NCJ Number
70579
Date Published
1980
Length
78 pages
Annotation
A 2-year investigation of the cheese and pizza industry by the Pennsylvania Crime Commission established a clear pattern of increasing control by organized crime which has resulted in substantial tax losses, use of illegal alien labor, legitimate competition being driven out of business, and violence.
Abstract
This report provides information unavailable from routine corporate records, on the actual control and ownership of cheese and pizza businesses located in 54 Pennsylvania municipalities. The investigation found that these businesses skim over 20 million dollars of cash income each year that is never reported in financial statements and which results in defrauding tax agencies. Pizza shops controlled by organized crime also provide employment for a mobile force of illegal aliens who worked for near slave labor wages and are not listed officially as employees. Pizza shop arsons have been used to eliminate competition and as a profitable means to close an operation at the expense of the insurance industry. The Farmer's Cheese Co-op in Pennsylvania was victimized by an elaborate scheme set up by the Falcone brothers who had ties with the Gambino organization. The latter was an organized crime operator of Pizza shops in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Another major cheese distributor, B and T Cheese of Hellam, has ties with the Joseph Bonanno organized crime organization. In 1977, Pizza Hut was victimized by organized crime when $150,000 of supplies was stolen and subsequently sold to other pizza stores. The Crime Commission estimates that the large amounts of money made by these pizza and cheese businesses through questionable practices and criminal activities have been used to expand operations into other states. The Commission recommends that laws and regulations be enacted to inhibit skimming, that Federal authorities increase efforts to apprehend illegal aliens, and that more stringent reporting requirements be adopted for Pennsylvania corporations. A map showing the expansion of pizza businesses controlled by organized crime is included. The appendixes contain a list of cities and towns mentioned in the report; a chart of employee mobility from 1974 to 1977; an outline of companies and individuals involved in the commission's investigation, but not mentioned in this report; and charts illustrating, but not mentioned in this report; and charts illustrating the connections between Bonanno's organization, Falcone Associates, and the pizza industry.