Vincent Flemmi
Encyclopedia
Vincent James Flemmi also known as "Jimmy The Bear," was an Italian-American mobster who freelanced for the Winter Hill Gang
and the Patriarca crime family
. He was also a longtime informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation
. He was also the brother of government informant Stephen Flemmi
.
located at 25 Ambrose Street in Roxbury, Massachusetts
. His father Giovanni was a bricklayer who, according to fellow mobster Kevin Weeks, served in the Royal Italian Army
during World War I
. His mother was a full-time homemaker who never lost her thick Italian accent. He was the brother of Stephen Flemmi
and Michael S. Flemmi.
, Vincent, along with Joseph Barboza became so feared, that the city's newspaper photographers often attached a note on the back of their arrest photos: "NO credit on photograph."
. Within hours, J. Edgar Hoover had a memo from the Boston field office on his desk accurately identifying all the shooters, the actual shooters, as opposed to the four innocent men who would be convicted of the crime on the false testimony of Joseph Barboza in 1968.
would later surmise, "For the FBI, it was more important to keep Vincent, and later Barboza, on the street as informants than it was to prevent the framing of innocent men. In fact, the railroading of the four men served two purposes for the FBI, it would enable Vincent and Joseph Barboza to escape conviction for a murder they had committed, and it would also remove several Patriarca crime family members or associates from the criminal world that the FBI had not been able to eliminate in a legal manner". One of Deegan's friends told him about a bank burglary in Chelsea, and he'd meet up with several guys from Ebb Tide, a Mafia-run gin mill on Revere Beach. Vincent's shooting party would include mob associate, Joseph Barboza.
Theodore Deegan was a maternal nephew of Bonanno crime family
capo Alphonse Indelicato and Anthony Indelicato
.
, a longtime associate of Flemmi's brother Stephen,
.
,
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...
and the Patriarca crime family
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"...
. He was also a longtime informant for 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...
. He was also the brother of government informant 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...
.
Early life
Vincent J. Flemmi was born to Italian immigrants Giovanni Flemmi and Mary Irene Flemmi. He was raised in the Orchard Park tenementTenement
A tenement is, in most English-speaking areas, a substandard multi-family dwelling, usually old, occupied by the poor.-History:Originally the term tenement referred to tenancy and therefore to any rented accommodation...
located at 25 Ambrose Street in Roxbury, Massachusetts
Roxbury, Massachusetts
Roxbury is a dissolved municipality and current neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was one of the first towns founded in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630, and became a city in 1846 until annexed to Boston on January 5, 1868...
. His father Giovanni was a bricklayer who, according to fellow mobster Kevin Weeks, served in the Royal Italian Army
Royal Italian Army
The Regio Esercito was the army of the Kingdom of Italy from the unification of Italy in 1861 to the birth of the Italian Republic in 1946...
during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. His mother was a full-time homemaker who never lost her thick Italian accent. He was the brother of 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...
and Michael S. Flemmi.
Criminal career
During the Boston gang wars of the 1960s1960s
The 1960s was the decade that started on January 1, 1960, and ended on December 31, 1969. It was the seventh decade of the 20th century.The 1960s term also refers to an era more often called The Sixties, denoting the complex of inter-related cultural and political trends across the globe...
, Vincent, along with Joseph Barboza became so feared, that the city's newspaper photographers often attached a note on the back of their arrest photos: "NO credit on photograph."
Relationship with FBI
In May 1964, FBI Special Agent John Connolly filed a report on a conversation another one of his informants had with Vincent: "Flemmi told him all he wanted to do now is kill people, and that it is better than hitting (robbing) banks." Vincent's homicidal tendencies became so out of hand that Gennaro Anguilo held a sit down with Vincent inside an FBI-bugged room on Tremont Street. From now on, Anguilo told him—Raymond Patriarca would have to approve each of his hits, personally, just as he had done with Joseph Barboza. In March 1965, H. Paul Rico wanted to make Vincent a Top Echelon Informant for the FBI. On March 10, 1965 H. Paul Rico filed a report quoting an informant as saying that Vincent was going to murder Edward Deegan and that a "dry run has already been made and that a close associate of Deegan's has agreed to set him up." Two days later, despite their knowledge of the impending murder of Deegan, the Boston FBI office approved Vincent as an informant and assigned him to the agent who had recruited him, H. Paul Rico.Edward Deegan Murder
That evening, Edward Deegan was shot to death by Vincent Flemmi and Joseph Barboza, among others in an alleyway in Chelsea, MassachusettsChelsea, Massachusetts
Chelsea is a city in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States directly across the Mystic River from the city of Boston. It is the smallest city in Massachusetts in land area, and the 26th most densely populated incorporated place in the country.-History:...
