Trial of Cadillac Frank Salemme

[dixiemafia]

And via Shelley Murphy @shelleymurph

I'll try not to double it up

Retired FBI agent Robert Walther said he urged South Boston nightclub owner Steve DiSarro to cooperate against Mob boss Frank #Salemme in 1993, but didn't put it in a report out of concerns for DiSarro's security. DiSarro vanished two months later, his remains were found in 2016

This is DeLuca's debut as a government witness and he looks uncomfortable. This is a guy who wrote poems about "rats" after discovering Whitey and Flemmi were FBI informants. #Salemme

DeLuca said he met #Salemme in 1989 or 1990; when Salemme was shot outside a Saugus pancake house in June 1989, he said the mob was "all shook up." An underboss, Billy Grasso was killed at same time.

After #Salemme was shot, then boss Raymond "Junior" Patriarca asked DeLuca to set-up a meeting at Saratoga racetrack in NY with member of renegade faction behind the ambush, Boston capo Vinny Ferrara, DeLuca says.

DeLuca says the Saratoga meeting with Ferrara was actually before the #Salemme shooting, After the ambush, Junior asked DeLuca to ask Ferrara "if he heard anything about why Salemme was shot."

DeLuca met Ferrara in a schoolyard in Boston; he said the best thing to do was for him to talk to another capo, Joe Russo, and give DeLuca an update the next day.

"Why'd this guy get shot?" DeLuca asked Russo the next day at a North End coffee shop, and was told "I think it had something to do with a drug deal that went bad." DeLuca says, "I knew that wasn't what happened."

Boston capos JR Russo and Vinny Ferrara told DeLuca to report back to the boss, Raymond "Junior" Patriarca, that they were investigating why #Salemme got shot, but believed it was "a drug deal that went back."

Junior told DeLuca to tell Ferrara and Russo to come meet him, but they said "We're not comfortable with that. We're not coming to Rhode Island." #Salemme

DeLuca, Harpo Garabedian , Junior and St. Laurent, of RI, drove to MGH to meet with the Boston renegade faction --- Ferrara and JR Russo. It's a sitdown about why Salemme was shot and Billy Grasso was killed.

DeLuca: During a meeting at a Providence jewelry store, Ferrara and Russo yelled at Junior that he wasn't doing what he was supposed to do as boss, "You have to step down."

Junior said he didn't want to be embarrassed, asked them to let him preside over an induction ceremony, then tell the family he was stepping down because he was sick, Deluca says.

#Salemme's head is bowed as he listens to DeLuca recount the 1989 induction ceremony in Medford. "There were 4 men being made." there was me, there was 3 guys from Boston, Vinny Federico, one guy that was made already died, and a guy by the name of Carmine.

DeLuca says after Junior Patriarca was indicted in 1990, #Salemme asked him to meet him. He said Jr. wanted DeLuca to leave drug trafficker Frank Lepere alone -- that supposedly there was a plan to kidnap him.

"I told him I don't even know the guy, I have no intention of kidnapping him," DeLuca says. Later, he learned Lepere was a wealthy, large scale marijuana trafficker.

DeLuca says he got friendly with #Salemme. I started going up to Boston to meet him. I started going up "mostly every day, not weekends, but Monday through Friday." (Mafia had banker's hours apparently.)

"We'd go to Brookline, the body shop" -- owned by bookie George Kaufman, a friend of Steve Flemmi's. "Then mostly every day we'd have lunch at the Busy Bee." (The State Police but a bug in the napkin holder at the booth they always sat in)

#Salemme's underboss was Louie Manocchio, who DeLuca says "I knew him all my life." DeLuca was a soldier, then elevated to captain by Salemme. "I didn't really have a crew, no. I was mostly by myself."

