Angelo Monachino and Joseph Lanovara testimony notes/ Rochester discussion

[chin_gigante]

While researching some possible Rochester decina members for the Buffalo 1963 thread (viewtopic.php?f=29&t=9839), I went down a little rabbit hole that wasn’t exactly related but nonetheless was interesting enough to post.

The following notes are derived from Marcia Bullard’s coverage of the Vincent Massaro murder case for the Democrat and Chronicle. Two separate trials were held in Monroe County Court in 1976, both of which featured testimony from Angelo Monachino and Joseph Lanovara. They testified against Richard Marino in May of that year, and again in October against Samuel Russotti, Salvatore Gingello, Rene Piccarreto, Thomas Marotta, and Samuel Campanella. The following notes are abridged to cover the scope of each witness’ testimony across both trials.

Testimony of Joseph Lanovara

Personal background:

- “All my life I’ve committed crimes. They go back a long time.”
- “When I was a boy. I was arrested for train riding. I spent three days in the Syracuse jail.”
- Lanovara admitted he had been convicted of at least 11 crimes since 1930 including larceny, bootlegging, and illegal interstate commerce
- Lanovara was president of Bar-Mon Construction Co. from 1967 to 1969 and made $36,000 in his “best year”
- In 1970, Lanovara watched as other members of the organization killed his business partner William Constable
- Lanovara initially lied to a Monroe County grand jury investigating Constable’s murder, claiming to know nothing about it
- After becoming a “soldier” in 1971, he was involved in two arsons, an attempted extortion, and two murders

The organization:

- “The organization, when I joined it, involved 35 to 40 men. The purpose of the organization was strictly money… by any means… arson, murders, extortions, loansharking and gambling.”
- La cosa nostra is an “organization to make money in any illegal way that there is.”
- It is against the rules to talk about the activities of the organization to anyone who isn’t a member
- Other rules were, “That you do not commit any illegal stuff without the permission of the boss,” and “That you don’t monkey around with the wives or girlfriends of any of the members.”
- At every meeting of the organization, members stand up, join hands and say, “This is the strength of la cosa nostra.”

Induction ceremony:

- Lanovara and Vincent Massaro were inducted together in spring 1971 at the home of Frank Valenti in Henrietta
- “I was brought into a room surrounded by 30 or 35 members. I was brought to Frank Valenti’s chair.”
- Valenti pricked Lanovara’s finger with a needle and dabbed the blood with toilet tissue
- Valenti lit the paper, put it in Lanovara’s hand and told him to recite an oath in Italian
- “If I double-cross any of my blood brothers, I should burn like the paper in my hand.”

Conspiracy to murder Massaro:

- Lanovara and Eugene DiFrancesco were summoned to a meeting Nov 13, 1973, at the home of Samuel Russotti (52 Creekside Drive, Irondequoit)
- Lanovara and DiFrancesco arrived shortly after 10am
- “We were greeted by Rene Piccarreto, Sammy Gingello, Richard Marino, Tom Marotta and Sam Campanella… Red called the meeting to order… in the usual way the organization calls it to order. We stood up and joined hands and we said our oath and we sat down. Red Russotti said, ‘You boys’ – meaning me and Gene – ‘you guys were called here because Jimmy Massaro has talked to a stranger and he must die.’”
- At the time of the meeting, Russotti was boss, Gingello was underboss, Piccarreto was consigliere, Marino and Marotta were captains, and Campanella was a soldier
- Lanovara didn’t see or hear Campanella say anything during the meeting, but recalled Marotta making one comment about Massaro
- After Russotti gave the order to kill Massaro, the other members nodded their heads and agreed, “He must die”
- Lanovara asked Russotti to talk to Massaro about the problem first
- “But Red said, ‘You’re out of order,’ and Rene Piccarreto stood up and said, ‘You’re out of order. He must die.’”
- “[Everyone present] made remarks about how fast this must be done… They said he had committed a mortal sin.”
- Massaro often complained about not getting paid by the organization
- “He said, ‘They’re running around in Cadillacs and Rolls Royces and I’m working for a living.’ He said, ‘The big shots get all the money I don’t get nothing and I do all the dirty work.’”
- Complaining like that was “a bad sin”
- Before Lanovara and DiFrancesco left the meeting, Marino gave him (Lanovara) a gun (though the murder was ultimately carried out with a different weapon)
- Marino was Lanovara’s captain at the time
- A second meeting was held on Nov 23 because organization leaders were angry that Massaro was still alive
- “Red Russotti called the meeting to order and started hollering. ‘You guys are having a lot of trouble with this guy’… They all hollered the same thing.”
- Russotti told Lanovara, “If you don’t kill him, we’ll kill you.”
- Piccarreto, Gingello, and Marino were also at the Nov 23 meeting
- Marino asked, “What’s so hard about killing this guy?”
- At this meeting, Angelo Monachino was also assigned to the murder
- The murder was carried out later that day

