He was posthumously inducted into the Billiard Congress of America's Hall of Fame in 1967, the first non-American to receive the honor.

[5] His first public appearance as a professional was in the World Fifteen-ball Pool Championship, held in New York, February 1887.

He won the World Continuous Pool Championship in a match against Jerome R. Keogh in New York, November 1910, making the highest recorded run of 81.

In 1912 he was defeated in pocket billiards by James Maturo of Denver, Colorado, in Philadelphia by a score of 150 to 136.

[9] Damon Runyon referenced Oro in his short story "Madame La Gimp", showing his name to be widely known in 1920s New York: "Well, when I step in I see the judge miss a shot anybody can make blindfolded, but as soon as I give him the office I wish to speak to him, the judge hauls off and belts in every ball on the table, bingity-bing, the last shot being a bank that will make Al de Oro stop and think, because when it comes to pool, the old judge is just naturally a curly wolf.