Rocco Valenti

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Rocco Valenti (d. August 11, 1922) was an early New York gangster and prominent member of the Morello crime family.

Born Umberto Valenti, little is known of Rocco Valente before joining the Italian (Neopolitan) Navy St. Gang in the early 1910s. On July 20, 1916 Valenti, along with Navy St. associate Nick Sassi, were involved in the murder of Joe DeMarco and Charles Lombardi, helping members Lefty Esposito, Tom Pagano, and Giuseppe Verizzano escape.

On September 7 Valenti was arrested in a local pool hall for carrying a concealed weapon, several hours after a shootout between members of the Navy St. Gang which resulted in the deaths of Nicholas Morello and Charles Ubriaco, by detective Michael Meali from the New York Sixth Branch police bureau however Valenti was later released.

On January 26, 1918 Valenti was arrested in Troy, New York and convicted as an accessory in the murders of DeMarco and Lombardi, serving ten months until his release in November. He also testified on Charles Giordano's behalf in Giordino's trial in March 1919.

Following the aftermath of the Mafia-Camorra War in 1918, Valenti, now considered one of the best gunmen in New York and suspected in the murders of over twenty gangsters, had risen to become one of the leaders of the Morello crime family by the beginning of Prohibition. Valenti vied to lead the Morello crime family and waged war against rival Joe Masseria.

On May 10, 1922 Valenti, with gunman Silva Tagliagamba, ambushed Masseria in an unsuccessful attempt on his life, fleeing after Tagliagamba was wounded (later dying in June). On August 9, 1922 Valenti, apparently without the knowledge of Morello, again attempted to kill Masseria on Second Avenue and, after killing both of Masseria's bodyguards, followed him into a local millinery store, where Masseria managed to escape.

A meeting was later arranged two days later by Morello and Masseria at a Twelfth Street restaurant; however when neither Morello nor Masseria appeared Valenti attempted to escape as three of Masseria's gunmen attacked him. During the shootout, in which an eight year old girl and a street cleaner were injured in the crossfire, Valenti was killed by gunman Salvatore Lucania, later known as Charles Luciano, as he jumped onto a moving taxi.