The Raymond Patriarca Family of New England

He would garner a tough reputation early on in his “career” as a hood not to be trifled with. This reputation would serve him well as he rose up into the hierarchy of the Italian underworld until he became “capo” or the overall boss of the resident mafia Family governing all of New England.

The tiny state of Rhode Island, wedged between Connecticut and Massachusetts, is one of five such states that comprise what is recognized as the New England region. It is located in the extreme northeastern portion of the United States.

“La Pigna” or pignoli cone is a symbol of hospitality and welcome in Italian. It is the arch that all who visit Federal Hill first see when driving through Atwells Avenue.

Rhode Island has the distinction of being the smallest geographically-sized State in the Union. With only 1,060,000 residents, it is the seventh least populated state but uniquely is also the second most densely populated.

It is bordered by Connecticut to the West, Massachusetts to the North and East, and the Atlantic Ocean to the south via the Rhode Island Sound and Block Island Sound. It also shares a small maritime border with New York. Providence is the state capital and its most populous city.

Rhode Island in the US

Rhode Island comprises a total of approximately 1,214 square miles. It is 48 miles in length and 37 miles wide.

Although landlocked on three sides, it has nonetheless garnered the nickname “The Ocean State” because of the many bodies of water running through its geography. It is an important and vibrant little State, to both America’s history and economy nonetheless.

Rhode Island also has the honor of being, pound for pound, the most heavily populated state of residents claiming Italian ancestry.

Aerial view of Providence

Nearly one in five Rhode Islanders proudly trace their lineage back to either Italy or Sicily. That makes the Ocean State the most heavily concentrated Italian area in the entire country.

Because of the state’s strong Italian representation, by 1950 Italians were able to get a hometown boy named John Pastore elected as the first Italian-American ever selected to the United States Senate.

In fact today, the overall New England region’s populous of descendants of Italian immigrants are more than 10 percent of its total population, within every New England state except Vermont and Maine.

Every New Englander can recognize the voice of Don Orsillo, Joe Castiglione, or the Magliozzi brothers.

Tens of thousands attend the region’s 45 Italian “festas” annually from Our Lady of Assumption in Portland, Maine to Saint Bartholomew in the city of Providence itself.

Providence, Rhode Island

Italian-Americans have undeniably heavily influenced New England’s food history as well.

Boston’s North End brought us the Prince Spaghetti Company, Pastene brand tomato sauces, Dragone cheese, and the first Italian café, Cafe’ Vittoria, way back in 1929.

Not to be outdone, the Nutmeg State’s John Bello of New Britain, created SoBe brand beverages. Another Connecticut hometown boy named Frank Pepe, claims to have invented the popular “white clams apizza”, which he serves at his famed Frank Pepe Pizzeria in New Haven.

Even little ole’ Maine has its Italianate claim to fame. The popular Amato’s Italian delicatessen up in Portland claims to have originated the “true” first Italian sandwich.

In 1880, the first wave of 1,000 Italian immigrant families came to Boston. Others soon followed. They settled into the various Little Italy’s that sprang up.

In Connecticut, they had the Front Street section in Hartford, Central End in Bridgeport, and Wooster Square in New Haven.

Massachusetts had the famous North End of Boston, Shrewsbury Street in Worcester, and Springfield’s South End section. And of course, the City of Providence has its Federal Hill neighborhood.

The gateway arch over Atwells Avenue is a landmark. It is a pignoli cluster acting as a welcome to all who visit.

Although no longer in existence, at one time even out of the way cities like Burlington, Vermont, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and Portland, Maine, could claim their own Little Italy sections as well.

These statistics would also bode very well of course for its resident Cosa Nostra Family, who would draw its members and associates from this Italian populous.

The Raymond Patriarca Family of LCN would continue to replenish its ranks from the steady flow of young Italian hoodlums drawn to it though the decades.

Side Note: Few American cities ever had such a tightly knit Cosa Nostra structure as the mafia in New England. Both Providence and Boston were chock full of capable, and very willing Italian hoodlums.

This provided a rich underworld tapestry by which to design a small, but highly organized and tightly run borgata. One that Raymond Patriarca would rule over with an iron fist for over three decades.

THIS IS THEIR STORY!