Guarino was with the NY people, the Gambino family, DeLuca testifies. #Salemme

"When Raymond Patriarca Sr. was the boss he didn't want to get involved in that business (porn)," DeLuca said. So the NE Mafia allowed the NY family to let Guarino handle that business in RI. #Salemme

Now DeLuca is talking about going to the Logan Airport Hilton in 1991 with #Salemme, Salemme's brother and son to meet with Natale Richichi,a mobster with NY Gambino family who moved to Vegas because the air was better for him. He had trouble breathing and was on oxygen.

DeLuca says Guarino and Richichi wanted to put more peep shows in RI but Salemme said "no more." They could keep what they had because they were grandfathered in, but could not have any more.

DeLuca says he was with #Salemme at a restaurant in Boston's Chinatown in 1990 when he confronted associate Tom Hillary. "He cracked him" told him to leave town or he'd kill him. Later, HIllary became an informant and Salemme was a little worried.

DeLuca says he was going to flea markets, working, and his wife was a hairdresser when he got arrested two years ago for lying about DiSarro's murder after the FBI dug up his remains. #Salemme

DeLuca said he was in the Twin River casino in 2011 when two FBI agents called and asked him to come to the parking lot. "We have an indictment for you" they said, "and then they arrested me."

"They asked me if I wanted to cooperate," DeLuca said. "I was there for a few hours and I said I don't know what I want to do. They said we'll give you the weekend to decide." #Salemme

[dixiemafia]

And from Jonathan Hall at @JHall7news

DeLuca on whether Frank Salemme Jr thought Stephen "the rifleman" Flemmi could be an FBI informant.. “he told me a few times - don’t trust him. don’t trust the nice guy."

But Frank senior, who was in charge, was with Flemmi all the time and trusted him. Flemmi is on the left

72 yr old Bobby Deluca is back on the stand for a third day in the Francis Salemme murder trial...he's being cross examined and is listening to tape recorded conversations between him and his brother Joe, who was also a mafia guy.

The recording has the brothers discussing which info they should share with the government - Joe Deluca says things could get messy if they mention a mystery person they call "the Pumpkin." He's also called the midget. Bobby DeLuca reluctant to give up info about this person.

In another call, to his wife, DeLuca is saying he had not been treated well by the government the first time he cooperated in 2011 when he helped get mafia members who were extorting RI strip clubs. Says he "didn't trust what they were doing to me."

DeLuca explains "I was cooperating, and I felt I shouldn't have gotten into the trouble I got in." DeLuca was arrested at Twin Rivers casino in 2016 after murder victim Steve DiSarro's body was discovered.

He says he was set up by someone named "fatso." DeLuca says he's the same person as "pumpkin" and "midget." Laughter in the courtroom as Attorney Shea says "I don't mean any disrepect, but you're saying this person is a fat midget?"

The judge asked DeLuca to give man's first name - it's David. But she is shielding the midget's identity, it is not being divulged, at the request of the prosecution. When Shea asks if Pumpkin/midget/fatso is a cooperating witness, that elicits a quick loud objection. Sustained

Jury hears tapes of DeLuca telling his wife he wants joint custody of the kids, and claims he's not threatening her, but will hurt her if he has to to get his way. He explains he meant financially, not physically or emotionally.

DeLuca testified the body of Steve DiSarro, who was secretly in business with the mob at the Channel nightclub in South Boston, was buried about 12-15 feet down.

Shea is asking about how his brother Joe could jump into a hole 12-15 feet deep to remove a tarp which had been initially buried with the body. Salemme wanted it out. Bobby DeLuca says "he never jumped down in the hole."

Joe DeLuca had testified that as mill owner William Ricci operated a backhoe to get to the body "The blue tarp was hanging on the end of the shovel. So I jumped down there and grabbed it."

Weadick attorney Mark Shea is done...now assistant US attorney Ferland is on redirect. Asks about the jailhouse phone calls with his brother. Says the recording came a long time after Joe DeLuca talked to the FBI... so story was already out.

[dixiemafia]

I'd imagine Baby Shacks and Eddie Lato are not happy hearing their names in the Hanrahan murder..

