S8 Ep1186: Russell Shorto, author of Smalltime: A Story of My Family and the Mob, provides a historical and personal exploration of organized crime in the small industrial town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, framing the American Mafia as a "mirror of American capitalis

Russell Shorto, author of Smalltime: A Story of My Family and the Mob, provides a historical and personal exploration of organized crime in the small industrial town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, framing the American Mafia as a "mirror of American capitalism." The story traces the family's roots back to Sicily, where the author's great-grandfather, Antonino Scioto (later Tony Shorto), emigrated to work in coal mines before his mysterious murder in Italy in 1920. This tragedy forced his son, Rosario "Russell" Shorto, to become the family's provider at age six, eventually finding his way into the world of bootlegging and gambling during Prohibition. Russell developed specialized skills as a card and dice cheat, finding a mentor in a neighborhood "Black Hand" leader. In the late 1930s, Shorto partnered with Joe Regino, a mobster sent from Philadelphia to establish a local franchise. Their base of operations, City Cigar, became a central hub for a gambling empire that included the numbers racket, pinball, and card games, all protected by a sophisticated system of bribing local police and politicians. Shorto emphasizes the social context of ethnic prejudice, noting that many Italianimmigrants turned to the "underworld" because legitimate economic paths were often closed to them. The book also examines the internal family toll of this lifestyle—secrets, alcoholism, and the strain of living multiple lives—as the author and his father attempt to reconstruct the history of a man who never "broke cover." The empire eventually crumbled under the pressure of federal investigations led by Bobby Kennedy and local fallout from the unsolved 1960 murder of bookie Pippy diFalco. (2)
1899 CAMBRIA COUNTY, PA