Joseph Todaro was born to Anthony Todaro and Sarah Frangiamore on September 18, 1923. He later married Josephine Santamauro and had two children, his son Joseph Jr. and daughter Linda (later she married Peter Gerace). By the early 1960s, longtime Buffalo crime family boss
Stefano Magaddino had begun his retirement and left the day-to-day activities of the crime family to acting boss Frederico Randaccio. During the 1960s and 1970s, Randaccio's base of operations was the Blue Banner Social Club, located on Prospect Ave. The club was controlled by family soldier Benny Spano. Todaro Sr. was a big earner in the Buffalo family, controlling numerous rackets of
bookmaking, card and dice games,
loansharking rings, Las Vegas junkets, and labor rackets. According to FBI logs, Todaro Sr. conducted mob affairs and meetings from local hotel rooms and VIP rooms out of the Executive Inn, the 747s disco, and the old Playboy Club, which all were located near the Greater Buffalo International Airport in Cheektowaga, New York. Todaro Sr. was acquitted of federal tax evasion charges in 1985, after it was alleged he had underreported his income for years 1976, 1977 and 1978. The court statements also claimed that Joseph Todaro Jr. was running the Mafia family because his father, Todaro Sr., was in semi-retirement, splitting time between his Tonawanda and Florida homes. It was also stated that Leonard F. Falzone was running a local loansharking operation, while brothers Victor and Daniel Sansanese were controlling bookmaking for the Todaros. In 1996, Todaro Sr. and Todaro Jr. were listed among 24 alleged organized crime figures who were accused of influencing the Laborers International Union of North America since the 1960s. Milano decided that Todaro Sr. would receive a piece of the Blitzstein rackets in Las Vegas. The complaint identified Todaro Sr. as boss and Todaro Jr. as underboss of the Buffalo family and the owners of La Nova Pizzeria. In 2006, Todaro Sr. retired and Todaro Jr. become boss, He founded La Nova Pizzeria in 1957, which grew from one small West Side restaurant to a multimillion-dollar business that sells frozen chicken wings, pizzas and hot sauces. In 2001, Todaro Sr. opened a second La Nova Pizzeria on Main Street in Amherst. Todaro Sr. loved smoking cigars and horse racing. He also enjoyed a friendship with
Anthony Masiello, the
former Buffalo city mayor. Todaro Sr. died on December 26, 2012, at age 89, following a lengthy illness. ==References==