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The New York families first oversaw the city of Providence, Rhode Island, with its heavy Italian population, before the leadership came from Boston. The city became an important underworld power base after the emergence of Raymond L. S. Patriarca. The area, and gang members operating there, were considered by law enforcement officials as part of the Boston organized crime family. In the mid1950s, when Patriarca took over the family leadership and ran his operations out of Providence, the criminal organization began to be referred to as the New England crime family.There is not much information about organized crime in New England. The few books that are available tend to contradict each other on the leadership of the mob during teens, 1920s and 1930s. In Vincent Teresa’s “My Life in the Mafia,” he discusses Frank “Butsey” Morelli, one of five brothers who moved into New England from Brooklyn during World War I. Running his criminal operations from Rhode Island, he also controlled parts of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire. Morelli maintained control of this area from 1917 to 1947 when he was dying of cancer. Teresa reveals that Morelli began to drink heavily and to lose control of both his rackets and his men. One of the things that got Morelli into trouble was his testimony before a grand jury in June 1947. Morelli had been called to testify for harboring Doris Coppola, the wife of New York City mobster “Trigger Mike” Coppola, and her father. The two were on the run to avoid questioning about Coppola’s participation in the November 1946 beating death of Joseph Scottoriggio, a Republican district captain. Joseph Lombardo, who Teresa claims was running the Boston family, put Philip Buccola in charge and allowed Morelli to die peacefully.Prior to Morelli’s death in the early 1950s, Teresa said Morelli confessed to him that his gang was responsible for the 1920 murders for which Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were executed. The trial of Sacco and Vanzetti for the double murder of two shoe company employees in South Braintree, Massachusetts drew national attention because the two were selfdescribed anarchists who claimed they were being persecuted by the government. According to Teresa, Morelli told him, “These two suckers took it on the chin for us. That shows you how much justice there really is.”

 

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