Originally Posted by furio_from_naples
[quote=Giacomo_Vacari]
If I remember well the bonannos put their flag on rochester and made tommy marotta or another associate of the defunct family. This for a place near the us canada border.


Correct. Tommy Marotta aligned himself with the Bonannos after he got out of prison in 1996. He actually tried to revive the Rochester family, but was pinched in the early 2000s when he started getting into drug trafficking. A Cleveland associate who Marotta befriended in prison named Anthony Delmonti wore a wire and started working as an informant around this time. He went to Rochester on FBI orders to tail Marotta as the Feds suspected he'd attempt a revival. There was debate of whether government interference was borderline entrapment and they used an informant to coax Marotta back into a life of crime. Who knows what his true intentions would've been if left alone, but the fact remains one of the wiretaps from this investigation picked up an initiation ceremony that involved Marotta declaring himself boss and making Delmonti into Rochester. Marotta went away again in 2003 for moving cocaine Upstate. He is back on the streets now though. Some say he's active again. Can't say for sure.

On the topic of the Bonannos, they've always had interests in Rochester. The city was always Buffalo territory, but influence on the streets was mixed. Magaddino, LaRocca and Joe Bonanno each had a certain amount of pull during the '60s. Rene Picarreto was once named as a Bonanno soldier on a government chart and I recall reading transcripts that Bonanno went to bat for Rochester to the commission when the Buffalo war was going on, which resulted in Rochester splitting into an independent family.

Just one personal anecdote on Buffalo; I know someone who used to work for La Nova Pizzeria as a delivery driver. This person says they would be handed envelopes stuffed with cash and told to deliver them to whoever Joe asked them to, not necessarily customers. The recipients were always older Italian men. This person speculated it was gambling money. Keep in mind this was within the last 5 years so the Todaros definitely still have operations on the streets.

Last edited by FrankValenti; 08/13/19 05:43 PM.