Salemme v. Flemmi: Two Old Friends Vie In Federal Court

Two guys in their 80s will vie this week in front of a jury in the federalcourt house in Boston to see which one is the sleaziest.

Both were born in the Thirsty Thirties when after thirteen years the failed experiment of imposing morals through the Constitution by those who poo-pooed the habits of the Irish and German immigrants finally admitted failure. The main result of ther noble efforts was the enriching of the Mafia and setting the  table for the fortune of the father of the 35th president of the United States when the 21st Amendment repealed the Eighteenth. Joe took full advantage of  the new found freedom to legally quench one’s thirst.

In one corner, the one stained badly by the blood of others, is Steve Flemmi. Opposite him in a corner is his life-long buddy Frank Salemme.

The Salemme/Flemmi contest comes at a time the air is filled with rumors that the 22nd Amendment may be the next repealed. These two hoodlums grew up in the Roxbury section of Boston binding in the Fifties over their idea they were tough guys because of their willingness to kill people.

They were members of a Roxbury gang of hoodlums which unlike another Roxbury gang, the Red Raiders, had no interests in sports. They were heavily involved in the misnamed Irish gang wars of the 1960s working both sides (McLaughlins v. McLean) for a bit following instructions out of Federal Hill in Providence.

Some of the  Roxbury gang would join with McLean’s Somerville gang then under Howie Winter’s leadership after the killing stopped forming the basis of the Winter Hill gang. Flemmi and Salemme by that point had fled the area having been indicted for attempting to murder Joe “the Animal” Barbosa’s attorney by blowing up his car.  Salemme, an electrician by training, set the bomb to go off when the attorney entered the car.

They fled they said because FBI agent Paul Rico tipped them off about the indictment but their stories how that happened were so at odds with each other only gullible or willful prosecutors and media would credit it. The one true part of it was that Flemmi was an FBI informant who would be protected by the FBI for thirty some odd years.

They went to the West Coast and then back to NY City. On the way back Flemmi murdered Paul Poulos who had fled with them. They stayed in the city of the Bronx Bombers until Flemmi left for Montreal. That was after setting up his buddy Salemme to be arrested by the FBI. Salemme would do 16 years in prison for the bombing; Flemmi thanks to the FBI had the charges dismissed. He came back and reunited with his Roxbury buddies over in Somerville.

While Salemme did his time Flemmi pretty much ignored him. Salemne’s family faced tough financial times but Flemmi who was building his wealth by parterning with Whitey Bulger in extorting and murdering people could not be bothered to help him. As several said Flemmi, like Whitey and the president, loved money and women more than anything else. I’ve always maintained that gives lie to idea they were giving much of it out to FBI types.

In truth though, Flemmi had a greater love. It was murdering people. He’d give the late Charles Manson who was born in the same year as he a good run for his money in that department. Flemmi so mush savored murders that he’d abuse the bodies of those he did in. He loved to linger over the body pulling out his victim’s teeth. He did that to his daughter after killing her.

Salemme got out in time to hook up with the ghoulish Flemmi and go back into business with him. Salemme, who I’ve previously described as dumber than dumb, would rise (or better described: “fall”) to become the leader, “king” as he described himself, of the New England Mafia. Flemmi dutfully stabbed him in the back.

Salemme was gunned down in front of the Pancake House in Saugus. Salemme said the FBI knew it was coming and could have tipped him off to save him. He couldn’t make the mental jump to figure out that if the FBI knew it was because Flemmi knew and Flemmi let him walk into it.

Salemme survived. He now stands trial for the murder of another guy who got involved with the Mob. The murder was most likely committed by Flemmi – as we know he never saw a murder he did not delight in – but Flemmi as usual with the help of the Justice Department is again setting Salemme up for a big fall. As Salemme sits in his wheel chair I wonder if he has yet figured out that Flemmi is not his friend.

Flemmi by the way was sentenced to life in prison for his many murders but never ended up in the federal prison system. Rumors have it that he’s living the good life on the taxpayers’ dime. Did anyone notice his tan?

