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@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ Abdul Qadeer Khan was a [[Pakistan|Pakistani]] scientist "closely associated wit
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### Kahuta and the Procurement Network
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In 1979 the administration of [[Jimmy Carter]] suspended aid to Pakistan under the Symington amendment after discovering the Kahuta enrichment plan; in 1981 the [[Ronald Reagan|Reagan]] administration obtained a five-year waiver from Congress because of Pakistan's role in channeling U.S. aid to the [[Mujahideen]] in [[Afghanistan]]. State Department telegrams of September and November 1985 show U.S. officials pressing [[West Germany]] over Pakistani agents seeking aluminum tubes for the Khan Laboratory's centrifuge program, and by fall 1986 the [[U.S. government]] regarded Multinational Inc. as a "procurement agent" for Khan's network. In May 1986 Representative [[Stephen Solarz]] told [[Zia ul-Haq]] that U.S. intelligence indicated Kahuta was enriching uranium to weapons grade, which Pakistani officials denied.[^2]
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In 1979 the administration of [[Jimmy Carter]] suspended aid to Pakistan under the Symington amendment after discovering the Kahuta enrichment plan; in 1981 the [[Ronald Reagan|Reagan]] administration obtained a five-year waiver from Congress because of Pakistan's role in channeling U.S. aid to the [[Mujahideen]] in [[Afghanistan]]. State Department telegrams of September and November 1985 show U.S. officials pressing [[West Germany]] over Pakistani agents seeking aluminum tubes for the Khan Laboratory's centrifuge program, and by fall 1986 the U.S. government regarded Multinational Inc. as a "procurement agent" for Khan's network. In May 1986 Representative [[Stephen Solarz]] told [[Zia ul-Haq]] that U.S. intelligence indicated Kahuta was enriching uranium to weapons grade, which Pakistani officials denied.[^2]
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### The Pervez Case
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@ -82,19 +82,19 @@ Jones served as Special Assistant to Pell from January 1985 until March 1991 "wi
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### The White Paper of 1992
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"Will the Real Scott Jones Please Stand Up?," dated February 20, 1992 and credited to [[Robert J. Durant]], appears in the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] reading room as CIA-RDP96-00792R000400300004-7; a note at its end states that [[George P. Hansen]] co-authored it without his name appearing.[^3] It opens by describing Jones as "the Renaissance Man of the Paranormal." Its claims, attributed to Durant, include that Jones chaired a panel and acted as liaison to "the Prince of Liechtenstein who was the major benefactor of the conference," at the [[TREAT II]] abduction conference at [[Virginia Tech]] in January 1990 organized by Rima Laibow; that [[MUFON]] appointed him Special Consultant in International Relations in 1989; that in 1991 he told the Chinese officials he visited about UFOs, in a story he later told at the Omega conference, that his questions were taken for pretense, and that metal given to him there proved to be debris from an electrical transmission tower; that he delivered "Government UFO Connections" at the 1991 MUFON symposium and there said he "honestly did not know of any activity of the [[U.S. government]]" on UFOs; and that he spoke approvingly of [[William L. Moore]] and met Moore and [[Richard Doty]] while on Pell's payroll.[^3]
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"Will the Real Scott Jones Please Stand Up?," dated February 20, 1992 and credited to [[Robert J. Durant]], appears in the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] reading room as CIA-RDP96-00792R000400300004-7; a note at its end states that [[George P. Hansen]] co-authored it without his name appearing.[^3] It opens by describing Jones as "the Renaissance Man of the Paranormal." Its claims, attributed to Durant, include that Jones chaired a panel and acted as liaison to "the Prince of Liechtenstein who was the major benefactor of the conference," at the [[TREAT II]] abduction conference at [[Virginia Tech]] in January 1990 organized by Rima Laibow; that [[MUFON]] appointed him Special Consultant in International Relations in 1989; that in 1991 he told the Chinese officials he visited about UFOs, in a story he later told at the Omega conference, that his questions were taken for pretense, and that metal given to him there proved to be debris from an electrical transmission tower; that he delivered "Government UFO Connections" at the 1991 MUFON symposium and there said he "honestly did not know of any activity of the [[United States|U.S. government]]" on UFOs; and that he spoke approvingly of [[William L. Moore]] and met Moore and [[Richard Doty]] while on Pell's payroll.[^3]