The New England Family of (LCN) held sway over Rhode Island, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, and parts of eastern Connecticut (where they shared jurisdiction mainly with the Genovese Family, and to a lesser extent the Gambino and Colombo mobs).

Their longtime “Representante” Raymond Patriarca, ruled this fiefdom for decades from his vending machine headquarters at the Coin-O-Matic Distributors Co., 168 Atwells Avenue, in the largely Italian Federal Hill neighborhood-based in Providence, Rhode Island.

Coin-O-Matic Vending - Atwells Ave.

From this “Little Italy” section he ruled a 50-70 member Mafia Family that New England’s underworld quite simply referred to as “The Office”.

Boss Ray Patriarca ruled with an iron hand. He was assisted by a very capable, low-key underboss and close confidant named Henry (The Referee) Tameleo.

His Providence-based “cabinet” included several veteran Caporegima and soldiers like John (Candy) Candelmo, Ilario (Larry Baione) Zannino, Mickey (The Wiseguy) Rocco, and Louie (The Fox) Taglianetti to name but a few.

In their sister city of Boston, his underboss became Gennaro (Jerry) Anguilo. A millionaire many times over, Anguilo owned a palatial oceanfront compound up in the exclusive neighborhood of Nahant.

Underboss - Gennaro (Jerry) Anguilo

With his five brothers as his closest helpers and aides (all highly trusted soldiers by the way), Anguilo would run a tight ship up in Beantown for their borgata. Another of Anguilo’s closest aides was Peter Limone.

The Family had a large contingent of soldiers divided under several Capodecina up that way, and Jerry oversaw them all for Raymond.

He operated out of a headquarters located at 98 Prince Street in the North End Little Italy section. From this building, the Anguilo brothers ran a huge gambling and loanshark network for decades.

There were many other Boston hoods who congregated up in the heavily Italianate North End section. This Little Italy played host over the years to such well-known mafiosi as capos Ilario (Larry Baione) Zannino, Joseph (Joe Burns) Anselmo, Frank (The Spoon) Cucchiara, and Michael (Mickey the Wiseguy) Rocco.

The Anguilo brothers

A young Frank (The Spoon) Cucchiara

Ilario (Larry Baione) Zannino

They oversaw regime soldiers like Rudy Sciarra, Ralph (Ralphie Chong) Lamattina and his brother Joseph (Joe Black) Lammatina, John Cincotti, Anthony (Little Bozo) Cortese, Joseph (JR) Russo and his half-brother Robert (Bobby Russo) Carrozza, and Anthony (Maxie Baer) Cataldo, among many others.

In later years, Patriarca elevated a tough, volatile hood from Hartford, Connecticut named Billy (The Wild Man) Grasso, who oversaw the Nutmeg State for Patriarca. He also helped govern the cities of Providence and Boston from afar as well for awhile.

But there also always existed strong underworld competition for racket control and power from a large Irish gang that was initially under the leadership of an old-time Irish hood named Bernie Mc Laughlin. In years to come, the notorious James (Whitey) Bulger would also rise to power within the Irish section of South Boston.

Although a dangerous hoodlum who was well respected within Boston’s underworld, Bulger would also later be exposed as a decades-long top FBI informant. His rackets partner Steve (The Rifleman) Flemmi, and Steve’s brother Jimmy (The Bear) Flemmi, were later exposed as longtime FBI snitches as well.

<img src="https://thenewyorkmafia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Early-police-lineups-of-New-England‘s-Italian-hoodlums-and-mafiosi.-If-you-note-some-of-the-names-you-notice-many-top-future-mafiosi-among-them.-2.jpg" alt="Early police lineups of New England‘s Italian hoodlums and mafiosi. If you note some of the names, you notice many top future mafiosi among them" class="wp-image-28843" width="505" height="329"/> Early police lineups of New England‘s Italian hoodlums and mafiosi. If you note some of the names, you notice many top future mafiosi among them

Side Note: Way back in December of 1931, the top Irish gang boss in Boston was Frankie Wallace. He headed a volatile gang of Irish roughnecks in South Boston called the Gustin Gang.

