THE BLACK HAND FORUM

[size=150][b]The Alphabet War Timeline (1972-1984)[/b]
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May 1972 – Rochester Godfather Frank Valenti is booted from the boss’ seat in a meeting at the Red Lion Inn with Red Russotti and Rene Picarretto after Russotti and Piccaretto discover Valenti is hoarding profits from a secret stash of rackets being conducted by a local mob subunit which reported directly to him. Russotti takes Valenti’s place as boss as Valenti leaves for exile in Arizona and is soon indicted and convicted on racketeering charges.

June 5, 1972 – Rochester mob soldier Dominic Chirico, a Valenti lieutenant and the leader of his secret subunit, is shot-gunned to death outside his girlfriend’s apartment building.

November 23, 1973 – Rochester mob enforcer Vincent (Jimmy the Hammer) Massaro, a Valenti loyalist, is killed and stuffed in the trunk of his car after bucking under the thumb of the city’s new mafia regime.

December 1974 – Rochester mafia associate William (Zeke) Zimmerman flips, leading to the flipping of soldiers Charles & Angelo Monacchino and Joe (Spike) LaNovara, a chain-reaction that results in charges being brought in the Jimmy Massaro homicide.

November 10, 1976 – Sam (Red) Russotti, his underboss Salvatore (Sammy G) Gingello, his consigliere Rene (The Painter) Piccaretto and others are convicted at trial for murdering Jimmy Massaro and sent to prison. Russotti names Tommy Didio, a bodyguard of Gingello’s, as his acting boss and their relationship strained quickly.

January 31, 1978 – Amid a massive scandal in the police department and prosecutor’s office regarding tainted and manufactured evidence in the Massaro case, Russotti, Gingello and Piccaretto have their murder convictions tossed and are set free. Refusing to get back in line behind Russotti’s regime, Didio goes underground, seeks support from an incarcerated Frank Valenti through Valenti’s brother and aide-de-camp Stan, and prepares for war.

April 23, 1978 – Young, swaggering Rochester mob underboss Salvatore (Sammy G) Gingello, 39, is killed in a car bombing in front of Ben Café Society Social Club after a long night of doing the town with his bodyguards, Tommy Torpey and Tommy Taylor, who survive the explosion. Dick (Molly) Marino assumed underboss duties in

Spring 1978 – The city erupts in a spat of shootings and bombings connected to the Alphabet War: a number of Russotti’s betting parlors are bombed and B Team hit man Rosario Chirico, the brother to slain Valenti hit man Dominic Chirico, survives being shot by a sniper on May 25.

July 6, 1978 – Rochester mob chief and B Team boss Tommy Didio is machine-gunned to death inside a room at the Exit 45 Motel in Victor, New York.

July 30, 1978 – Rochester mafia associate and B Team member Rodney Starkweather is shot three times and flips soon thereafter.

December 17, 1981 – Rochester mob capo and labor union leader John Fiorino is shot-gunned to death outside the Blue Gardenia restaurant by John (Mad Dog) Sullivan, on orders of the C Team. The Blue Gardenia was a favorite area mob haunt of that era and was owned by Rochester mafia associate Ben (Benny Manning) Managazze. Fiorino was the Teamsters vice-president in the Rochester region.

March 1982 – Members of the C Team severely beat a Red Russotti betting-parlor operator, putting him in the hospital for a month for not paying them tribute. Court records show in reaction to the assault, Russotti via Piccaretto placed open murder contracts on the C Team.

May 25, 1982 – Rochester mobster and C Team member Nick Mastrodonato is allegedly slain by A Team hit man Dominic (Trigger Dom) Taddeo.

August 26, 1982 – Rochester mobster and C Team member Gerry Pelusio is killed in a hail of shot-gun fire in an attack on him and his brother and fellow C Team affiliate Tommy Pelusio. A Team hit man Dominic Taddeo is again linked to the latter Alphabet War violence.

November 1982 – Red Russotti and Rene Piccaretto are indicted with eight other A Teamers in a wide-reaching federal racketeering case.

April 2, 1983 – Rochester mobster and C Team member Dino Tortarice is killed outside his home in another murder tied to Taddeo.

April & November 1983 – Rochester mob capo and A Team member Tommy Marotta survives attempts on his life in the spring and late fall of ‘83, with the April attack seeing him shot seven times. Marotta was Sammy Gingello’s right-hand man in the 1970s and Tommy Didio’s first cousin.

October 1984 – Red Russotti is convicted in his federal racketeering case, pulling him off the street for good. Russotti died of a heart attack in a Michigan prison hospital in June of 1993.

