Former New England mob boss Francis “Cadillac Frank” Salemme died Tuesday at the age of 89, according to the Bureau of Prisons.
Salemme, who was serving a life sentence for the 1993 murder of a Boston nightclub owner, ran the Patriarca crime family in Boston in the early 1990s.
Salemme was living in Atlanta under the name Richard Parker when the remains of nightclub owner Steven DiSarro were unearthed in 2016.
FILE: This 1995 file photo taken in West Palm Beach, Florida, and released by the FBI, shows Francis P. “Cadillac Frank” Salemme.
(Federal Bureau of Investigation via AP, File)
Salemme maintained that he had nothing to do with DiSarro’s death, but was convicted after his former best friend testified against him.
Salemme’s reign as mob boss ended when he, notorious Boston gangster James “Whitey” Bulger and others were indicted in a sweeping racketeering case in 1995. Salemme and Bulger went on the run after the FBI handler of Bulger, John Connolly Jr., will brief you on the impending indictment. .
Salemme was arrested in Florida several months later, while Bulger spent 16 years on the run before being captured at the age of 81 in Santa Monica, California. Bulger was murdered by fellow prison inmates in 2018 at the age of 89.
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The extortion case revealed that Bulger and Salemme’s best friend, Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi, had secretly worked as informants for the FBI. Upset that his fellow mobsters had turned on him, Salemme agreed to plead guilty and cooperate with authorities.
Salemme testified in 2002 against Connolly, who was convicted of helping Bulger avoid prosecution. In exchange, Salemme was released early from prison and entered the witness protection program.
DiSarro’s nightclub, The Channel, was under scrutiny at the time for the Salemmes’ involvement in the business. Just before DiSarro’s death, the FBI told him that he was about to be charged and that he should cooperate with the government against the Salemms.
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Salemme’s death was first reported Sunday by WPRI-TV.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
