We’re now at the point where we are entering the second half of The Learning Years the period called the Full Gang Years. This begins in May 1974 when Stevie Flemmi comes back from Montreal. It lasts until the time of the Race Fixing Indictment in the spring of 1979. That indictment named Howie Winter, John Martarano, Jimmy Martorano, Joe McDonald and Jimmy Sims. Howie and Jimmy Martorano stayed around for the trial, were convicted, and incarcerated. Howie was already doing time on a state charge. John and Joe took off for Florida; Jimmy Sims had not been seen around for a while was believed to be dead.

The result would be that Whitey and Stevie Flemmi would be the only two of the seven Winter Hill Gang leaders remaining standing. They would take over the running of the gang. The Boss Years would begin and continue until the mid-Nineties.

On the city streets dealing on a daily basis year after year with the full spectrum of mankind one learns the necessary steps to survive. Fights and killings don’t occur because the FBI is telling street-wise people certain things are happening. They are everyday occurrences.

Here are two or three of the many things I’ve gotten almost jammed in on that jumped into my mind as I write. I wasn’t one of those guys out looking for trouble even though it seemed to walk the streets with me. I walked into a popular Ho Jo’s  on Morrissey Boulevard to get an ice cream cone and happened to look at another guy standing by the cash register. He threw at me, “what are you looking at!” The next thing I know I’m in a fist fight. I was  standing in a bar and talking about a baseball game with a couple of friends. One of the really tough psychos appeared out of the blue. He said, “what are you talking about me for. You wanna step outside.” I obviously didn’t and smothered him with a million assurances of my innocence.

The end of the Pre-Flemmi Years is a good time to stop to reflect upon a shockingly erroneous belief that has come to the fore in these matters. I pause now because I suggest I’ve just clearly shown that Murderman John Martorano has played, to put it mildly, very loosely with the truth. I pointed out in my book, Don’t Embarrass The Family, and here, the obvious lies Flemmi, Salemme, Morris and Weeks have told. It’s so bad that I’ve questioned how a prosecutor can justify using them as witnesses or how we have a system that requires a jury to guess when a life-long admitted liar is telling the truth.

Our whole belief system about what happened as it involves Whitey is based upon these lies with very little independent verification. An industry has been built upon these religious-like beliefs. Books, without footnotes or support relative to the critical issues, have been written allegedly containing facts but have so much made-up stuff in them that we’re left guessing at the truth. Findings have been made by judges in the federal district court and court of appeals awarding large sums of money based on this. So many people are invested in it that suggesting they are all wrong is like telling an Orthodox Jew, Strict Muslim, Conservative Catholic, Fundamentalist Christian or anyone with hard-core beliefs she is wrong in what she believes. I know no one will change her mind but I offer this one bit of evidence for her to consider.

I’ve told how I doubt Winter Hill was involved in killing Spike O’Toole. Others were after him for years. Two months or so before he was murdered he was gunned down by others. Murderman Martorano never mentioned that nor did he have him leaving the right barroom just before his murder.

Here how Murderman described the killing. He let him have it with a grease gun. Then Joe McDonald jumped out of the car “ran up to O’Toole, stood over his body, and lifted his ski mask,” because “he wanted Spike to know that he had been killed by Winter Hill . . . and fired twice into Spike’s head.”  It all sounds so Hollywood-like.

He went on that Whitey the driver saw a pedestrian approaching the car and “In the dark, Whitey reached for a gun, then he realized he didn’t have one. He settled for pointing his finger” at that person. He said later, according to Murderman, “Never again do I go  on a hit without a gun.” It sounds like one of those old time comedy routines. Don’t you like the touch “in the dark” as if that somehow contributed to misunderstand as if in the daytime or a light was on he would have known he didn’t have a gun but being dark he was confused. Oh, well.