The trial was the culmination of a four-year FBI investigation that yielded thousands of pages of sworn affidavits and two thousand hours of conversations secretly recorded by FBI phone taps and bugs. By Gangsters Inc. YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) - Notorious Youngstown mob boss Lenny Strollo has died. Exclusive With Morford just a few feet away, Milano breezily predicted a happy end for the Youngstown don. Garono, who once said a good way to get gamblers to pay up is by putting them in a bag and beating them with a baseball bat, agreed to racketeering charges four months later. "In other cities, maybe they have some of it. Three hours later, following stiff federal sentencing guidelines that left her with little choice, O'Malley sentenced the trio to life in prison. Please try again later. Fifty years ago this month, Mahoning Valley Mafia boss Lenny Strollo and two of his associates, Vince Serman and Bobby Armstrong, were arrested by U.S secret service agents and charged with possessing and passing counterfeit $10 bills. The balance of power changed irrevocably in 1976, when Cleveland don John Scalish died unexpectedly during open-heart surgery without having named a successor. You are nearing the transfer limit for memorials managed by Find a Grave. Strollo was a self-employed vending machine owner, according to his. Scroll to read more Cleveland News articles. banners urging residents to "Get the Next Generation of GM Cars for Our Valley," a reference to General Motors' pending decision whether to replace or relocate the massive Lordstown plant. "Well, it was a get-together of other members, and you took a, you took an oath, and it was drawing blood from your finger and burning a religious card and taking an oath of silence.". She called Strollo a hypocrite for attending her father's funeral and shaking her hand. Bikers 8 years ago Scott Burnstein. Verify and try again. Armstrong said he was supposed to rob the 13th Frame bar on the West Side, but things went wrong. His Euclid-based Miray Fund Raising Inc., prosecutors say, was actually a front for Strollo, Garono, and Altshuler to skim money from casino nights sponsored by nonprofit groups. Agents also heard Strollo discuss bribing county officials with O'Nesti, Traficant's mob connection. Failed to delete memorial. But after that, La Cosa Nostra--the Mafia--in Ohio is probably finished. Lenine "Lenny" Strollo's crime career ended in the 1990s when he agreed to. Synenberg said Strollo's state time is up Dec. 8, 2008. U.S. District Judge Kathleen M. O'Malley said Gains' being able to "take off his victim hat" and defer to the government "had great impact on me." Greene fell victim to the same technique five months later. Video He would continually tell friends that the federal government was misguided in targeting the Mafia, because taking down the mob would only create a vacuum that would be filled by more ruthless criminals. On the stand in Cleveland, Strollo described how he wired virtually the entire Mahoning County legal system--using bribes, payoffs, and campaign donations--to control judges, county prosecutors, law directors, sheriffs, and policemen. Instead, the mob moved into rackets like gambling, loan-sharking, and controlling the vending businesses. Make sure that the file is a photo. With Naples dead, Strollo, by then living in a halfway house on Market Street in Youngstown, was his logical successor. This browser does not support getting your location. "I'll Never Give You Up" It's a rare moment for the kid who swept floors to put himself through Catholic high school and served as president of the Youngstown Fraternal Order of Police. . Traficant countered that he accepted the $163,000 as part of a maverick operation to trap the mobsters. He was taken into custody Dec. 11, 1997, and has remained in protective custody since then, with his whereabouts kept secret. STATE OF OHIO, MAHONING COUNTY IN THE COURT OF APPEALS SEVENTH DISTRICT STATE OF OHIO, ) ) CASE NO. According to Harris's testimony, Riddle asked Batcho if Gains was dead. However, Armstrong has agreed to be a guest on the Louie Free Show on Monday, starting at 9:30 a.m. The Internal Revenue Service, with Morford prosecuting, successfully argued in 1987 that Traficant owed back taxes on the money he accepted. A major drug offender who went to prison for a 1996 mob assassination has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for cocaine and heroin possession and trafficking and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity. Photos larger than 8Mb will be reduced. Flowers added to the memorial appear on the bottom of the memorial or here on the Flowers tab. Strollo said he had his brother pay Campbell police chief Charles Xenakis $500 a month for three years and claimed that Campbell Law Director Mike Rich fixed numerous cases for him. Forgot Password. "As long as I'm in office or alive, I'm still a concern to them," he says of the Young-stown mob. There was a problem getting your location. Blair and Wilkins sprayed shotgun pellets and slugs through the rolled-up windows, essentially blowing Biondillo's face off in a bloody gangland execution. Strollo told of having cases fixed for Riddle, Turnage, and Harris. The ambush flashed into Cleveland's first mob war, which left four Lonardos and seven Porrellos dead. Riddle, 2001-Ohio-3484.] 