Jump to content

Frank Salemme

Edit links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Mako001 (talk | contribs) at 11:49, 19 February 2022 (→Early years: this has to go. It is totally unsourced.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Frank Salemme
FBI mugshot of Frank Salemme
Born
Francis Patrick Salemme

(1933-08-18) August 18, 1933 (age 91)
Weymouth, Massachusetts, U.S.
Other namesCadillac Frank
Julian Daniel Selig
OccupationCrime boss
Criminal statusIncarcerated at USP Hazelton
AllegiancePatriarca crime family
Conviction(s)Racketeering (1995)
Murder (2018)
Criminal penalty11 years' imprisonment (1995)
Life imprisonment (2018)

Francis Patrick Salemme (born August 18, 1933), sometimes spelled Salemmi, also known as "Cadillac Frank" and "Julian Daniel Selig", is an American mobster from Boston, Massachusetts who became a hitman and eventually the boss of the Patriarca crime family of New England before turning government witness.

Mob rivalry

In 1986, family boss Jerry Angiulo had been sent to prison on racketeering charges, leaving a power vacuum in the Patriarca family. In previous years, Salemme had forged strong ties to Whitey Bulger and the mostly Irish Winter Hill Gang. Salemme was especially close to Bulger's lieutenant Steve Flemmi (who by this time had been a federal informant for ten years). In early 1989, soon after his release from prison, Salemme attempted to gain control of the Patriarca family. Patriarca caporegime Joseph Russo opposed Salemme's move, fearing the loss of his lucrative rackets. In June 1989, Angelo "Sonny" Mercurio, a Russo loyalist, lured Salemme to a meeting outside a Saugus, Massachusetts IHOP. Gunmen then ambushed Salemme, wounding him in the chest and leg. The feud between Salemme and Russo continued until John Gotti, the boss of the New York Gambino crime family, brokered a peace agreement. Under the agreement, Salemme loyalist Nicholas Bianco became boss and Russo became consigliere. By 1991 Salemme, with the support of Bulger and Flemmi, had become the de facto boss of the Patriarca family.

Sting operation

During the 1990s, at the urging of Frank Salemme, Jr., Frank, Sr. started extorting money from a film crew that wanted to avoid paying high salaries to union workers while filming in Boston and Providence, Rhode Island. As it turned out, the film crew was actually a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) front. These events were highly fictionalized in the 2004 film The Last Shot. At the end of the operation, Frank, Sr. was arrested in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and charged with racketeering, crossing state lines for criminal activity, extortion, conspiracy, and loansharking.

Government informant

In January 1995, Salemme was indicted on racketeering charges along with Bulger and Flemmi. Salemme was convicted and sentenced to 11 years' imprisonment. In 1999, while serving his racketeering sentence, Salemme learned that both Bulger and Flemmi had been FBI informants for many years, and that both men had provided information on Salemme to their FBI handlers. Salemme now agreed to provide the government with information on the FBI handling of Bulger and Flemmi. Salemme's testimony would help convict Connolly, the same man who had arrested him 20 years earlier in New York, on racketeering charges.

In 2003, in return for assisting the government, Salemme was released early from prison and brought into the federal witness protection program. Shortly after his release, Salemme appeared before a Congressional committee to testify on the Connolly case.

2018 murder conviction

On June 22, 2018, Salemme was convicted of the murder of 43-year-old Steven A. DiSarro, who disappeared in May 1993. DiSarro's remains were unearthed from behind a mill-turned-apartments in Wanskuck, Providence, Rhode Island on March 31, 2016.[1] Patriarca mob associate William Ricci, who owned the apartment complex, faced gun and drug charges after authorities found over 1,400 marijuana plants and a stolen handgun at the property around August 2015; three weeks after a plea deal was worked out, the remains were recovered at the property.[2][3] Judge Allison Burroughs sentenced Salemme and former Patriarca crime family associate and accomplice, Paul Weadick, to life in prison on September 13, 2018.[4] According to former Winter Hill Gang member and Whitey Bulger associate, Stephen Flemmi, Salemme stood by and watched as his son strangled DiSarro while Weadick held his legs.[5] According to authorities, Salemme believed DiSarro was informing on him after he was contacted by authorities in the investigation of Salemme's illegal activity within The Channel nightclub. Assistant U.S. Attorney Fred Wyshak said that Salemme admitted to murdering eight people during the 1960s, and was suspected of involvement in six additional murders in the early 1990s.[6]

Salemme is held at the United States Penitentiary, Hazelton.[7]

Family

Salemme's namesake son, Francis "Frankie Boy" Salemme Jr, died of AIDS-related cancer/leukemia in 1995.[8][9]

References

  1. ^ "Providence remains solve 23-year-old mystery". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 29 September 2018.
  2. ^ Tom Mooney. "Owner of mill where mob-linked body was buried gets probation on pot, gun charges". The Providence Journal. Retrieved 29 September 2018.
  3. ^ "The Latest: Prosecutor: Trial ends 'long and dark chapter'". Fox News. 22 June 2018. Retrieved 23 June 2018.
  4. ^ "Former Mafia boss 'Cadillac Frank' sentenced to life in prison". New York Post. 14 September 2018. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
  5. ^ "Ex-Mafia boss 'Cadillac Frank' sentenced to life in prison". The Washington Post. Alanna Durkin Richer. Archived from the original on 13 September 2018. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
  6. ^ "Former Mafia don Frank Salemme sentenced to life in prison for 1993 slaying". The Boston Globe. Shelley Murphy. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
  7. ^ Lia Eustachewich (2018-11-01). "This man may have waited 38 years for his revenge on Whitey Bulger". New York Post. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
  8. ^ "Boston Mafia Beef with Frankie Boy Salemme, Jr. Led to 1985 Jimmy Limoli Murder". 18 October 2020.
  9. ^ https://www.upi.com/Archives/1994/08/18/Report-NE-mob-chiefs-son-has-cancer/6880777182400/
American Mafia
Preceded by Patriarca crime family Boss
1991–1996 		Succeeded by
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Frank_Salemme&oldid=1072774567"