Joseph Rao
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Joseph "Tough Joey" Rao or Joseph Cangro (1901 - 1962) was a New York mobster and an associate of mobster Dutch Schultz. Rao became involved in drug trafficking, policy banking, and running slot machines in Harlem, New York.
One of the early members of Schultz's organization, Rao's criminal record dated back to 1920 and included burglary and felonious assault. An inmate at the Welfare Island city penitentiary during the 1930s, Rao and Edward Cleary reportedly controlled smuggling of contraband and narcotics in the prison. [1].
On July 28, 1931, Rao was leaving the Helmar Social Club in New York when rival gunmen Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll and Frank Giordano shot him. During the attack, five children were gunned down and one of them later died. Though seriously wounded, Rao survived the attack. [2]. After Schultz's death, Rao eventually became a high ranking member of the Genovese crime family running narcotics in East Harlem.
In 1932, Rao was convicted of extortion against a bottling plant. In 1936, Rao was convicted of assaulting a New York Police Department (NYPD) officer in Harlem and was sentenced to two years in Sing Sing prison.
In 1946, Rao and Michael "Trigger Mike" Coppola were implicated in the murder of Joseph Scottoriggio, a Republican election captain. Scottoriggio was beaten to death in broad daylight in lower East Harlem. Rao was later placed under a $40,000 bond and held as a material witness. In November 1950, Rao and his brother-in-law Joseph "Joe Stretch" Stracci were named during a state investigation into corruption and ties to organized crime. District Attorney Frank Hogan charged Rao with attending a meeting with Tammany Hall officials in a campaign to remove Francis X. Mancuso, a former General Sessions Court Judge from his post as Democratic leader of the 16th Assembly District.
In 1961, Joseph Rao died of a stroke at age 61.
Rao's son, Bobby Rao, would later become head of the HEREIU International Local 222 labor union.
[edit] Further reading
- Fairchild, Henry Pratt. Survey of Contemporary Sociology. T. Nelson and Sons, 1934.
- MacArthur, John R. The Selling of "Free Trade": NAFTA, Washington, and the Subversion of American Democracy. New York: Hill and Wang, 2000. ISBN 0-8090-8531-3
- Turkus, Burton B. and Sid Feder. Murder, Inc: The Story of "the Syndicate". New York: Da Capo Press, 2003. ISBN 0-306-81288-6
- Valentine, Douglas. The Strength of the Wolf: The Secret History of America's War on Drugs. New York: Verso, 2004. ISBN 1-85984-568-1
