Born in Montedoro, Sicily as Rosario Alberto Bufalino, Bufalino's family immigrated to Buffalo, New York, where he became a criminal during his teenage years. Bufalino worked alongside many Buffalo mobsters, some of whom would become top leaders in the Buffalo crime family and other future Cosa Nostra families along the East Coast of the United States. These relationships proved very helpful to Bufalino in his criminal career. Family and clan ties were important to Sicilian-American criminals; they created a strong, secretive support system that outsiders or law enforcement could not infiltrate. A significant friendship was with his first boss, John C. Montana. An immigrant from Montedoro, Montana was an early powerful figure in the Buffalo family.