[johnny_scootch]

THE DOWNFALL OF A DON: FRESH INTEL ON HOW PATRIARCA, JR. LOST GRIP OF NEW ENGLAND MAFIA IN ’89
Scott Bernstein


Raymond (Ray Rubber Lips) Patriarca, Jr. saw his New England mob kingdom crumble in the late 1980s as his troops grew restless and frustrated with his feeble leadership. The details of Patriarca, Jr.’s downfall have come to light in federal court these last few weeks as a successor of his, Francis (Cadillac Frank) Salemme, stands trial for the 1993 murder of Boston nightclub owner Stevie DiSarro. Salemme and Patriarca, Jr. were allies during a war that broke out in 1989, but Patriarca, Jr. would eventually turn on Cadillac Frank and seek to have him assassinated from behind bars.

Patriarca, Jr. took power after the death of his dad, fabled crime family namesake Raymond Patriarca, who passed away from a sudden heart attack in 1984 following heading the organization for more than two decades from his headquarters in Providence. The 84-year old Salemme was one of the elder Patriarca’s top enforcers in Boston during the 1960s. He got out of prison in the spring of 1987 for a car bomb attack he perpetrated at Patriarca’s behest and the younger Patriarca immediately inducted him into the crime family, making him his main representative in Beantown where he replaced his mentor and syndicate consigliere Larry Zannino who was locked up around the same time.

Zannino’s incarceration and Salemme’s unconventional fast rise through the ranks presented problems for Patriarca, Jr. Zannino was well liked and heavily-respected while Salemme was perceived as aloof and power hungry. Without Zannino on the street to back Patriarca, Jr.’s regime, the crown was left exposed due to Patriarca, Jr.’s inability to instill faith, nor fear in his followers. Mob crews out of East Boston and the North End, led by old-timer Joe (J.R.) Russo and his protégé Vinnie (The Animal) Ferrara, respectively, resented Salemme’s rapid ascent and with Patriarca, Jr. “closing the books,” refusing to induct new members into the crime family after Salemme got his button, they began quietly discussing staging a mutiny.

By 1989, those whispers ballooned to a full-blown roar.

According to FBI documents, North End mobster Angelo (Sonny) Mercurio told Patriarca, Jr. in May of 1989 that if he didn’t open the books soon to placate Russo and Ferrara, he was going to have a war on his hands. In early June, Patriarca had a meeting with the ambitious, college-educated Ferrara in New York at the Saratoga Race Track. The face-to-face didn’t solve anything though and on June 16, Salemme was wounded in an ambush outside a Saugus, Massachusetts International House of Pancakes, set up by Mercurio, and Patriarca, Jr.’s underboss, notoriously-unhinged Connecticut Goodfella William (The Wild Man) Grasso, was killed in separate attacks.

Salemme retreated to California and Patriarca, Jr. hoped to stave off the insurgence by making peace. Per testimony this week at Salemme’s murder trial, former Rhode Island wiseguy Robert (Bobby the Cigar) DeLuca, was summoned to then-Providence mob captain Anthony (The Saint) St. Laurent’s house by Patriarca, Jr. and asked to broker talks with the Boston faction in order to quell tensions – once partners in a bookmaking business, DeLuca and St. Laurent had a bitter falling out in the 2000s with St. Laurent taking out multiple murder contracts on his head.

DeLuca attended a pair of meetings with Ferrara, one at a North End elementary school playground and another at a North End coffee shop, and was told Salemme was shot because of a drug deal gone bad, which he knew wasn’t true. When DeLuca requested that Ferrara and Russo come to Providence for a sit down with Patriarca, Jr., they refused. Eventually, Patriarca Jr. agreed to come into Boston for the sit down and bringing DeLuca and St. Laurent as back-up, the don met with the leaders of the rebellion in the cafeteria of Massachusetts General Hospital. Days later, Rhode Island mob powerhouse Matthew (Good Looking Matty) Guglielmetti met with Ferrara at a Providence pizza parlor to tell him he was taking over the Connecticut territory previously overseen by Grasso and would be providing Russo a bigger piece of the action from that state’s rackets.

