Rochester Crime Family

The Rochester Crime Family was an Italian-American organized crime syndicate based in Rochester that existed, in a centralized organized form, from roughly 1950 to 1993. Part of the American Mafia, or La Cosa Nostra, the Rochester Crime Family can trace its roots to various Italian-American crime groups, notably the Black Hand, a Camorra racket of the early 20th century, and later Buffalo's Magaddino Crime Family, of which the Rochester family has direct lineage.

There is conflicting information about where and how the Rochester Crime Family came to be. One of the last mafia families to seize control over the underworld of an American city, Rochester's crime syndicate had ties to Buffalo and Pittsburgh crime groups prior to gaining autonomy. Due to the secretive nature of the Italian-American Mafia and its sacred oath of omertà, the true history may never be uncovered. According to the FBI and those in the know, Rochester became an independent family following an internal power struggle in Buffalo that caused a split in their family sometime between the 1950s and early 1960s. Most of Rochester's organized crime activity was home grown, however, and begins where many other La Cosa Nostra families do, among early 20th century Italian immigrants.

When Italian immigrants began entering the United States, Rochester was one of the top destinations for settlers outside of New York City due to its then-thriving economy, factory jobs and modern housing. Those who were less fortunate continued their criminal activities from Italy when they came over, and much of that included extortion. The "Black Hand" was the name given to a general group of Italian immigrant extortionists who appeared in the early 1900s throughout the Northeast. They were mostly small street gangs, but played a major role in the organization and strengthening of what became the mafia. In Rochester, there were several notable cases of the Black Hand striking locals. The Barrel Murder of 1911 was an infamous case at the time in which Black Hander Francesco Manzello was found brutally murdered and decapitated, then stuffed into a barrel and dumped near Irondequoit Bay. In March 1919, an alleged Black Hand member named Luigi Guadagnino shot and killed Rochester Police Officer James H. Upton in cold blood on South Plymouth Avenue near Tremont Street after being caught setting fire to a fruit store, no doubt because the owner of the fruit store had failed to give in when money had been demanded from him. In May 1921, Guadagnino was arrested, put on trial and quickly convicted after he pled guilty to second-degree manslaughter. These are just some example of the early days of organized crime in Rochester.

When Prohibition was passed in 1920, the underworld centralized power all across the United States, and Rochester was no exception. Bootlegging gangs would become prominent and eventually large scale mafia families would begin to make their mark on the city. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, gambling, counterfitting, bootlegging and extortion were common activities and there were several "liquor wars" between street gangs that resulted in a power struggle. This was a bloody period during which many gang members were killed or kidnapped. Ties to the Chicago Outfit were rampant as well until the repeal of prohibition. Many players in the street wars during this time were parents or close relatives of notorious mafia leaders of the later Rochester family including Vito Piccaretto and Pasquale Amico, who may have been the first "leader" of rackets in Rochester.

Pasquale Amico was the a veteran mobster from the prohibition era who ran bootlegging operations and other underworld activities throughout the early days of organized crime. Amico had the support of the Buffalo Crime Family and Rochester's ties to the Buffalo family are very likely rooted in Amico's relationship with figures from that area. In 1931, Pasquale Amico was arrested with two other men leaving the home Angelo "Buffalo Bill" Palmeri, the leader and founder of La Cosa Nostra in Buffalo. Also arrested with Amico was Joseph "The Wolf" DiCarlo Jr., another Buffalo mobster who was labelled "public enemy number one" by the local media at the time. This relationship with top ranking member of the underworld to the west was noticed by law enforcement and the Federal Bureau of Narcotics kept a close eye on him until his death in 1947. Little information has been confirmed about this period preceding the 1950s, however it is widely accepted that criminal elements remained controlled by Buffalo as Stefano Magaddino gained and consolidated power.

