WARNING: EXPLICIT MATERIAL

Rosario Porrello

Birth Name:

Rosario Porrello

Birth Date:

December 31, 1891

Birth Place:

Licata, Scicily, Italy

Death Date:

February 25, 1932

Place of Death:

Todaro Cigar Shop, 11103 Woodland Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio

Age:

Cause of Death:

Gunshot wounds from a mob hit

Cemetery Name:

Calvary Cemetery

Claim to Fame:

Crime and their Victims

A member of the Porrello crime family and older brother of crime boss Joseph Porrello. He was gunned down in a hail of bullets along with Raymond while they were playing cards at Joe Todaro's smoke shop at Woodland and East 111th Street. This execution of two more Porrello brothers effectively ended the family's influence in organized crime in Cleveland, Ohio as they were the last casualties of the Corn Sugar Wars in Cleveland, Ohio.

The Rest of the Story

Rosario was the oldest of the seven Porrello Brothers, who were part of the Cleveland crime family, which originated in the 1920s when the Lonardo brothers and Porrello brothers migrated from Sicily. At the beginning of Prohibition, the organization was led by Joseph ‘Big Joe’ Lonardo. The family supplied corn sugar to Cleveland’s bootleggers. His top lieutenant was Joseph ‘Big Joe’ Porrello. The Porrello brothers (Rosario, Vincenzo, Angelo, Joseph, John, Ottavio, and Raymond) formed their own faction in 1926. In 1927, Joseph Lonardo and his eldest brother John were gunned down by two gunmen. Joseph Porrello took over as boss of the Cleveland crime family and became the most influential corn sugar baron in the Cleveland area. He was murdered in 1930, and succeeded by his brother Jim Porrello, who shortly thereafter was murdered in a grocery store on East 110th Street and Woodland. Raymond Porrello declared revenge. He wasn’t at home when an explosion leveled his residence. ‘The Rise and Fall of the Cleveland Mafia’ by Rick Porrello details the 1932 murders of Raymond and Rosario while they were playing cards at Joe Todaro’s smoke shop at Woodland and East 111th Street.

Rosario’s home at the time of his death is still standing and can be found at 2555 E. 127th in Cleveland, Ohio.

Cemetery Information:

Final Resting Place:

Calvary Cemetery

10000 Miles Road

Cleveland, Ohio, 44105

USA

North America

Map:

Cemetery map of Calvary Cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio.

Grave Location:

Section 85, Lot 3630, Grave 3

Grave Location Description

As you drive through the cemetery and make your way under the bridge to the other half of the cemetery, make your way to the right. In Section 85 park in the uphill corner of the section furthest away from the entrance. Walk 6 rows down and 6 rows into the section for the simple monuments to Rosario and his wife and son.