Posted: Mar 14, 2019 / 05:14 PM EDT / Updated: Mar 14, 2019 / 06:21 PM EDT
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – Federal authorities have relocated a made member of the Patriarca crime family in the wake of Sunday’s brazen shooting in Pawtucket, the Target 12 Investigators have learned.
Sources say Joseph DeLuca, 79, of North Providence, was moved to an undisclosed location out of an abundance of caution, amid concerns that there would be a flare-up of violence in the underworld.
DeLuca and his younger brother – former mob capo Robert “Bobby” DeLuca – both testified against Francis “Cadillac Frank” Salemme, the former don of the New England crime family, during his trial last year.
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Following weeks of testimony at federal court in Boston, Salemme and codefendant Paul Weadick were found guilty of murder this summer and sentenced to life in prison.
Robert DeLuca is currently serving a federal prison sentence, also at an undisclosed location, for lying to FBI agents.
On Sunday, Napoleon Andrade, 37, of Central Falls, was gunned down shortly after leaving a Pawtucket halfway house where he was completing a federal sentence.
As Target 12 previously reported, detectives are looking to see whether Andrade was killed in retribution for a 2010 home invasion during which he tied up an associate of New York’s infamous Gambino crime family.
TARGET 12: Andrade had ties to former mob boss Manocchio
On Wednesday night, the reputed Gambino crime boss Francesco “Franky Boy” Cali was assassinated outside his Staten Island home. But law enforcement sources tell Target 12 they believe the two shootings are unrelated.
In another development, Pawtucket detectives have obtained video surveillance from the day Andrade was murdered.
The video was taken from security cameras attached to St. John the Baptist Church, which is across the street from the halfway house.
The cameras did not capture the shooting, but they did show a car speeding away after the shooting.
Target 12 has learned investigators are trying to determine if the car was involved in the hit.
Another mob capo, Edward “Eddie” Lato, is currently staying at the halfway house as he nears the end of a nine-year prison sentence in a case that he shook down strip clubs for protection money.
There is no indication Lato has been moved.
Tim White (
twhite@wpri.com) is the Target 12 investigative reporter and host of Newsmakers for WPRI 12 and Fox Providence. Follow him on