Last Rites

by William J. Craig

  During the three-month trial, the government paraded almost 120 witnesses and over three hundred evidence exhibits before the jury. The jury deliberated for almost two weeks. On January 12, 1999, the jury returned with a verdict. The jury found Anthony Ciampi guilty of illegal gambling. Paul DeCologero and Christopher Puopolo were acquitted of all charges, and the remaining defendants were acquitted on some of the charges. The jurors were unable to reach a verdict on fifty-three of those charges, the most serious ones, such as racketeering and murder. It appeared that the defense strategy of attacking the credibility of the government’s five former mob witnesses, upon whom the prosecution relied heavily, had worked. Chief of the U.S. Attorney’s Criminal Division James B. Farmer stated, “It’s a case eminently worthy of retrial.” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Pearlstein said, “Fully expect to retry the charges on which the jury could not reach a verdict.” Anthony Diaz chose to plead out early to the murder of Paul Strazzulla. According to the plea agreement, Diaz had to serve fifteen years.

  Less than five months after the first trial, the government was already working on the preliminary hearings for the second trial. It was during one of these preliminary hearings that it was first brought to Judge Groton’s attention that the DEA may have implanted a tracking device in the buttocks of Vincent Marino, aka Gigi Portalla. Apparently, the DEA agent had asked Gigi to sign a release form allowing them to remove the device. The agent admitted in court that the remarks were made but that he was only “joking.” Attorney Sheketoff asked the court to order that the government come clean on the rumor of the tracking device. Later that day, U.S. attorney Donald Staern issued a statement saying, “We can confirm the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration did not implant a tracking device in defendant Vincent M. ‘Gigi Portalla’ Marino’s buttocks. We cannot speak, however, for any extraterrestrial beings. I hope this will finally put the matter behind us.” Gigi informed Judge Groton in a statement at his arraignment saying, “They put an illegal device in my body. They did it during my surgery. There are no civil rights anymore. There’s nothing left.” Gigi’s lawyer, Robert Sheketoff, addressed reporters later and stated, “The bottom line is if the government did this I’d be surprised if they admitted it. I’m not saying they did. The only way to really know is to open him up.” Gigi had an X-ray taken of his buttocks, but it didn’t show any device. Sheketoff asked the court to have an MRI done. It was denied on the grounds of cost and security. Gigi’s family offered to pay the cost of the procedure and the added security costs, but still the request was denied.

  Attorney Sheketoff informed the court that the only way to get to the bottom of this was to have Gigi undergo surgery. He went on to say that it was extremely unprofessional of the agent to make a comment like this, even if it was meant to be a joke, due to the fact that the technology is available for such a device. We may never know whether the device was implanted in him, since the courts refuse to allow surgery or an MRI.

  Just days before the second trial was about to get underway, three of the defendants changed their pleas. Anthony Ciampi admitted to several murder attempts and the murder of Richard Devlin. Eugene Rida pled out to conspiracy to commit murder. The government dropped six other charges that would have sent him to prison for life. Nazzarro “Ralph” Scarpa pled guilty to four attempted murders. Ciampi received eighteen years according to his deal, while Scarpa and Rida each received ten years. The government also agreed to the dismissal of certain other charges in exchange for the guilty pleas.

  An hour before opening statements were due to begin, Michael Romano Sr. entered into a plea agreement. According to the agreement, Romano pled guilty to conspiracy to commit murder in the aid of racketeering, interstate travel for unlawful activity and attempted assault. The murder charge was dismissed along with thirteen other counts. A twenty-one-year sentence was recommended for Romano. One month into the new trial, Robert “Bobby Russo” Carrozza took a plea agreement while he had already been in prison for almost ten years. The agreement only added two years to the sentence he was already serving. According to the agreement, he was exempt from testifying or cooperating with the government. He pled guilty to a felony charge of gambling across state lines.

  Mob associate Darin Bufalino pled guilty to robbery and gun charges. The plea agreement stems from a bank robbery he committed with Sean Cote. He went into the Boston Five Branch at Northgate Shopping Plaza, jumped over the counter, brandished a weapon and grabbed $3,000 in cash. In 1984, Bufalino was charged with killing reputed Revere drug dealer Vincent DeNino, whose bullet-riddled body was found in the trunk of a car.

  During the second trial, Gigi’s girlfriend and Corrine, his mother, attended, as well as John Patti’s wife. When the reporters asked them for a comment, Mrs. Portalla said, “He has a good heart. He loves God very much.” While Gigi was in jail and going through the endless court proceedings of the first trial, his brother Louie passed away from a drug overdose. It seemed that Mrs. Portalla couldn’t help but stand by her son, fearing that she might lose another son to a long prison sentence.

  In the closing arguments, the defense attempted once again to discredit the government witnesses. The main whipping boy was John “Smiley” Mele, a convicted drug dealer turned witness to save himself from a long prison term. They also attempted to discredit Jerry Matricia. A week later, the jury was done deliberating and returned guilty verdicts against both men. Gigi and Patti were both convicted on two RICO counts and conspiracy to murder in aid of racketeering. Gigi was sentenced to thirty-five years in prison on April 14, 2000.

