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Stefano Magaddino, like most mob bosses, generally provided protection for the members of his "family," usually in the form of legal counsel and bail money when they were incarcerated. After all, they didn't want someone talking about "family" business and breaking the secret code of omerta.
In 1967 a tough mob associate named Pasquale "Paddy" Calabrese made a daring daytime robbery of the treasurer's office at Buffalo City Hall. He expected to get several hundred thousand dollars, but he grabbed the wrong deposit bag and ended up with only a couple thousand.
One of the men he had been trying to impress was Fred Randaccio, Magaddino's underboss and heir-apparent to head the Buffalo and Niagara Falls mob. Although the job was a bust, Randaccio asked Calabrese to participate in a robbery they were planning in California with some transplanted Buffalo mob members.
After some prep work Calabrese was fingered for the treasury robbery and arrested. While sitting in jail he assumed Randaccio would help him with bail money, a lawyer. Stefano Magaddino may have been one of the most powerful mob bosses in the United States, but he made a fatal mistake and decided to steer clear of Calabrese, knowing there was too much heat on the case.
Every day Calabrese was questioned by police trying to get him to talk. He continually refused to give up any information, figuring Randaccio would eventually come through, but as time went by, he started to become more desperate. Police officer Sam Giambrone visited him and his girlfriend, often bringing her food and becoming one of the only people he could trust.
Calabrese finally broke and decided to talk to the police. In exchange, the government decided to move him, his girlfriend and her kids out of town and provide them with new identities. They would be the first people the government had tried this with and it would form the basis for The Federal Witness Protection Program, also known as WITSEC, or the Witness Protection Program.
It was officially made into law under Title V of the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970, but it was Gerald Shur who started it when he was in the Organized Crime and Racketeering Section of the United States Department of Justice.
Calabrese's testimony led to the arrest and conviction of Randaccio, (20 years), and other members of the crime family in Buffalo and California. Calabrese was not one to stay hidden and visited Buffalo on occasion. His story became national headlines when the father of two of his step-children wanted to see them and the government refused to allow him to know where they were, fearing exposing Calabrese to the mob. The story of his fight to see his children became the book and later movie "Hide in Plain Sight" starring James Caan, which was filmed in Buffalo.
Calabrese floated in and out of the WITSEC program, eventually divorcing his wife, and leaving the program for good. He settled in Seattle where he opened a private investigation company, and died October 13, 2005.
Michael Rizzo is a native of Buffalo, New York. Always a good writer, as an adult he acquired an interest in local history after purchasing a home built in 1893.
He has since written two books on Buffalo and authored articles that appeared in The Buffalo News.
His current interests include the Buffalo/Niagara Falls mafia and organized crime, which he has done extensive research on, and providing tours of former gangland sites.
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