Worcester Hotel meeting in 1959

[Geekgang666]

Do anyone have any knowledge regarding the "Little Apalachin meeting" that was held in Massachusetts in 1959? Lately, i have been doing some research on the New England mob and I came across that in 1959 about 150 mafia dons or top gambling syndicate leaders from five eastern states which were RI, Conn., NJ, NY, and PA were present at that meeting. I even read that Raymond Patriarca Sr.was at the meeting. It's believed that the meeting was held at the Bancroft Hotel in Massachusetts. I just to know is what was that meeting about?

[JeremyTheJew]

do u know if it was specifically Italians?

[Geekgang666]

I believe it was only Italians at that meeting.

[TwoPiece]

Any links about this meeting? Never heard of it before.

[dixiemafia]

I would believe that Patriarca was there, Worcester was his birthplace and part of his territory.

[furiofromnaples]

https://books.google.it/books?id=kvtu2C ... 60&f=false

During the 1950s and early 1960s, friction between rival Mob factions in Youngstown,made 81 deads [...] November 8, 1959, meeting of 150 Mafia dons in a Worcester, Massachusetts

[Geekgang666]

Nice find furiofromnaples

[HairyKnuckles]

Bullshit I say. 150 Mafia dons? From where did all these dons come from? Russia? After the fiasco in Apalachin 1957 there were no mass meetings of Mafia dons nowhere.

[furiofromnaples]

Bullshit I say. 150 Mafia dons? From where did all these dons come from? Russia? After the fiasco in Apalachin 1957 there were no mass meetings of Mafia dons nowhere.

The newspaper doesn't had much info and has IMO deliberately exaggerated the numbers; in another article is said that the meeting was for solve the problems after Frank Iaconi worchester gambling king had declared a war to patriarca sr. IMO opinion that was the real reason: a simple meeting for the gambling racket.

[HairyKnuckles]

Bullshit I say. 150 Mafia dons? From where did all these dons come from? Russia? After the fiasco in Apalachin 1957 there were no mass meetings of Mafia dons nowhere.

The newspaper doesn't had much info and has IMO deliberately exaggerated the numbers; in another article is said that the meeting was for solve the problems after Frank Iaconi worchester gambling king had declared a war to patriarca sr. IMO opinion that was the real reason: a simple meeting for the gambling racket.

Yeah, when a dead man's ghost declare a war on Cosa Nostra it' s time for negotiations.

[furiofromnaples]

Bullshit I say. 150 Mafia dons? From where did all these dons come from? Russia? After the fiasco in Apalachin 1957 there were no mass meetings of Mafia dons nowhere.

The newspaper doesn't had much info and has IMO deliberately exaggerated the numbers; in another article is said that the meeting was for solve the problems after Frank Iaconi worchester gambling king had declared a war to patriarca sr. IMO opinion that was the real reason: a simple meeting for the gambling racket.

Yeah, when a dead man's ghost declare a war on Cosa Nostra it' s time for negotiations.

http://incitytimesworcester.org/worcest ... dence-mob/

Worcester mafia boss Frank Iaconi’s war with the Providence mob
October 8, 2008

Worcester gang war
Watching all this from Worcester, Iaconi sensed weakness on Patriarca’s part. Virgil Peterson told the Kefauver Committee what happened next: “In 1940, when Daniel H. Coakley, a member of the Governor’s Council in Massachusetts, was impeached for obtaining the release of Patriarca from the Massachusetts State Penitentiary, Iaconi informed Patriarca that he should stay out of Worcester.”

This set off a brief but interesting war between Patriarca’s Providence faction and Iaconi’s Worcester operation. The Hollywood version of a 1940s Mafia war involves gangsters with submachine guns mowing down their enemies. This war was different. Patriarca struck not at Iaconi but at Iaconi’s money. It was as if Patriarca was a corporate leader out to reassert his authority over a distant subsidiary, eager to exert control, while preserving his operating assets and seasoned personnel. Patriarca’s use of violence was extremely sophisticated and surprisingly surreptitious.

Iaconi’s money was out in the open, on the street in gambling dens. It could be hit. Patriarca had good intelligence. He knew Worcester well, having lived there in the 1920s and 1930s. He also had blood relatives in Worcester and, most likely, informants inside the Worcester Mafia. Patriarca sent his gunmen into Worcester to raid Iaconi’s gambling parlors. Instead of leaving bullet riddled bodies in the street, which would attract media attention, Patriarca resorted to robberies that went largely unnoticed by the press.

“There were about four robberies in a very few days,” said Peterson. “One of them involved Tony Santello, who handed over $21,000.” Santello was arrested along with Patriarca in the 1932 Webster National Bank robbery.

“Four days later there was a robbery of a Worcester barroom where Iaconi, a high city official, and four others were present,” continued Peterson. “After another robbery of an Iaconi gambling joint on Green Street in Worcester of $19,000, Patriarca was invited to come to Worcester and make peace with Iaconi. Since that time the Iaconi-Patriarca alliance has been functioning smoothly. Iaconi’s monopoly of gambling in Worcester is an important part of Patriarca’s gambling set up in that particular area.”

The Kefauver Committee was established by the U.S. Senate to investigate organized crime, and named after committee chairman Senator Estes Kefauver. After hearing Peterson’s testimony in 1950, Kefauver himself said the committee would examine Iaconi’s tax returns. This triggered an Internal Revenue Service investigation of Iaconi, who was indicted on five counts in February 1953 of failing to pay a total of $217,875 in taxes on $350,000 in rackets revenue. The indictment alleged Iaconi had tried to wash clean his gambling receipts by funneling cash through three legitimate enterprises in Worcester.

When he came to trial in July 1954 Iaconi had only two years left to live. He faced the real prospect of dying in prison. Iaconi probably could have cut a deal with prosecutors to give up Patriarca in exchange for his own freedom. But to use today’s vernacular, Iaconi was a “stand up guy”. Frank Iaconi showed himself to be a true Mafioso who would rather die in jail than give up his Don. He pled guilty to one count and served eleven months in federal prison in Danbury Connecticut. Not long after being released from prison Iaconi, already in bad health, died of natural causes.

Patriarca maintained his ties with Worcester. “Patriarca frequently met with friends and business associates in Worcester over the years,” the Worcester Telegram reported when Patriarca died of natural causes in July 1984. “Patriarca also admitted to investigators he had attended the so-called ‘Little Apalachin’ conclave of East Coast mobsters at the former Bancroft Hotel on Franklin Street in Worcester in 1959.”

[HairyKnuckles]

Furio, Frank Iaconi died in 1956, that's 3 years before he declared war on the Mafia.

[Geekgang666]

Thanks for sharing that post HairyKnuckles.

[Geekgang666]

Well I to believe that they may have exaggerated about the number of people that was present at that meeting a lot times newspapers would do that just to sell papers.

[Raven]

I have only heard of "Little Apalachin" referring to the 1966 LaStella Restaurant meeting. I am by no means an "expert" but I researched and read a lot of mafia stuff and I have never once heard of this Worcester meeting.


Furio do you look into or research the background of articles or links you post? Could save you from looking like a jackass.