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The paper also relates a story that [[Lee Graham]], an [[Aerojet]] technician, told [[Don Ecker]] and Durant: after an [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] agent and an unidentified man visited Graham in 1987 and discussed the [[Majestic-12|MJ-12]] papers, Jones telephoned Graham, said they had "a mutual acquaintance," and sent on Senate letterhead the Air Force biography of Major General [[Michael Kerby]], the Air Force legislative liaison director, whom Graham recognized as the visitor. In the paper's account Jones explained that Kerby had called on Pell, noticed Jones, and told him of the visit because "Kerby knew of my interest in these matters"; Jones declined to elaborate. Durant also wrote that an unnamed informant learned that [[Jaime Shandera]] and Moore were in contact with Jones, and listed rumors, which the paper attributes to unnamed "Scott watchers," that Jones had asked parapsychologists about recruiting psychics for military intelligence, had been involved for years in classified research on electronic mind control, and had approached media representatives in 1986 about a UFO program offering secret government information. The paper also describes dolphin telepathy experiments by Jones with Colonel [[John B. Alexander]] and [[Theodore Rockwell]]. The paper states of Jones's organizations that the Human Potential Foundation was established in 1989, was housed in the [[Vienna, Virginia]], offices of the law firm [[Sandground Barondess and West]] with [[Mark Sandground]] and Pell on its board, and was "reportedly funded by Laurance Rockefeller."[^3]
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### Human Potential Foundation, 1989 to 1998
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Jones left Pell's staff in March 1991 and ran the Foundation until its dissolution in 1998.[^2] The Foundation's primary donor in its first two and a half years was Laurance Rockefeller, "whose support was conditional with a program designed to get the [[United States]] government to acknowledge the existence of alien life."[^2] Jones wrote as its president to [[John Gibbons]] at the [[Office of Science and Technology Policy]] from 1993 to 1995, to Representative [[Steven Schiff]], and in August 1995 to the congressional leadership; the letters are described under the [[Rockefeller Initiative]].[^10] [[Dinah Eng]]'s wire story of May 1995 on the Foundation's conference "[[When Cosmic Cultures Meet]]" (May 27 to 29, Washington) identified Jones as the Foundation's president and as a former naval intelligence officer who served on Pell's staff; it reported that the program would examine contact with extraterrestrials rather than debate whether intelligent life exists elsewhere, and quoted Jones as saying he had "no doubt that intelligent life exists elsewhere" and that there was "an extraordinary amount of fear associated with this phenomena."[^11] In a letter of February 17, 1994 he wrote to Gibbons: "My mention of mind-control technology at the February 4 meeting was quite deliberate. Please be careful about this. There are reasons to believe that some government group has interwoven research about this technology with alleged UFO phenomena."[^12] In his letter of August 11, 1994, after describing a conference of the [[Institute of Noetic Sciences]] in [[Chicago]] and Pell's seat on its board, he advised Gibbons to speak with [[James Woolsey]]; the passage that follows (the scan is torn) reports that Woolsey had a document search under way in his agency that had found nothing of significance, and quotes the statement: "If I had the responsibility to run a super safe black program on this subject, I would take it completely out of the government's [...] and run it from the private sector, probably somewhere within [the] aerospace community, or perhaps [[General Motors]]."[^13] A handwritten note signed "JHG" and dated 3/29/94 on the same letter reads: "Scott Jones used to be associated with Senator Pell. He was formerly a Navy pilot. The Human Potential Foundation is funded in part, I believe, by L.R."[^12]
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Jones left Pell's staff in March 1991 and ran the Foundation until its dissolution in 1998.[^2] The Foundation's primary donor in its first two and a half years was Laurance Rockefeller, "whose support was conditional with a program designed to get the United States government to acknowledge the existence of alien life."[^2] Jones wrote as its president to [[John Gibbons]] at the [[Office of Science and Technology Policy]] from 1993 to 1995, to Representative [[Steven Schiff]], and in August 1995 to the congressional leadership; the letters are described under the [[Rockefeller Initiative]].