“made a ton of money during the Great Depression,” and that the man who got Art Sr. Rooney’s son, Art Jr., said in his 2008 book, “Ruanaidh,” about his father’s and the Steelers’ history, that his mother told him that Art Sr. The ventures appeared to have been lucrative. When Amato fell ill in 1956, LaRocca took over. At the time, LaRocca was a top associate of Pittsburgh Mafia head Frank Amato. In 1942 or 1943, LaRocca struck a deal with Art Rooney that allowed LaRocca to control slot machines in Pittsburgh’s East End, according to FBI documents. Sebastian “John” LaRocca in 1948 after an arrest. According to no one operates unless he meets with the approval of either or ROONEY.” The October 1947 FBI crime survey for Pittsburgh - an internal record shared by the entire agency - states matter-of-factly that an unnamed person and Rooney “while not characterized as head of any particular gang, are nevertheless the leading figures in rackets in the city of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County. Still other FBI documents say that he also owned large horse betting rooms - including two rooms said to be part of the largest, multi-state operations on the East Coast - as well as bookie joints and gambling rooms in several locations around town. The documents and other sources show in 1928 near the end of Prohibition, he owned a popular gambling and drinking vessel called the Show Boat, moored near the Sixth Street Bridge Downtown and considered the largest casino in the city.īy the 1940s - a vibrant period in Pittsburgh's history when factories were teeming with workers churning out weapons and other equipment for the military during World War II - he moved into running slot machines, a venture so successful that he was referred to by the FBI as the “slot machine king of Allegheny County.” The Rooneys closed the business for good after financial struggles following the end of Prohibition in late 1933. Home Beverage Co., later renamed General Braddock Brewery, was owned by the Rooney family from 1924 until 1937.
Though Rooney was never publicly connected to the rackets - other than a brewery making illegal beer during Prohibition - details of his involvement first began to trickle out in a book by Pittsburgh historian Rob Ruck in 1993 that outlined Rooney’s numbers operation, then again when a couple of FBI documents about his role running the slots and working with the mob were first reported in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review in 1996.īut the dozens of previously unreported FBI records obtained by the Post-Gazette - including documents released by the National Archives in 20 - combined with contemporary news stories and additional interviews, show for the first time in far greater detail the breadth and scope of his operations that made him one of the city’s leading racket figures and the role of law enforcement in tracking his movements.
Multiple FBI documents show that Rooney did more than brush shoulders with some of the Pittsburgh region's best known mobsters: He struck deals in the 1940s with five of the most notorious organized crime figures in Pennsylvania to split up the region’s lucrative slot machine operations. “I touched all the bases,” Rooney said when asked if he knew his fair share of publicly known criminals. “Art’s gift was to use politics quietly,” said Jack McGinley Jr., Rooney’s nephew and the grandson of one of Rooney’s partners, Barney McGinley.įor all of his life, Rooney - and later his eldest son and now a grandson - denied publicly that he was ever involved in any unlawful activities, only conceding that he knew others who were active players. The Post-Gazette’s research shows that Rooney also was a smart and nimble political operator who drew on a wealth of personal relationships that allowed him to use his power not only to keep law enforcement away from his racket operations, but to safeguard his public image. “It’s not part of Art Rooney people know,” said Andrew O’Toole, author of the 2004 book, “Smiling Irish Eyes: Art Rooney and the Pittsburgh Steelers.” “It’s an American story, an immigrant story, both the good and the bad.” The documents show he was involved in illegal operations from the mid-1920s through at least the late 1940s, although he was only publicly named in connection with any of them twice.ĭuring those years, due to to a loyal-to-the-bone cadre of powerful political friends, and smart, well-placed alliances with law enforcement, Rooney managed to navigate his way through a potentially dangerous, illegal underworld and build a fortune that allowed him to sustain his wealth until the Steelers and racetracks could eventually turn his family into one of the wealthiest in America.
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