. Within hours, J. Edgar Hoover had a memo from the Boston field office on his desk accurately identifying all the shooters, the actual shooters, as opposed to the four innocent men who would be convicted of the crime on the false testimony of Joseph Barboza in 1968.
Deegan Murder Coverup and Conspiracy
Radio talk host Howie CarrHowie Carr
Howard Louis "Howie" Carr, Jr. is an American journalist, author, and conservative radio talk-show host based in Boston with a listening audience rooted in New England.-Radio:...
would later surmise, "For the FBI, it was more important to keep Vincent, and later Barboza, on the street as informants than it was to prevent the framing of innocent men. In fact, the railroading of the four men served two purposes for the FBI, it would enable Vincent and Joseph Barboza to escape conviction for a murder they had committed, and it would also remove several Patriarca crime family members or associates from the criminal world that the FBI had not been able to eliminate in a legal manner". One of Deegan's friends told him about a bank burglary in Chelsea, and he'd meet up with several guys from Ebb Tide, a Mafia-run gin mill on Revere Beach. Vincent's shooting party would include mob associate, Joseph Barboza.
Theodore Deegan was a maternal nephew of Bonanno crime family
Bonanno crime family
The Bonanno crime family is one of the "Five Families" that dominates organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia ....
capo Alphonse Indelicato and Anthony Indelicato
Anthony Indelicato
Anthony "Bruno" Indelicato , also known as "Bruno", "Whack-Whack" and "Anthony Indelligado" is a capo with the Bonanno crime family in New York City,-Biography:...
.
Benjamin murder
According to Kevin WeeksKevin Weeks
Kevin Weeks is a former mobster of Irish-American descent and a longtime friend and confidant to James J. Bulger, the infamous boss of the Winter Hill Gang, a crime family based out of the Winter Hill neighborhood in Somerville, Massachusetts.After his arrest and imprisonment in 1999, he became a...
, a longtime associate of Flemmi's brother Stephen,
"The murder of Francis Benjamin, for which the Bear had gotten the life sentence, was a particularly ugly one. After he'd shot Benjamin in the head, using a gun that belonged to a cop, the Bear had cut off the head to avoid any ballistics evidence tracing the gun to the crime. But they fingered him anyhow."
Later life and death
In 1975, while serving an eleven-to-eighteen-year sentence for assault with intent to commit murder, he'd received one of the state's first weekend furloughs from prison. Vincent had immediately fled, and was not apprehended until three years later, in Maryland, Maine. On October 16, 1979, Vincent died of an apparent heroin overdose at the state prison in Norfolk, MassachusettsNorfolk, Massachusetts
Norfolk is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States with a population of 10,460 people in 2,818 households at the 2000 census. Formerly known as North Wrentham, Norfolk broke away to become an independent town in 1870.-History:...
.
Legacy
According to South Boston mob boss Kevin WeeksKevin Weeks
Kevin Weeks is a former mobster of Irish-American descent and a longtime friend and confidant to James J. Bulger, the infamous boss of the Winter Hill Gang, a crime family based out of the Winter Hill neighborhood in Somerville, Massachusetts.After his arrest and imprisonment in 1999, he became a...
,
"When Stevie's brother Jimmy the Bear died of a heroin overdose while serving a life sentence at MCI Norfolk for the murder of Francis Benjamin, Jimmy and I went to the wake. While we were viewing his brother lying in the casket, Stevie was standing there with his mother and father and Michael. Mary went over to Jimmy and said, crying, 'Vincent was such a good boy. He never hurt anyone.' Stevie looked at her and said, 'Stop, Ma. He killed everybody.'"
External links
- http://thebrothersbulger.com/Jimmy%20(The%20Bear)%20Flemmi.htm
- The Brothers Bulger: How They Terrorized and Corrupted Boston for a Quarter Century by Howie Carr