Jake Russo (Rochester)

[tmarotta]

Here is an article from last year about the disappearance of Rochester LCN member Jake Russo.

'WHERE IS JAKE RUSSO?'

"Where Is Jake Russo? Valenti's Enforcer Missing," blared the front-page headline of the Dec. 14, 1964, Democrat and Chronicle.

By that time, Russo had been missing for three months, but the media were only beginning to learn of the disappearance.

The Democrat and Chronicle story did not include a photograph of Russo. With a half century now passed, the history of the era tells us why.

For one, Russo was not of the same ilk as those who came after him. He did not carry the same flamboyance and flair as Valenti or another notorious figure, Salvatore "Sammy G." Gingello, an underboss killed in a 1978 car bombing in Rochester. Russo had largely worked in the mob trenches before finding himself in the leadership ranks.

More: 40-year mystery: Where were the police when mobster 'Sammy G' Gingello was murdered?

More importantly, perhaps, was that the media's attention — locally and nationally — would become far more pervasive in the months and years after Russo's disappearance. Valenti was such a prominent figure locally, before he was forced out of town by other organized crime figures in 1972 for skimming too much money, that the Democrat and Chronicle published regular features about him under a standing headline of "Spotlight on Gambling Czar."

To this day, it is difficult to find more than one photo of Russo online. (His family used that same photograph in the 2014 memorial ad.) There are dozens and dozens of Valenti and Gingello photos that are easy to locate.

But the story of Jake Russo's disappearance cannot be told without mention of one of the most storied episodes in Mafia history: the arrests of mobsters in the rural Southern Tier town of Apalachin.

Joseph Barbara home in Apalachin, New York in Sept. 1958. He held a 1957 mob convention there that caught the eye of police.
Joseph Barbara home in Apalachin, New York in Sept. 1958. He held a 1957 mob convention there that caught the eye of police.
(Photo: Press and Sun-Bulletin)

In 1957, Frank Valenti and his brother, Stanley, were among the Mafia members who met at the Apalachin home of organized crime magnate Joseph Barbara. The Valentis were then the overseers of Rochester's mob contingent.

The Apalachin meeting, which was busted by law enforcement, proved to police the scope of organized crime, as leaders from across the country gathered to plot out the future. (The meeting also raised questions about the smarts of organized crime leaders: Police understandably became suspicious when mobster Barbara booked a bevy of hotel rooms, and when luxury cars — some from out of state — began to roll into the Tioga County community.)

Both Valentis refused to testify about the meeting and were arrested. Stanley Valenti went to prison; his brother did not. But Frank Valenti was arrested again in 1961 for election fraud. He'd illegally voted in an earlier election in which he could not vote because he was a convicted felon and he had not then lived in New York for a year.

After the election crimes, Valenti agreed to leave New York for three years as part of his probation. He moved to Pittsburgh, where he had been previously active in Mafia factions.

With the Valentis gone, Russo was given control. He had been one of the top lieutenants in the Rochester crime machine, helping the Valentis maintain illicit gambling shops.


MEETING 'THE UNDERTAKER'

Known to order mob hits without as much as a sympathetic second thought, Magaddino carried the moniker of "the Undertaker" as a double entendre of sorts: His legitimate business was a Niagara Falls funeral home.

An immigrant from Sicily, Magaddino had a career in organized crime dating to the Prohibition, when he smuggled liquor across Lake Ontario from Canada. His cousin was Joseph Bonanno, who would be the leader of the Bonanno crime family.

Those who worked for Magaddino and answered to him often would be summoned to regular meetings for updates on crime activities: How much were the gambling dens bringing in? Was there anyone trying to invade the turf? Was there a need for an arson at an uncooperative business?

In the fall of 1964, Russo and Piccarreto made that drive to Buffalo for one such meeting. Russo had brothers in charge of some of Rochester's illegal crap games, and Magaddino had decided that Russo was letting his brothers get a too-fat cut.

It wasn't so, Piccarreto said in the video interview. Instead, for a period, the games had not produced much, and Russo made sure that his brothers and others at least took in some money to survive.

"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.

Valenti had by then returned to Rochester and maintained a restaurant, The Quill Room, at 123 State St. In the years after, the location would be a burger joint and other establishments before Pizza Stop, which has since moved to another State Street location.

Frank Valenti was photographed as he walked into the Quill Restaurant after most of his guest arrived for a steak party Dec. 13, 1964.
Frank Valenti was photographed as he walked into the Quill Restaurant after most of his guest arrived for a steak party Dec. 13, 1964.
(Photo: file photo)

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

The next day Phyllis 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.

"That's the demise of Jake Russo."

George Karalus, a retired state trooper who was part of a team that tailed and investigated Magaddinno, said of the Buffalo-based crime boss, "He did not order a lot of murders, but the murders that he ordered, it had to happen."


With Russo gone, Piccarreto and his friend, Samuel "Red" Russotti, were summoned to a meeting with Magaddinno. Piccarreto didn't expect to come back, thinking he may be killed there. (Russotti would become the local mob leader after Valenti was later forced out of town.)

The meeting was in a Magaddino-owned restaurant that was closed for the afternoon. Magaddino had Piccarreto sit in a chair in front of him, and asked for proof that Russo had been taking more from the gambling operations than he should have.

"Jake Russo, what did he do with all that money?" Magaddino asked. Piccarreto answered, "He didn't have any money. What are you talking about?"

"You're a liar," Magaddino said, his finger on Piccarreto's chest. "I said, 'Steve, I'm not a liar,'" Piccarreto said in the interview.

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."

Through the years there have been many theories about Russo's fate. Russo's body has not been found, and, if Piccarreto knew where he might have been buried, he did not say so on the video.

The aftermath of Russo's disappearance belies the belief some have that the Mafia took care of the families of those who served in its ranks and died, even if at the hands of others in organized crime. Without a body, Russo's family could not collect any insurance, and no one provided assistance.

The leadership did nothing to help.

But the leadership did change. In December 1964, as word was becoming public that Russo could not be found, Frank Valenti held two separate parties at downtown restaurants. Local media and police got wind of the fetes.


Loren Piccarreto, son of mobster Rene Piccarreto, says his dad wanted the truth out.
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

"Cosa Nostra Mobster Moves In," said a December 1964 Democrat and Chronicle headline about Valenti's emergence as the town's new "gambling czar."

"His method of operation is along traditional underworld lines," the story said. "Bookies and other gamblers are visited by a Valenti henchman and offered 'protection' for a share of the receipts. This includes a collection service from bettors who fail to repay credit, 'handling' of disgruntled losers, a guarantee against interference from rival underworld forces and other 'services.' "

At the first dinner party, nearly 100 people came. There was plenty of steak for all.

There, Valenti had a simple message for those who previously dealt with Russo.

Valenti's message, according to 1964 news accounts and police testimony: "I'm the man to see in Rochester."

[tmarotta]

In addition made member Joseph Trieste has died.

https://falvofuneralhome.com/tribute/de ... tuary.html