Shortly thereafter, New York’s Gambino crime family got involved in negotiations. The Gambinos had supported Patriarca, Jr. promotion to boss years earlier. The Teflon Don himself John Gotti, at that point, the most prominent Godfather on the east coast, called both sides of the conflict to separate sit downs in Manhattan. Russo was instructed to stop the violence and DeLuca, sent on behalf of Patriarca, Jr., was told there should be no retaliation for the attacks on Salemme and Grasso, according to FBI informant files. Gotti in turn arranged for Russo to get a bump up to consigliere, Patriarca, Jr. to “make” a dozen of his men and DeLuca to be inducted as reward for his role as peacekeeper.

During a subsequent sit down in the back office of DeLuca’s Lorenzo’s Jewelry in North Providence, Russo and Ferrara demanded that Patriarca, Jr. step down.

“You’re not running this thing like a boss….this is not how a boss should act,” Russo hollered at Patriarca, Jr., per DeLuca’s testimony.

DeLuca told jurors that Patriarca, Jr. agreed to resign his post, but in order to save face and not be publicly embarrassed, made a deal with Russo where he would be allowed to conduct the upcoming making ceremony and then tell the organization’s rank and file that he was leaving the mob on his own volition and handing the reins to longtime Rhode Island capo Nicky Bianco.

The next month, Russo invited the Providence and Connecticut factions of the crime family to a party at Lombardo’s Italian Restaurant in East Boston to kickoff Labor Day weekend and bury the hatchet on the war. Ostensibly, the party was held in honor of Russo’s dad’s birthday. The making ceremony, staged that October, was famously bugged by the FBI courtesy of help from Sonny Mercurio. Within weeks, Patriarca, Jr., Bianco, Russo and Ferrara, among others, were indicted on racketeering charges.

Upon Bianco being convicted at trial in 1991, Cadillac Frank assumed command and proceeded to continue to fight it out with the East Boston crew for almost the entirety of his reign. Salemme also dodged a murder contract taken out on him by an imprisoned Patriarca, Jr.

The deposed Patriarca, Jr. did eight years in the joint. Today, at 73, he sells real estate. Russo and Bianco both died in prison. Ferrara got out more than a decade ago and is semi-retired and running a series of successful legitimate businesses in his old North End stomping grounds.

Busted by the feds in 1995, Salemme turned witness for the government in 1999, aiding in the building of a case against a corrupt FBI agent. However, he lied to his handlers about the Stevie DiSarro hit and when DiSarro’s remains were unearthed behind a converted textile mill in Providence in late March 2016, he was yanked out of the Witness Protection Program and arrested for DiSarro’s homicide. Prosecutors allege Salemme had the 43-year old DiSarro killed for stealing from a joint business venture and cooperating with the FBI and IRS. DeLuca, 72, flipped in 2011 and admits to being tasked with burying DiSarro’s body.

[willychichi]

Shouting match between attorneys, ex mob boss brings quick end to day's proceedings

The wheels came off the murder trial of former gangsters Francis “Cadillac Frank” Salemme and Paul Weadick yesterday as the first of 18 jurors dropped out and the judge recessed early in order to silence a round robin of barb-slinging by the trial teams and mafia capo Robert “Bobby” DeLuca.

Read more: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/local_ ... nd_to_days

[willychichi]

Ex-girlfriend of ‘Cadillac’ Frank Salemme’s son takes stand in Mafia murder trial

A key witness in the murder trial of former mob boss “Cadillac” Frank Salemme returned to the stand Friday for a fourth straight day, but the spotlight was on the ex-girlfriend of Salemme’s son. Salemme is charged with killing Stephen Disarro in 1993 at his Sharon home, but prosecutors say it was his late son Francis Salemme Junior who actually strangled The Channel Nightclub owner as his father looked on.

Read more: https://whdh.com/news/ex-girlfriend-of- ... der-trial/

[dixiemafia]

The ex girlfriend of Frankie Boy didn't really impact things IMHO. They were done with her fairly quick so that tells you how easy it went with her.