  Enrico Ponzo is still at large and is being sought by the Boston FBI office. He was arrested in 1994 for possession with intent to distribute cocaine and conspiracy to violate the narcotics laws. He failed to appear in court, and an arrest warrant was issued. In December 1994, the United States District Court issued another warrant charging him with unlawful flight from prosecution. In 1996, he was charged with aggravated assault in Everett, Massachusetts. On April 4, 1997, a federal grand jury indicted him for conspiracy to commit murder, interference with commerce by threats or violence, violent crimes in aid of racketeering, RICO violations and firearms violations. It is believed that he may be in Florida or Italy under an assumed name. The FBI is currently offering a $15,000 reward for his capture.

  As a side note, before Rico Ponzo fled the coming indictments, he called Gigi’s brother Eddie for a ride one night. Eddie picked him up, and while en route to their destination, a Saugus Police officer pulled them over. While the officer was checking Eddie’s license and registration, Rico turned to Eddie and told him that if the cop wanted to arrest him, he was going to kill the cop. Eddie, reassuring Rico that murder wouldn’t be necessary, was able to stay collected during this harrowing experience. The officer returned, proceeded to give Eddie a warning and allowed him and his passenger to go on their way. Eddie dropped Rico off and never saw him again. A few days later, some FBI agents stopped by to see Eddie. They asked if he had seen Rico or at least knew where he might be. Eddie denied all knowledge of Rico’s whereabouts. The agents proceeded to tell him that had the officer who stopped them the other night attempted to take Rico into custody, Rico would have killed the cop and Eddie as well. Eddie quickly realized just how close he had come to being killed. This is just how uncertain life in the mob can be—one day you’re friends with somebody and the next day he’s your possible executioner.

  CHAPTER 8

  WHAT’S LEFT

  In the decade that has followed since the mob war and the subsequent trials and convictions, much has changed in the New England mafia. No longer do you have the old-time street wise guys; today, they have a more corporate look about them. They still loan shark and run illegal bookmaking operations, but now it’s on a much smaller scale. At the height of the mafia’s power in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s, there were approximately five thousand members. Today, that number is much lower. However, the real strength of the mob was never in the numbe
r of made guys there were. The real strength was in the number of connected guys who take orders from the made guys. These guys number in the tens of thousands. There are always young Turks willing to do low-level crimes and work their way up the ladder to make a name for themselves. This new breed of wise guy is neither as smart nor as forward thinking as his predecessors. The old-time gangster grew up in a particular culture under specific economic conditions with limited educational and employment opportunities. The old-timers didn’t come to this country with the intention of taking over the criminal world. They came here to work and build a better life, and circumstances altered the course for a few of them.

  Today, the replacements choose to be wise guys. The traditional mob structure is crumbling. It can be compared to the end of the Roman Empire. The wolf is at the door, so to speak, and it’s not the federal government. Instead, it’s the Russians, Albanians, Chinese and other ethnic groups taking over. They are also much more brutal and fearless of the authorities and the consequences of their crimes; they view our worst prison as the Four Seasons when compared to the prisons in their homeland. In Providence, the Latin Kings and Asian gangs have become fully entrenched in the metropolitan area over the last fifteen years. They are newcomers and don’t have the same national or international reach as the mob, but they are relentless in their pursuit to gain power and recognition. Patriarca member Guglielmeti was caught on a wiretap grumbling about the mob of today. He said, “So, now I mean it’s like, ah, a whore in the neighborhood—you know, you stand here long enough, we’ll use her.”

  Roughly during the same time that the Italian mob was at war with itself, a new and more violent Irish mob was on the rise in Charlestown. In 1992, George Sargent was brutally gunned down on a summer night outside a pizza parlor in Charlestown. He had provided information to police concerning criminal dealings in his neighborhood. The community left him lying in the street in a pool of his own blood and refused to cooperate with the police when questioned. In fact, no one even called the police. This was the code of silence that existed in Charlestown that had prevailed for decades. Between 1975 and 1992, the neighborhood had experienced forty-nine murders, thirty-three of which were never solved. The Irish mob was overrunning the small, heavily Irish community. These violent career criminals were preying on their own people. They had established a major PCP and cocaine distribution center. Because of the fierce ethnic tribalism that existed in this community, these criminals were able to operate with virtual impunity. When it became clear that Charlestown had a major drug problem, the DEA became involved. It joined forces with the Massachusetts State Police, the Boston Housing Police, the FBI, ATF and the U.S. Marshals.

  After three long years of extensive investigations, they finally achieved tangible results. In order to find informants to help solve both the drug and murder cases, they arranged to protect witnesses who agreed to testify. The DEA even set up a hotline that allowed informants to stay completely anonymous. This went even further toward ending the tyranny that had held the residents hostage for so many years. In July 1994, forty defendants were indicted on charges including racketeering, murder, conspiracy, drug trafficking and armed robbery. One indictment charged that two of the defendants paid hired killers $5,000 to murder anyone who tried to encroach on their territory.