A typical hardheaded Irishman, Wallace demanded an appointment with what he perceived to be a bunch of “Johnny come lately’s.” Small-time Italian “greaseballs” who were starting to operate heists, liquor bootlegging, smuggling, and other rackets in what he considered to be Irish territory.

He called for a meeting two days before Christmas with who he perceived to be the head “Spaghetti Snapper”, Giuseppe (Joe) Lombardi.

When Wallace and his two Irish toughs, Barney Walsh and Timmy Coffey showed up at Lombardi’s business, the C. & F. Fish Importing Co., inside the Testa Building in the North End to set these Dago’s straight once and for all about who the boss of the Boston area was, they were cut down in a hail of bullets by Lombardi’s soldiers who were hiding in a stairwell.

It is mafia legend that the notorious Frank Cucchiara and Salvatore Cangemi were two of those mafiosi hiding in that stairwell the day the Irish gangsters were slain.

Regardless, from that day forward, all of New England’s underworld realized that a new day had dawned. The dreaded Sicilian Mafia was now in town, and like it or not, all would capitulate to it...nobody would ever dare fuck with the Italians again!

New England had no shortage of hoodlums. There were also several Portuguese-based gangs vying for control of the area’s organized crime rackets too!

These “independent” gangs and hoodlums were often violently at odds with the Italian mob. And over the years many gangland murders would result from these conflicts.

Side Note: Although a small borgata, they were very active in most known rackets.

<img src="https://thenewyorkmafia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Early-police-lineups-of-New-England‘s-Italian-hoodlums-and-mafiosi.-If-you-note-some-of-the-names-you-notice-many-top-future-mafiosi-among-them.-4-1024x611.jpg" alt="Early police lineups of New England‘s Italian hoodlums and mafiosi. If you note some of the names, you notice many top future mafiosi among them." class="wp-image-28845" width="512" height="306"/> Early police lineups of New England‘s Italian hoodlums and mafiosi.

First starting with bootlegging back in the 1920s, they soon became a dominant force in New England’s varied gambling rackets, loansharking, extortion, truck hijacking, big-money burglaries, safe cracking, and armed heists, counterfeiting, stock thefts and fraudulent securities, as well as many other “blue-collar” street operations.

New England’s Italian mob were not a bunch of shrinking violets by any means. They were a volatile bunch of tough street hoods who more than held their own in territory disputes against all comers.

They had to be! Because Boston’s underworld, and that of its outer territories and other New England States, was filled with competition from a plethora of other gangsters, racketeers, and tough criminals of every size, stripe, and ethnicity.

Although the competition was dominated by the Irish mob in South Boston, other groups such as Portuguese, Germans, Jews, and even other Italian hoods who operated independently from the “Mafia” per se, were constantly knocking on its Cosa Nostra door in an attempt to encroach on its rackets and jurisdiction.

<img src="https://thenewyorkmafia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Early-police-lineups-of-New-England‘s-Italian-hoodlums-and-mafiosi.-If-you-note-some-of-the-names-you-notice-many-top-future-mafiosi-among-them.-5-753x1024.jpg" alt="Early police lineups of New England‘s Italian hoodlums and mafiosi. If you note some of the names, you notice many top future mafiosi among them." class="wp-image-28846" width="377" height="512"/> Early police lineups of New England‘s Italian hoodlums and mafiosi.

And although few would openly fuck with the Patriarca Family throughout the decades, these “other” gangs of hoodlums, best described as “flies constantly swarming around”, needed to be swatted and quashed now and again by Ray Patriarca and his loyal soldiers in order to keep the balance of power that the mafia had achieved in Boston and Providence.

Capo Raymond Patriarca was a very intolerant mafioso. And he was not one to be trifled with, especially when it came to his money, or proper mafia protocol. The boss ordered many a gangland murder in his day, and all of New England’s underworld knew better than to fuck with him...Well almost everybody!

Despite all the various crews and independent gangs active in New England through the years, none could match the Italians in cohesion, structural ability, brotherhood and solidarity...or their capability for organized murder.

With its Roman-legion-like design and hierarchical structure, the mafia in Providence, like that in virtually all the cities it operates in, dominated the city’s underworld.

