On this day, June 14, in 1940, the head of a Buffalo, N.Y., crime family opened a funeral home in Niagra Falls to legitimize his business interests.
Stefano Magaddino, known as the Undertaker, had been a charter member of the Commission, the governing body of the American Mafia.
One of the longest serving Mafia bosses, Magaddino survived several assassinations attempts, including those by other mobsters for calling the embarrassing 1957 Appalachian Conference that helped confirm the existence of the Mafia in the United States.
In the 1960s, the FBI began eavesdropping on the Magaddino funeral home, recording 78,000 pages of transcripts. Stefano was arrested on bookmaking charges in 1968.
The Feds were unable to convict Magaddino, but the investigation caused a family riff after $500,000 in cash was found in a wall.
Magaddino died in 1974.
— Scott McCabe
