Rocco Racco
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rocco Racco (d. 1909) was an American mobster responsible for the 1906 murder of Pennsylvania State Game Warden Seely Houk.
On April 24, 1906, the body Pennsylvania State Game Warden Seely Houk was found in the Mohoning River. Houk, who had been missing since March 6, had been killed by a shotgun blast to the head and authorities suspected local mafiosi who had been caught poaching in the area were thought to be responsible. An investigation by a Detective Dimaio of the Pinkerton Detective Agency suggested the murder had been committed by a mafiosi gunman most likely already in prison, however, investigators made little progress until an a prison inmate under the name Candido wrote to Det. Dimaio claiming that Rocco Racco and his brother-in-law Jim Murdocca had killed Houk following an incident in which Houk shot and killed Racco's favorite hunting dog as a warning against poaching in the area after he had caught the two men hunting out of season.
By the time Dimaio had reached the prison for an interview with Candido, Candido had been threatened by a mafiosi named Surace. Surace refused to cooperate with investigators until Dimaio allegedly whispered a password of the Sicilian mafiosi. Surace immediately confessed that Racco had murdered Houk which was corroborated by a second witness. After acquiring the murder weapon from Racco's wife, Dimaio traveled to see the imprisoned Racco who identified the murder weapon as his own and was indicted on murder charges.
Moved to New Castle, Pennsylvania, the trial gained national attention due to constant death threats against witnesses and, due primarily to the testimony of Surace, Racco was convicted of murder and hanged at the New Castle jail in late-1909.
[edit] Further reading
- Borsella, Cristogianni On Persecution, Identity & Activisim: Aspects of the Italian-American Experience from the Late 19th century to Today. Wellesley: Dante University Press, 2005. ISBN 0-937832-41-3
- Horan, James David and Howard Swiggett. The Pinkerton Story. New York: Putnam, 1951.
- Nicaso, Antonio and Lamothe, Lee. Global Mafia: The New World Order of Organized Crime. Toronto: Macmillan Canada, 1995. ISBN 0-7715-7311-1
- Reppetto, Thomas A. American Mafia: A History of Its Rise to Power. New York: Henry Holt & Co., 2004. ISBN 0-8050-7798-7
- Warren, Louis S. The Hunter's Game: Poachers and Conservationists in Twentieth-Century America. New York: Yale University Press, 1997. ISBN 0-300-08086-7
- Willis, Clint. (ed.) Wise Guys: Stories of Mobsters from Jersey to Vegas. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press, 2003. ISBN 1-56025-498-X
