Hi TT. You are right Red was not born in Henrietta. I believe he was born in Irondequoit. I could be wrong, but I will try to verify exactly where. It could have been on the west side of Rochester. These guys all pretty much lived in either Irondequoit or on the west side of the city near Jay Street.
I would have to say my two favorite Italian restaurants are Antoinetta’s and Perlo’s (East Rochester). Mainly because I have known those families for so long that whenever I have gone in there they cook special for me. You still get that feel at many of these restaurants that you are not just another mouth to feed, but a guest. This is becoming a rare thing as the Macaroni Grill and the Olive Garden phase out many small restaurants. Thank goodness Rochester still has a decent size Italian American population that still cares about quality.

I will now answer the main part of your question, about who made who, and where Rochester’s allegiance was. If you think of Rochester as being a faction and not a family, things make more sense. Rochester was originally a crew under Buffalo. However, once the Valenti brothers, who were made in Pittsburgh came to town they slowly began to take over the rackets. I would say Buffalo’s control over Rochester ended when Giacomo “Jake” Russo was killed, dismembered, and tossed in the Genesee River. His remains have never been found. Once Russo was eliminated, Valenti met with members of the Buffalo family, and this led to Rochester splitting from Buffalo and being aligned with Pittsburgh. Later Valenti, was overthrown as he was stealing from the family. Valenti was overthrown mainly because he know he was caught stealing, he knew Gingello and his guys would kill him, and finally Rene Piccaretto and gotten support from the Bonanno Family.

I mentioned this earlier that I hypothesize that the reason you see Rene’s name on some older Bonanno family charts is because he had gone to NYC and established an alliance with them. I believe the Feds heard about this and thus they listed him as a Bonanno. Rochester has always been funny. After Rochester broke off, Buffalo still received money from some joint gambling operations but that was it. Buffalo was making enough money that they did not need Rochester.

I have heard about some people around Park Avenue who are Sicilian and supposedly have connections to OC in Italy but I have not heard of them being active in Rochester. There is a family in East Rochester that is related to the Morabito N’Drangheta Family. In fact, they have the same name Morabito. They are not active in crime but they are related to Giuseppe Morabito. I will get back to you with some more stories soon.