Rochester Mob Murder Solved After 50 Years

"He told Jake, 'I want to see $200 a week here,' " Piccarreto said. " ... Jake told him at that point ... 'Steve, I can't give you $200 a week if I haven’t got it.' The old man said, 'I want to see $200 a week — every week.'" (In current dollars, $200 would equal about $1,600.)

Piccarreto, who had traveled with Russo to the Buffalo meeting, said that Russo implied that he would go over Magaddino's head if he continued to insist on the impossible. The message to Magaddino was this: Russo planned to go to "the commission in New York (City)" where the Mafia family leaders met, and that "the hierarchy of the so-called Mafia" would hear of Magaddino's unreasonable demands.

"When Jake challenged him that way, (Magaddino) knew he had a problem with Jake Russo," Piccarreto said. "When we got in the car, I said 'Jake, you made a mistake. You should have never forewarned this guy what we were going to do.' "

When telling of Jake Russo's fate, Piccarreto sometimes pauses as if catching a breath — moments that seem more grief than reflection. There are no tears, yet one cannot help but see a blink of pain, a fissure within the hardened Marine and mobster, when the topic is Russo.

"Greedy old man that (Magaddino) was, he said: 'I don't want to hear anything about your brothers, taking care of your brothers,' " Piccarreto said. That's when Magaddino demanded the $200 weekly, insisting that it could be done even after Russo insisted that it couldn't.

After that meeting, Magaddino sent deputies to Rochester to scope out the gambling activities. "The old man told these guys that he sent from Buffalo, his henchmen, 'Check (Russo) out and see what he's doing.' "

Piccarreto said he's sure there was no evidence that Russo was shafting Magaddino — Russo "never stole a quarter," Piccarreto said — but Magaddino had made up his mind regardless: Russo had dared to challenge him, and would die for it.

On Sept. 11, 1964, Russo got a call to meet Valenti for dinner the next day. He left his house on Sept. 12, telling his wife where he was going. He never returned.

The next day Mary Russo called her husband's good friend, Rene Piccarreto, who had not been at the meeting. But, Piccarreto was sure that Magaddino had gotten just what he wanted: Russo was dead, and Valenti would again be in charge.

Piccarreto later learned more.

"They took him downstairs (at the restaurant). They had a few guys there. They choked him and then they wrapped him up and buried him."

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Magaddino was surrounded by his underlings, and Piccarreto sensed that they now knew the truth: "There was no reason to kill (Russo), outside of he was going to take him down in front of his peers from New York."

Jake Russo's body was never found.

Seems like Rene's family is looking to whitewash his name after the fact. Got him to divulge something in his old age. They're legit people and probably like to remember their father/grandfather this way, but make no mistake,Rene was no saint in his heyday. Plenty of other people were killed on his watch, and their families went through the same shit as his buddy's. But Rene was a war hero through-and-through. I have family who played on the same H.S. football team as him. Most of that class went away to war before graduation. Some came back and lived perfectly normal lives. Some heard about gambling operations in Chicago, and the few people I know who went that route wound up in Las Vegas--both connected and legit. Obviously Rene went back home to run gambling in Rochester. There were operations all over Rochester in the 60s and 70s. I have no idea the scope of their take, but know people in LE who say taking down the gambling dens was superficial; you get enough complaints, you bust a place, while fully knowing another would pop up blocks away. I might have a story or two about that, but I'd have to jog my memory first and ask the family members who told me again. I moved from the area awhile ago. Who knows what's left. But anyone in their right mind would leave that city now, with the NYS taxes, the lack of jobs.

What about the son Loren? He wasn't legit is he now?

There are wiretaps of Magaddino trying to say Russo was a rat. Maybe he was trying to justify murdering him and it really was about this Commissioon beef?

What's interesting is the timeline for the Valentis. Frank was a Pittsburgh soldier in Ripepi's crew (or even capo by some accounts) but by Apalachin, experts thought his younger brother Costenze was capo of Rochester. Did it go Costenze Valenti > Apalachin legal troubles > Russo > Russo's death > Frank 's takeover?

Absolutely. Makes sense due to proximity but other families always exerted their influence in Rochester. The Bonannos maintain a weak presence to this day. Rene Piccarreto was actually named on an early chart as being a made member of the Bonnano crime family. It was always Magaddino who controlled the territory, however.

My understanding is Frank Valenti was made into Pittsburgh during the late 30s-early 40s and rose to be a capo in Antonio Ripepi's crew (his sponsor). Frank spend the vast majority of his early life in the Steel City, but did attend elementary school in Rochester as most of his family was in Western New York. His brother Stan was raised in Rochester. The clearest evidence of Stan's entrance into organized crime, other than through his brother, is that he married Ripepi's daughter. It's worth mentioning how powerful Ripepi was in the LaRocca family.

I agree wholeheartedly that Frank's life would make a great movie. We're lucky to have extensive coverage of his life. The Pittsburgh newspapers covered his early activities with great interest as early as 1933. From those days to Alapachin to Rochester to the Columbus Day bombings to prison, Id say Valenti is one of the most fascinating, lesser known bosses.