115 lines
15 KiB
Markdown
115 lines
15 KiB
Markdown
---
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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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- Person
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- OrganizedCrime
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- Philadelphia
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- ScarfoFamily
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- RCHorsch
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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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relations:
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- type: partner_of
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with: "[[Nicodemo Scarfo]]"
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role: "friend and host"
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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: 2026-10-07
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---
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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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### Early life and barbering
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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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### Bust-out bars and Locust Street
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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 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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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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### La Cucina and the Scarfo circle
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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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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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### 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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