Today marks the forty-fifth anniversary of the beginning of the end of the Magaddino Crime Family. On November 26, 1968, state and federal law enforcement agents executed arrest and search warrants against regional crime boss Stefano Magaddino, his son Peter A. Magaddino and other individuals. The warrants were related to a crackdown on a lucrative sports gambling operation overseen by the Magaddinos. The arrests were merely a minor inconvenience for the “Arm,” as the Mafia of western New York was known. However, during the search of Peter Magaddino’s home, nearly $500,000 in cash was found in a secret closet in the master bedroom. That turned out to be a serious problem for the crime family leadership...