The Massaro murder:

- Massaro was murdered Nov 23, 1973, at Bar-Mon Construction Co., 400 Western Drive, Brighton
- Monachino phoned Massaro and told him Marino was angry about something and asked him to come to the Bar-Mon office
- On cross-examination in the Marino trial, the defense picked up on the fact that in his testimony before a 1975 grand jury, Lanovara testified that Monachino said “that guy is mad” over the phone without using Marino’s name
- “We knew who he was talking about. So I lied again. One more time I lied to this jury.”
- At a later date, Lanovara said he “blew up” when he said he lied and claimed he was trying to “mimic” the wording of the defense
- “He was lying on the concrete floor and – do I mention names? – and someone was standing over him by the name of Gene DiFrancesco pumping bullets into him.”
- Lanovara and Monachino watched as DiFrancesco shot Massaro several times in the face in a garage
- “I heard 5, 6, 7 shots. When I came out, Gene was standing over him pumping bullets into him.”
- The three men “slid [a raincoat from Massaro’s car] under his body, picked him up and threw him into the trunk.”
- Lanovara initially testified that they also scooped up shells and “brains or something” from the floor and dumped it in the car
- On cross-examination, Lanovara admitted, “The truth is we put a lot of stuff in a wastepaper basket.”
- Massaro’s body was left in the trunk of his car at 203 Atkinson Street
- After killing Massaro, the hit team threw some of the evidence out of a car window towards the Genesee River
- DiFrancesco threw a vacuum cleaner out of the car
- The vacuum was thrown out before they cleaned up the murder site, but Lanovara didn’t know why

Cooperation:

- Despite being relocated under the witness protection programme, Lanovara was still “scared” of retaliation and called Russotti in Irondequoit
- “Where I was I had noticed… a very important incident so that I thought somebody was after me. I told him I wanted to run away as long as my family wasn’t harmed.”


Testimony of Angelo Monachino

Personal background:

- Monachino joined the organization because it was “supposed to be lucrative”
- “But it didn’t turn out that way. We were supposed to get paid for every arson we did, and that was about it. I never got paid for anything else.”
- Monachino owned Bar-Mon Construction Co. since 1969
- Bar-Mon Construction Co. was “equipment-rich and cash-poor” in the late 1960s and Monachino needed to make more money
- By the time he joined the organization, the company was making $750,000 to $1 million per year
- Monachino witnessed the 1970 murder of William Constable
- Witnessing the Constable killing proved Monachino’s capability as a murderer prior to his induction

The organization:

- There were about 37 members of the organization when Monachino was inducted
- “[Members] called it ‘our thing’ or the ‘cosa nostra.’ Some people called it the mafia.”
- Monachino described cosa nostra as an organization that committed crimes and made money
- “Soldiers” were supposed to receive $50 per week for belonging to the organization plus a percentage of the proceeds of any arsons
- However, payments were only made for about two months in 1972 after Frank Valenti was deposed

Conspiracy to murder Massaro:

