S1 16 Cr 10258 (ADB)
United States District Court District of Massachusetts
Trial testimony of Robert P DeLuca Sr
29 May 2018
Tensions between Providence and Boston
- DeLuca, a Providence guy, knew tensions were bubbling between Providence and Boston during Raymond Patriarca Jr’s time as boss
- Around 1988, captain Vincent Ferrara asked DeLuca to set up a meeting with Patriarca at a racetrack in Saratoga, New York
- DeLuca was friendly with Ferrara, originally meeting him as part of a dispute with an individual who owed DeLuca a bookmaking debt and sought protection from Ferrara
- As they got to know each other, Ferrara introduced DeLuca to other individuals including Joseph Russo
- DeLuca and Charles ‘Harpo’ Garabedian accompanied Patriarca to the meeting in Saratoga
- Ferrara also brought an associate of his own
- DeLuca didn’t know what was discussed, but Patriarca and Ferrara talked alone for a few hours
- The Providence guys were ‘shook up’ when William Grasso was murdered and Frank Salemme got shot
- Patriarca sent for DeLuca to come to a meeting at Anthony St Laurent’s house
- Patriarca, St Laurent, Matthew Guglielmetti, William DelSanto, Antonino Cucinotta, and ‘Nicola’ (a partner of Cucinotta) were at the house (all were made members)
- Patriarca wanted DeLuca to get in touch with Ferrara and see if he had heard anything about Salemme’s shooting
- That night, DeLuca and Garabedian drove to Boston to meet Ferrara in the North End
- Ferrara said it would be best to meet the next morning with Joe Russo to see if he heard anything
- DeLuca then talked with Russo in a coffee shop
- When the subject of the shooting came up, Russo looked at DeLuca for a second, said they were still doing an investigation, and that he thought it was related to a drug deal gone wrong
- The way Russo spoke led DeLuca to believe this story wasn’t true
- After a couple of more visits to Boston with no new developments, Patriarca relayed a message that he wanted to see Russo and Ferrara in Rhode Island
- Russo and Ferrara refused to travel to the meeting, leading Patriarca to ask DeLuca what he should do
- ‘I said, “You’re the boss, what are you asking me for? I don’t know what you should do.”’
- Patriarca sent DeLuca back to relay the instruction to come to Rhode Island again
- Russo and Ferrara said they wanted Patriarca to meet them the next morning at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston
- After about an hour, Patriarca decided he would go to Boston
- Harpo Garabedian drove DeLuca, Patriarca, and Anthony St Laurent to the meeting
- At the hospital, Patriarca, Russo, and Ferrara talked alone for about an hour
- On the drive back to Providence, Patriarca told DeLuca that everything went well
- A couple of days later, DeLuca arranged a meeting between Ferrara and Matthew Guglielmetti in Providence
- After about a week, DeLuca arranged a meeting at his nephew’s jewellery store between Ferrara, Russo, and Patriarca
- DeLuca’s brother Joe drove Patriarca to the meeting.
- DeLuca was able to overhear most of what was said
- After the meeting, Patriarca told DeLuca everything went well, and he (DeLuca) had to meet Russo and Ferrara the next morning to discuss somethingJoe and Vinny was pretty mad at him. They were yelling at him, ‘You’re not doing what you’re supposed to do. Every time we wanted to see you, you never had time to see us. You’re supposed to be the boss. You’re not running this place like a boss.’ […] Then they told him they wanted him to step down. […] They told him, ‘You was going to step down, you’re not going to be the boss no more.’ […] Oh, and in between they were saying that they were supposed to make some guys and he never went along with it. But now they’re going to do it, they’re going to make them. They didn’t ask him if they could. They tell him they’re going to make him. And he says, ‘Well, don’t let me step down, just say I’m stepping down, that’s embarrassment. After the ceremony, I’ll say that I’m sick’, because he had – he used to get treated for prostate cancer. ‘I’ll say that I’m sick and I can’t handle this. And then I’ll say I’m retiring and Joe can take over’.
- DeLuca asked if there was a problem and Patriarca revealed Russo and Ferrara wanted to propose DeLuca for membership
- Patriarca also told DeLuca he wasn’t supposed to tell him that
- ‘He’s the boss, but he’s telling me he’s not supposed to tell you.’
- As DeLuca was being proposed by the Boston faction, they wanted to keep him up there
- DeLuca asked Patriarca to get him out of it because he didn’t want to commute to Boston all the time
- The next morning, Russo and Ferrara explained they wanted to make DeLuca for his help in settling the tensions between the factions
- The day of the ceremony, Patriarca picked picked DeLuca up and drove to the North End where they met Angelo Mercurio
- Mercurio then drove Patriarca and DeLuca to Medford for the ceremony
- After the induction, DeLuca, Patriarca, and Guglielmetti visited St Laurent at his home for the purpose of introducing DeLuca as a member
- A couple of days later, Guglielmetti picked DeLuca up and introduced him to other members
Frank Salemme
- After Patriarca got indicted, someone told DeLuca that Frank Salemme wanted to see him
- DeLuca had met Salemme before he was made.