Things should heat up next week as the "two secret" feds are supposed to testify I think and I believe Flemmi is due after that so that should get very interesting with all the rats and their lawyers set to go at each other so that will be juicy for sure.

Johnny that was a great story you posted by the way. That's the first one I've seen that talked about the details like that.

Is there anything with more info about J.R. Russo? He seems like a character. Of course I know he led the uprising and was behind killing Grasso, and of course he hit Barboza in California too but that's about all I know on him. Didn't he have a connected Dad and like a half-brother too that was involved? I'd love to read more about him if there is anything out there.

[dack2001]

Check out this article. These DeLuca's are lying scumbags. This case is going off the rails and Flemmi is coming in next week.

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/local_ ... guy_flemmi

‘Made man’ testifies mob boss’ late son didn’t trust ‘Nice Guy’ Flemmi
Laurel J. Sweet Friday, June 01, 2018

The gangland serial slayer — and only eyewitness — who puts Francis “Cadillac Frank” Salemme and Paul Weadick with Steven DiSarro when he was strangled in a suburban kitchen was not to be trusted, Salemme’s late son repeatedly warned him, according to their crew’s former capo.

“Frank told me he (‘Frankie Boy’ Salemme Jr.) told him a few times, ‘Don’t trust him. Don’t trust The Nice Guy,’ ” made man Robert DeLuca testified yesterday, using the mafia’s paradoxical nickname for convicted murderer Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi. “I really didn’t know what he was doing. I was never told. Frank told me Frankie Boy don’t like the guy, but Frank thought he was OK.”

DeLuca, a critical government witness, put prosecutors on the defensive during his blistering cross-examination in order to buffer Flemmi’s tenuous credibility ahead of his anticipated courtroom appearance next week. DeLuca’s testimony was frequently interrupted by prosecutors’ objections and sidebars. Flemmi is expected to claim he was paying a visit to the Sharon home of Salemme’s ex-wife on May 10, 1993, and happened upon the murder in progress, with Frankie Boy doing the actual throttling.

Weadick’s attorney Mark Shea, meanwhile, pointedly suggested through the playing of a recorded prison conversation between DeLuca and his brother Joseph that they manufactured the story they were going to sell to the feds that downplayed their roles as mere disposers of DiSarro’s dead body in order to be viewed as assets prosecutors might be willing to cut a deal with.

“I’m the one they’re going to need the most because he (Salemme) told me who was there,” Robert, who was incarcerated following the 2016 discovery of DiSarro’s remains in Providence, told Joseph.

“And the other guy walked in,” Joseph responded, referring to Flemmi.

“He walked in, yeah, but I’m going to corroborate his testimony,” Robert said.

“Flemmi, he walked in ... ?” Joseph seemed to ask.

“Yeah, he walked in,” Robert reiterated. “And then you’re going to be the one to say (Salemme) gave it (the body) to you.”

“That’s the link. ... I’m going to put in the pieces there, the finishing touches,” Joseph said.

Jurors also heard a heated phone call Robert DeLuca had with his now ex-wife following his arrest in which he was pressing for joint custody of their two young children living in Florida.

“There’s nothing to do right now with the children — you’re in a prison, locked up,” she reminded him.

“If I’m forced to, I will do everything that I could possibly do,” DeLuca cryptically put her on notice. “I don’t care if it hits every newspaper in the country.”

[dixiemafia]

New testimony today. Via Karen Anderson @karenreports

Next witness is Roland Wheeler - step brother of victim in case Steven DiSarro. #wcvb

Wheeler says Steve DiSarro’s father Albert knew mobster Raymond Patriaca: “He was an associate of his.” Wheeler says, “Steven told me Raymond Patriarca was his godfather.” “I thought that was really eye raising.” #wcvb

Wheeler says Steven DiSarro introduced him to Frank Salemme Jr when they were opening the Channel and said he was a very good friend of his. They hired Frank to work there as an Asst Manager bc he was on an ankle bracelet and this could give him freedom to get out of house #wcvb

