Italian-American organized crime group
Criminal organization
The
Rochester crime family
or
Rochester Mafia
was a criminal organization based in
Rochester, New York
that was part of the American
Cosa Nostra
.
History
[
edit
]
The Rochester family's first well known official boss was
Constenze "Stanley" Valenti
. In 1957, after the
Apalachin Conference
, Stan and his brother Frank were both jailed for civil contempt, because they refused to answer questions about the meeting. In 1958, Stan was sentenced to 16 months in prison, and Jake Russo became the next boss.
[1]
[2]
Splitting from Buffalo
[
edit
]
In 1964,
Frank Valenti
returned to Rochester with his brother Stan, and Pittsburgh associate Angelo Vaccaro. Frank became an associate in the
Pittsburgh crime family
in John LaRocca's family. Stan Valenti was married to the daughter of Antonio Ripepi, who was a capo in the Pittsburgh family. This time, Frank Valenti was taking over the Rochester family. By the end of the year, Russo went missing and his body has never been found. In 1970, Valenti wiped out the last Russo soldier, Billy Lupo. Also, Frank Valenti told
Buffalo crime family
boss
Stefano "The Undertaker" Magaddino
that Rochester would become an independent family. Prior to this, Rochester was just a crew which answered to the Maggadino's Buffalo crime family.
The Valenti regime
[
edit
]
Valenti created a well-organized crime family by promoting Samuel Russotti to underboss, Rene Picarreto to consigliere and Salvatore Gingello, Dominic Celestino, Thomas Didio, Angelo Vaccaro and Dominic Chirico as his capos.
[1]
His most trusted ally was capo Chirico, who he gave special tasks to carry out. He divided up the family's illegal activities of gambling, extortion, loan sharking, insurance fraud, arson, narcotics and weapon trafficking among his capos to ensure peace.
In 1970, the Rochester crime family bombed nine buildings, including three Jewish synagogues and two black churches, as part of the
Rochester bombings
designed to focus the attention of local authorities away from organized crime. Only one person was injured.
[3]
[4]
[5]
In 1972, Valenti was approached by his underboss Samuel "Red" Russotti, his consigliere Rene Piccarreto, and highly powerful capo Salvatore "Sammy G" Gingello. The three accused Valenti of skimming profits and asked him to step down as boss; he refused. Valenti felt that the Pittsburgh family would back him and the Chirico crew up with muscle. Unknown to him was that his consigliere, Picarreto, had made a secret alliance with members of the
Bonanno crime family
. Valenti's most trusted capo and bodyguard, Domenic Chirico, was shot and killed on Augustine Street. Instead of fighting he was allowed to move to
Phoenix, Arizona
and retire. After retiring Valenti was arrested and convicted of extortion,
[1]
he later died on September 20, 2008.
The Russotti era
[
edit
]
After Valenti fled the city, Samuel Russotti became boss, Piccarreto remained as consigliere, and Gingello became the underboss. The family was strong until January 1977 when the police fabricated evidence to indict all the upper echelon. The convictions put Russotti, Piccaretto, Gingello, Thomas Marotta and Eugene DeFrancesco away for murdering Vincent Massaro with a 25 years to life sentenced. When this happened, Thomas Didio became the acting boss. Russotti thought he would be able to manipulate Didio, but he really just created a monster. Didio began demoting all the Russotti loyalist while receiving advice from imprisoned former boss Valenti. When the truth came out about the fabricated evidence, all the top guys got out of prison. This created an "A team and B Team" war. Part of the "A team" was Russotti, Piccarreto, Gingello, Richard Marino, Thomas Marotta and others. Part of the "B Team" was Thomas Didio, Rosario Chirico (Domenic's brother), Stan Valenti, Angelo Vaccaro and others.
[1]
On April 23, 1978, Salvatore "Sammy G" Gingello was killed when a bomb was detonated when he entered his car, which was parked across from the Stillson St. restaurant, Ben's Cafe Society.
[6]
On July 6, 1978 Thomas Didio was murdered by a gunman who was using a machine gun. After these two murders the FBI decided it was time to crack down on the situation, with RICO coming into play they took down most of the remaining key players. In 1988, Angelo Amico and Loren Piccarreto were both indicted under the
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act
(RICO). Angelo Amico was the acting boss, and Loren Piccarreto (son of Rene Piccarreto) was the underboss.
