He would find out later that two of his gang members, Whitey Bulger and Stephen Flemmi had been informing on him. McLean teamed up with Barboza in 1964 for a double murder of McLaughlin associates Harold Hannon and Willie Delaney. A month after her father disappeared, police found his car, empty. Howie Winter - informant. Sweet was an associate of Walter Bennetts and a frequent visitor of Walters Lounge on Dudley St. near Uphams Corner in Dorchester. Decades back former SA and convicted felon John Connolly tried to convince one of the Bennett descendants that the Angiulos had killed the three brothers. I cant see him, said Flemmi, the first witness expected to testify that he was there when nightclub owner Steven DiSarro, originally from Providence, was strangled to death. He was at one time a heated rival of Whitey Bulger but eventually joined forces with him after Whitey took over the gang. He cut a hole in the roof and off he went. He had ripped off some old partners and had many people looking for him. Before the end of his time in the service, Wimpy was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. McLean initially tried to peacefully resolve the issue until he found that the McLaughlins put a bomb under his family car. Kelley is still on death row. It was a horrific murder scene. Forced to take the stand in front of the Massachusetts Crime Commission, Walter refused to state his present occupation but admitted that hed been running what he called a little dice game in Attleboro in 1949. 4.5. Oh remember at Raymond Patriarcas trial in 1970 when Jack Kelley was testifying against Raymond. A podcast about organized crime in Boston & New England. Robert was given a Confidential Informant number and made a Top Echelon informant in August. The brothers owned several businesses in Dorchester. of Mattapan had been found shot and beaten to death in the trunk of his car in Medford on February 1, 1967. Stevie Flemmi and Frankie were in a second car in order to retrieve Billys dead body, but the passing cabbie put an end to that plan. Rico had reason to be concerned about embarrassment to the FBI. In October of 2001 former FBI SA Dennis Condon testified: Its also my understanding that Daddeico positively refused to testify against Flemmi, supposedly because he had a dislike for Salemme that he did not have for Flemmi, and refused to testify.. Freshman Ryan Dunn played early, primarily for defense . There also exists a pre-conceived notion that oral history is less reliable than written records. Hannon was the most feared shooter on the McLaughlin side early on. The Brinks heist would continue to haunt Wimpy Bennett for years. The prosecutor asked Flemmi to point out Salemme in the courtroom. The force of impact caused the car door to open, and Billys dead body fell out of the car and into the middle of the street in Dorchester. William Bennetts family would later sue the Feds alleging that Rico assisted and participated in the death of William Bennett in order to strengthen Flemmi's position in his criminal operations, thus assuring the continuing flow of information regarding the LCN to the FBI, by way of Flemmi's underworld connections.. The cops found Dickies corpse face up in the trunk after theyd towed it to the police garage. Forced to take the stand in front of the Massachusetts Crime Commission, Walter refused to state his present occupation. When Joe Barboza testified against the mob, he refused to provide evidence against the Flemmis even though he could connect them to murders. But he stated that he had never revealed his sources even to his bosses. He was an FBI informant for decades and received special treatment from them. One of the charges against Billy Stuart was that hed participated in moving the car that had Dickie Grassos body in it from Dorchester to Brookline. Bennett will finish his book tour in Boston this weekend and head to New York City on Monday. BOSTON, Massachusetts (The Boston Herald) -- Any illusions Bill Bennett Jr. had about life being fair evaporated in 1967. They also lived in fear. Next Walter disappeared from his home in April never to return, and then William was found shot to death in December. Why would you shoot one of your criminal colleagues? veteran mob prosecutor Fred Wyshak asked on direct examination. By now, most of the main early targets of the war were dead or in jail. There was little time to celebrate the killing of Punchy because 11 days later Buddy McLean was gunned down by the