Unsolved 42-year-old Scranton Murder Mystery!

Unsolved 42-year-old Scranton Murder Mystery! 

               By Sean Kane  

 January 26, 1981, Scranton School board President Tommy Gonova was shot in the parking lot of the school administration building, shortly before a school board meeting. Genova was late for the meeting and was searching in his car for his briefcase when he was shot in the back of the head with a special accelerated bullet fired from a 30-06 rifle with a scope. A 22-caliber bullet was slipped inside a plastic jacket and slid into the rifle in order to increase the bullet velocity with speed and accuracy. This sounds very professional.     

To this day, the killer remains a mystery, but there have been many theories on the streets of Scranton. One theory was that it was a mob hit. Genova was in the garbage business, so immediately stereotypes of organized crime involvement lead the rumors. However, anyone who understands how the mafia works would know that they are not snipers, and this is not a typical "gangland hit " as some have reported. There has never been any credible evidence to suggest the Mafia was behind this or had any involvement in it.     

Another street theory was a love triangle. This theory never held up because by all accounts, Genova was a family man with a wife and four children. There has never been any credible evidence of an affair.  

 A third theory was that this was a political hit on a rising local politician. However, no credible evidence has ever been presented to support that theory.    The state police and FBI were called in to investigate and exhausted every lead. One man, Terry Moran, was eventually charged with the murder, but later, all charges were dropped by Lackawanna County District Attorney Ernie Preate. Preate said he had learned that several witnesses lied to police, and he became convinced that Moran was innocent.    

So, who murdered this family man, businessman, local singer, and rising politician? After 40 plus years, the case remains ice cold. When Scott Hopkins alerted me to this story, I had not heard much about it so after doing research I conclude that this was a very confident shooter who most likely fired from the roof of the Ukranian center that was near the administration building. It was dark, so it took a very experienced and accurate shooter to take that shot. It was also someone who knew Tommy would be there at that time.  After all this time, Tommy and his family deserve justice, but as the years go on, that becomes less likely and has become one of the city's most notorious unsolved murders.