[^10] [[Dinah Eng]]'s wire story of May 1995 on the Foundation's conference "[[When Cosmic Cultures Meet]]" (May 27 to 29, Washington) identified Jones as the Foundation's president and as a former naval intelligence officer who served on Pell's staff; it reported that the program would examine contact with extraterrestrials rather than debate whether intelligent life exists elsewhere, and quoted Jones as saying he had "no doubt that intelligent life exists elsewhere" and that there was "an extraordinary amount of fear associated with this phenomena."[^11] In a letter of February 17, 1994 he wrote to Gibbons: "My mention of mind-control technology at the February 4 meeting was quite deliberate. Please be careful about this. There are reasons to believe that some government group has interwoven research about this technology with alleged UFO phenomena."[^12] In his letter of August 11, 1994, after describing a conference of the [[Institute of Noetic Sciences]] in [[Chicago]] and Pell's seat on its board, he advised Gibbons to speak with [[James Woolsey]]; the passage that follows (the scan is torn) reports that Woolsey had a document search under way in his agency that had found nothing of significance, and quotes the statement: "If I had the responsibility to run a super safe black program on this subject, I would take it completely out of the government's [...] and run it from the private sector, probably somewhere within [the] aerospace community, or perhaps [[General Motors]]."[^13] A handwritten note signed "JHG" and dated 3/29/94 on the same letter reads: "Scott Jones used to be associated with Senator Pell. He was formerly a Navy pilot. The Human Potential Foundation is funded in part, I believe, by L.R."[^12]
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Jones presented a talk on exopolitics in [[Hawaii]] in June 2006.[^14] He founded the [[Peace and Emergency Action Coalition for Earth]] in 1998, which received its [[Internal Revenue Service]] ruling in October 1998.[^2][^15]
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### Series 4 and 6 container titles
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The finding aid lists Series 4 (Human Potential Foundation, with subseries for Pell, the Foundation Board, Grants and Funding, Projects and Events) and Series 6 ("Special Assistant to Senator Claiborne Pell," with Legislation, Symposium on Consciousness and Survival 1985, Soviet-American Relations, Paranormal Aide, Reports and organizations, Unidentified Flying Objects, Speeches and Subject Files subseries). Among the titles are "Uri Geller Scandal" files, "Soviet Psychotronics correspondence and memos," "National Science Foundation: [[Andrija Puharich]] reports and correspondence," "Howard J. Hoffman Government Liaison Project" and "A Model of Government Preparation for ET Contact and Cooperation" by Jones; the full title lists are on the pages for [[Human Potential Foundation]] and [[Claiborne Pell]].[^16]
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The finding aid lists Series 4 (Human Potential Foundation, with subseries for Pell, the Foundation Board, Grants and Funding, Projects and Events) and Series 6 ("Special Assistant to Senator Claiborne Pell," with Legislation, Symposium on Consciousness and Survival 1985, Soviet-American Relations, Paranormal Aide, Reports and organizations, Unidentified Flying Objects, Speeches and Subject Files subseries). Among the titles are "Uri Geller Scandal" files, "Soviet Psychotronics correspondence and memos," "National Science Foundation: [[Andrija Puharich]] reports and correspondence," "Howard J. Hoffman Government Liaison Project" and "A Model of Government Preparation for ET Contact and Cooperation" by Jones; the full title lists are on the pages for Human Potential Foundation and Claiborne Pell.[^16]
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### Footnotes
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@ -195,7 +195,7 @@ A Form D filed on February 9, 2023 by 1789 Capital Fund I, LP of Palm Beach, Flo
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[^15]: Mercer Family Foundation, Forms 990-PF for 2019 to 2024, Part XV (grants and contributions paid), ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer full text: 2019 https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/201982204/202012559349100501/IRS990PF; 2020 https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/201982204/202212639349100101/IRS990PF; 2021 https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/201982204/202213199349104431/IRS990PF; 2022 https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/201982204/202303189349100610/IRS990PF; 2023 https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/201982204/202423199349104317/IRS990PF; 2024 https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/201982204/202513169349100411/IRS990PF. The 2016 and 2017 DonorsTrust grants are from the Part XV lists in the returns for those years. The Part XV list for 2020 totals $26,031,269 including $6,772,269 to the Hospital for Special Surgery; the grants-paid field in the ProPublica summary for 2020 reads $19,259,000.
