Animal (30 page)

PAUL
.
⁹⁹

Collicci had described the right Charles Dickens classic, but the wrong character. Patriarca was no Fagin, but instead shared character traits with a more dangerous
Oliver Twist
character, the murderous Bill Sykes. Collicci discovered this for himself when he was later gunned down in Quincy, Massachusetts.

No doubt influenced by the treachery of gangsters like Collicci, the wiretaps showed that Patriarca expressed a growing concern about the character of the men being recruited into the mob. “Don’t look for toughness alone in a man, but look for guys who have brains and don’t talk,” he told one subordinate. “Be careful who you bring in. Together we survive, alone we die.”

Lawyers for Taglianetti argued that the evidence obtained by the
FBI
against their client should be thrown out because it was obtained through the use of an illegal wiretap. The harder the attorneys fought for Taglianetti, the more trouble they brought for their client. Instead of getting sentenced to a few years in prison for tax evasion, Louis “the Fox” got the death penalty, with Raymond Patriarca serving as judge, jury, and executioner. Just a few years after the wiretaps were made public; Taglianetti was shot dead while bringing his girlfriend back to his Cranston, Rhode Island, home.

The wiretaps had caused irreparable damage to Patriarca and his control over the New England Mafia, and law enforcement officials feared that he would become even more dangerous and violent as he tried to cling to power. A week after the wiretaps were made public, Joe Barboza was brought before a grand jury to testify about what he knew about the Marfeo murder and the murder of Rocco DiSeglio, in which he implicated underboss Jerry Angiulo. But Barboza was still wrestling with his conscience. If he testified before a grand jury, there was no going back. He would be branded as a rat for all time. Instead of spilling his guts to the grand jury, Joe surprised both Condon and Rico when he suddenly got a case of cold feet and invoked his Fifth Amendment right to protection against self-incrimination. The
FBI
agents had fueled Joe’s anger and then rushed him in front of the grand jury before he had fully prepared himself for this life-altering decision. But the Animal wasn’t ready for his close up just yet. Barboza was sent back to Walpole, where he was visited once again by Stevie Flemmi, who finally persuaded him to fight back against Patriarca, a man hell-bent on destroying him. After serious contemplation, Joe told the federal agents that he was ready to confront the Mafia and his fear of being labeled a turncoat.

Barboza returned to Boston under heavy security on May 11, 1965, where he provided ninety minutes of testimony before the grand jury. Following the appearance, he was taken down a private elevator and placed in the back of an unmarked police car. Knowing the methods used to kill other mobsters, including Connie Hughes and Joe’s best friend Chico Amico, Barboza felt particularly vulnerable in any automobile, even a police car. Once in the backseat of the vehicle, Joe rolled himself
off the cushioned bench and onto the floor, where he would be out of an assassin’s direct line of fire. That is how the feared mob killer would be forced to live his life from now on—in hiding. The Animal would have to adapt to his changing environment. The predator would now have to retreat to the shadows in order to save himself and his family. There was no turning back.

16

Deegan Part II

There is no hiding place. No where to run,
no where to escape

FOREIGNER

Following Barboza’s testimony, a convoy of police vehicles escorted him back to Walpole without incident. Word of his betrayal had not been leaked to the public, but it soon would.

Law enforcement officials feared that this news would inevitably trigger a bloodbath within the walls of Walpole State Prison, where Raymond Patriarca maintained a high level of influence over inmates and, in some cases, prison guards. A decision was made by Suffolk County district attorney Garrett Byrne to transfer Barboza from Walpole to the Barnstable House of Corrections on Cape Cod to ensure his safety. Joe’s wife, Claire, and their daughter, Stacy, were also placed under the protection of the U.S. Marshal Service. John Partington, the U.S. Marshal whom Raymond Patriarca had once referred to as a boy scout, was assigned the task of protecting Barboza’s family at their home in Swampscott. Claire Barboza was suspicious of Partington from the outset and asked him to define the parameters of the arrangement.

“What’s expected of me, and what are you going to do?” she asked.
¹⁰⁰

Partington shrugged and honestly told her that this kind of arrangement was new to him also, and that they would have to make it up as they went along. Claire Barboza was not at all what Partington had expected in a mob wife. She was petite and refined and looked no different from the wife of a banker, doctor, or lawyer. It was hard for Partington to fathom that this somewhat elegant woman was married to a murderous animal. The marshal felt the same way about Stacy. How could someone so evil also produce something so beautiful? The youngster reminded Partington of Shirley Temple with a head full of curls that joyously bounced like a circus parade as she walked. Unlike her mother, Stacy Barboza was taken with the marshal almost immediately. She climbed up on his lap and peppered him with questions that were mostly geared
to her cat Oby. Partington had not been aware the child had a pet, and as harmless as the cat appeared, it could pose a problem with the family’s protection. The marshal understood that the stakes were extremely high with this assignment and that the Office would go to any lengths to prevent Barboza from testifying further. If they somehow managed to kidnap Joe’s daughter, there is no doubt the Animal would do anything they asked in hopes of getting her back safely. If by chance Stacy followed the feline off property, she would be at risk of being abducted. Partington would have to place Oby under house arrest during the course of this assignment. He had thought about taking the cat away but understood that Stacy was attached to her pet, and it was his job not only to protect the family but also to make them as comfortable as possible under his watchful eye.