And despite many of these devious, dishonorable “independents” also working hand in glove with the Irish-dominated Boston office of the FBI, to try and destroy the Italians up on Federal Hill, the Patriarca Family kept on chugging along like the “Little Mafia Engine” they were.

Ray Patriarca

Raymond L.S. Patriarca - aka “Raymond Loreto Salvatore Patriarca (TN) and “John D’Nubile” - was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, on March 17, 1908.

He would become notoriously known by R.I. State Police # 7150, FBI # 191775, and MA-State Police # 30408.

When he was almost four years old, his parents moved the family to nearby Providence in Rhode Island. This is where he and his brother Francis Joseph Patriarca would remain and operate from for the rest of their lives.

He resided at 18 Golini Drive in Johnstown, and later 165 Lancaster Street in North Providence.

Patriarca as a rising young hoodlum

As a young adult, he later married the former Helen Mandella, and in 1945 they would have one son they named as his namesake, Raymond Patriarca Jr.

Raymond Patriarca stood 5-feet 7-inches tall and was a slim 158 pounds. He had jet black-slicked back hair, dark wolf-like eyes, and an olive complexion.

The mafioso also always seemed to have a perpetual snarl or sneer whenever caught on camera. Many say it was indicative of his salty and curt demeanor.

The undisputed boss of New England!

He would garner a tough reputation early on in his “career” as a hood not to be trifled with. This reputation would serve him well as he rose up into the hierarchy of the Italian underworld, until he became “capo” or the overall boss of the resident mafia Family governing all of New England.

It was a position he’d hold for upwards of 30 years.

By the 1920s he was a rough street hoodlum who was active in armed robberies, safe cracking, liquor bootlegging, truck hijackings, and even prostitution, for which he had an arrest.

He police record started in 1926, and included such charges as violation of the Mann Act, white slavery, assault with a dangerous weapon, grand larceny, armed robbery, and conspiracy to commit murder.

Dating back to Prohibition, Boston’s Filippo (Phil Buccola) Bruccola was the original mafia boss of the area. Ray Patriarca served loyally under Bruccola for many years.

Boss - Filippo (Phil Buccola) Bruccola

By the early 1950s, law enforcement pressure would encourage Phil Bruccola to leave New England and the United States altogether and return to his native Sicily. It was at this point in time that Patriarca is thought to have been elevated to the boss position over the entire New England Family of Cosa Nostra.

Side Note: An early mafioso said to have been boss even before Bruccola was the Sicilian Gaspare Messina. Allied with Salvatore Maranzano, he was active during the Castellammarese War period.

Side Note: Helping Patriarca’s early rise to the top of the underworld food chain was his ability to “reach” area politicians. This was evidenced when he received a pardon from Massachusetts Governor Charles F. Hurley back in 1938.

Original boss Gaspare Messina

Sentenced to a 3-5 year prison term for his armed robbery conviction of a Brookline, Massachusetts jewelry store, the 30-year old Patriarca was pardoned within three months of being sent away.

It later led to a political scandal after it was exposed that Governor Hurley’s personal counsel Daniel Coakley, wrote repeated glowing letters to the parole board praising the young hoodlum’s character which later led to his release. Coakley was eventually impeached for his efforts on Patriarca’s behalf.

Nonetheless, this “connection” and ability to “reach” into high places served the mob boss well in later years. It is well documented that Patriarca used these various hooks to achieve his goals through his tenure.

It was documented by the FBI that Patriarca also enjoyed a close, personal relationship with New York boss Frank Costello that is also believed to have helped him rise to the top of the heap.

A roundup of Providence hoods. Rudy Sciarra on left. Louie Mannocchio second from the right

One of the first things that Patriarca did was to relocate the borgata’s headquarters and base of operations to the City of Providence.

He would base himself out of a nondescript little storefront along Atwells Avenue in the Little Italy section of Federal Hill.

Coin-O-Matic Vending Co. was a jukebox, cigarette, and pinball machine distributor that dominated the Rhode Island area. It also served as the headquarters for New England’s mafia.

“The Office”, as the New England mafia was referred to, would notoriously operate from this location for decades. All of New England’s hoodlums and racketeers, independent or otherwise, knew the dreaded Italian mob ruled from there. In time this address would gain a notorious reputation.