[1]
Historical leadership
[
edit
]
Boss (official and acting)
[
edit
]
- c. 1950s–1958 –
Constenze "Stanley" Valenti
– imprisoned
- 1958–1964 – Jake Russo – murdered
- 1964–1972 –
Frank Valenti
– retired, died on September 20, 2008
- 1972–1993 – Samuel "Red" Russotti – imprisoned in 1984; died in 1993
[1]
- Acting
1977–1978 – Thomas Didio – murdered July 1978 during the "A & B Wars"
- Acting
1977–1978 – Salvatore "Sammy G" Gingello – murdered April 23, 1978 during the "A & B Wars"
- Acting
1988 – Angelo Amico – arrested in 1988; released in 1993
[7]
- Acting
1988 – Loren Piccarreto – son of Rene Piccarreto; arrested 1988; released in 1994
[8]
Underboss
[
edit
]
- 1964–1972 – Samuel "Red" Russotti – promoted to boss
- 1972–1978 – Salvatore "Sammy G" Gingello – promoted to acting boss
- 1978–1984 – Richard Marino – convicted imprisoned for murder
- 1984–1988 – Loren Piccarreto – promoted acting boss
Consigliere
[
edit
]
- 1964–1984 – Rene Piccarreto – imprisoned in 1984; released in 2007; died March 2014.
[9]
[10]
Government informants
[
edit
]
- Joseph "Spike" LaNovara
- former soldier. He was a part of
Frank Valenti
's regime and became an informer in the early 1970s after facing murder charges.
- Angelo Monachino
- former soldier. It is believed he participated in the December 14, 1970 murder of William Constable.
[11]
[12]
He owned a construction company named Barmon Construction. Monachino also served as an accomplice in the murder of Jimmy "the Hammer" Massaro, as he allowed the murder to take place inside of a garage located at his business property; Massaro was shot 9 times. He agreed to become an informer in 1975. In September 1975, he was arrested along with former Rochester mob boss
Frank Valenti
, and Jimmy Massaro who was murdered in November 1973, and were accused of burning down a warehouse and receiving $80,000 insurance money in September 1971.
[13]
[14]
- Anthony Oliveri
- former soldier. It is noted that he was a close friend of fellow Rochester crime family member, Anthony Columbo. It is believed he and Columbo conspired to murder Angelo DeMarco in March 1978, as the pair had parked their car in front of DeMarco's home and were in a car chase with law enforcement on the same night, a
.357 Magnum
and a 12 gauge shotgun were found in the car.
[15]
Oliveri participated in the July 1978 murder of Thomas Didio, who was murdered by Anthony Columbo with a machine gun, inside of a motel in
Victor, New York
. He was allegedly inducted into the Rochester mob in December 1978. He became an informer since at least in 1980.
[16]
He testified in December 1984 against several members of the Rochester crime family.
[17]
References
[
edit
]
Notes
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
The Mafia Made Easy: The Anatomy and Culture of La Cosa Nostra
- ^
Mario Machi, Allan May, Charlie Molino
Rochester, New York
Rick Porrello's AmericanMafia.com
- ^
Montgomery, Paul (1970-11-07).
"8th Blast in Rochester Area Damages a Third Synagogue"
.
New York Times
. Archived from
the original
on 2022-07-08
. Retrieved
7 January
2024
.
- ^
"Police Investigating Bombing of Temple, the Third in Less Than Two Weeks"
.
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
. 1970-11-09
. Retrieved
7 January
2024
.
- ^
Riley, David (2013-10-12).
"Oct. 12: The Columbus Day Bombings shake Rochester"
.
Democrat and Chronicle
. Retrieved
7 January
2024
.
- ^
"Democrat and Chronicle from Rochester, New York · Page 1A"
.
Democrat and Chronicle
. Retrieved
22 December
2018
.
- ^
Federal Bureau of Prisons Inmate Locator "Angelo Joseph Amico"
Archived
2011-06-29 at the
Wayback Machine
released August 3, 1993
- ^
Federal Bureau of Prisons Inmate Locator "Loren Piccarreto"
Archived
2011-06-29 at the
Wayback Machine
released January 21, 1994
- ^
;
Federal Bureau of Prisons Inmate Locator "Rene Piccarreto"
Archived
2011-06-29 at the
Wayback Machine
released December 13, 2007
- ^
"Rene J. Piccarreto Sr. Obituary (2014) Rochester Democrat and Chronicle"
.
Legacy.com
.
- ^
"Three charged in 70' slaying"
(PDF)
.
The Geneva News
. Helen Casey
. Retrieved
21 May
2018
.
- ^
"Democrat and Chronicle from Rochester, New York · Page 2"
.
Democrat and Chronicle
. 13 April 1979
. Retrieved
21 May
2018
.
- ^
"Reconnecting with dad, a mob informant"
.
Democrat and Chronicle
. Gary Craig
. Retrieved
21 May
2018
.
- ^
"Arson Laid to Ex?Rochester Fire Chief"
.
The New York Times
. NY TIMES. 13 September 1975
. Retrieved
21 May
2018
.
- ^
"Democrat and Chronicle from Rochester, New York · Page 9"
. Democrat and Chronicle. 10 November 1982
. Retrieved
20 May
2018
.
- ^
"Democrat and Chronicle from Rochester, New York · Page 1"
. Democrat and Chronicle. 12 November 1980
. Retrieved
20 May
2018
.
- ^
"Mob A-Team/B-Team"
.
Rochester First
. Archived from
the original
on 2018-06-01
. Retrieved
20 May
2018
.
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