Angelo Mercurio
Encyclopedia
Patriarca crime family
The Patriarca crime family, also known as the New England crime family and the Providence crime family, is an Italian-American organized crime syndicate based in New England, specifically Providence, Rhode Island and Boston, Massachusetts, and is part of the Italian-American Mafia or "La Cosa Nostra"...
who became a government informant and recorded a Cosa Nostra
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
induction ceremony.
History
Born in the West EndWest End, Boston, Massachusetts
The West End is a neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, bounded generally by Cambridge Street to the south, the Charles River to the west and northwest, North Washington Street on the north and northeast, and New Sudbury Street on the east. Beacon Hill is to the south, and the North End is to the...
section of Boston, Massachusetts, Mercurio grew up working in the family bakery in Malden, Massachusetts. He had a fleeting resemblance to actor Dayton Callie
Dayton Callie
Dayton Callie is a Scottish-born American actor, best known for playing Charlie Utter on HBO's Deadwood and Ernie Dell on CSI. He now portrays Police Chief Wayne Unser on Sons of Anarchy. He has also voiced Whitaker in Valve's Left 4 Dead 2, appeared in Halloween 2, & had small roles in episodes...
. After serving time in prison for stealing securities, Mercurio opened an Italian food shop in the Prudential Tower
Prudential Tower
The Prudential Tower, also known as the Prudential Building or, colloquially, The Pru, is a skyscraper in Boston, Massachusetts. The building, a part of the Prudential Center complex, currently stands as the 2nd-tallest building in Boston, behind the John Hancock Tower. The Prudential Tower was...
in Boston. Mercurio was soon working for the Patriarca family, serving as a liaison between the family and the Irish Winter Hill Gang
Winter Hill Gang
The Winter Hill Gang is a structured confederation of Boston, Massachusetts-area organized crime figures, predominantly Irish-American with a small Italian-American faction. It derives its name from the Winter Hill neighborhood of Somerville, Massachusetts north of Boston. Its members have...
in Boston. During the 1980s, the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
(FBI) obtained incriminating evidence on Mercurio by electronic surveillance at his food shop. The FBI had gathered enough evidence to indict him and others for extorting a couple of elderly bookmakers. In order to avoid a prison term, Mercurio became an FBI informant in 1987.
FBI informant
Mercurio lured mobster Francis "Cadillac Frank" SalemmeFrank Salemme
Francis P. Salemme [Salemone], also known as "Cadillac Frank" and "Julian Daniel Selig" , is a Boston, Massachusetts mobster who became a hitman and eventually the boss of the Patriarca crime family of New England before turning government witness.-Early years:In 1957, while in prison, Salemme...
to a meeting in June, 1989, outside a Saugus, Massachusetts
Saugus, Massachusetts
Saugus is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. The population was 26,628 at the 2010 census.-History:Saugus was first settled in 1629. Saugus is an Indian name believed to mean "great" or "extended"...
International House of Pancakes restaurant, where gunmen ambushed the unarmed Salemme as restaurant patrons dining inside ducked for cover. Wounded in the chest, Salemme took cover in the restaurant's vestibule, but ran back outside to prevent bystanders from being hurt, suffering a wound to his leg.
In 1989 Mercurio informed the FBI about an upcoming family induction ceremony at a home in Medford, Massachusetts
Medford, Massachusetts
Medford is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in the United States, on the Mystic River, five miles northwest of downtown Boston. In the 2010 U.S. Census, Medford's population was 56,173...
. Mercurio surreptitiously recorded the ceremony, the first time in U.S. history that a mob induction was taped. Attendees at the ceremony included Raymond Patriarca
Raymond Patriarca
Raymond Patriarca may refer to:*Raymond L.S. Patriarca, Providence mobster and founder of the Patriarca crime family*Raymond Patriarca, Jr., Providence mobster and former leader of the Patriarca crime family...
Jr., underboss
Underboss
Underboss is a position within the leadership structure of Sicilian and American Mafia crime families. The underboss is second in command to the boss...
Nicholas Bianco
Nicholas Bianco
Nicholas "Nicky" Bianco was a Rhode Island mobster who became an influential member of the Patriarca crime family of New England.-Biography:Bianco was born and raised in Providence, Rhode Island...
; consigliere
Consigliere
Consigliere is a position within the leadership structure of Sicilian and American Mafia crime families. The word was popularized by Mario Puzo's novel The Godfather , and its film adaptation...