- DeLuca was visiting Patriarca at a housing development in Lincoln at the time and happened to meet Salemme there
- On this second occasion, DeLuca met Salemme at a CVS in North Providence
- Patriarca was sending messages through his wife Barbara to Salemme
- Salemme’s message was for DeLuca to stop trying to extort and kidnap Frank LaPierre, a wealthy marijuana dealer who was on record with Patriarca
- DeLuca didn’t even know who LaPierre was and had no intention of kidnapping him
- After this meeting, DeLuca and Salemme became friends, and DeLuca started travelling to Boston every morning to meet him at different locations
- With Patriarca in prison, Nicholas Bianco became the boss
- Bianco was under electronic monitoring while he faced charges in Connecticut
- DeLuca doesn’t think there was an underboss during Bianco’s time in charge of the family
- When Bianco was convicted, he ‘couldn’t be the boss no more’
- Salemme became boss and named Luigi Manocchio as his underboss
- Salemme promoted DeLuca to captain
- ‘I didn’t really have a crew, no. I was just mostly by myself.’
- At this time, DeLuca and Salemme were involved in running a numbers operation in Boston as well as sports betting
- DeLuca collected money from bookmakers in Rhode Island and brought a share to Salemme
Natale Richichi
- One day Salemme told DeLuca to go to Kenny Guarino’s house
- Salemme wanted DeLuca to represent him there at a meeting over a money problem he was having with Steven DiSarro
- DeLuca knew Guarino was in the porn business
- Almost as soon as DeLuca’s meeting with DiSarro started, Guarino interrupted to say he had to call Sam
- Guarino was on record with Gambino captain Natale Richichi and called him ‘Sam’
- Guarino needed Richichi’s approval to get involved in the meeting
- Guarino ended up on record with Richichi because Raymond Patriarca Sr didn’t want to be involved in the porn business and ceded control of Guarino to the Gambino family
- Guarino later set it up for Richichi to come from Las Vegas, where he was living, to Massachusetts for a meeting in 1991
- Guarino, DeLuca, Frank Salemme Sr, Frank Salemme Jr, and John Salemme attended the meeting with Richichi
- After some chitchat in a hotel lobby, Salemme sent DeLuca up to a room for the meeting with Richichi because he (Salemme) didn’t want to talk in front of Guarino
- Salemme was looking to block Guarino from putting peep-show machines in a couple of buildings
- At the meeting, it was settled Guarino wouldn’t expand his business
- After this, DeLuca, Salemme, Guarino, and Richichi went out for dinner
- Frankie Boy, Jackie Salemme, and James Martorano may also have joined them for dinner
- When DeLuca and Salemme were arrested in 1995, they learned that law enforcement had taped their meeting with Richichi
Thomas Hillary
- Thomas Hillary lived with Patriarca Sr as a carer and was close friends with Patriarca Jr
- After Junior was incarcerated, Hillary was around Salemme and Frankie Boy
- Hillary cheated Salemme out of some money, leading to a meeting at a Chinese restaurant in Boston
- DeLuca, Salemme, Frankie Boy, Jackie, Harpo Garabedian, Kevin Hanrahan, Timothy Mello, and maybe a couple of other individuals were there to meet Hillary
- While the others ate, Salemme sat down with Hillary, started yelling at him, and eventually cracked him
- Salemme told Hillary to get out of Boston tomorrow or he’d kill him
- At some point after this, it was reported in the papers that Hillary was an informant
- Salemme was concerned because he and his son had been doing a lot of business with Hillary
Kevin Hanrahan
- DeLuca stopped coming to Boston so much around 1992 due to heat from law enforcement
- Stephen Flemmi came to see DeLuca and said they would find someone else to take DeLuca’s place running the numbers operation
- DeLuca had started seeing Flemmi every day when he was in Boston as he was always with Salemme
- While DeLuca stayed in Providence, he kept in contact with Salemme every day through beepers and pay phones
- Around September 1992, Salemme beeped DeLuca to come to a meeting
- Salemme told DeLuca that they had to kill Kevin Hanrahan
- ‘He said, “He’s looking to kill me, you, and Louie.”’
- From prison, Raymond Patriarca Jr had sent his son to give Hanrahan money to kill Salemme, Manocchio, and DeLuca
- Patriarca was upset because the three of them had stolen expensive cars from him
- When Salemme got shot, Patriarca promised to pay his hospital bills but never followed through
- Salemme then stole and sold the cars as payback
- Salemme instructed DeLuca to meet with Manocchio and relay the news
- Manocchio said he would get Edward Lato and Rocco Argenti (both made members) to kill Hanrahan
- After a week or so, nothing had happened because Hanrahan was an experienced killer and wasn’t an easy target
- Salemme called DeLuca again to give him an update he received from a friend in South Boston
- Hanrahan got some explosives to make bombs and had partnered up with Robert Almonte
- Hanrahan was spotted making dry runs at DeLuca’s jewellery store, Manocchio’s restaurant, and Salemme’s condo
- DeLuca went to see Manocchio again, who said he would speak to Lato and Argenti
- They had already tried a couple of things that didn’t pan out, but they would get it taken care of
- DeLuca was sitting across the street in a car with another guy when Argenti and Lato finally shot Hanrahan on Atwells Avenue
- Argenti was the shooter
- Salemme wanted DeLuca there to make sure it was done and let him (Salemme) know right away
- DeLuca beeped or called Salemme with a prearranged code and then met him the following Monday to explain how it happened
Steven DiSarro
- In May 1993, Salemme beeped DeLuca to meet him
- Salemme explained that Steven DiSarro had been skimming money from a joint venture
- Frankie Boy had opened the Channel nightclub in Boston with DiSarro only to discover DiSarro was skimming the place
- DeLuca suggested throwing DiSarro out of the business since he hadn’t put any money in
- Salemme told him Frankie Boy would take care of that
- A couple of days later, DeLuca got a call from Salemme telling him and his brother Joe to be around the next day and have a hole dug
- ‘I said okay. What am I going to say?’
