Ex-Mafia boss found guilty in man’s slaying
Associated Press
BOSTON
Francis “Cadillac Frank” Salemme was convicted Friday of killing a nightclub owner to keep him from ratting out the mobster to authorities in 1993, all but ensuring that the 84-year-old former New England Mafia boss will die behind bars.
It’s a fate the once feared and powerful gangster perhaps saw coming. “You’re not going to beat the government,” Salemme told a reporter in 2004. “Let’s face it. One way or the other, they’re going to get you.”
Jurors found Salemme guilty in Steven DiSarro’s slaying after four days of deliberations in a case that served as a flashback to the days when La Cosa Nostra was a force to be reckoned with in the region. Salemme was the head of the New England family of La Cosa Nostra, which is today just a shell of its former self.
“Today’s conviction in some ways ends a long and dark chapter in the history of our city,” U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling told reporters.
DiSarro was the owner of The Channel, a South Boston rock-and-roll club in which Salemme was a “silent partner.” Prosecutors said Salemme killed DiSarro because the mobster feared the nightclub owner would tell the truth to authorities investigating Salemme’s role in the business.