The body of Vincent James “Jimmy the Hammer” Massaro was discovered in the trunk of his own car on November 28, 1973 in Monroe County, New York. This apparent mafia hit on Massaro was determined to have taken place several days prior to the discovery of his body. Six established members of the Rochester Mafia known as “Cosa Nostra” – Eugene DeFrancesco, Salvatore “Sammy G” Gingello, Richard Marino, Thomas Marotta, Rene J. Piccarreto and Samuel “Red” Russotti – were convicted of Massaro’s murder. Eugene DeFrancesco was said to have been the gunman who shot and killed Massaro. Monroe County Assistant District Attorney Raymond E. Cornelius prosecuted all six men in 1976. The convictions of these men were based on testimony from Cosa Nostra informant Angelo Monachino, who was granted immunity in exchange for his testimony, as well as on corroborating testimony from Investigator William P. Marks and Detective John Kennerson, both members of the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department. Marks testified that beginning November 5, 1973, he had been assigned to stake out a house at 45 Longview Terrace. He also stated that on November 23, 1973, he and Kennerson had seen eight men enter that house, five of whom he knew by name: Eugene DeFrancesco, Salvatore Gingello, Samuel Russotti, Rene Piccarreto, and Angelo Monachino. This corroborated Angelo Monachino’s statements that members of Cosa Nostra had met on at 45 Longview Terrace on November 23, 1973 to plan the killing of Massaro. However, on January 24, 1978, Marks admitted to the FBI that all of his testimony related to the murder of Massaro had been false. He stated that another unnamed member of the sheriff’s department had asked him to provide false testimony before the grand jury, and later at trial, because the sheriff’s department was having trouble corroborating Angelo Monachino’s claims. Under applicable state law, the testimony of a co-defendant on its own was not considered sufficient evidence for a conviction, so Monachino’s testimony alone would not have been enough to obtain convictions. Marks said that this initial false testimony then led him and others, presumably including Kennerson, to create false surveillance logs to back up his testimony. Marks said that others in the department instructed him as to what he should write in the false logs, and that they were conscious to use papers and pens that were from prior to the date of the crime. When he provided this admission regarding his perjury and falsification of evidence, Marks resigned from his position with the sheriff’s department and pleaded guilty to a civil rights violation. Asked why he had decided to admit the truth, Marks said “I couldn’t live with it, it’s that simple.” On January 31, 1978, the convictions of all six defendants were vacated. In February 1980, former detective John Kennerson pleaded guilty to conspiracy and admitted his involvement in the falsification of evidence against Marino and his co-defendants. Kennerson then testified in a federal conspiracy trial against Monroe County Assistant District Attorneys Raymond E. Cornelius and Patrick J. Brophy, former Monroe County Sheriff’s Department Chief of Detectives William C. Mahoney, and former Monroe County Sheriff’s Department Detective Joseph Robortella. Following this trial, Kennerson entered the federal witness protection program.
In 1984, Marino and other members of Cosa Nostra were convicted on racketeering and conspiracy charges, and Marino was sentenced to forty years in prison. - Meghan Barrett Cousino
|