Wheeler says he doesn’t know of any qualifications that Frank Jr had to be an assistant manager at the Channel. “The only duties he did, he worked as a nighttime manager a few nights.” Wheeler says he fired Frank Jr after he got into fight there. #wcvb

Wheeler says they were trying to get a liquor license in Boston, and knew having Salemme Jr on the payroll wouldn’t be good for their effort. There were news reports on Salemme’s fight at the Channel. “It was harmful to the business.” #wcvb

Wheeler now getting emotional as he talks about the last conversation he had with his step brother Steven DiSarro at the bar at the club.

Wheeler describing the last time he spoke to his step brother Steve DiSarro. “When I sat down next to him, he looked at he me was extremely...(pauses) he was extremely emotional. I didn’t remember seeing him quite like that. He had tears in his eyes.”

Wheeler says DiSarro “was very upset because he didn’t have any money if he had to defend himself with an FBI investigation. He said he might have to go away for a while.”

Wheeler says DiSarro told him he wouldn’t cooperate with FBI in investigation into the Salemme’s and the club. “Steven told me absolutely he refused it. He offered his hands up (gestures hands in cuffs) I told them just take me now because I’m not going to do that.”

Wheeler describing his last conversation with DiSarro: “He was highly emotional. His eyes were glossed over and wide open. He hugged me. He just said I was a great brother. (Wheeler breaks down on stand.) I remember it like it as yesterday.”

“He said how happy he was that I was his brother. And he said I don’t know what I’m going to do. I might have to get out of here for a while I might have to see the old man.” Wheeler says DiSarro was referring to Frank Salemme Sr.


That was it for the day.

[BeatiPaoli]

To DixieMafia: Kudos to you, my friend, for these "twitter feeds" (for lack of a better term) on the Salemme trial in Boston. Best information around. Neither the Boston Globe nor the Boston Herald are doing that good a job on covering this trial (especially the Globe), which kind of surprises me. For all of us who are interested in this trial, thank you for your efforts!

Regards,
BeatiPaoli

[TJ]

Agreed to dixie and all others with the posts, the papers have sucked, so this is great info

[dixiemafia]

No problem y'all, it's the least I can do.

Back to Karen Anderson today (@karenreports)

Testimony is now resuming but Salemme is not here in court. Judge Burroughs apologizes to the jury for the delay. “Mr Salemme is not with us this morning.... His absence is excused and he will be rejoining us at some point.”

After Steve DiSarro disappeared, Wheeler says Frank Salemme and Paul Weadick continued to come to the Channel “Right to the end when I closed the doors.” “We weren’t making any money in the Club. I told them I was going to have to declare bankruptcy.”

Less than a week after DiSarro disappeared, Wheeler says Frank Junior warned him not to mention his name to law enforcement.

Wheeler now under cross examination by Salemme’s attorney. Steve Boozang asks Wheeler if there were other things at the club that Frank Junior could have been concerned about him discussing his name with law enforcement. He agrees there was an investigation into the club.

Boozang asking about DiSarro’s troubles right before he disappeared. Boozang: He was on and off again with his wife? Like most married couples... Wheeler: Yes.

Wheeler says DiSarro was drinking and emotional during their last conversation - he was concerned about an FBI investigation into him and said he would have to go see “The Big Guy” (Frank Salemme Sr) “He liked to drink and whenever he was working he would drink too.”

Wheeler says he only saw Frank Salemme Sr once, when the club first opened. “He was in the office in the club with Frank Jr”... “they were all in their sweat suits, you know?”

Wheeler says DiSarro told him he and Frank Jr were friends for years, had shared an apartment. When asked if he was ever concerned about Frank Jr stealing from him, Wheeler says he was concerned about one thing that Salemme Dr & Steven did together - but isn’t asked what.

Wheeler now asked about Steve Flemmi’s sons - says they had been at the club for quite a bit during the construction. He says Steven and Billy Hussey wanted to put some pool tables in the Channel. “I didn’t think it was a good idea.”

