Paul (Legs) DiCocco, with his brother Jake at his side, became Schenectady, New York’s resident gambling kingpin, and ruled the roost for nearly five decades until the Genovese Family’s Adolfo (Big Al) Bruno staged a hostile takeover.
Paul got his start in the underworld a few years after his father’s death when he made the acquaintance of a local gambler and racketeer by the name of Antonio (Tony) Bernardi. The older Bernardi quickly took a liking to the energetic young man and decided to take him under his wing.
It was Bernardi who is said to have first tutored young Paul DiCocco in the ways of the underworld, and this is where Legs first got his start as a bookie and numbers runner, working for Tony Bernardi’s gambling combine. But the ambitious young man proved himself to be a very eager and worthy student, and within no time at all, the young hoodlum rose to become a valued member of Bernardi’s Gang.
By the late 1940s, Paul DiCocco’s stock was on the rise as he slowly, but steadily climbed the ladder within Schenectady’s illegal gambling rackets. After seeing the money being brought in, Jake DiCocco quickly decided to throw in with his older brother and Bernardi and go along for the ride as well. After Bernardi’s death, Legs DiCocco eventually rose to become the new gambling kingpin of Schenectady.
For many years, Legs and Jake DiCocco, along with several relatives and top lieutenants, were known to dominate gambling and loansharking in Albany, Rensselaer, Montgomery, and Saratoga Counties. The “DiCocco Crew” was generally recognized by other gamblers as a first among equals.
Throughout his decades-long underworld career, Legs engaged in a wide range of organized crime pursuits, including horse and sports bookmaking, policy-numbers, operating card and dice games, shylocking, police bribery and official corruption, labor union scams, extortion, no-bid contracts, and systematic income-tax evasion. And he was closely tied in with members of New York’s Bonanno Family, including Carmine Galante and Rusty Rastelli.
At the end of the article is an exclusive gallery of personal photos provided to us by Jake DiCocco’s grandson, Mike DiCocco. Button Guys would like to extend a special thanks to Mike for allowing us to share those, as well as others interspersed throughout this piece, with our readers.