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[^16]: Federal Election Commission, committee record for ART ROBINSON FOR CONGRESS (C00481341), 2251 Dick George Rd, Cave Junction, Oregon; Schedule B disbursements to Cambridge Analytica of $20,000 in three payments, June to November 2014. https://api.open.fec.gov/v1/committee/C00481341/
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[^17]: Mercer Family Foundation, Form 990-PF for 2014, Part XV (Job Creators Alliance, Addison, Texas, 100,000 dollars, "non profit donation"). https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990pf_pdf_archive/201/201982204/201982204_201412_990PF.pdf
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[^18]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, DataSet 10, EFTA01400922 (letter of May 5, 2014, Mercer Family Foundation to Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas; related items EFTA01398726, EFTA01398757, EFTA01398924 and EFTA01398965 not reopened). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01400922.pdf
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[^18]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, DataSet 10, EFTA01400922 (letter of May 5, 2014, Mercer Family Foundation to Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas). https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01400922.pdf
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[^19]: Government Accountability Institute (EIN 45-4681912), Form 990 for 2012, Part III (mission), Part VII Section A (officers and compensation), Schedule O; ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer record (recognition date January 1, 2013). https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990_pdf_archive/454/454681912/454681912_201212_990.pdf and https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/454681912
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[^20]: Government Accountability Institute, Forms 990 for 2013, 2014 and 2015, Schedule L Part IV (business transactions involving interested persons) and Part VII: https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990_pdf_archive/454/454681912/454681912_201312_990.pdf ; https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990_pdf_archive/454/454681912/454681912_201412_990.pdf ; https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990_pdf_archive/454/454681912/454681912_201512_990.pdf (amount for 2013 as read from the scanned return)
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[^21]: Government Accountability Institute, Forms 990 for 2016 (Part VII Section A), 2017, 2020 and 2022, ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer full text: https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/454681912/201743179349306999/IRS990 ; /201833199349301453/IRS990 ; /202111759349300306/IRS990 ; /202343009349300814/IRS990
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@ -2,7 +2,12 @@
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aliases:
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- Sam the Barber
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- Salvatore LaRussa
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- Salvatore La Russa
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- Sam La Russa
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- Sam LaRussa
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- Samuel LaRussa
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- Salvatore LaRusso
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- Salvatore "Sam the Barber" LaRussa
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category: "Organized Crime"
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tags:
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- AbuseNetworks
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@ -11,7 +16,8 @@ tags:
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- Philadelphia
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- ScarfoFamily
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- RCHorsch
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summary: "Sicilian-born Philadelphia barber, bar owner and restaurateur, a friend of mob boss Nicodemo Scarfo, whom R.C. Horsch named as the main backer of his 1973 pornographic feature."
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- BustOutBars
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summary: "Philadelphia barber, bust-out bar operator and restaurateur who was a friend of mob boss Nicodemo Scarfo and, according to R.C. Horsch, financed his 1973 film."
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born: 1938
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died: 1996-08-18
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location: "Whitemarsh Township, Pennsylvania"
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@ -22,31 +28,88 @@ relations:
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fn: 1
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- type: owned
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with: "[[La Cucina Ristorante]]"
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fn: 1
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- type: funded
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with: "[[The Erotic Memoirs of a Male Chauvinist Pig]]"
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role: "financier, per R.C. Horsch"
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start: 1973
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fn: 2
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- type: relative_of
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with: "[[Michael LaRussa]]"
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role: "brother"