Boozang now asking if Flemmi or Whitey Bulger had come to the club. Wheeler: I didn’t know Steven Flemmi or Whitey Bulger so if they were there I wouldn’t have known.

Wheeler describes when he found Flemmi’s sons measuring for pool tables at his club - and asked what they were doing: “All of the sudden the youngest one flipped out. He and I were face to face. I didn’t know who it was and he was ready to throw down over it.”

Wheeler now asked again what he thought about about bringing in Frank Salemme Jr to the club. He says DiSarro told him it would help them, especially because South Boston was covered by Whitey Bulger.. “I assumed bringing Frank in was going to be a plus.”

Wheeler now questioned by Weadick’s attorney about his grand jury testimony on April 1, 1993. He was asked if Mr Salemme (Jr) was involved in any organized crime activities? At that time, he said: No absolutely not.

Wheeler says of his step brother Steve DiSarro: “I know he knew a few guys in organized crime.” Question: “His godfather was technically The Godfather, Raymond Patriarca?” Wheeler: “Steven told me that.”

Wheeler says Steve Flemmi was also on the books at the Channel. Prosecutors ask for a sidebar.

Wheeler now able to explain that the Steven Flemmi he hired was completely different from Whitey Bulger’s partner.

Wheeler says DiSarro and Salemme Jr were almost always together. “Even on the nights one of them worked the other would be there just hanging out.” When asked by Weadick’s attorney if Paul Weadick was a good employee - Wheeler says he was not.

Wheeler had fired Frank Salemme Jr because he had gotten into a fight with a drummer among other things - he was fired before DiSarro went missing.

Wheeler now talking about speaking with the police when his step brother DiSarro went missing - says they came to speak with him at the club. Westwood Police report says Wheeler called them May 19, 1993. “I don’t recall that phone call.

Wheeler asked about what he told police after DiSarro went missing in May 1993. Crowe: “Did Steven DiSarro have a drinking problem? Wheeler: “I think that’s fair to say yes.” Crowe: “Was Mr DiSarro under a lot of stress.” Wheeler: “Yes.”

Wheeler says in 1993 he was searching for reasons as to why DiSarro went missing - maybe he had gone to rehab, could have been out with a stripper.

Crowe: “Do you believe sir you were especially a front for the Channel?” Wheeler: “Yes, sir, I do.” Wheeler said he was the owner. “It was a paper trail that made me the sole owner, but the agreement with my brother was once we got it up and running we would reorganize.”

When asked if the Channel was a biker bar, Wheeler says the Hells Angels had Christmas parties there. He says they had done it before they owned it and would call up to pick a date.

Wheeler said DiSarro told him he had been involved in ripping off a drug dealer with Frank Salemme Jr. Wheeler: Do want to know more? Crowe: (No response.) Wheeler: I’ll take that as a no.

Six months after DiSarro disappeared, on November 18, 1993, Wheeler told the grand jury that DiSarro had perhaps panicked and ran because he was concerned he was going to be indicted. When asked if thought DiSarro had been murdered, he said no.

Wyshak: You understood who Frank Salemme Jr was at the time in 1993. Wheeler: Yes I did Wyshak: DId you confront him ... about the federal investigation. Wheeler: I didn’t confront him certainly not Wyshak: You knew he knew about it tho. Wheeler: Yes.

Wyshak asking about DiSarro saying he had to go see the Big Guy (Salemme Sr) before he disappeared: Wyshak: Did you think your brother was going to see Frank Salemme Sr to get marriage counseling? Wheeler: No.

Wheeler: “From the begining I was trying to be hesitant about speaking about... a problem that had to deal with mob stuff.” After he found out his brother had been murdered 2 years ago, he came forward with more information about his last conversation with DiSarro.

In that last conversation, Wheeler says DiSarro told him that he was under investigation by the FBI and had to go see “The Big Guy” Frank Salemme. He hadn’t volunteered this to the FBI about this until after DiSarro’s body was found in 2016.