Partington had second thoughts about the cat soon after, when it escaped into the neighborhood. The marshal had to send other members of the protective detail from street to street, but they had no luck corralling the fugitive feline. At day’s end, Oby finally returned with a mouse in its mouth and placed it at Partington’s feet. The marshal made up his mind right then that the cat would stay. He faced other problems, however, from his own colleagues, who constantly complained about protecting a mobster’s family. Partington had to remind them that little Stacy Barboza had never harmed anyone and deserved to be kept out of harm’s way. He also had to remind himself not to get too close to Claire Barboza. Even a hint of impropriety would be hard to explain away to his fellow marshals and to Claire’s husband. With that in mind, Partington recruited students from nearby Radcliffe College to serve as matrons, and also convinced his own wife, Helen, to stay with them so that Claire would have someone to talk to and confide in if she felt the need.

Meanwhile, Joe was having his own difficulty adjusting to his new home at the Barnstable House of Corrections, overlooking the cold waters of Cape Cod Bay. Barboza was housed in protective custody all by himself in the women’s section of the prison. Soon after his arrival, he was visited by his lawyer, John Fitzgerald. The Animal had been reduced to tears because of the way he had been characterized by the newspapers. The media referred to him as a canary, stoolie, and turncoat. For a mob killer like Joe Barboza, these were the worst insults imaginable. The
gangster’s code had meant something to him at one time, and the tears of frustration proved it still did.

“They [the media] shout for law and order, they pressure the police for action, but when they’re handed on a silver platter someone willing to stand up and do what most Americans are afraid to do, they call him names,” Barboza later wrote in his memoir. “Don’t they realize that these names of “Songbird” and “Canary” only help organized crime by discouraging other potential witnesses from coming forward? Is that what they really want?”
¹⁰¹

The Animal took his case directly to the public. He struck up a cozy relationship with James Southwood, the
Boston Herald
reporter who had broken the story about his incarceration on Cape Cod. In July 1967, the pair worked together on another story developed to aid Barboza in the public relations war against the media and the mob. Under the banner headline “A Letter from Barboza: Why I Decided to Tell All,” the Animal attempted once again to win people over to his side of the case.

I am not looking for slaps on the back or kind words. All I want is to be left alone. Leave my family alone. I have a job to do and a duty to do in taking the stand against these people [
La Cosa Nostra
]. Living with the thought of the peril and dangers I face where my life is concerned is enough—without the newspapers’ pressure (and it seems hypocrisies) on their part to write like that when they, the reporters, are the ones that stir a notion that [
La Cosa Nostra
] is trying to show the younger element that look up to them in awe and admiration just what type of people they are. Younger inmates in Walpole and Concord would do anything to get in with these people, figuring that they would become big men. The Office likes them to believe this because then they bleed every single favorable effort from these disillusioned kids and men—then they throw them a crust of bread. I can cite many many cases. But I’ll name two as an illustration. One person whose first name is Jackie, or was because he’s dead, killed in the neighborhood of 25 people for them. He is dead now. Who did it? They did! I have a dear friend named Tony. He busted legs, arms, stabbed people for them. They sure took care of him [financially], so much so that he had to take a state job just to support his family. I’ll give you one more. One guy took a federal
prison sentence to save a friend in the Office… . The same person he protected put a bullet in his head. I could go on and on, but I won’t. I am just trying to say, don’t pat me on the back. I don’t want no rewards. Just leave us be and thank God somebody is coming forward to expose these people… . I can’t stop the reporters from writing things about me because there are rotten apples in almost every barrel. But if they think it’ll stop me from standing up against these people, they are wrong because life or no life, I am going to take the stand against these people for the future [Jackies and Tonys], hoping they will see through them and stay away from them.
¹⁰²

Barboza’s words rang true to an extent. Reporters were always quick to demonize criminals who furnished law enforcement with information needed to do their jobs more effectively. However, Joe’s attempt to paint himself as a martyr was baseless for the sheer fact that he was still trying to strike a deal with the Mafia. He provided Fitzgerald with a list of mobsters that he was prepared to testify against if they didn’t work to get him back on the streets. Joe also demanded $50,000 from Patriarca himself for lost wages, as his bookmaking business had dried up since he had been in jail. Fitzgerald passed along the message, which was partially rebuffed by the Office.

“Patriarca says he’ll put the money in escrow,” Fitzgerald told Barboza.

They were not discussing a simple real estate transaction here. Escrow meant nothing to Barboza. Joe said that he wanted the money now or there would be no deal. Fitzgerald presented the counter offer but was again turned away.

“I want him to know … to spend every night shitting his pants, this bastard,” Patriarca told his subordinates. “Who does he think he is? He’ll kill this guy and that guy? I’m a fag, he says. I’ll get him. He talks that way about me. I’ll straighten him out.”
¹⁰³

Barboza later admitted to both Condon and Rico that he had asked John Fitzgerald reach out to Patriarca and Angiulo to let them know of his plans to testify against them.

“I felt that I was doing the right thing by letting them [the Mafia] know,” Barboza told the agents.
¹⁰⁴

He made no mention of the offer to rescind his testimony for fifty
grand. If the Mafia would not come up with the cash to right Barboza’s financially sinking ship, he would have to lean on his new friends in the
FBI
.

“I’ve got $23,000 in shylock money owed to me by a guy in East Boston,” he informed Condon and Rico. “Can you get it for me?”
¹⁰⁵

The agents would not give Barboza a definitive answer. Joe then changed the subject to his difficult transition at the Barnstable House of Corrections.