Veteran Boston Globe mob reporter Shelley Murphy has a great piece in today's edition on the sad state of the New England Crime family.
Several Ocean State investigators (Providence FBI Organized Crime head Jeff Sallet and State Police Major Steven O'Donnell) are quoted in the piece.
This paragraph sums up their take on the mob nicely:
The local Mafia, which traditionally denounced drugs, now tolerates addicts in its ranks. And some members of the old guard have turned down promotions or become inactive because they fear going back to prison or have lost faith after seeing Mafiosi around the country break omerta, the code of silence, and turn informant or government witness, police said. (Boston Globe)
It's not pretty out there...
But on the other end, the boss, Luigi "Baby Shacks" Manocchio of Federal Hill has kept himself insulated from the law. Aside from a 1999 bust where he admitted giving his elderly mother some hot appliances.
Mob-watchers say the crime family, under his leadership, have gone back to the bread and butter of wiseguy life: illegal sports gambling, loan sharking and extortion.
Illegal activity, of course, but crimes that don't draw the heat of the feds and police like other infractions.
-Tim White
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Target 12 investigative reporter Tim White joined the Eyewitness News team in September of 2006. Prior to Eyewitness News, Tim worked in the Boston television market. Most recently, he was Managing Editor at WBZ-TV, the CBS affiliate in Boston. Tim has received two Associated Press Awards for Breaking News, and he was also part of the team that was honored with the Edward R. Murrow Award for newscasts on the 2006 New Hampshire floods. No stranger to the field of journalism, Tim is the son of the late Pulitzer Prize winning reporter, Jack White. Born in Newport, RI, Tim graduated from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst with a degree in Communications. He and his wife, Melissa live in Rhode Island with their daughter Eliza and son Dylan.
Member Since: 5/16/2007