- On Nov 15, Massaro stole a laser beam used in construction work from one of Monachino’s storage trailers
- The theft occurred during a fire at a Webster construction site that Monachino supervised and Massaro was foreman for
- Robbing a “brother” in the organization was considered a mortal sin
- The defense brought up the theft to show Monachino had motive to kill Massaro on his own
- Monachino however didn’t suspect Massaro until later in the month when an FBI agent told him Massaro might have been the thief
- On the night of Nov 16, Monachino staked out Massaro after DiFrancesco asked for his help
- DiFrancesco broke the rules of the organization by involving Monachino when the assignment had been given to himself (DiFrancesco) and Lanovara
- “Gene broke the rule.”
- Monachino also broke the rules by volunteering to help DiFrancesco
- At about 11am on 23 Nov, Monachino was summoned to a meeting where he was ordered to help Lanovara and DiFrancesco kill Massaro
- Joseph Tiraborelli (stepson of Russotti) was one of the men who attended part of the meeting
- Massaro was to be killed “because he was shooting his mouth off” about organization activities to non-members and committing crimes outside the organization
- Marino (who was also Monachino’s captain) was present and suggested they kill Massaro at Bar-Mon Construction Co.
- Despite not being upset about staking out Massaro a week earlier, Monachino was upset about being ordered to kill him

The Massaro murder:

- Monachino, Lanovara, and DiFrancesco went to Bar-Mon at about 3.30pm and Monachino called Massaro to meet him there
- Massaro walked into the garage 30 minutes later
- When Massaro arrived, Monachino distracted him until DiFrancesco shot him once in the back of the head
- Massaro fell to the floor and DiFrancesco “emptied his gun” into Massaro’s face
- “I said, ‘Gene, that’s enough,’ and that was it.”
- Massaro’s body was left on Atkinson Street because that meant city police would conduct an investigation instead of the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department
- The sheriff’s department had jurisdiction in Henrietta, where Monachino and DiFrancesco lived
- After leaving the car in the city, they threw some of the evidence into the Genesee River then returned to clean up the scene
- “We had quite a mess on the floor there.”


===

One thing I myself found particularly interesting was the comment about being paid by the organization (or being stiffed on money that was owed). Both Lanovara and Monachino bring it up, with Monachino specifically stating members were to receive $50 a week for simply belonging to the organization. This is backed up by Massaro’s girlfriend Rose Rotondi, who also testified during the trial that Massaro personally told her he was part of an organization and was supposed to be paid $50 a week for belonging (though he frequently complained about not receiving his money). Rotondi’s account also confirms that Massaro was discussing cosa nostra business with non-members. Of course, he was breaking the rules by discussing things with her, but she also witnessed him talking about the organization with another non-member.

On another note, while it’s not discussed in Bullard’s coverage of the testimony, Monachino was inducted at the same ceremony as Lanovara and Massaro in Valenti’s basement. While Lanovara however described it as taking place in the spring of 1971, Monachino stated it was February of that year.

To take things back to Buffalo, another piece of information I am particularly fascinated by is the membership count provided. Both Lanovara and Monachino estimate the Rochester organization to have 35-40 inducted members at the time of their ceremony in 1971. I know Valenti was said to have expanded the decina after taking over in 1964 but that would be quite the expansion given we only have about 10 confirmed members in the 1963 list. I also wonder how many of those new recruits were inducted under Buffalo or after Rochester broke off to form its own group. I wouldn't be surprised if there's at least half a dozen or so guys who were members in 1963 that I have missed.

[Pogo The Clown]

Great stuff. I posted a breakdown of some of LaNovara's testimony a few years ago. I only had a few pages.


B. was interested in some of the member informants from Rochester so I dug into my files and here are some tidbits from the testimony of member informant Joseph "Spike" LaNovara. I only have a few pages of the transcript but there is some good stuff here. I also found the indictment from 1984 that I didn't even remember that I had. I'll be posting tidbits form that later. Enjoy.


-Says he was proposed by Frank Valenti and inducted in 1972.


-The ceremony took place in the cellar of Valenti's house. "It was a huge room with a long table in it. There were around 35 guys in the room".


-He stood next to Valenti who was sitting down. "Let's see your trigger finger. Which is your trigger finger?" Valenti asked him. Then Valenti took a pin and pricked his finger. He mopped up the blood with toilet tissue and burned it while delivering the oath in Italian. LaNovara repeated the oath. It was the typical oath. Then he kissed Valenti on both cheeks and went around the room and kissed every member present. Then he sat next to Valenti.


