| rdfs:comment | - Born Giovanni Montana in Montedoro, Sicily, Montana came to Buffalo at the age of 13 in 1907 and quickly began to show his entrepreneurial business talents. In grade school, Montana made his first dollars as a messenger for a West Side candy shop running errands and messages. With his brothers Salvatore, Angelo, Peter and Joseph, the 17-year-old John Charles Montana first pushed a popcorn cart through Buffalo’s Little Italy at a time when Italians lived in a high density area on the Lower West Side and downtown. Because the demand was so great, the Montana brothers had to fold their first business as they couldn't supply the many people who wanted their goods.
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| abstract | - Born Giovanni Montana in Montedoro, Sicily, Montana came to Buffalo at the age of 13 in 1907 and quickly began to show his entrepreneurial business talents. In grade school, Montana made his first dollars as a messenger for a West Side candy shop running errands and messages. With his brothers Salvatore, Angelo, Peter and Joseph, the 17-year-old John Charles Montana first pushed a popcorn cart through Buffalo’s Little Italy at a time when Italians lived in a high density area on the Lower West Side and downtown. Because the demand was so great, the Montana brothers had to fold their first business as they couldn't supply the many people who wanted their goods. In time, Stefano Magaddino would become the boss of the Mafia in Buffalo and organize an empire with John Montana at the top. Montana's nephew Charles would marry the oldest daughter of Magaddino; Magaddino's only son Peter also married Montana's niece. Through family ties, John Montana merged with the most ruthless criminal leader Buffalo had ever seen. Montana was a smart businessman and didn't fit the description of what a Mafioso was supposed to be. In 1922, Montana formed the Buffalo Taxi Company – his first stab at joining Buffalo's booming transportation industry. A few years later, he bought and merged with the Yellow Cab Company in an effort to consolidate cars and call centers as well as eliminate the taxi competition.
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