[size=150][b]The Rosters[/b][/size]

[b][u]The A Team[/u][/b]
Sam (Red) Russotti
Salvatore (Sammy G) Gingello
Rene (The Painter) Piccaretto
Dick (Molly) Marino
Salvatore (Sammy Camps) Campanella
Eugene (Gene the Firecracker) DeFrancesco
Dominic (Trigger Dom) Taddeo
Anthony Colombo
Joe (Joey T) Trieste
John (Johnny Flap) Trivigno
Angelo (Oskie) DeMarco
Tommy Marotta
Anthony (Tony G) Gingello
Loren Piccaretto
Angelo Amico
Joseph (Joe the Hop) Rossi
Anthony (Tony Dags) D’Agostino
Nick (Bugsy the Fence) Fosco
Lou (Louie Tree Tops) Imburgia
Joseph (Joe the Genie) Geniola
Joseph (Joe Desserts) La Dolce
Anthony Oliveri
Bobby Palmiere
Joey Tiraborelli
Don (Monroe Street Donnie) Paone
Orlando Paone
Lou (Yamaha Louie) Santonato
Robert (Bobby Fernwood) Silveri

[b][u]The B Team[/u][/b]
Tommy Didio
Dominic (Sonny) Celestino
Charles (Charlie the Ox) Indovino
Frank (Fast Frankie) Frassetto
Angelo Vaccaro
Rosario Chirico
Tony Chirico
Rodney Starkweather
Billy Barton
Vinnie Tobacco
Vincenzo (Vinnie the Captain) Cottone
Jimmy (Crazy Carlos) Bates

[b][u]The C Team[/u][/b]
Tommy Torpey
Tommy Taylor
Lou DiGuilo
Danny Bookles
Paul Comfort
Ray Sampson
Dino Tortarice
Jimmy & Stevie McAfee
Nicky Mastrodonato
Gerry, Tommy & Mike Pelusio
Richie Tribunella
Mario Tribunella

[b]Source:[/b] http://gangsterreport.com/the-alphabet-war-timeline-three-mob-crews-vied-for-power-in-rochester-ny-rackets-in-70s-80s/

Vincent Asaro has a cousin called Valenti. I wondered before if the Rochester Valenti brothers are relatives especially they retired to Arizona where Bonanno. Are the Rochester Valenti's from CDG?
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I believe the Valenti's are Calabrese. they are originally from Reggio Calabria I believe. They are not related to Asaro's cousin.

Rene Piccarreto was friends with some Brooklyn based Bonannos, and we was photographed speaking with some of them. However, I concur with Pogo that there is no actual proof the Rochester crew was "with" the Bonannos.

Marotta was just playing Delmonti in those recordings. Delmonti was paying him money from "scams" he was allegedly doing. I think Marotta just wanted his money.

It has been stated that they were connected to the Bonannos. Though I don't how they were connected or how extensive those ties were. I should note that back in the 60s-early 80s several Rochester members were mistakenly listed as Bonanno members.


Pogo

In the second link it says:

Marotta acknowledged on the videotape that he agreed to become one of the local family - then connected to New York's prominent Bonanno crime family - and underwent the standard rite.

Is this true?

Vincent Asaro has a cousin called Valenti. I wondered before if the Rochester Valenti brothers are relatives especially they retired to Arizona where Bonanno. Are the Rochester Valenti's from CDG?

By the early 1970's organized crime power shifted from former godfather Frank Valenti...to a new group looking to control Rochester's rackets. They would eventually take part in a mob war...the likes of which nobody around here had ever seen. When authorities found Jimmy "The Hammer" Massaro's body in the trunk of this car...they had few leads. Like most suspected mob hits, no one was talking. It looked as though the case would go unsolved. But by 1975, the Monroe County Sheriff's Department, under former Police Chief William Lombard, had built a case.

Chief of Detectives Bill Mahoney was the catalyst. In 1976, with the aid of mobster-turned-informant Ange Monachino, Rochester's reigning crime family was sent to prison for the killing. Boss Red Russotti. Advisor Rene Piccarreto. Underboss Sam Gingello. Capo Tom Marotta. And soldier Eugene Defrancesco. But 18 months later, it all unraveled, turning into one of the biggest law enforcement scandals in the war on organized crime.

"The circumstances have now been explained to me by Chief Mahoney, who will be served with departmental charges and suspended from duty, effective this date." Sheriff Lombard had to hold back tears...as allegations of fabricating evidence in the case, came to light. Five deputies would be indicted... Mahoney would spend four months behind bars...and the mobsters...went free.

Video and text: http://www.rochesterfirst.com/news/latest-headlines/mob-a-teamb-team/194190699

Read The Making and Breaking of Tom Marotta: https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/1371341/the-making-and-breaking-of-tom-marotta-part-1.pdf