ppereased under the John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1993 (44 USC 3107 Hotey. DATE: 11-14-2017 DIRECTOR, FBI (92-6054 1/4/68 ATTN: SPECIAL INVESTIGATIVE DIVISION AND ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISION SAC, BUFFALO (67-369) ‘LA COSA NOSTRA investigation by Buffalo 0 by LCN member JOHN C. SACCO,. Our investigation of SACCO and his associates culminated in a joint FBI and local raid on 12/5/67 of premises located in Buffalo, N.Y., at which time ( over $105,000 worth of expensive mink fur coats and fur pieces \' were recovered. The loss of these furs and the arrest of a JAMES JAY WADE by our Agents and local authorities was a go substantial blow to SACCO and local LCN operated enterprise. : It is also noted that a number of individuals, including RUSSELL DE CICCO and GREGORY JAMES PARNESS are principal Suspects in the recent DU PONT robbery in Miami. SACCO's group is made up of young, hard-nosed Italian individuals “ capable of almost any offense. Bureau, SAs JOSEPH E. GRIFFIN, JR. and FRANCIS D. CONNERS received individual letters of commendation from the Bureau. because of their handling of informants and developing the investigation which resulted in the recovery of the furs and the collecting of physical evidence of assistance to local BUPFALO DIVISION R PERSONNEL RECOMMENDATIONS Remytels 12/22 and 12/29/67. Bureau has been previously advised of continuing ffice of LCN burglary ring headed As @ result of my previous recommendations to the authorities in connection with their case. additional personnel action. ‘has been s York State 3+ Bureau 5 ~- Buffal NJW:afe ; (B) Docld: 32306149 Page 2? The purpose of this communication is to recommend In further developments in the fur case, the evidence ubmitted to the Erie County Grand Jury by the New Police and by Agents of this office. AS a result oO 5 —~ NY tp athteenecagy a? <a ad 3 FOO Lon ay ae
YReleased under the John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 (44 USC 2107 Hote). DATE: 11-14-27017' go, ; ; aa “ . a0 A Me . \ ; . : ~~ BU 67-369 of this testimony, it is expected that JOHN C, SACCO, RUSSELL DE CICCO, DAVID NARDOZZI, GREGORY JAMES PARNESS and STEPHEN GIARDINA will be indicted by the local grand jury and bench warrants will be issued for their arrest. Latent fingerprint examinations by the New York State Police and the FBI Identifi- cation Division were key factors in these indictments and it. appears that at long last local authorities will be able to deal effectively with SACCO and his burglary ring, who as individuals and as a group have defied the best efforts of local law enforcement for a number of years. This gang has become highly successful major burglars and as indicated by their possible involvement in the million dollar DU PONT robbery, they are major offenders of primary interest to all law enforcement agencies.. . Following the fur recovery, PCI HARRISON T, GALLAGHER : advised SA FRANCIS D. CONNERS that RUSSELL DE CICCO and GREGORY JAMES PARNESS had committed the $55,000 burglary of the Pitt Petri jewelry firm in Buffalo at which time a substantial ‘quantity of expensive silver pieces and other jewelry items had been taken. The Pitt Petri burglary occurred on the night of 11/16-17/67. The PCI also advised that JOHN Cc. SACCO was the fence handling the stolen goods from this burglary. . It is’ noted that local authorities had been completely unsuccessful in their investigation of this burglary in attempting ‘to develop suspects. On 12/11/67, BU 305-C-TE advised SA JOSEPH E. GRIFFIN, JR. that ACCO was fencing stolen silverware along with \ a considerable quantity of other stolen merchandise and that. he a believed because of the heat generated by the fur recovery that 1 SACCO would soon be moving his stolen goods to a new location. Acting on this information, on. 12/12/67 ;- -SACCO was obsérved by SAs GRIFFIN and CONNERS following a rented panel truck to 315 Auburn St.. in Buffalo. Investigation determined that an “associate of SACCO had rented the truck under an assumed name. ‘Despite the fact that SACCO. and his associate were extremely surveillance conscious, the Agents were able to maintain a discreet surveillance and determine that SACCO wnloaded a number of boxes from the truck which were placed in a garage at the rear of the property at 315 Auburn St. we a _ Pe | DoclId: 32306149 Page 3
DATE: 11-14-7017 Pox 2 oo” BU 67-369 On 12/12/67, BU 305-C-TE advised SA GRIFFIN that a new hiding place had been found by SACCO in a garage. | 8ACCO further indicated that he would be moving all. of his stolen goods to the new location inasmuch as local authorities, ' who were being assisted by the FBI, were putting pressure on he and his group and he was afraid that some of the stolén property which he had in his possession in various. locations in Buffalo may be found by the authorities... Informant. further Said that this property which SACCO was currently attempting to fence would be located, according to SACCO, in an apartment near where the garage was located. - According to the informant , SACCO also had a large quantity of stolen cigarettes, antiques, gifts and jewelry for sale. Our coverage of SACCO indicated _ that he was making frequent trips to New York City in an effort to fence these items through LEN contacts in New York and he’ was also contacting other major fences in the northeast part of the country. ane OF 12/13/67, SA JOHN L. POPE.and Secretary GAIL P. 2 _ . HOFFMAN made a pretext inquiry at 315 Auburn St. and determined that the second floor rear apartment was for rent. They were successful, despite the general. uncooperative atmosphere in the : neighborhood, in determining the entire layout of the property without. arousing any suspicions. This was extremely valuable information and was subsequently of extreme value in the prepara- tion and execution of the search warrants. a On, 12/21/67, BU 305-C-TE advised SA GRIFFIN that SACCO's entire inventory of stolen property had been moved on the previous night to the residence at 315 Auburn St. At this point appropriate dissemination was made to trusted officers of the Buffalo PD and the New York State Police. Based on and from their surveillances and other investigation, local search warrants were obtained. , information furnished by the Agents obtained from their informants a On 12/22/67, a raid was conducted at the premises at 315 Auburn St. in Buffalo by the New York State Police and the Buffalo PD with Bureau Agents from this office as observers. Over $200,000 in stolen property was recovered from the premises at 315 Auburn St. This included the entire Pitt Petri loot as 3+ ‘Heleased under the John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 (44 TSC 2107 Hotey. oo ti OSG aah J a _ RL AER ee A ew = DoclId: 32306149 Page 4