Joe Russo; and caporegime
Caporegime
A caporegime or capodecina, usually shortened to just a capo, is a term used in the Mafia for a high ranking made member of a crime family who heads a "crew" of soldiers and has major social status and influence in the organization...
s Biaggio Digiacoma, Vincent Ferrara, Matthew Gugleilmetti, Dennis Lepore, and Robert Carozza. While the ceremony was taking place, Mercurio even turned down the television volume in the home to improve the recording. Mercurio's recordings led to the prosecution and conviction of dozens of criminals. In 1991, Patriarca pleaded guilty to racketeering and conspiracy charges and was sent to prison for seven years. After Patriarca's indictment, Mercurio disappeared from New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
to avoid indictment himself.
Angelo said he innocently met FBI Special Agent John Connolly in the Prudential Center in the fall of 1987, after Vanessa's had been searched. He was still disgruntled from the humiliation of being successfully bugged, accused the FBI of trying to "plant" evidence during their secret forays into the store and bragged that the Mafia had outsmarted them. He was trying to best John Connolly in a battle of insider information. It was a mistake. Connolly calmly rattled off the name of the Patriarca crime family's inside source for law enforcement information. Angelo had stupidly confirmed that the Patriarca crime family had a law enforcement source, and he knew what it meant if the FBI exposed his Top Echelon Informant status. Angelo's conversation earned Stephen Flemmi
Stephen Flemmi
Stephen Joseph "The Rifleman" Flemmi is an Italian-American mobster and close associate of Winter Hill Gang boss James J. Bulger. Beginning in 1965, Flemmi was a top echelon informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation...
restored Top Echelon Informant status in November 1987. In less than a year, Angelo had joined Stephen as a Top Echelon Informant, and was constantly feeding the FBI inside information on his associates in the Patriarca crime family. In some ways he even supplanted James J. Bulger and Stephen Flemmi in importance- the FBI and the Organized Crime Strike Force were targeting the Patriarca crime family, Robert Carrozza, J.R. Russo and Vincent Ferrara, and as a member of their inner circle, Mercurio was privy to information that even Stephen Flemmi could not obtain. He threw himself into his informant role enthusiastically- even though he had been the best man at Vincent Ferrara's first wedding did not stop him from thoroughly informing on the illicit activities of his old friend. Angelo's value as an informant made protecting him a priority.
Prison time
In 1994, Mercurio was convicted in GeorgiaGeorgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
of possessing 150 pounds of marijuana and was sent to prison there. He was also arrested because he tried to shoplift a $500 Shimano
Shimano
Shimano, Inc. is a Japanese multinational manufacturer of cycling components, fishing tackle, and rowing equipment.In 2005, the company had net sales of US $1.4 billion. Bicycle components provided 75% of its sales income...
fishing reel in a Sandy Springs sporting goods store. He put the fishing reel in his pocket and just walked out of the store, giving the manager at the front a "Stop me, I dare you" look. The manager, a marathon runner, gave chase, and Mercurio made it about two blocks before collapsing in a breathless heap on the sidewalk. Mercurio was booked on shoplifting but released since the fake name he was using that day wasn't in the FBI national crime database. A short time later, though, he was pulled over for suspected drunk driving, and this time his fraudulent driver's license was a match. When word got back to the Boston FBI that Angelo had been arrested, FBI Special Agent Michael Buckley visited him in jail. Soon afterward, he pled guilty in the Vincent Ferrara case. The government just asked for nine years. Despite his obvious role in the attempted murder of Frank Salemme, it was significantly less time than J.R. Russo, Vincent Ferrara and Robert Carrozza received. Not only that, but federal prosecutors recommended that it be served concurrently with Mercurio's ten-year sentence in Georgia. In effect, Angelo received no jail time at all. In June 1997, Mercurio was brought back to Boston from prison in Georgia to testify in the trial of Patriarca boss Frank Salemme. His revelation in court as a government informant was a tremendous surprise to the Patriarca family. After this testimony, Mercurio was sent back to prison. In 2000, Mercurio's sentence was reduced. On his release from prison, Mercurio entered the federal Witness Protection Program and was secretly relocated to Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
. According to Mercurio's lawyer, Mercurio in later years felt guilty about becoming an informant and betraying the Patriarca family.
Death
On December 11, 2006, Mercurio died of a pulmonary embolismPulmonary embolism
Pulmonary embolism is a blockage of the main artery of the lung or one of its branches by a substance that has travelled from elsewhere in the body through the bloodstream . Usually this is due to embolism of a thrombus from the deep veins in the legs, a process termed venous thromboembolism...
in Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock is the capital and the largest city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 699,757 people in the 2010 census...
.