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fn: 17
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created: 2026-09-23
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updated: 2026-09-23
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updated: 2026-10-07
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---
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Salvatore "Sam the Barber" LaRussa (1938 to August 18, 1996) was a [[Philadelphia]] barber, bar owner and restaurateur known, in the words of his *Inquirer* obituary, as "a restaurateur and associate of local mobsters," chiefly through his friendship with the boss [[Nicodemo Scarfo]]. [[R.C. Horsch]] said that most of the budget of his 1973 pornographic feature *[[The Erotic Memoirs of a Male Chauvinist Pig]]* came from LaRussa.[^1][^2][^3]
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Salvatore "Sam the Barber" LaRussa (1938 to August 18, 1996) was a [[Philadelphia]] barber, bust-out bar operator, restaurateur and club owner who gained notoriety in law enforcement and underworld circles through his friendship with [[Nicodemo Scarfo]].[^1] [[R.C. Horsch]] said that most of the budget of the 1973 pornographic feature *[[The Erotic Memoirs of a Male Chauvinist Pig]]* came from LaRussa.[^2]
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### Locust Street and South Street
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### Early life and barbering
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LaRussa was born in "Campobella dell Gatto, near Palermo," in [[Sicily]], as the *Daily News* gave it, the eldest of five children, and emigrated to Philadelphia in the early 1950s, living on Sheridan Street near Porter in South Philadelphia. He left home at 19 to become a barber and cut hair at the Camac Baths. In the early 1960s he opened what became known as "bust-out bars," among them the Phone Booth, the HMS Pinafore and the ZuZu Club, featuring strippers in the red-light district around 13th and Locust Streets; he was arrested several times for liquor-code violations. In the early 1970s he bought the Piccadilly Club on South Street near Front, reopened it as Scruples and later Christine's, and next door opened La Cucina Ristorante, which became a gathering place for members and associates of the Scarfo family. In the 1990s he built and operated clubs on the Delaware waterfront, among them Club Vegas, the South Beach Club and the Aztec Club.[^2]
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LaRussa was born in Campobella dell Gatto, near Palermo, in [[Sicily]], in 1938, the eldest of five children of Marianne and Joseph LaRussa.[^3] He emigrated to Philadelphia with his mother and sister in the early 1950s, and his three brothers and his father followed three years later. The family lived on Sheridan Street near Porter in [[South Philadelphia]].[^3] One account dates his immigration to 1951.[^1] He left home at 19 to become a barber and cut men's hair at the now closed [[Camac Baths]], where he met the jeweler [[Bobby Stone]], a friend of thirty years.[^3]
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### Scarfo
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### Bust-out bars and Locust Street
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LaRussa said under oath that he had first met Scarfo as a teenager around 11th and Carpenter Streets. In the mid-1980s Scarfo and his senior associates were frequent customers at La Cucina, and a Christmas party Scarfo held there in 1985 drew intense police surveillance. The mob informants [[Nicholas Caramandi]] and [[Thomas DelGiorno]] testified that LaRussa had allowed Scarfo to use his house in [[Whitemarsh Township, Pennsylvania|Whitemarsh Township]] for initiation ceremonies; Caramandi said that he and two others were "made" there one afternoon after LaRussa had left. Questioned by a federal grand jury in 1987, LaRussa said he had been called away to work that day, that he was a frequent guest at Scarfo's waterfront house in [[Fort Lauderdale, Florida|Fort Lauderdale]] and had supervised construction work there, and that he knew nothing of Scarfo's criminal activities: "I never ask him any questions. We go out. We have dinner. We eat. We drink. We laugh. Christmas, we exchange gifts."[^1][^2]
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In the early 1960s, while in his early twenties, LaRussa began opening what came to be known as "bust-out bars." They included the Phone Booth, the [[HMS Pinafore]] and the [[ZuZu Club]], which featured strippers in the then red-light district around 13th and [[Locust Street]].[^3] His dozen after-hours clubs and bars usually served until dawn, and he was arrested several times for liquor-code violations.[^3] He once described the Locust Street bars as "bust-out" joints, and was also in the construction business.[^1] The [[Pennsylvania Crime Commission]]'s 1990 report listed him among associates of the Bruno/Scarfo family, with prior arrests for liquor law violations at "bust-out bars" he had operated around 13th and Locust Streets.[^4]
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### The 1973 Film
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The Crime Commission listed bust-out operations at several Locust Street addresses in its 1974 report on police corruption in Philadelphia, among them the Skabidoo/AU in the Family at 1301 Locust Street, the Why Not Lounge at 1305 Locust Street and the RD Club on the second floor at 1301 Locust Street.[^5]
