Rao operated his own “private” check-cashing service utilized as a mob “laundry” for many decades. Bookies, shylocks, etc., would bring him their customer’s checks for payment.
Vincenzo J. (Vincey) Rao was born in 1898 in Corleone, Sicily. He immigrated to the U.S. as a one-year-old in 1899. Rao resided for many years in East Harlem at 255 E. 107th Street before moving up to a palatial estate in Yonkers, NY, at 192 Dunwoodie Street.
