[1][2][3] Born in Villarosa, Sicily on May 1, 1901, LaRocca and his family immigrated to the United States in 1910, and settled in Indiana County, Pennsylvania.

[4][5] In 1956, LaRocca succeeded longtime crime boss Frank Amato as head of criminal operations in Pittsburgh and Southwestern Pennsylvania.

LaRocca and two of his captains, Gabriel "Kelly" Mannarino and Michael James Genovese, were among the one hundred-plus Mafiosi who attended the legendary Apalachin Meeting in 1957.

[6][7][8] According to the Chicago Tribune, "The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service began deportation proceedings against him in 1956 on grounds that his criminal record made him an undesirable alien," but he remained in the United States because he was "granted a backdated pardon for his crimes by Pennsylvania Gov.

LaRocca, Mannarino and Trafficante were partners in the Sans Souci hotel and gambling casino in Havana, Cuba.