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Horsch said in a 2013 interview that 60 to 70 percent of the roughly 20,000 dollar budget of *The Erotic Memoirs of a Male Chauvinist Pig* came from LaRussa, who ran the Bag of Nails bar at 13th and Locust Streets, from "money that he had laying around in a shoebox behind the bar. We're talking about organized crime," and that LaRussa arranged the film's distribution through Philadelphia organized crime to [[Sam Lake]]. No other source ties LaRussa to the film; his obituaries do not mention it.[^1][^2][^3]
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In the early 1970s LaRussa bought the [[Piccadilly Club]] on [[South Street (Philadelphia)|South Street]] near Front, reopened it as Scruples and later renamed it Christine's, after his granddaughter.[^3] Next door he opened [[La Cucina Ristorante]], a restaurant near Second and South Streets that he owned.[^1][^3]
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### Death
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### La Cucina and the Scarfo circle
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LaRussa had undergone three open-heart operations and was awaiting a heart transplant, according to his godson. He died of a heart attack at Chestnut Hill Hospital on August 18, 1996, at 58, and was buried at [[Holy Sepulchre Cemetery (Cheltenham)|Holy Sepulchre Cemetery]] in [[Cheltenham Township, Pennsylvania|Cheltenham]] after a Mass at Epiphany of Our Lord Church.[^1][^2]
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The Crime Commission's 1990 report describes La Cucina Ristorante, 121 South Street, as having "long been a hangout for members of Scarfo's LCN Family."[^4] [[Philip Leonetti]], Scarfo's nephew, said that "There was a place on South Street called La Cucina that we used to go to. Sam the Barber, who was with us, owned it. We rented the place out and threw a big party," and placed there the Christmas party that Scarfo threw for himself after he became boss.[^6] In the mid-1980s Scarfo and several of his senior associates were frequent customers at La Cucina.[^1] In a 1987 account, [[Thomas DelGiorno]] said that on one night he met Scarfo, Leonetti and [[Salvatore Merlino]] at La Cucina, "a restaurant on South Street near Front," and told the three men that [[Salvatore Testa]] had been murdered.[^7]
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### Footnotes
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Scarfo's 1985 Christmas party at the restaurant drew police attention.[^1] The journalist [[George Anastasia]] quoted an unnamed participant describing Scarfo hosting "this big thing" at La Cucina that Christmas, with "forty, maybe fifty" members present from about two o'clock and invited nonmembers arriving after four o'clock.[^8] In the 1987 extortion trial, prosecutors showed the jury an FBI videotape of [[Leland Beloff]], [[Robert Rego]] and former state senator [[Henry Cianfrani]] entering "LaCucina Ristorante Extraordinaire, 117 South Street," at 4:30 p.m. on December 19, 1985, when a Scarfo Christmas party allegedly was under way inside.[^9] [[George Anastasia]] wrote that during a celebration at La Cucina, Scarfo offered [[Nicholas Caramandi]] his personal congratulations.[^10]
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[^1]: [Obituary of Salvatore LaRussa], *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* August 21, 1996, sec. B, p. 4, as transcribed on Find a Grave, memorial 123805574. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/123805574/salvatore-la_russa
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[^2]: Caparella, Kitty. [Obituary of Salvatore LaRussa], *Philadelphia Daily News,* August 20, 1996, p. 16, as transcribed on Find a Grave, memorial 123805574. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/123805574/salvatore-la_russa
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[^3]: West, Ashley. "Unknowing Ray Horsch, Episode 2: Performance," *The Rialto Report,* Podcast 172, September 20, 2026, audio (republishing interviews recorded in 2013). https://www.therialtoreport.com/2026/09/20/ray-horsch-3/
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### The Whitemarsh house
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In the 1987 trial, Caramandi described an alleged event on November 25, 1984, "in a house in [[Whitemarsh Township, Pennsylvania|Whitemarsh]], [[Montgomery County, Pennsylvania|Montgomery County]]," with some 30 Mafia members standing around a dining-room table, at which he was initiated into the Mafia. He testified that Scarfo put a piece of tissue paper in his palm and lit it.[^11] The Third Circuit's 1990 opinion in [[United States v. Pungitore]] states that in the fall of 1984 [[Charles Iannece]] and [[Joseph Grande]], along with government witness Caramandi, became made members.[^12]
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Caramandi told Anastasia that "Finally, we get to the house and it's Sam the Barber's house," in Whitemarsh, which he said LaRussa built himself and was later offered about nine hundred thousand dollars for. Anastasia wrote that thirty-five members of the Philadelphia mob looked on as Scarfo administered the oath, and that LaRussa had left his house before the ceremony began; by four o'clock that afternoon, he wrote, the ceremonies were over and the drinks and food were served.[^13]
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LaRussa's own account, given to a federal grand jury in 1987, concerned his home in Whitemarsh. He said he had invited Scarfo to his home several times and that Scarfo finally accepted. LaRussa said he was called away to work that day and did not share in a catered meal for about 40 people that he had brought in from his restaurant. He told the grand jury: "I told him it's my pleasure to have him there."[^1] Caramandi later testified that he and two other mob figures were formally initiated, or "made," that afternoon, after LaRussa had left the house.[^1] DelGiorno and Caramandi testified that LaRussa allowed Scarfo to use his Whitemarsh home for Mafia initiation ceremonies.[^3] The Crime Commission's 1990 report states the same of the two witnesses' testimony.[^4]