- DeLuca and Joe were supposed to meet Salemme at the White Cross Pharmacy in North Providence to receive a body
- Joe wondered why Salemme would bring the body to Rhode Island when he was in Massachusetts
- Joe suggested just throwing the body in the woods, but DeLuca reminded him they could get killed for that if the body was found
- The next morning came and Joe suggested he go by himself
- ‘He said, “If something happens”, he said, “You got two kids and stuff”. He said, “We don’t need three guys to switch a body.”’
- DeLuca had tried to obtain a car from William Ricci, a property and body shop owner he had borrowed cars from in the past
- DeLuca noticed Ricci was doing an excavation job with a backhoe outside a building
- Ricci didn’t have a car, so Harpo Garabedian obtained one and gave it to Joe
- Joe organised switching the body with Salemme and told DeLuca about it after the fact
- DeLuca and Joe went to see Billy Ricci again to ask if they could use the hole he had dug
- ‘I know Billy for fifty years. You know what I mean? Actually, he’s kind of related on my mother’s side way back. […] We didn’t actually tell him we were going to put a body – if you got any brains, you know what we’re doing. He knew really.’
- Ricci gave permission to dump it in the hole and cover it with sand
- Joe volunteered to get Garabedian and Richard Cinquegrana, DeLuca’s nephew, to put the body in the hole so DeLuca didn’t have to be part of it
- Later, DeLuca bumped into his nephew who told him they got it in the hole and Ricci was going to cover it up
- DeLuca was concerned because Salemme had instructed them to dispose of the tarp used to carry the body, but Joe hadn’t
- ‘If something ever happened and they found it and it’s there, and you’re not doing what you’re told, you got a problem.’
- The next day, Salemme came down to meet DeLuca and see where they buried the body
- DeLuca told Salemme that Joe and Garabedian had buried the body but didn’t want him to know about Ricci or Cinquegrana’s involvement
- DeLuca thought Salemme might kill Ricci and Cinquegrana if he knew they were in on the murder
- DeLuca also didn’t mention that he wasn’t there to supervise the burial
- DeLuca lied to Salemme that they removed the tarp, went through the pockets, and covered the body in lime
- Salemme was satisfied and confirmed that the body was DiSarro’s, telling DeLuca how he was killed
- Salemme, Frankie Boy, and Jackie got DiSarro to a house where Frankie Boy strangled him to death
- While Frankie Boy strangled DiSarro, Steve Flemmi walked in on the murder
- In addition to stealing from the club, DiSarro had also allegedly been giving information to the US Attorney’s Office
- A couple of weeks later, Salemme had another conversation with DeLuca
- Law enforcement had been to see Paul Weadick, the man who brought DiSarro to the house where he was killed
- Weadick also held up DiSarro’s legs as Frankie Boy strangled him
- After they were indicted, DeLuca and Salemme were held together in Plymouth, where they had another conversation
- Salemme told DeLuca that law enforcement had been to see Weadick again, but assured DeLuca that Weadick would stand up
Cooperation
- In 2011, DeLuca was approached by the FBI to discuss cooperating following an indictment
- DeLuca agreed but lied about having no knowledge of the DiSarro murder in initial interviews
- DeLuca claimed to not want to incriminate his brother or spend significant time away from his children
- As part of his cooperation agreement, DeLuca was extensively interviewed and agreed to wear a wire
- DeLuca cooperated against ‘captains, bosses, underboss’
Q When you say bosses plural, who were the two bosses that you cooperated against?
A Well, Anthony from up in Boston, I’ll think of his name, Cheeseman is his brother there. He was acting boss. Louie, he was acting, he was and he wasn’t, he was. You know. After he knew he was getting indicted, that’s when he stepped down. He was really the boss.
Q When Louie stepped down, who was elevated to the boss position?
A Anthony became – no. Limone, Peter Limone became boss for a while. Then he stepped down because he pled out. And then Anthony became acting boss because his brother was still the boss supposedly while he was in prison.
Q This is the Cheeseman you said?
A Please?
Q This was the Cheeseman you said?
A Yeah. He was still the boss supposedly while he was in prison.
Q What was the Cheeseman’s real name, do you recall?
A Carmen DiNunzio, DiNunzio. And it was Anthony DiNunzio.
