In 1946, Rao and Michael "Trigger Mike" Coppola were implicated in the murder of Joseph Scottoriggio, a Republican Party election captain. Scottoriggio was beaten to death in lower East Harlem. Rao was later placed under a $40,000 bond and held as a material witness. In November 1950, Rao and his brother-in-law Joseph "Joe Stretch" Stracci were named during a state investigation into corruption and tied to organized crime. District Attorney Frank Hogan charged Rao with attending a meeting with Tammany Hall officials in a campaign to remove Francis X. Mancuso, a former New York General Sessions Court judge from his post as Democratic Party leader of the 16th New York Assembly District.