July 13, 2021 – The last king of the Steel Town underworld is dead. Pittsburgh mob power Thomas (Sonny) Ciancutti died last week at age 81, possibly being the final mafia don of the LaRocca crime family.
Ciancutti rose to be a capo of the Pittsburgh area’s New Kensington County rackets 40 years ago. He was mentored by Pittsburgh mafia underboss Gabriel (Kelly) Mannarino, who died of natural causes in 1980. Ciancutti was introduced to Mannarino through his mother, one of Ciancutti’s black jack dealers in his private casino during the 1950s and 1960s.
Some of have speculated that Ciancutti became boss of what was left of the Pittsburgh mob family over the past dozen years of so. That allegation was never confirmed though. Most experts trace the end of the LaRocca organization to the death of longtime Godfather Mike Genovese in 2006.
Ciancutti’s criminal record dates back a half-century: he was nabbed for tax evasion in 1962 and took a gambling pinch in 1963. The feds busted him for running a large bookmaking operation in 1972 and then again in 2000.
The post Pittsburgh Mafia Leader “Sonny” Ciancutti Dead At 81, LaRocca Crime Family Officially Closed For Business appeared first on The Gangster Report.