On November 14, 1957, mafia members from all over the United States, Italy and Cuba met in a summit at Joseph Barbara's estate in Apalachin, New York. During this meeting, which was called by Vito Genovese and Stefano Magaddino, local law enforcement became suspicious of the expensive luxury cars congregated in the small village and raided the meeting, resulting in the arrests of over sixty mafioso from around the country. The Apalachin Meeting became notorious for blowing the lid off of Italian-American organized crime, which was once thought of as fictitious. Among those arrested were about a dozen Western New York gangsters. Following the raid, the FBI began to heavily monitor suspected crime figures and in 1963, Joseph Valachi, a mobster himself, testified before the United States Senate on the existence and state of the American Mafia. During his testimony, Valachi identified by name Frank Valenti and Constanze "Stanley" Valenti, two Rochester brothers who were arrested at the Apalachin Meeting, as made men and alleged that the Buffalo Crime Family controlled most of Upstate New York, including Rochester, Syracuse, Utica and even parts of Ontario, Canada.

According to the FBI, at the time of the Apalachin Meeting, Stanley Valenti was a member of the Buffalo Family running organized crime in Rochester, at the helm of gambling, prostitution and extortion that fueled a powerful street economy within Monroe County. When Stanley Valenti was arrested in 1957, he refused to cooperate with authorities and was sentenced to 16 months in prison along with his brother Frank Valenti who was initially briefly jailed and subsequently returned to his native Pittsburgh to work for LaRocca. In the absence of a leader another longtime crime figure with the backing of Buffalo seized control. Jacomino Russolesi, a Buffalo capo better known as Jake Russo, became boss of Magaddino's Rochester crime branch in 1958. Despite being given control of the city, Russo was looked at as a weak leader unable to control his soldiers. In 1961, Canadian mobster and heroin smuggler Albeto Agueci was found murdered outside of Rochester. It is believed that Russo was responsible for the hit under Buffalo's orders as Agueci was planning on killing Stefano Magaddino. In wake of the Valachi Hearings in 1963, Russo's weak reputation caused him to fall out of favor with Magaddino and the beginnings of the fissure that would break Rochester off of Buffalo would begin.

In 1964, Frank Valenti returned to Rochester after laying low in Pittsburgh, bringing along with him his brother and former leader of Rochester Stanley Valenti and Pittsburgh associate Angelo Vaccaro. Frank Valenti had spent the last few years working in the underworld of John LaRocca's Pittsburgh Crime Family and his brother married the daughter of a Pittsburgh capo. This ignited some tension between Rochester and Buffalo as Magaddino perceived this as a shift in allegiance to another family.

Shortly after his return around November of 1964, Frank Valenti threw two massive parties crowning himself the new boss of Rochester. Notably, Jake Russo was not invited to these parties as he mysteriously disappeared just days prior. Russo was never heard from again, presumably murdered by Valenti loyalists, and his body was never found. At this point, Valenti solidified power and became the undisputed leader of organized crime in the city.

Frank Valenti's flashy return to rule over Rochester was much in line with his own personality. Valenti was well known throughout the city for his dapper appearance, expensive suits, slicked back hair, gold watches and swanky aura. Unfortunately for the mob however, this lifestyle would only begin to draw attention to organized crime as the Democrat & Chronicle began to publish a serious of exposés detailing Valenti's criminal past. Around New Years 1965, a serious of gambling raids took down some mafia operations controlled by Valenti. Suspecting an informant, Valenti ordered the murder of Dominick Allocco, a well known gambling figure who was suspected by Valenti of ratting. Police questioned Valenti about the slaying, but were unable to prove his guilt and he was set free, signaling the extent of his power. To prevent future law enforcement raids, he turned to bribery and held a meeting with members of the Vice Control Unit of the Rochester Police Bureau. A later investigation concluded this meeting was “certainly not for any legitimate law enforcement purpose or for the carrying out of any lawful and proper police function”. It was only the first of a series of corruption scandals and strange behavior surrounding Rochester law enforcement agencies and the mafia.

As the 1960s went on, Rochester's underworld grew. Valenti began to appoint an underboss and consigliere as the family became more structured and power was consolidated. There were now more made members than ever before. Gambling became the mafia's main source of income during this period and was expanded even beyond Rochester to Las Vegas, Niagara Falls and Atlantic City. Naturally, raids on these illegal gambling joints became a common occurance, but hardly deterred the mobsters from operating. Drug dealing increased and infiltration of labor unions also became a staple under Valenti.

