Rochester crime family

The Rochester crime family was a criminal organization based in Rochester, NY. It was considered a part of La Cosa Nostra, otherwise known as the Mafia.

The Rochester family's first well known official boss was Costenze "Stan" 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.

In 1964, Frank Valenti returned to Rochester, New York with his brother Stan, and Pittsburgh associate Angelo Vaccaro. Frank was a capo in the Pittsburgh Crime Family in John LaRocca's family. Stan Valenti was married to Antonio Ripepi's daughter, who was also a capo in the Pittsburgh family. This time, Frank Valenti was taking over the family. By the end of the year, Russo went missing and his body has never been found. In 1970, Valenti whiped out the last Russo soldier Billy Lupo. Also Frank Valenti told Buffalo crime family boss Stefano Maggadino that Rochester would become an independent family. Prior to this, Rochester was just a crew which answered to Maggadino's family.

Valenti created a master plan in 1970 called "The Columbus Day Bombings" He set up a special crew to bomb various churches and public buildings to draw the heat away from the family. 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 told Valenti he was out as boss, and he moved to Arizona. One of the deciding factors was when bodygaurd and captain under Valenti Domenic Chirico was shot and killed.

After the Valentis fled the city, Russotti became boss, Piccarreto remained as consigliere, and Gingello became the underboss. The family was strong until the police fabricated evidence to indict all the upper echelon guys. 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. When the truth came out about the fabricated evidence, all the top guys got out of prison. This created a "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.

On April 23, 1978, Salvatore "Sammy G" Gingello was killed when a bomb was detonated when he entered his car. On July 6, 1978 Thomas, Didio was murdered by a gunmen 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 RICO. Angelo Amico was the acting underboss, and Loren Piccarreto (son of Rene Piccarreto) was the acting boss.

In 2006, an accused Michael J. Toscano of Ithaca was suspected in the invovlement of the still ongoing mafia. Arrested on a suspected gun possession on June 10 2006, Toscano was never convicted on any charges.

Bosses of Rochester

*Costenze "Stan" Valenti (?-1958)
*Jake Russo (1958-1964)
*Frank Valenti (1964-1972)
*Samuel "Red" Russotti (1972-1993)

Acting Bosses
*Thomas Didio (1975-1977)
*Salvatore "Sammy G" Gingello (1977-1978)
*Loren Piccarreto (1980-1988)

External links

* [http://americanmafia.com/Cities/Rochester.html http://americanmafia.com/Cities/Rochester.html]