ceremonies for a long time. Mannarino told federal agents about the “honor” of being a member of La Cosa Nostra and spelled out the membership rules. He said a member couldn’t kill another member without permission. A member could only kill another member if his honor were affronted or in self-defense. He could only kill another member in the heat of the moment and have a chance of not being punished. If he decided he wanted to kill the member after the fact, he needed the boss’s permission. He couldn’t kill someone for financial gain or to attain power.

Mannarino lamented the new breed of mobsters coming up within the organization. He felt prospective members had “very little proper training and there ain’t the same kind of discipline there used to be 30 years ago.” According to Mannarino, misconduct that in the past would have resulted in the individual’s death, like stealing from the organization, now goes unpunished.

Sam Mannarinol ended his last years running a restaurant and watching TV. He was always bitter about being placed on the shelf by John LaRocca. However, he said he would always remain loyal: “They know if they should ever need me for anything. I’ll be there.”

Samuel Mannarino died of cancer at age 61 on June 6, 1967.

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