The Boston Mafia started in the early years of the 1920s and 1930s with men coming from Sicily, Italy. The Italian immigrants landed on Boston harbor or on Ellis Island, New York. This report will show the rise and fall of the Boston Mafia and also take a brief look at the Buccola crime family, Anguilo family, Raymond Patarcia, the Winter Hill Gang and Buddy McLean.

The growth of La Cosa Nostra (The Italian Mafia in Italian) in Boston was a bit slower than in most major cities. In the late 1920s and 1930s, Irish gangs were still around and Italians did not control the whole city. Filippo (Phil) Buccola was the first New England Mafia leader. He arrived from Sicily, Italy, in 1920 and became a crime boss within a few years. His organization was constantly challenged by a larger Irish gang but was able to operate well during the 1930s and 1940s. Men like Tony Sandrelli, Henry Selvitella, Frank Cucchiara, John Gugliemo, Leo Santaniello, Theodore Fuccilo and Joe Lombardo kept it together and were not men to “mess around with.”

On December 2, 1931, these men killed Frank Wallace, leader of the South Boston Gustin Gang. Wallace and two of his men were killed on their way up their stairs

During this time the Winter Hill Gang was starting to get noticed in the North End. While they were here, sixty men lost their lives. The two bosses in the beginning were Steve Flemmi and Frank Salemme. Flemmi and Salemme at the time were good friends with Joe Barboza. Although Barboza had a working relationship with the Italians, deep down he had a hate for them. He saw them shutting him down big time. A few times he felt betrayed by certain guys and swore he would get back at them. After being arrested on a concealed weapon charge, Barboza thought the Italians whom he helped would help him. When they did not, his gang tried to get one hundred thousand dollars to get him out of jail. When his three most strongest men were killed, Barboza was furious and did the unthinkable. He became an informant. He talked about Anguilo, Patriarca and other men to the police. But the jury and police did not believe him and Barboza stayed in prison. In the end, Barboza had shaken up the Boston mob but he did not destroy them.

Now, in the year 2002 Steve Flemmi is in prison and Whitey Bulger is on the run and yet to be found. Both have killed dozens of people, Flemmi even killed his own step-daughter with whom he was having an affair. So even back in the 1920s up until the late 1990s every major organized crime gang came to a fatal end. Most names around Boston are heard often and their children and family are often questioned if they ever took over any mob work. There is still organized crime in the Boston area, but it is kept very low key. The Steve Flemmi case and Whitey Bulger are always mentioned in the newspapers and on the news. There are so many murders that have to be solved and lives that were lost that shouldn’t have been taken. Everything in the mob is about money. Money is power and power can get you anything or cost you everything, even your life.

When three men were sticking up the office crap games and bookies, Lombardo sent out word that he wanted them all caught alive. A bookie is a person who takes illegal bets for money and is very big in the mob scene, past and present. The men, Angie DeMarco, Joe Semenza, and Tony Pomo were recognized when they robbed a numbers place in the North End. Lombardo gave word to Semenza who he had known his entire life that someone had to die. “If anything like this happens again, nobody gets saved.” (Lombardo, TheBostonMafia.com)

Now with no important leaders in the North End, it was the perfect time for the Winter Hill Gang to step in and take over. Buddy McLean was now the known boss of the Winter Hill Gang and his closest associate was Howie Winter. Members and associates of the Winter Hill Gang at the time did everything from loansharking and numbers to truck hijacking. In addition to Buddy and Howie there was Joe McDonald. He was a bit older then the rest of the gang members but was very well respected and feared. People saw he was crazy, as he always carried a one hundred dollar bill in one hand and a longshoreman’s hook in the other. People he did not like would be thrown off-guard for A second by the sight of a one hundred dollar bill. That se

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