Wheeler says DiSarro warned him about Frank Jr & Weadick. “He said don’t make any waves with Frank or Paul. He said just go with he flow because they’re bad guys..I was with them when they ripped off a drug dealer and pushed him out of the car as it was going down the road.

Under cross examination - Wheeler agrees DiSarro knew other high level people in the mob. This wasn’t his first interaction with organization crime members.

Wheeler says in 2016, at times the voices got raised when he was questioned: “When I said I had never heard Frank Salemme’s name before I came up to Boston, they were kind of like not believing it.” They asked “What planet are you from you’ve never heard of Frank Salemme?

Wheeler now says that Paul Weadick was not involved in the drug rip off with DiSarro and Salemme Jr when they pushed a man out of a car.

Dixie's comment: Ouch, that didn't help at all.

Roland Wheeler’s testimony is now complete. Next witness is Jason Goldfedder. He currently lives at 14 Marie Ave in Sharon - the location where prosecutors say Salemme, Salemme Jr and Weadick murdered DiSarro in 1993.

Goldfeder says when they were renovating the bathroom in the back of the house, they discovered a door had been in the back of the bathroom - probably had been as a mud room. Prosecutors presenting the layout. Steve Flemmi will describes how he arrived during the murder.

Next witness is Peter Booras. He, his brother and another man owned the Channel night club before Wheeler and DiSarro bought it. “It was a nightclub that sold alcohol and featured live entertainment.” They sold tickets, concessions and alcohol.

Booras says they had been in financial trouble and were looking to get out of Chapter 11. He left the business after dissension with the potential investor - Steven DiSarro - came in to help them get out of bankruptcy.

DiSarro introduced Frank Salemme Jr as his money source. My reaction was okay, lets see if it’s going to work Ferland: Did it work Booras: No Ferland: Why didn’t it work? Booras: Too much dissention. Ferland: Explain the dissention. Booras: I just didn’t like the scenario.

Booras says he had a fight with Frank Salemme Jr: “I as closing the club. I asked him to leave and he just started fighting with me.” Booras now says he can’t remember what what he said. Ferland: In May you had no problem remembering the words that were exchanged.

Ferland is getting increasingly frustrated with Booras saying he doesn’t remember much. Ferland: Has somebody talked to you about your testimony prior to your testimony here today? Booras: No. Ferland: Has something occured...that’s caused you to have this memory lapse?

Ferland asking Booras what has caused him to be a cooperative witness in May to one that can’t remember anything now only a month later? Booras: I’m trying to answer the questions to be these of my ability

Booras says the day after he had a physical altercation he decided that he didn’t want to be involved in the club anymore. He says he won’t say what was said. When asked to read a document, he says he is unable to read it any documents and doesn’t have reading glasses.

Booras says he just walked away from the Channel night club after owning it for 10 years - but won’t say why. He just says he wanted to get out of the night club business. Booras says he never received any money from it.

Booras says he never had a conversation with another owner, Burke, about the future of the Channel night club. Ferland: “You just chose not to have a conversation with him...about a business you were involved in for 10 years? Booras: “Yes.”

Booras says there was a car fire in front of his business after he spoke with the FBI - and the Cohasset police came to do a wellness check. Claims it didn’t bother him, but when questioned he doesn’t deny he told the FBI he was concerned for his personal safety.

[dixiemafia]

More from Karen Anderson:

Booras says when he had the fight with Frank Salemme Jr at the Channel, he dropped his gun and Steve DiSarro picked it up and put it in his picket. Booras says he reported it stolen to BPD, but said said it was taken from his desk. He never told police that DiSarro took it

Ferland asking Booras why he is unable to recall things that occured while he was trying to negotiate resolution to his financial problems at the Channel. Booras says his wife is ill. Ferland says he is sorry but notes Booras wife was ill when he was forthcoming with FBI.

And that's all for today...

[willychichi]

Thanks Dix, good reads

[Eddie mush]

http://www.wpri.com/target-12/witness-i ... 1220300358