Side Note: It became so well known that by 1962 or so, the FBI installed several “bugs” within the back office at Coin-O-Matic Distributors. For the next several years federal authorities would listen in on Patriarca and the New England Mafia, getting more than an earful of helpful tidbits by which to further investigate the Italian underworld.

1938 - Patriarca under arrest

Among the more high profile mob notables who frequented Coin-O-Matic as daily visitors was Louis (Louie the Fox) Taglianetti, Enrico (Henry the Referee) Tameleo, John Candelmo, Frank (Butsey) Morelli, Anthony (Tony Canadian) Sandrelli, Rocco Palladino, veteran mafiosi Frank (The Spoon) Cucchiara and Joe Lombardi.

Side Note: While listening in on Ray Patriarca and his associates, the FBI discovered that the New England Family was represented before The Commission by New York’s Joseph Profaci Family.

This alliance forged an extremely close bond between the two borgatas, so much so that during the infamous Gallo-Profaci War of 1961-63, Patriarca send one of his key men, Nick Bianco, down to Brooklyn in order to try and bring peace between the warring factions. But it was not to be.

By the mid-1970s, Bianco relocated back up to Providence where he ended becoming one of their top bosses in future years.

A unique feature about this Family was that with the exception of the vending machine business, which was a semi-legit mob-dominated industry to begin with, during his long tenure as boss heavy infiltration into legitimate businesses and industry was never a major focus of Patriarca or his overall membership per se.

Circa 1980s - The New England Mob

Side Note: As stated above, many of his men weren’t business-oriented, but Patriarca himself did have numerous legitimate holdings. These included D. & H. Construction Co., Miehle Fabric Co., and Cadillac City (a Cadillac dealership), all of Providence.

They seemed to have prided themselves on staying within the confines of engaging in street operations such as gambling, shylocking, extortion, hijacking, and big-money heists and burglaries.

They also held sway over several labor unions such as the mob-dominated International Laborers & Hod Carriers Union - Local #271 of Providence. But overall, they didn’t have as heavy a focus on unions as some of their mafia contemporaries in other cities.

Side Note: In fact, during an intense early 1980s deep-cover FBI investigation into the Boston faction of the Patriarca Family, an FBI “bug” installed in the inner office of underboss Jerry Anguilo’s Prince Street headquarters picked up a conversation between Anguilo and his minions lamenting about the stability of their position and the good insulation he felt they had against any possible RICO conspiracy charges.

Capo - Ilario (Larry Baione) Zannino

The underboss praised his troops for keeping their activities confined to gambling, loansharking, extortion, hijacking, and other street rackets. He felt that they were not a “corrupt organization”, had not infiltrated or corrupted legitimate business enterprises, and therefore could not be charged under the newly enacted RICO law of 1970.

Of course, Jerry was wrong. But during its early implementation by prosecutors, the RICO statutes were indeed confusing. Anguilo and his entire regime were later indicted and convicted on RICO. Jerry received 45 years in prison. His brothers didn’t fare much better.

By the early 1960s, another primary racket was the counterfeiting, forgery, theft, and fencing of blue-chip stocks and securities. The New England Family under Patriarca’s watchful eye became notorious in this activity.

The one racket, albeit very lucrative, that New England’s mafiosi and associates generally shied away from was drugs. Narcotics was not a thing encouraged by the boss. In fact, at one point it was no-uncertain death for any mob soldier who violated this firm edict.

Rat - Joseph (The Animal) Barboza

In the early 1950s, a dim-witted Portuguese hood by the name of Joseph (The Animal) Barboza became an active street tough and some time enforcer for Boston’s mafia.

By 1967, he had also become a key informant against boss Raymond Patriarca, and several key members of his Family.

Also known as “Joe the Baron”, the hulking Barboza was a volatile, small-time enforcer best known for committing assaults, burglaries, robberies, shakedowns, and extortions of area businesses such as bars and clubs. He headed a small band of like-minded hoodlums.

Barboza was also willing to perform beatings and killings at the drop of a hat, or at the behest of mafiosi in the hopes of one day being accepted as a full-fledged mafia member (which of course was not a realistic option because of his Portuguese heritage).

