James A. Musto served as a legislator for Pittston City and surrounding communities from 1948 until his death in 1971. Born to Italian immigrant parents in a large family, he left school in the third grade to help support his family and worked first as a breaker boy picking slate out of coal. In the mines he saw the terrible conditions miners endured and, as a young man, fought fiercely to organize labor against coal industry owners, who used miners to increase their own wealth without regard for their dignity. For this, he was blackballed from mine work and threatened, so he became a barber and opened a small grocery store to support his family. He continued to witness the suffering of miners afflicted with silicosis, or black lung, and after beginning public service as a school director and then a state representative, he worked with determined persistence for pioneering laws that provided benefits to disabled miners and their families. The legislation he sponsored helped provide millions of dollars to needy miners, and he also worked with Congressman Daniel J. Flood in support of federal Black Lung Benefits. After the Susquehanna River burst into underground coal mines and effectively destroyed mining in Northeastern Pennsylvania, he also supported the ILGWU, the union of garment workers, whose labor sustained the region’s economy. Beyond legislative service, he gave round-the-clock help at home to anyone in need.