2023 Rossi & Santucci Funeral Home. Weve updated the security on the site. "He had no respect for anybody," Strollo said of Biondillo during the trial. One of the topics on the agenda at that ill-fated meeting was the brutal Corn Sugar War, a familial feud of the late 1920s that left eleven local mobsters dead. All the information available through this website is gathered from public records. Hit and Miss In those conversations, the two discussed how Traficant laundered $10,000 of the mob's money through Flask & Policy, the powerful Youngstown law firm run by Ed Flask and Carmen Policy, who is now president of the Cleveland Browns. Testimonials Read testimonials from real customers who already used our services. Burial will take place at Calvary Cemetery, Youngstown. After a new county prosecutor . Save to an Ancestry Tree, a virtual cemetery, your clipboard for pasting or Print. People He was convicted of bribes, money laundering and racketeering. The Irishman--who wore only green clothes, wrote in green ink, and drove a green car--was killed leaving his dentist's office in Lyndhurst. To the "young lady who spoke [Rich]," he hoped that the good Lord would give her comfort. Saying he was "overcome," the aging federal inmate said he apologized to his family. I said to myself These S.O.B.s will pay for this. I shook hands with Danny, and started keeping records for three or four years.. When his stepson was charged with a DUI, Strollo said he took care of Judge Martin Emrich by having landscaping work done at his house. According to testimony at the trial, Riddle, Harris, and Batcho began targeting Gains in the spring of 1996, not long after his primary victory. 99 CA 147 PLAINTIFF-APPELLEE, ) ) - VS - ) OPINION ) JEFF RIDDLE, ) ) . Mafia Insider Oops, some error occurred while uploading your photo(s). A. But it wasnt long before vendors taking the $10 bills to the banks to be deposited found out they were counterfeit. "There was a tremendous amount of hard work that went into this case, but also some luck," says Morford, a forty-year-old who looks younger. This website no guarantee about the precision of the information accessible. & lt;a href=mailto:meade@vindy.com & gt;By PATRICIA MEADE & lt;/a & gt; VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER CLEVELAND -- Mahoning County Prosecutor Paul J. Words for Strollo Rich said Strollo can still enjoy his family, she can't, and "I used to hate you, now I pity you." 5 Ernest (Big Ernie) Biondillo - A strong-minded and business-savvy "button man" in the Pittsburgh mafia's Youngstown rackets, Biondillo, who came up under Little Joey Naples and Briar Hill Jimmy Prato, feuded with Lenny Strollo, Naples' replacement as the syndicate's Youngstown captain, and was shot to death while driving to work . He said the government could have gone to trial and put Strollo in prison, but the same corrupt system would still exist. Mike Tobin may be reached at [emailprotected]. The Pittsburgh crime family, [3] also known as the LaRocca crime family [4] or Pittsburgh Mafia, is an Italian American Mafia crime family based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The narrow two-story homes all sorely need fresh coats of paint. He was arrested at his Canfield home and remained in protective custody until he reached a plea agreement and became a government witness. Former Youngstown crime boss, Lenny Strollo, dead at age 80 Strollo Dominic M & is a resident of Youngstown. Milano's father, Jerry, defended a handful of wise guys in the 1970s and 1980s. The Crab Sleeps With the Fishes The Porrellos asked to have a meeting with Lonardo, but when he arrived at a barbershop, two gunmen appeared from the back and opened fire, killing Big Joe and his brother, John Lonardo. Things To Do Southern rockers The Outlaws to play in Warren April 20. You are only allowed to leave one flower per day for any given memorial. It was complex and interesting," he says, noting his law firm had to build a new database just to keep track of all the evidence. But Strollo and Altshuler had a plan. Dee was a graduate of East High School and a member of St. Charles Borromeo Church. Lenine Strollo is 91 years old today because Lenine's birthday is on 04/21/1931. This account already exists, but the email address still needs to be confirmed. "Jeff Riddle said, going into this case, 'Don't make me a snitch, and make my accusers look me in the eye,'" Milano says. His groundbreaking 1983 testimony established the existence of a national Mafia network and is still cited in mob-related cases. Gains's office is in the Mahoning County Courthouse, a magnificent four-story building erected in 1908. Vacant lots are littered with shattered beer bottles and plastic wrappers. "He did a better job for the defendant than the defendant's attorney." After court, Synenberg said it was a fair sentence under the circumstances and Morford's remarks were "on point" about the help Strollo gave the government. Gains left there at about 1 a.m. and stopped to buy cigarettes and cat food before he went home. "When [the Mafia] ran