Robert F. Carrozza

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Robert F. Carrozza aka “Bobby Russo”, is an Italian-American mobster from East Boston, Massachusetts who led a bloody internal rebellion against the leadership of the New England-based Patriarca crime family.

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[edit] Internal Conflict

Beginning in 1989 a violent internal conflict fractured the Patriarca family. A “renegade faction” led by Carrozza, his step-brother and family consiglieri Joseph Russo, and Vincent Ferrarra challenged boss Raymond Patriarca and Frank Salemme's leadership of the organization. By seizing family leadership, the renegades sought to control gambling and the extortion of bookmakers, drug dealers and restaurant owners in the Massachusetts area. This takeover attempt resulted in a gang war that lasted until 1994 and claimed over a dozen lives.

On June 16, 1989, underboss William P. Grasso was found dead along the banks of the Connecticut River with a bullet in his head. Five hours after Grasso’s body was found, Salemme was shot and seriously wounded in Saugus, Massachusetts. On June 27, 1989, informant and former Patriarca family member, Angelo Mercurio told Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent John Connolly that the Salemme shooting and the Grasso murder were planned and carried out by Russo, Ferrara and Carrozza.[1]

On March 26, 1990, Carrozza and twenty other family members were indicted on numerous racketeering, extortion, narcotics, illegal gambling, and murder charges. Much of the crime family’s legal troubles resulted from cooperation between Whitey Bulger, mob rival and leader of Boston’s Winter Hill Gang, and Agent Connolly, who let Bulger run his criminal operations with impunity in exchange for information. The Patriarca arrests were described as “the most sweeping attack ever launched on a single organized crime family.” One of the most damaging pieces of evidence was a tape recording of a Mafia induction ceremony, at which 13 Mafiosi were present. On January 6, 1992, Carrozza's attorney Henry D. Katz worked out a plea bargain in which the government promised not to prosecute Carrozza for his alleged involvement in the Grasso murder, an offense that could carry a sentence of life imprisonment, and the attempted murder of Salemme. Carrozza received a sentence of 19 years in prison.[2] In 1993, 26 others were indicted and convicted for running a bookmaking operation.

[edit] Carrozza’s Activities from Prison

In 1991, Salemme became boss of the Patriarca Family and the conflict escalated. Both factions wanted to collect the family’s extortion payments and control its other business. Anthony Ciampi, a key Carrozza faction member, owned a club on Bennington Street in East Boston, the site of gambling and illegal card games, that was frequented by Carrozza faction members.[3]

Following Carrozza’s sentencing in April 1992, it took nearly two years for the "renegade faction" to plan its revenge. Carrozza was visited several times by Ciampi and Michael P. Romano, Sr. while in prison in Pennsylvania. The FBI contends that the two men sought Carrozza’s permission to continue the war against Salemme. Assistant United States Attorney Jeffrey Auerhahn claimed, "Robert Carrozza supplied legitimacy. You can’t take on a mafia member unless you have one with you." Using Ciampi’s social club as the group’s headquarters, the "renegade faction" retaliated by killing several of Salemme’s supporters during 1994.

[edit] 1997 Federal Indictment

On April 8, 1997 federal authorities indicted 15 members of the "renegade faction" for three murders, seven murder attempts, and seven planned murders. Carrozza was named as the sole made man, or full member, of the Patriarca family of those indicted.

Sean Thomas Cote, the first of four indicted members to turn government witness, dominated the grand jury testimony that produced the indictments. Carrozza was accused with orchestrating the "renegade faction’s" activities from prison, largely through Ciampi and Michael Romano, Sr. At a hearing in July 1999, Carrozza announced he would represent himself at the new trial. Despite efforts by District Judge Nathaniel Gorton to dissuade him, Carrozza remained adamant. On November 1, 1999 Carrozza began his opening statement with, "I’m a little nervous." He then told the jury that he already confessed to being part of an "enterprise" during his 1992 trial and stated, "Unlike some witnesses in this case, I accept the fact that I’m guilty of crimes and accept punishment for them." He informed jurors that despite prison authorities monitoring his mail and phone calls since 1989, authorities lacked evidence of him conspiring with the indicted men.

One month into the trial, Carrozza's attorney constructed a plea bargain for his former client. In exchange for pleading guilty to a felony charge of gambling across state lines, Carrozza received two years on his current sentence and was exempted from testifying in any federal grand jury investigation of the Patriarca Family or cooperating with the government. As of October 2007, Carrozza is still serving his sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) - Medium Allenwood in White Deer, Pennsylvania. His scheduled release is now set for March 24, 2008.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ United States District Court, District of Massachusetts: United States v. Francis P. Salemme, et al. Cr. No. 94-10287-MLW
  2. ^ United States, Appellee, v. Robert F. Carrozza, Defendant, No. 92-1798, No. 92-1868, No. 92-2213; United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit 4 F.3d 70; 1993 U.S. App. LEXIS 23809 September 16, 1993
  3. ^ United States Court of Appeals For the First Circuit, Nos. 00-1739, 00-1813: United States, Appellee, v. Vincent Michael Marino and John J. Patti III, Defendants, Appellants. January 14, 2002

[edit] See also