Luzerne County Judges

November 13, 2009

Juvie panel gets history summary

Judge orders Luzerne County to enable members to understand historical context.

By Bill O'Boyle boboyle@timesleader.com
Staff Writer
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WILKES-BARRE – Each member of the Interbranch Commission on Juvenile Justice has been given a detailed historical report on Luzerne County.

The report dealt with everything from the county’s earliest times to the Agnes Flood of 1972 and referenced Russell Bufalino and organized crime.

Stuart Ditzen, assistant for communications for the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts, compiled the report for the Interbranch Commission.

“Judge (John) Cleland asked the AOPC staff assigned to work with the commission to put it together after he was named chairman, but before all members of the commission had been appointed,” Ditzen said. “He thought that since members would likely be appointed from around the state – which, it turned out, they were – it would be helpful for them to know something about Luzerne County, its history and demographics.”

Ditzen said that to the best of his knowledge, none of the members of the commission has remarked on it. It was included in a large binder of material they received at their first organizational meeting in August.

The Interbranch Commission is conducting hearings on the Luzerne County juvenile justice system and must file its report by May 31 to the state Supreme Court, the governor and the state Legislature.

The report calls Luzerne County “a place of exceptional natural beauty with mountains, lush valleys and the magnificent North Branch of the Susquehanna River flowing through it.”

“Its principal city of Wilkes-Barre was described by a justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in a 1900 opinion as ‘the most picturesquely beautiful city in the Commonwealth.’ But that was before time and events did much to tarnish that lovely image.”

Ditzen’s report said the history of the Wyoming Valley is “rich with stories of greed, fortunes won and lost, conflict and corruption.”

It talks about the coal miners and coal companies that “pillaged the earth and nature eventually took its revenge.” It states in the latter half of the 20th Century, Luzerne County and its people endured long years of economic depression.

“In politics, a culture of mutual back-scratching dominated relationships between public officials and businessmen,” the report claims. “A powerful organized crime group held sway in the region. Today, the county reflects all of this history. It is a great cauldron of mixed elements – a patchwork of urban and rural communities with a multi-ethnic population that has intermingled and intermarried for more than a century.”

U.S. Rep. Dan Flood is mentioned as one of Luzerne County’s legendary politicians. The report includes how Flood’s political career declined when he was charged in a federal indictment with taking bribes from contractors and lobbyists. He resigned from Congress in 1980.

The report discusses Russell Bufalino, boldly stating that “organized crime long has been present in the Wyoming Valley.”

In the 1960s and 1970s, the report states, Bufalino was considered one of the top Mafia leaders in the nation – and so described by a U.S. Senate committee.”

He was reputed to be extensively involved in gambling, loan-sharking and labor-racketeering while holding interests in legitimate businesses, including coal, manufacturing and real estate. Bufalino was convicted in 1978 of extortion for threats made in attempting to collect a $25,000 debt. He was sentenced to four years in prison.

The report also mentions William “Big Billy” D’Elia, Bufalino’s associate and his driver. “D’Elia has been widely identified by law enforcement authorities as the individual who became the organized crime leader in Northeast Pennsylvania after Bufalino’s death in 1994,” the report states.

The historical account includes information about the county’s population, political makeup and municipal characteristics – noting that with four cities, 36 boroughs and 36 townships – Luzerne County has more municipalities than any county in Pennsylvania except Allegheny County.

“The abundance of municipalities, each with its own politics and power structure, translates to a densely woven fabric of fiefdoms and turfs, a legacy of the days of free towns and mine patches,” the report states.

Bill O’Boyle, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 829-7218.

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