  Today, the Irish mob has been replaced in Charlestown with yuppies and white-collar professionals looking to raise their families in historic quaint three-deckers with backyards the size of postage stamps. The DEA was effective in shutting down the Irish mob for good in Charlestown. It hasn’t been that effective with the Italian mob. Angiulo said it best: “Crime doesn’t pay unless it’s organized.”

  The other attack that the mafia has had to deal with is the affliction of drugs. Cocaine and heroin have made the mob a ton of money; however, they have hurt more than they have helped. Drug trafficking has spread chaos among the mob hierarchy and forced the mafia into Chapter Eleven. The old-timers never touched drugs; they didn’t deal them and they especially didn’t use them or tolerate anyone who did. From 1989 to 1995, the last mob war was riddled with heavy drug use by several of its members. Had these men not been involved with narcotics during this time frame, the rogue faction may have been more successful, the death toll may have been much lower and the end result would have been drastically different.

  The other mitigating factors that have added to the mob’s demise can be contributed to the neighborhoods that were once considered mob strongholds. Neighborhoods that were once unique for ethnic tribalism, fierce parochialism and partisan politics have changed.

  When Jerry Angiulo was sentenced in 1986, the North End of Boston was almost 100 percent Italian-American; today, it is less than 40 percent. This exodus of people in the old neighborhoods left a vacuum that was filled by immigrants of other nationalities. Another factor is that the Generation X gangsters don’t adhere to the old rules. They scoff at the old rules, shoot at their elders and grab the drug money as quick as it comes in. Years ago, these guys kept their mouths shut and served their time without complaint. Today, it doesn’t matter whether a guy is facing one month or one thousand years; the first thought is, can I give up some information to save myself ?

  The original infrastructure of the American mafia that was established by Lucky Luciano was set up to insulate the bosses. The rules were made to establish order. Today, there is anarchy. The new generation has taken traditional mob values like loyalty, honor and family and bastardized them to their criminal ends. Loyalty has turned into betrayal. The FBI has been singing the death song of the American mob for quite some time, but it hasn’t yet been able to kill it. The mob’s ability to survive stems from its ability to reinvent itself. The average gangster is lost in a complex world of moral relativism, and like his postmodern contemporaries, he is overwhelmed and confused. Day after day, lines are blurring into one another. Roles are shifting, things are changing. Even in the mob, nobody knows what’s what. The reality is that chaos reigns when rules should bring order. This brings to light the foolishness of a life in organized crime without the organization. This is the end result when you break the vows of the criminal covenant. Loyalty to an organization and its boss is what makes organized crime work. However, a loyalty rooted in fear will eventually collapse.

  What the FBI and the government don’t seem to understand is that there will always be someone to fill the place of the mobsters who are sent to prison. For some people, the routine of a normal life—that is, work, paying bills and living an honest life—is seen as the curse of the stupid and weak. These men are under the belief that money and pleasure bring happiness and contentment. They ignore the extreme guilt, paranoia and greed that gradually rip their lives apart.

  On a cold January morning in 2005, David Achille, son of a capo in the Patriarca family, headed to a construction site in India Point Park, Providence, to settle a dispute over union job assignments. The Rhode Island State Police allege that David’s father, Joseph Achille, received the order from top-level mobsters to shoot two laborers in the kneecaps. While the mob was getting ready to flex its muscle on the waterfront, state police were monitoring telephone calls. They were tipped off to a potential confrontation. They moved in and arrested David Achille and a union laborer. In Achille’s car was a loaded handgun. Rhode Island State Police detectives say that they thwarted a potentially bloody confrontation at the job site. The father-and-son duo ended up pleading guilty to a variety of felony charges stemming from the aborted shooting; they are each currently serving a one-year sentence.

  In 2008, federal prosecutors brought to light a remade New England mob, headed by Arthur Gianelli, a bookmaker, loan shark and money launderer who looks more like Gordon Gekko in Wall Street. The FBI refers to the Gianelli crew or gang as the Gianelli Group. Gianelli is the brother-in-law of ex–federal agent John Connolly. It appears that Gianelli’s men opted for betting slips rather than computers. They control illegal gaming machines, football cards, offshore bet
ting in Costa Rica and other racketeering enterprises. During his trial, it came out that Boston Bruin Hall of Famer Gerry Cheevers took a loan from Gianelli that was brokered through Phil Castinetti, who is from Revere and owns Sportsworld, the largest sports memorabilia store in New England. The interest rate on Cheevers’s loan was 150 percent. It seems that Cheevers defaulted on the loan and Gianelli dispatched mob enforcer Phil Puopolo to Castinetti to ensure that Cheevers paid. According to the prosecution, Gianelli committed hundreds of crimes that netted him millions of dollars. This made it harder for him to launder.

  All loan sharking took place with the blessing of New England underboss Carmen “Cheeseman” DiNunzio, who lives in East Boston and spends his days working in the North End at his cheese shop, Fresh Cheese. There, he meets with people, and on occasion he also meets with Manocchio at a restaurant in the suburbs. In 1992, he and his brother Anthony, along with nine other men, were indicted for racketeering and extortion. They attempted to take over an Indian gaming hall. A year later, he pled guilty to the extortion count, which included shaking down a Las Vegas gambler for $27,000. He was sentenced to four years in prison.