ambitious Stevie Hughes. The Flemmi brothers Stephen and Jimmy the Bear were in a precarious spot, being Bennett disciples but also ties with Barboza and Winter Hill. the Boston Globe ran an article about Wimpys disappearance. Sweet's first trial ended in a hung jury. Bulger would soon take over the gang. Its believed that the woman who George McLaughlin was Alexs girlfriend and that he helped administer the beating. Its worth noting again that the Bennetts were paying off at least one cop, but likely more. McLean would catch up to Bernie McLaughlin on October 31, 1961 and shoot him dead right outside of the Morning Glory Cafe in Charlestown, one of his favorite hangouts. He was convicted of involvement in 11 murders and sent to prison. His crumpled body was found in a snowbank on Harvard St. near Blue Hill Ave. with a bullet through his brain. Was she being followed? Shields was sent back to Walpole on a parole violation charge. Bullets over Beantown: Who killed the Bennett Brothers? For example, the Chico Amico, Tashi Bratsos and Tommy DePrisco murders where Patriarca decided to put an end to Barbozas crew once and for all. Sifting the truth from the lies. Instead of focusing on the guys who beat up George, the brothers now put the blame on Buddy McLean. Annesburg Three Brothers Gold While hunting near Cotorra Springs in the north I ran into a stranger who asked me to rest by his fire. Was Steve supposed to be Stevie Flemmi? Jun 2016 - Present6 years 9 months. All of the usual suspects were/are linked to their murders. For Billy Bennett's son - it's about the government of the United States trying to save what little face it has left in its shameful alliance with the Boston underworld. Killeens main rivals were a group known as the Mullen Gang. The only reason the McLaughlins got wiped out was because they wouldnt cooperate, they werent informants or collaborators and that was their undoing. Harold Hannon (1937-1964) Harold Hannon was an enforcer for the McLaughlin brothers in Charlestown during the 1950s and early 1960s. Guess what? In 1953 he escaped with two other boys from Shirley. What is clear is that Rocco aka Bobo Petricone was arrested with Buddy McLean the night Bernie McLaughlin was killed. We felt he wouldnt be able to stand up.. There was, for example, the Bennett brothers. Murder indictments against Whitey Bulger underworld associate Stephen The Rifleman Flemmi claimed he killed the brothers in turf battle. August 3, 2016, 8:30 AM. Salemme claimed that William Bennett was looking for revenge for his brothers. An intruder threw a sheet over his head, stabbed him four times, shot him once in the head and then fled from the 324-acre estate. I mean its only 190 miles long! The Irish King Of Winter Hill is available on Amazon. Were the Feds involved in the disposal of their bodies? Bill Bennett Jr. has never harbored any illusions about what his family was . Cornelius Connie Hughes (died 1966) Connie and his brother Stevie Hughes were by far the most feared members of the McLaughlin crew. He then mentions he heard of another feud in Annesburg where a brother stole all the gold and hid it before he was killed by the brothers. The criminals werent the only ones in trouble. Wimpy enlisted in the Army on December 17, 1941 and served as a private in the Air Corps as did Walter. William kept a lower profile. Stevie and Frankie are sitting in prison, and either cant remember or dont know the answer. I swear telling people that these guys were all cut from the same cloth is like telling a kid that Santa Claus isnt real. The war continued to rage after his death. The Hughes brothers were responsible for the majority of the killings coming from the McLaughlin side of the war. He decided to team with up and coming Southie gangster Whitey Bulger. After losses at Boston College and North Carolina, Virginia coach Tony Bennett played different combinations in stretches, and the changes paid off. In 2018, he was beaten to death by another prisoner in West Virginia, the very same day that he was put into general population. Judy Bennett Ewell, then in her 20s, remembers terror. She had last seen him at 10:30pm the previous Tuesday. Earl Smith, who was neither Irish nor Italian, but a Russian Jew! Stevie Hughes (died 1966) Stevie Hughes was the man who killed Buddy McLean in 1965, among many others. Everyone - ABC News. The Brinks heist would continue to haunt Wimpy Bennett for years. Frankie would later blame Stevies becoming an informant on his