It’s alleged that he performed upwards of 15 to 20 killings in his day. And although that number may be a bit of a stretch, Barboza unquestionably committed numerous violent acts on behalf of himself or his mafia benefactors.

After being jailed on multiple charges by late 1966, Barboza expected Patriarca and his mafia disciples to bail Barboza out of jail, and provide him with the best legal defense lawyers.

When that wasn’t immediately forthcoming, a disenchanted Barboza started making rumblings from behind bars that if the mafia knew what was best for them, they’d send Barboza’s family money, hire him a top lawyer, and start treating him with the respect he felt he deserved.

The result was predictable. Especially when dealing with the short-tempered, potentially vicious Patriarca, who was well known for immediate reprisals against all those who displeased or fell afoul of him.

Two of Barboza’s gang members arrested with him had been bailed out already. But Barboza himself was being held on a whopping $100,000 bail (a huge sum in 1966).

Ralph (Ralphie Chong) Lamattina

To help their fearless leader, The Animal’s associates Arthur (Tash) Bratsos and Tommy DePrisco were going around town shaking down area businesses; bars, nightclubs, restaurants, and other hoods, for bail money to get Barboza released from the lockup.

Within only a few weeks' time, they had aggressively raised $59,000 in cold cash thus far, and were pushing anybody and everybody to raise the rest.-One chilly November evening Bratsos and DePrisco decided to pay a heavy-handed visit to the Nite Lite Cafe, a notorious mafia hangout on Commercial Street in the North End.

It was managed and secretly owned by a mafia soldier named Ralph (Ralphie Chong) Lamattina, who served under capo Ilario Zannino.

Bratsos and DePrisco had tried to shake down the wrong place. Each was summarily shot dead. Bratsos shot twice in the back of his skull, DePrisco four times to the head and body.

Lamattina and company dumped the corpses in the back seat of Bratsos’ black Cadillac, then abandoned the car in the Irish town of South Boston.

Acting on a tip, within days homicide detectives descended on the Nite Lite Cafe searching for evidence. They discovered Lamattina in the bar. They also discovered that somebody had tried using a solvent to wash blood stains off the front sidewalk. Inside the cafe, they found bullet holes in the walls and a carpet still damp with blood.

A further combing of the premises unveiled a spent bullet and bullet casings. Which when later tested was determined to have been fired from the murder weapon.

Lamattina was hauled in for questioning, as were over thirty other top mafia members. They were grilled about the double murder, as well as the now missing $59,000 bag of cash.

The FBI immediately started working on the imprisoned Barboza psychologically in order to break down his morale and to convince him he was a dead duck if ever released back on the streets. They encouraged him to “flip” to the government, and testify against his former mafia associates.

Simultaneously while all this was happening, within three months of the murders another Barboza crew member was gunned down. This time it was Joe Amico who was tracked by mafia assassins and shot to death in Revere.

Barboza was eventually convicted on weapons possession charges and got 5 years in Walpole State Prison. Back to back with that, mafia soldier Ralph Lamattina pled out to being an accessory after the fact to the murders of Bratsos and DePrisco. He took it on the chin for the Family, receiving a 10 to 14-year sentence instead of ratting.

Underboss - Enrico (Henry) Tameleo

That was all well and good, but it didn’t matter anyhow. Because by mid-1967 Barboza was spilling his guts talking about mob murders.

Barboza was filling up FBI pads with tales about the slayings of burglar Teddy Deegan in 1965, boxer Rocco DiSeglio in 1966, and Providence bookmaker Willie Marfeo. And he was just getting started.

He soon began to name names and important names at that. Barboza pointed his finger directly at Family boss Raymond Patriarca and his top men.

In a series of unprecedented events, especially for the New England mob, in June of 1967 Patriarca, consigliere Henry Tameleo, and Louis Greco were indicted for the murder of Marfeo.

Two months later in August, Jerry Anguilo and three other mafiosi were nabbed for the DiSeglio killing.

And then in October that same year, Tameleo and soldiers Peter Limone, Ronald Cassesso, and Joseph Salvati, were among six mafiosi charged with killing Deegan.-Barboza’s revelations would turn the New England underworld on its head.

Framed by the FBI

At the subsequent murder trials that followed, Anguilo and company would be acquitted of the DiSeglio murder after the jury refused to believe Barboza’s testimony.

