Patriarca crime family
Italian-American organized crime group / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Patriarca crime family (/ˌpætriˈɑːrkə/, Italian pronunciation: [patriˈarka]), also known as the New England Mafia, the Boston Mafia, the Providence Mafia or The Office, is an Italian-American Mafia crime family operating in New England. The family consists of two distinct factions, one based in Providence, Rhode Island, and the other in Boston, Massachusetts. The Patriarca family is primarily active in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut, with other territory throughout New England.
Founded | c. 1916; 108 years ago (1916) |
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Founder | Gaspare Messina |
Named after | Raymond Patriarca |
Founding location | Boston, Massachusetts and Providence, Rhode Island, United States |
Years active | c. 1916–present |
Territory | Primarily Greater Boston, the Providence metropolitan area and Eastern Connecticut, with additional territory throughout New England as well as Las Vegas and South Florida[1] |
Ethnicity | Italians as "made men" and other ethnicities as associates |
Membership (est.) | 30 made members (2012)[2] |
Activities | Racketeering, gambling, murder, narcotics, waste management, robbery, fencing, loan sharking, extortion, bookmaking, money laundering, smuggling, fraud, prostitution and pornography[3] |
Allies | |
Rivals |
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Raymond Patriarca became boss of the family in 1954 and led the organization from the Federal Hill neighborhood of Providence until his death in 1984, when he was succeeded by his son, Raymond Patriarca Jr.. Patriarca Jr. was an ineffective leader, and he was the target of an attempted coup led by family consigliere Joseph "J. R." Russo of the Boston faction during the late 1980s. Patriarca Jr., Russo and numerous others were imprisoned on RICO charges in 1992, and Boston mobster Frank Salemme subsequently emerged as boss of the family. Internal warfare in the Patriarca family continued in the 1990s as a renegade faction within the Boston underworld led by Robert F. Carrozza challenged Salemme loyalists for control of the family. Salemme and Carrozza were imprisoned during a string of convictions, and Luigi Manocchio took over as boss in 1996, returning the family's leadership to Providence. The family is currently led by Carmen "The Cheese Man" Dinunzio, who is part of the Boston faction.