relationship with Wimpy. "I know Martellus Bennett was. A man named William Kelley did not come into the picture until 1984, when Sweet made a plea-bargain deal to testify against Kelley for being one of his hit men. I bet most of our listeners dont know where the story that Frankie Salemme murdered Walter Bennett came from. On the lam some time later, Flemmi was driving across the country with one of the men who helped orchestrate the car bombing. But he stated that he had never revealed his sources even to his bosses. Dermody was affiliated with the McLaughlin brothers and looking to gain traction. Then theres the story that Wimpy was skimming from Stevie and that Peter Poulos told Stevie about it after Stevie accused Peter of skimming. They tried to hide in a basement of a local house, but were cornered and sent back to Shirley. Related Story: Irish Mob vs. Italian Mafia. Buddy McLean represented the Winter Hill Gang in Somerville and the McLaughlins were the top gangsters from Charlestown. They stole a car and made their way to Albany, NY where they led the State Police in a high speed chase. He told the agents that until Punchy was murdered he had been shaking down Sonny regularly not that he had something on him, but just putting fear into Sonny that something would happen to him., Walter continued on that Sonny was getting a lot of people in the middle with his stories of where his wealth came from such as gambling and borrowing from shylocks, and admitted to lending Sonny a couple of thousand dollars himself. They turned on each other and fell apart. What he will forever carry with him is the memory of eavesdropping on a pair of FBI agents who paid his doomed father a chilling visit shortly before his death. He decided to go on the lam, and while in hiding committed a murder for Bulger in Oklahoma. The inspiration for this podcast was Lara's late father and his stories. , Larry Baione claimed that Walter Bennett had hired Frankie to take out Larry. The Italian mafia inserted themselves into the war on a few occasions over the years. Their violent death. I know, you just found it. They also lived in fear thinking something awful would happen to them, too. Others heard him say, Hes soft, and that Flemmi had had a stroke, gesturing at the side of his mouth. That investigation would last for half a decade and spawn many other investigations including one into. It all came crashing down for OSullivan on March 28, 1971. along with three other local guys, found himself in a jail in Maine after fleeing from the scene of a robbery they committed at Steubens Restaurant in Boston. The war had started when a drunken George McLaughlin had groped a girlfriend of one of Buddys friends. Dickie Grasso and the five men who had been indicted back in September 1969. Dermody then got scared and called Boston FBI agent H. Paul Rico looking for help. A huge crowd witnessed the murder but no one cooperated. Is that the cardboard box in the back of the beachwagon story? He would soon kill the Killeen brothers to take over Southie. One of the boys said his boss named Steve gave him permission to use the car. Related Story: The McLean vs. McLaughlin Boston Irish Gang War. You know Dickie wasnt packing a full deck. And lets not forget that Larry Baione and Phil Waggenheim supposedly also beat up Stevie! Type of material Trade catalogs Trade literature Date 1900s Variant company name Chicago, IL Company Name Bennett Brothers Inc. Place New York, New York, United States Notes content Bennett Blue Books: 1939, 1941, 1950, 1951, 1955, 1960, 1968, 1972, 1974. . OToole was actually murdered by his own men. Somehow, Doe was able to survive all the attacks and eventually things died down as the gangster culture in Boston died out. But then the police arrived on the scene and the four men were forced to surrender at gunpoint. He drove them back to the murder scene and helped them move the car to Brookline with Grassos body in it. Faith in them? He told them to get out of town and they obeyed. Stevie Flemmi allegedly told Rico about his involvement in Wimpys murder. in the 1955 Deer Island prison riot and sentenced to two years in East Cambridge jail. His killer was Johnny Martorano. Just like in the other trials of the 1950s and 1960s in Boston, the Feds relied on a single witness to make their case for them. Americas Most Wanted Gangster & the Manhunt That Brought Him to Justice, The McLean vs. McLaughlin Boston Irish Gang War. Youre not going to get an argument from me.