In 1968, Stefano Magaddino was arrested with his brother Peter for interstate bookmaking. A subsequent raid of his son's home in Niagara Falls uncovered a suitcase filled with several hundred thousand dollars in cash. The now aging Magaddino was now faced with animosity among his underlings. Shortly following his arrest, several Buffalo capos met at Frank Valenti's farmhouse outside of Rochester to discuss the future of the family. Among those in attendence were Sam Pieri and Joseph Todaro Sr. With the backing of the Pittsburgh Crime Family's Antonio Ripepi and with the blessing of Buffalo's capos now hostile towrds Magaddino, Valenti declared Rochester an indepenedent family that would no longer answer to Buffalo. As a newly autonomous family, La Cosa Nostra in Rochester was now headed by a strong hierarchy with Frank Valenti as the boss, Samuel "Red" Russotti as his underboss, Rene Piccarreto as official advisor or "consigliere" and various capos Salvatore "Sammy G" Gingello, Dominic Celestino, Thomas Didio, Angelo Vaccaro and Dominic Chirico who oversaw day to day operations on the streets. This became the height of the Valenti regime as he now had total control over the city.

Assassinations became a method of showing muscle in Valenti's Rochester. Throughout the late 1960s, multiple high profile murders began to draw attention of law enforcement towards the mafia. Samuel C. Russotti, the nephew of Valenti's underboss was found dead with multiple gunshot wounds to the head. Also killed were Norman Huck and Enrico Visconte. In 1970, capo Salvatore Gingello collected over one hundred thousand dollars in deposits for a gambling junket to Las Vegas, but the money vanished. Both Gingello and underboss Russotti blamed William Lupo, a loanshark and former Jake Russo associate who may have been hostile towards Valenti. When authorities found Lupo's body slumped over the wheel of his car and discovered he was under federal investigation into loansharking and turned their attention toward the Rochester Crime Family.

In an elaborate plan to draw attention away from the Rochester family, Valenti ordered a special team to detonate bombs at various locations throughout the city. On October 12, 1970, bombs exploded and caused major damage to two black churches, the Monroe County Office Building, the U.S. Federal Courthouse and the home of a union official. Perhaps plausibly at the time, police suspected anti-Vietnam War protestors or other radical groups and shifted resources away from La Cosa Nostra. Amazed that his plan had succeeded, Valenti ordered further bombings to three synagogues and the home of a federal judge. Noticing there was no pattern or direct target, investigators were now entirely focused on solving the bombings. Valenti likewise succeeded in intimidating his enemies who now understood he was relentless.

Resenting the viciousness of their godfather, members of the Rochester Family began to resent Valenti following the bombings. In 1972, he was approached by both underboss Russotti and consigliere Piccarreto asking him to step down, accusing him of skimming profits and keeping for himself. His underlings demanded he return the money or abdicate power, however Valenti refused. Later, Valenti felt disgraced but did return the money. He however also wanted to punish his men for this, therefore he ordered his trusted capo Dominic Chirico to organize a hit against capo Gingello, as well as Russotti and Piccarreto. However, to murder made members of the mafia Valenti had to get permission of the other families, including the Pittsburgh and Bonanno crime family, under house sanction his organization operated. The answer was no. Russotti, Gingello and Piccarreto were safe but had heard of the plot against them and were out for revenge. They went to see Bonanno family officials to have their support in the removal and probable murder of Valenti, but they're request was also turned down due to Valenti's connections to the LaRocca crime family of Pittsburgh. Although they weren't allowed to kill Valenti, they still wanted to have revenge and murdered Dominic Chirico, a loyal Valenti capo. He was killed by a shotgun blast on June 5, 1972. Tensions inside the Valenti family were now running high.

On December 15 of the same year Valenti was convicted of extortion in a case involving a building contractor in Batavia. The Valenti's were now officially out of Rochester and their ties to the Pittsburgh crime family slowly vanished. Samuel "Red" Russotti became the new boss of Rochester with "Sammy G" Gingello as his underboss. Following his conviction, Frank Valenti and his brother Constenze Valenti went to live in Arizona, where they died in 2008 and 2001 respectively.

...

The mafia was responsible for the Columbus Day Bombings that rocked our city in 1970.

Crime Bosses

• Jake Russo (1958-1964)
  

• Frank Valenti (1964-1972)
  

• Samuel Rusotti (1972-1993)

Alleged members:

• Salvatore Gingello, assasinated by bomb.

External links:

• Excellent Resource: AmericanMafia.com