-Angelo Monachino and Jimmy Massaro then went through the same ceremony. Monachino ended up defecting as well. Massaro is the Jimmy Hammer who was killed in 1973. His murder and the resulting indictment was of course the catalyst for the A-B War a few years later.


-After all three went through the ceremony Valenti went over the rules. They were the usual rules we all know.


-At the time of his ceremony he said the Boss was Frank Valenti, the UnderBoss was Rene Piccaretto and the Consigliere was Sam Russotti. He went through the function of all three. Usual stuff. "There were 3 Captains in the organization at the time that I knew of."


-He IDs the 3 Capos as Stanley Valenti, Mr. LaCorto and Richard Marino. We now know LaCorto is either Joseph or his brother Leonsrd LuCorto. Marino of course would later become the UnderBoss. Stanley was Frank's brother.


-Says that Gene DiFrancesco was a Captain during Valentis reign. He also describes Sam Gingello as a Captain. It is unclear if they were a 4th and 5th Captain or if they replaced some of the three up top.


-Says Valenti was deposed before he (Valenti) went to jail "I'm pretty sure it was in 1973. It might have been the late part of 1972."


-After Valenti was deposed Russoti became the Boss, Piccarretto the Consigliere and Gigngello the UnderBoss. DeFrancesco was demoted to Soldier.


-He names Tom Marotta as a Soldier at this time. Says Marotta was promoted to Capo after Valenti was deposed. Marotta went down in the 1984 indictment. Got out in 1996 and became Bosso of the remnants of the family before being imprisoned in 2000 for trafficking drugs.


-Asked how many members of the organization there are in total he replied "Around, 40, 42-45, 43."


In another piece he describes one of the members present at his ceremony as a professor from a local college.


Pogo

[Pogo The Clown]

Some tidbits from the 1984 indictment.


Boss Samuel “Red” Russotti – Was the Consigliere from sometime prior to February 1, 1971 until June/July 1972 when he became Boss


UnderBoss Richard Marino – Promoted to Capo in June/July 1972. Promoted to UnderBoss in approximately April 1978


Consigliere Rene Piccarretto - Was the UnderBoss from sometime prior to February 1, 1971 until June/July 1972 when he became Consigliere


Capo Joseph Rossi – Was made sometime prior to February 1, 1971. Promoted to Capo in approximately April 1978


Capo Thomas Marotta – Promoted to Capo in June/July 1972


Soldier Anthony Colombo – “Employed” by the family in April 1978. Was made in approximately December 1978


Soldier Donald Paone – Was made sometime prior to June 1975


Soldier Joseph Trieste - Was made sometime prior to June 1975


Soldier Joseph LoDolce- "Employed” by the family in September 1977. Was made in approximately December 1978


Associate John “Flap” Trivingo - "Employed” by the family in September 1977


Pogo

[B.]

Great info. They may have first gone rogue in 1968 when the Buffalo faction voted to depose Magaddino. Curious when they started doing their own ceremonies. Like you said, would they make 20+ guys between 1968 and 1971 or were they a massive crew pre-1968? Maybe a combination. The FBI thought Buffalo had as many as 120 members circa early 1960s and even if that's high-balling it there were many more unconfirmed/unidentified members than we know.

The Rochester members the FBI listed as Bonannos in the late 1970s and 1980s might have been limited to people who were first made in Buffalo. In the 1960s Frank Valenti told a source if things didn't get better with Magaddino he'd transfer to the Bonannos. Though the Commission never recognized Rochester as a Family I'm curious if other Families ever recognized the members they made after trying to split off. Sam Campanella returned to the Buffalo fold in the 1980s though I don't know if this was as simple as agreeing to support the Buffalo leadership again or if it required any kind of formal protocol given Rochester was unrecognized.

I've also been curious if Rochester was once its own colony Family like Utica appears to have been. A source in Utica referred to the crew as a "so-called Family" even into the 1960s and even referred to guys using admin roles, like Grio as consigliere, but they were 100% a decina at the time. This could have had roots in them once being independent -- they never tried to break off post-1968 like other factions but it does show both Rochester and Utica thought of themselves as semi-autonomous. Could tell us Rochester was once independent too before WNY-CNY merged.

[PolackTony]

I’ve thought it a very good bet that Rochester started out as its own Family.