the gambling for the working-class people in Youngstown, they made enormous amounts of money," Jay Milano says. Lenine "Lenny" Strollo, 90, of Youngstown, was called home on Wednesday, May 19, 2021. [6] In 2021, the boss Thomas "Sonny" Ciancutti died, he was also the last known made . Prato provided protection for Strollo's vending businesses, but he couldn't solve all of his problems. or don't show this againI am good at figuring things out. "Lenny will be on a beach with a couple of blondes and a bag full of hundred-dollar bills, waving, saying, 'No, Bernie, I'll never give you up,'" Milano said with a grin on his face, clearly amused by the image. She enjoyed crocheting, cooking and baking for her family and friends and made the best Biscotti for everyone. He confessed to the charges and hired Policy to defend him, but then recanted his confession. The building has hosted some of the area's most infamous cases over the past few decades, including the trials of porn czar Ruben Sturman and mobster Joseph Gallo. Lenny Strollo, the former mobster once credited by the FBI with operating America's biggest illegal casino, has died at age 90. He has left the witness protection program and as he approaches his 70th birthday is willing to talk about his days with the Mafia in the Valley. He became a government witness in 1997 . 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Featured Gains' victim-impact statement likely helped shorten former mob boss Lenny Strollo's prison term. By the time Strollo took control of Youngstown, those gambling mill workers didn't exist anymore--at least not in the numbers that allowed the All-American Club to make millions. Using the evidence garnered from those conversations, Morford and Kroner were able to get a court order allowing agents to hide microphones and tap the phones at Mr. A's eatery, a reputed mob hangout. "The mob thought they had lightning in a bottle with the drug dealers," says Milano. Altshuler went to Riddle, who recruited drug dealers Mo Man Harris and Mark Batcho. Biondillo had been paying off politicians on his own and putting video poker machines in private clubs in Hillsville, Pennsylvania--Strollo's territory--without telling the mob boss. Riddle may have garnered himself a place in local lore, in what was quite possibly the last Mafia trial Cleveland will ever see. Convinced that Traficant was responsible for her husband's disappearance, Carabbia's widow approached the FBI with conversations Carabbia had secretly recorded between himself and Traficant. Based in Washington, D.C., Stiller travels the country assisting in organized-crime prosecutions. May 19, 2021. Usergen Previously sponsored memorials or famous memorials will not have this option. Corruption persists in most cities. Lenny Makes His Move African-American But by the 1990s, those days were gone. Carabbia's killing came with consequences, though. Though his brother was a captain in the Pittsburgh crime family, running the crew and leading all . He's still in Washington, the ultimate outsider, railing on the House floor about the need to put tanks on the Mexican border to keep out illegal immigrants and the need to increase tariffs to keep out foreign steel. With the death of Lenine Strollo, brings the an end of the era when the mafia controlled the the region. A system error has occurred. Uncategorized Lookup the home address, phone numbers, email address for this person . While Gains fed his cats and made a call on his cellular phone, Batcho entered through the side door. Becoming a Find a Grave member is fast, easy and FREE. She was always there to give a helping hand to anyone in need.She was born June 4, 1929, in Youngstown, the daughter of Dominic and Mary Antoinette (Cavallo) Strollo and was a lifelong area resident.Dee was a graduate of East High School and a member of St. Charles Borromeo Church. Buffoons and incompetents succeed to important civic posts. February 28, 2023, 5:00 AM. The only ones who didn't cop a plea, he noted bitterly, were "two shines and a Jew.". His appearance hasn't changed much after slightly more than six years behind bars -- his hair is still dark with only tinges of gray at the temples, but he has developed a slight paunch. The Fall Of Youngstown Mob Boss Lenny Strollo. Batcho, whose state trial is scheduled to begin next month in Youngstown, allegedly pulled the trigger of his .38-caliber handgun. He'd spend $20,000 a year on grapes alone, and considered it the highest honor to supply all the wine at weddings of his friends' children. He was 91 years old. The data offered through Vericora may be managed to assist someone learn about other person currently in their lives or search people from earlier period. She was always there to give a helping hand to anyone in need. He said it had been that way for more than 50 years, with more than 50 mob-related murders, long before Strollo. Edina M. "Dee" Strollo. Resend Activation Email, Please check the I'm not a robot checkbox, If you want to be a Photo Volunteer you must enter a ZIP Code or select your location on the map. Here those conditions have combined to produce a breakdown of the democratic process. 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