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### Fort Lauderdale and the grand jury
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LaRussa told the grand jury that he was a frequent guest at Scarfo's waterfront home in [[Fort Lauderdale, Florida|Fort Lauderdale]], had supervised construction work there, and usually picked up the check when Scarfo ate at La Cucina. He said he was in the dark about Scarfo's mob activities: "I never ask him any questions," he said. "We go out. We have dinner. We eat. We drink. We laugh. Christmas, we exchange gifts."[^1]
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Leonetti said that Scarfo had him pay $650,000 in cash for a Fort Lauderdale house on the water, which Scarfo named Casablanca South. He said that "Sam wasn't a made guy, but he was with us," that Scarfo put LaRussa in charge of the renovations, and that Scarfo ended up spending close to $100,000 on them.[^14]
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### The 1973 film
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Horsch said in an interview recorded in 2013 that LaRussa put up "about 60, 70% of the money" for the film, money "that he had laying around in a shoebox behind the bar. We're talking about organized crime."[^2] Horsch said that LaRussa ran a bar called the [[Bag of Nails]] at 13th and Locust Streets and that the production cost "a little over $20,000." Horsch said that the contact with [[Sam Lake]] for distribution was arranged through the mafia in Philadelphia, through LaRussa, and that the film was sold to "Sam" for exactly $50,000.[^2]
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Horsch then said that "Sam was always complaining that it didn't make any money," and that the figure he had been given was that Sam ended up making four or five million dollars from the film, adding: "I don't know how true it was or not." Asked whether Sam the Barber was happy with his share of the profits, Horsch answered: "No, because he never really made as much money as he thought he was going to make."[^2]
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### Waterfront clubs
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LaRussa operated establishments along South Street and, most recently, along [[Delaware Avenue]].[^1] In the 1990s he opened clubs along the [[Delaware River]] waterfront, among them [[Club Vegas]], the [[South Beach Club]] and the [[Aztec Club]]. The Aztec Club was one he built, operated and later sold. A correction published August 21, 1996 stated that he constructed Club Vegas and South Beach but did not own the building or the liquor license of either.[^3] In May 1992 the Aztec Club was among the waterfront's old showplace standbys, with the [[Riverfront Dinner Theater]] and the Barbary.[^15] In May 1995 Club Vegas was new that year among about a dozen clubs along the waterfront.[^16]
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### Family
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LaRussa was married twice.[^3] His brother [[Michael LaRussa]] was described in 2012 as the owner of [[Dante & Luigi's]] at 10th and Catharine Streets in Bella Vista, where he said: "I do still have people that are 'connected' come in here. I don't make a fuss about it."[^17]
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### Death and survivors
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LaRussa died of a heart attack on Sunday, August 18, 1996. The Inquirer gave the place as [[Chestnut Hill Hospital]]; the Daily News gave it as Whitemarsh Township, Montgomery County. He was 58 and lived in Whitemarsh.[^1][^3] His godson, [[Angelo Borgesi]], said that LaRussa had three open-heart surgeries, three or four heart attacks, and was awaiting a heart transplant.[^3] A viewing was scheduled for Thursday, August 22, at [[Leonetti Funeral Home]] at Broad and Wolf Streets, at 9 a.m. in one account and 9:30 a.m. in the other, followed by an 11 a.m. Mass at [[Epiphany of Our Lord Church]] on Jackson Street near 11th Street, and he was buried at [[Holy Sepulchre Cemetery (Cheltenham)|Holy Sepulchre Cemetery]] in [[Cheltenham Township, Pennsylvania|Cheltenham]].[^1][^3]
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The Inquirer listed four sons, Joseph, Salvatore Jr., Michael and Giovanni, a daughter, Sharlene Pantisano, and five grandchildren.[^1] The Daily News listed three sons and a daughter besides the fifth child, and said that his companion of eight years, [[Nadeen Seuss]], had recently borne him that child, Giovanni, named for a brother who had died 19 years earlier.[^3]
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[^1]: Anastasia, George, "Salvatore Larussa, 58, Friend Of Mob Figures," *Philadelphia Inquirer*, August 21, 1996, Wayback copy of the articles.philly.com page: https://web.archive.org/web/20150928205738id_/http://articles.philly.com/1996-08-21/news/25645305_1_nicodemo-little-nicky-scarfo-grand-jury-mob-activities
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[^2]: West, Ashley, "Unknowing Ray Horsch, Episode 2: Performance," *The Rialto Report*, Podcast 172, September 20, 2026, audio transcript at 20:33 to 21:07 and 28:59 to 29:49 (republishing interviews recorded in 2013): https://www.therialtoreport.com/2026/09/20/ray-horsch-3/ Sole source for the passages so cited. In the transcript, "Sam" without a surname follows the reference to Sam Lake and is used for the buyer, the person complaining and the person said to have made four or five million dollars.