It’s like 70+ miles from Buffalo, has a larger concentration of Italians than Buffalo (from what I understand), and was a major industrial center in the late-19th through mid-20th centuries. If any place had its own Family, I’d have to think Rochester should be at the top of the list.

[chin_gigante]

I've also been curious if Rochester was once its own colony Family like Utica appears to have been. A source in Utica referred to the crew as a "so-called Family" even into the 1960s and even referred to guys using admin roles, like Grio as consigliere, but they were 100% a decina at the time. This could have had roots in them once being independent -- they never tried to break off post-1968 like other factions but it does show both Rochester and Utica thought of themselves as semi-autonomous. Could tell us Rochester was once independent too before WNY-CNY merged.

That reminded me of a file I found that makes reference to "the old Sam Scro family" in Syracuse.

2DD8EA29-36D8-49C6-B1D2-D6FED6C44869.jpeg

[B.]

I've also been curious if Rochester was once its own colony Family like Utica appears to have been. A source in Utica referred to the crew as a "so-called Family" even into the 1960s and even referred to guys using admin roles, like Grio as consigliere, but they were 100% a decina at the time. This could have had roots in them once being independent -- they never tried to break off post-1968 like other factions but it does show both Rochester and Utica thought of themselves as semi-autonomous. Could tell us Rochester was once independent too before WNY-CNY merged.

That reminded me of a file I found that makes reference to "the old Sam Scro family" in Syracuse.

2DD8EA29-36D8-49C6-B1D2-D6FED6C44869.jpeg

Could well be something to it. Gentile had Sam Scro in his address book and his son married Magaddino's daughter, def someone of significance.

[B.]

I've always assumed the Utica Family became a decina when Pietro Lima and Domenico Aiello were murdered in 1934 but since we don't have any sources who really broke down Utica until much later it's possible Salvatore Falcone was boss for a time before he became the capodecina.

There are many reports where Utica is referred to as a "Family" (Valachi said they were too and he met the Falcones in the early 1930s) but this source indicates Salvatore Falcone was a Family boss before his brother ultimately became a Buffalo capodecina:




It refers to the Family in present tense which is not correct but maybe they were a Family until Salvatore Falcone semi-retired to Florida?

When Magaddino discussed the early 1920s Assemblea meeting about the Buffalo leadership dispute he says they wanted him to become capo dei capi -- this can't be a reference to the national position, so one possibility is that his election as Buffalo boss would have made him a regional representative of multiple WNY-CNY Families before they were officially merged. In one of the Mob Archs episodes we discussed the possibility that Chicago operated similarly for other regional Families pre-Commission.

[nash143]

I put this together a while back using the doc that Chin posted from, and this - https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/ ... frontcover

In an attempt to reach 35-40, I got stuck at 28- has anyone got any further thoughts?


Rochester LCN Group -1972 (before Valenti's deposition)

Boss: Frank Valenti
Underboss: Rene Piccarreto
Consiglieri: Samuel ‘Red’ Russotti

Capodecina:
1.Dominick Chirico
- Reported direct to Valenti
- Valenti chauffeur and bodyguard

Soldiers under Chirico: (Valenti's 'personal cadre' of soldiers)
Thomas Didio
Dominick Celestino
Angelo Vaccaro
Rosario ‘Ross’ Chirico
Vincent “Jimmy” Massaro
Joseph LaNovara
Angelo Monachino

Capodecinas:
2. Constenze ‘Stanley’ Valenti
3. Salvatore ‘Sammy G’ Gingello (successor to William ‘Billy’ Lupo d.1970)
4. ‘Mr LaCorto’ (Joseph or Leonard LoCurto)
5. Eugene ‘Gene’ DiFrancesco (previously a member of Chirico regime)
6. Richard Marino

Soldiers:
Samuel Amico
Anthony ‘Nippy’ Arena
Samuel Campanella
Vincenzo Cottone
Samuel DiGeatano
August Giannavola
Thomas Marotta
Joseph Rossi
Pasquale ‘Pat’ Sciortino
Joseph Tiraborelli - ? (made as of 1973)
Richard Tribunella
Samuel Valenti

Approx. size of group: 35-40 members
Members identified: 28

Suspected members:
Charles Indovino
Anthony Gingello

[B.]