But the results in the next two trials for the murders of Marfeo and Deegan played out very differently.

Patriarca was incensed at his plight. He was angry that Barboza and his lawyer of record John Fitzgerald were playing footsie with the feds.

He was especially enraged that Fitzgerald had snubbed the mafia’s approach to him, and their offer of $25,000 to his client to renege on his accusations of murder against them. Fitzgerald also made the grave mistake of coaching and encouraging Barboza to help the FBI.

Just before the start of Patriarca’s murder trial, one afternoon as the attorney got into his automobile and stuck the key into the ignition, a dynamite bomb caused an explosion that torn the car apart, and hurled Fitzgerald from the wreckage tearing his right leg off in the process.

Mob rat Joseph (The Animal) Barboza being sworn in to testify on a bible so he can lie through his teeth!

After that, the FBI thought better of their protective custody of their star stool pigeon. They immediately moved Barboza under heavy guard to the Army Base at Fort Knox.

The rest is the stuff of mob legend. Barboza’s trumped-up testimony (all lies as it were), led to the false convictions of all the mafiosi. Patriarca received 5 years for conspiracy. The others received what amounted to life sentences for murder.

All served decades in prison. Several defendants died behind bars while serving their terms.

Joe Barboza’s testimony later encouraged others to come forward and make deals with the government as well.

Informer Vincent (Fat Vinny) Teresa

By the late 1970s, Boston mob songbird Vincent (Fat Vinny) Teresa, grandson of old-time mafioso Santino (Sandy) Teresa, turned informer and became a devastating witness against the underworld, the New England mob in particular.

He also testified against members of the Colombo and Genovese Families, and Meyer Lansky in Florida.

Teresa repeatedly gave open court testimony against many various mafiosi. He also testified before Congress in regard to mob infiltration into stock thefts, counterfeiting, and frauds in the securities industries.

Decades later, secret FBI documents released under the newly enacted Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), revealed that the Boston office of the FBI, and Special Agent Paul Rico, among other FBI agents, had unlawfully collaborated with Barboza to give false testimony against men the FBI knew were innocent. The feds justified it with the attitude of “who cares they’re just mafiosi and gangsters anyway.”

Brought before an even-handed federal judge, the wrongly convicted were immediately released from custody.

Barboza wrongly convicted (clockwise from top L) Louis Greco, Henry Tameleo, Joseph Salvati, Peter Limone

After a civil court case for wrongful imprisonment, Peter Limone and the other survivors of this FBI conspiracy were subsequently awarded a record-breaking, whopping $101,000,000 in damages and reparations.

Unfortunately, Tameleo and others had since died, so their families and estates were posthumously awarded many millions of dollars each.

The FBI was chastised by the judge for their unconscionable actions that rose to a level of gross illegality, and a wanton bias against Italians.

In the decades that followed, many additional undercover probes would expose the deep influence of the Mafia in New England.

The Anguilo brothers, Larry Zannino, Raymond Patriarca Jr., and a host of others would go down in a string of racketeering investigations that would help break the mob’s power and influence, not only in Providence and Boston but in many cities across the country.

MAFIA-STYLE PAYBACK!

Postscript

The Patriarca Family would finally catch up with Joseph (The Animal) Barboza in San Francisco, California, where he had been relocated by the U.S. Marshall’s Service and living anonymously under the WITSEC program (Witness Protection Program).

In 1976 after tracking his movements, Mafia assassins lay in wait for the stool pigeon. As Barboza left his apartment heading to his car, he was cut down by four shotgun blasts at close range...and that was that as they say in the business!

Decades later Boston capo Larry Zannino was caught on an FBI surveillance tape discussing the Barboza killing. He praised Family soldier Joseph (J.R.) Russo as the expert marksman who filled the contract...I’m sure JR more than earned his button on that one!

Until next time...The Other Guy!

The chart below shows the known and suspected membership for the 35-year span from the 1950 through 1985 era. Not all those named operated at the same time period. The New England Family’s estimated average was approximately 50-70 formal inducted members at their 1960 peak.

The Raymond Patriarca Family of New England

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The Raymond Patriarca Family of New England

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