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[^3]: Caparella, Kitty, "Heart Attack Claims `Sam The Barber'," *Philadelphia Daily News*, August 20, 1996, with the correction published August 21, 1996, Wayback copy: https://web.archive.org/web/2015id_/http://articles.philly.com/1996-08-20/news/25645508_1_heart-transplant-heart-attack-mob
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[^4]: Pennsylvania Crime Commission, *Organized Crime in Pennsylvania: A Decade of Change, 1990 Report* (1991), p. 159 (entry for Salvatore LaRussa, also known as Samuel LaRussa, Salvatore LaRusso and "Sam the Barber"; the index also lists La Cucina Ristorante, 121 South Street, at p. 159), NCJ 133208: https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/133208NCJRS.pdf
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[^5]: Pennsylvania Crime Commission, *Report on Police Corruption and the Quality of Law Enforcement in Philadelphia* (1974), public document on Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/reportonpoliceco00penn
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[^6]: Leonetti, Philip, with Scott Burnstein, *Mafia Prince: Inside America's Most Violent Crime Family and the Bloody Fall of La Cosa Nostra* (Philadelphia: Running Press, 2012), pp. 131-133 (lending copy): https://archive.org/details/mafiaprinceinsid0000leon
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[^7]: Daughen, Joseph R., "It All Began With Bug On One Mobster's Pad," *Philadelphia Daily News*, April 10, 1987, Wayback copy: https://web.archive.org/web/2015id_/http://articles.philly.com/1987-04-10/news/26194567_1_salvatore-testa-scarfo-family-mob-members
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[^8]: Anastasia, George, *Blood and Honor: Inside the Scarfo Mob, the Mafia's Most Violent Family* (New York: William Morrow, 1991), p. 277 (lending copy): https://archive.org/details/bloodhonorinside00anas Sole source for the passage so cited; the passage does not name the quoted speaker.
|
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[^9]: Smith, Jim, "Prosecution Rests Case In Scarfo Trial," *Philadelphia Daily News*, May 4, 1987, Wayback copy: https://web.archive.org/web/2015id_/http://articles.philly.com/1987-05-04/news/26163517_1_philadelphia-south-jersey-extortion-case-nicodemo-little-nicky-scarfo
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[^10]: Anastasia, *Blood and Honor*, p. 211 (lending copy): https://archive.org/details/bloodhonorinside00anas
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[^11]: Smith, Jim, "Big Scores Easy For Caramandi," *Philadelphia Daily News*, May 1, 1987, Wayback copy: https://web.archive.org/web/2015id_/http://articles.philly.com/1987-05-01/news/26161878_1_nicodemo-little-nicky-scarfo-mafia-members-knife
|
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[^12]: *United States v. Pungitore*, 910 F.2d 1084 (3d Cir. 1990), text from the Caselaw Access Project: https://static.case.law/f2d/910/cases/1084-01.json
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[^13]: Anastasia, *Blood and Honor*, pp. 214-215, 217, quoting Caramandi (lending copy; the book's index lists LaRussa at pp. 214 and 215): https://archive.org/details/bloodhonorinside00anas
|
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[^14]: Leonetti, *Mafia Prince*, pp. 191, 193 (lending copy): https://archive.org/details/mafiaprinceinsid0000leon
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[^15]: de la Vina, Mark, "Riverfront Jam Once Just Wet, It's Getting Wild," *Philadelphia Daily News*, May 22, 1992, Wayback copy: https://web.archive.org/web/2015id_/http://articles.philly.com/1992-05-22/news/26015302_1_waterfront-entertainment-aztec-club
|
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[^16]: Weiner, Jennifer, "Checking Out The Clubs . . .," *Philadelphia Inquirer*, May 19, 1995, Wayback copy: https://web.archive.org/web/2015id_/http://articles.philly.com/1995-05-19/entertainment/25672572_1_club-vegas-waterfront-family-reunion-day
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[^17]: Bender, William, "Dante & Luigi's: Still a longtime hit," *Philadelphia Daily News*, January 30, 2012: https://www.inquirer.com/philly/hp/news_update/20120130_Dante___Luigi_s__Still_a_longtime_hit.html
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