Interesting there was a Vaccaro. Angelo found an early Canicatti-born Gambino guy named Ignazio Vaccaro who moved from NYC to Rochester. Don't know if it's the same one, but an Agrigento-born Ignazio Vaccaro in NYC had a Rosario Valenti and Giuseppe Romano as naturalization witnesses, both surnames relevant to Rochester/Buffalo.

We need to get ahold of local college faculty lists from the era and figure out this damned college professor haha. Wouldn't be surprised if that guy was already a Buffalo member. I'm guessing a number of the unidentified Buffalo members were ostensibly legitimate given they were a very traditional Family with Sicilian mafia lineage and made a practicing lawyer like Harry Bordonaro plus the recent schoolteacher / coach who is suspected.

[chin_gigante]

Monachino identified Leonard LoCurto, Joseph Geniola, Robert Silveri, and Joseph Trieste as members, so I'm assuming Leonard is likely the LoCurto captain Lanovara identified and the others would have been made between 1971 and 1975. I think Anthony Gingello was identified in his indictment in the mid-1970s as a member as well so he would have been inducted during that period. I'm also assuming the 1984 indictment's description of Donald Paone as being made "by June 1975" means that Monachino identified him as well. Monachino identified about 45 members for law enforcement.

[chin_gigante]

Also from the statement nash posted made by Neil Kern and Robert Hutt (agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms), they describe Dominick and Rosario Chirico as being sponsored for entry into the organization by Vaccaro. They have Vaccaro arriving in Rochester in 1964, so that would mean they couldn't have been made by 1963.

Also, Kern and Hutt's statement references Sammy Gingello recruiting a mass of "new members" in secret after replacing William Lupo as captain in 1970 without Valenti's knowledge. These new members were said to be enough to outnumber the Valenti loyalists in Chirico's crew (which proved important in eventually forcing Valenti out). I'm not sure how conceivable it is that a mass of inductions would take place without Valenti's knowledge, especially considering the member estimates don't vary that much. We have 35-40 members present at the 1971 ceremony at Valenti's farm, so he had to know about them, and Monachino only identified about 45 members tops throughout his entire time. Though I think there may be a more general truth about a mass of inductions taking place in that 1970-1972 period. It would explain the massive jump in confirmed members and seems like something a new breakaway family would do to consolidate strength.

Regarding DiGaetano, there's an affidavit that says Monachino was present at his induction at Valenti's farm. So either DiGaetano was also straightened out at the same ceremony as Monachino, Lanovara, and Massaro, or he was inducted at the same place sometime between Feb 1971 and mid-1972. Virtually the entire family was present for the Feb 1971 ceremony so it would be conceivable that Monachino would be present at other ceremonies.

Kern and Hutt also describe Bill Lupo as the last vestige of the Jake Russo era, so I'm ready to put him on the 1963 chart as at least a suspected Rochester member.

I would be interested to find out who the college professor was. Both Lanovara and Monachino identified him as a member.

[Antiliar]

On a side note, it's interesting how much of Monachio's and Lanovara's testimony about the LCN resembles Jimmy Fratianno's testimony. Especially that the purpose of the LCN is to make money.

[chin_gigante]

Screenshot 2023-01-17 at 02.06.20.png

Found this in Magaddino's FBI files. It looks like the breakaway Buffalo faction started inducting new members around the same time as Rochester. I'd imagine the motivation behind both waves was the same (i.e. increasing numbers in case of conflict). Ronald Fino identifies William Sciolino and Victor Sansanese as among those inducted into the breakaway Buffalo family during that period (Sciolino was 'brought into' the family by Joseph Fino, Sansanese was inducted in 1970). Tony Romano is mentioned in the Magaddino files as another newly inducted member by February 1970.

[B.]

Romano was probably made by early 1969. Bomp learned he was down in Florida insinuating to people that he was a Buffalo member. Sam Pieri and Joe DiCarlo were asked to confirm and neither knew him to be a member so he apparently wasn't part of the Pieri faction. Romano also told people he was Vito Genovese's godson. Also possible he was trying to throw his weight around before he was actually inducted.