| abstract
| - Gingello was born in Rochester, Monroe County, New York, and spent his entire life in the city of Rochester. He was called Sonny as a child and disliked the nickname, he let people know it by being the toughest kid in the neighborhood where he grew up. In the early 1960s, gang warfare began in Rochester. The strife began shortly after the Appalachin Summit in November 1957. Constenze Valenti was the recognized boss of the city. Valenti was sentenced to 16 months in prison in August 1958. In his absence, Jake Russo began to take control of the Rochester rackets. When Stanley's brother Frank Valenti, an ambitious capo in the Pittsburgh crime family tried to intercede, he found himself convicted on an election's fraud charge and was sentenced to three years probation, but told to stay out of the state. Frank bided his time and returned in September, 1964, when his three years were up. In December, Russo disappeared and was never seen again. Hosting a party at a popular restaurant, Frank Valenti let it be known that he was now the boss of Rochester, forming his own crime family and declared independence from the Buffalo crime family with the help of Pittsburgh capo Antonio Ripepi. As Salvatore Gingello moved up the ranks during the mid-1960s, one Russo loyalist was still in the area, William “Billy” Lupo. In early 1970, Gingello became a capo. He got involved in a scam collecting deposits for a gambling junket to Las Vegas. Gingello and his associates kept the money, but called the police and reported it stolen. With a lot of angry gamblers in the area, Gingello and family underboss, Samuel Russotti, placed the blame on Lupo and used the incident as an excuse to have him murdered. The increased underworld activity in Rochester drew the attention of the local police and government agencies. Valenti and his men responded with a public bombing campaign to keep the authorities distracted. On October 12, 1973 five bombs exploded around the city. They would be dubbed the "Columbus Day Bombings" by the media. The explosions obtained the results Valenti had hoped for and he continued with additional bombings through the balance of the year. A federal investigation into the bombings eventually turned up who was responsible for them and Valenti, Gingello, and Rene Piccarreto, the family consigliere, were indicted along with Gingello’s brother Anthony and four others. Eugene DeFrancesco, who constructed the bombs, was found guilty while everyone else was released.
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