 

 

 

 

 

 

17 Comments

  1. Wyshak molds his moldy witnesses, as rotten to the core as his he, an abuser of federal power, and he cuts ridiculously lenient deals with his demonic serial killing pals, who are sociopaths if not psycopaths, who are conscienceless prior perjurers, and Wyshak knows they’ve committed prior perjuries, and he works with them to concoct well rehearsed stories (in Flemmi’s case contradicting multiple statements Flemmi made under oath; in other cases pushing stories rejected by prior juries) and Wyshak stocks the courtroom with his sycophantic paid minions (fellow federal employees and federally deputized State cops) and he has the unmitigated gall to stand tall and say he represents the people, when, in fact, he epitomizes a man who disrespects the will of the people, the decisions of its jurors, the people’s Constitution, the Due Process, Equal Protection and Double Jeopardy clauses, and elemental concepts of fairness, decency, honesty and justice. He’s worse than a disgrace to a disgraceful Boston Federal Prosecutorial/Judicial system chronically abusive of power. See Three Billboards, The Fix, Character Assassins I and II and read Matt’s brilliant articles and the commentary of all the astute individuals on this site, pro and con. Wyshak’s true Quisling-like colors have been revealed long ago. Through his skullduggery and thuggery he and his colleagues have sold out and sunk the Ship of State, and its promised cargo of Equal Justice for All. The issue/question is: Can the Ship of State be salvaged or is it too bloatedly soaked, rotten to the timbers? (if that’s the correct metaphor)
    Long ago Orwell and Kafka warned us about those who abuse State Power. The Boston Office and DC offices of the Justice Department for decades have become Orwellian/Kafkaesque run by Javert-types or Cromwell-types who would “cut down every law in England” to get their targeted prey, as the Man for All Seasons phrased it, “And when Satan/Evil turns to get you, what’s there to protect you, the laws all lying flat.” You know the words to that effect . . .Wyshak et al and Comey et al and Judge Rotenberg in Florida, the Queen of Hearts out of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland of Statutory Interpretation who believes words mean whatever she wants them to mean, . . . .all these have abused power, twisted the law, and the laws all lie flat and at the whim of a corrupt federal prosecutor ANYONE can be targeted. Read Professor/Lawyer Harvey Silverglate’s book about the three federal crimes (at least) any one of us could be indicted for today. The rotten FEDs single out their political FOEs and their FOE’s Friends (the probation case where Billy Bulger’s son Chris worked under O’Brien) . .of all the probation departments within the Boston Federal Justice Department’s jurisdiction, just by COINCIDENCE, they targeted the one where a political FOE’s son worked (traditional, conservative Irish-Catholic Bostonians, graduates of BC) on the trumped up, newly invented, high falutin’ fabricated crime: “O’Brien et al HIRED PERSONS WHO WERE NOT THE MOST QUALIFIED” A non-existent crime and Wyshak’s minions and associates and mental-copycats tried to incarcerate and bankrupt people on those phony charges and the FEDs even listed the then existing Speaker of the House as “an unindicted co-conspirator” and Mr. Robert Deleio (sp) had to fork over big bucks for legal counsel for several years to protect his family’s assets
    WHY?
    BECAUSE THE BOSTON OFFICES AND DC OFFICES OF THE FEDERAL JUSTICE DEPARTMENT ARE RIFE WITH POWER ABUSING CORRUPT PROSECUTORS/INVESTIGATORS AT THE TOP . . .THE FISH ROTS FROM THE HEAD DOWNWARDS

    p.s. THIS WAS BEFORE COFFEE, I WAS UP LATE, THINKING . . .NO APOLOGIES, NO EXCUSES, JUST THE FACTS AND MY CAREFULLY RESEARCHED CONSIDERED OPINION . . . .I’m convinced . . . .I’m open to opposing views . . .”If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, but make allowance for their doubting too” . . .I’m convinced . . . 100% absolute certainty I leave to nuclear physicists

  2. John King McDonald

    COMMONWEALTH v DAVID R. CLARK

    Google .

    Yep, On the mark . Michael Romano ‘s Father was in that E.Boston rival faction. Richie Devlin was a loyalist, but a seriously sick lad . Glad to see him go . It is one thing to see ” Nine Lives ” Gillis wrapping out a Porsche Turbo Carrera ’72 , hot off the hands of its owner, up Washington St. in WRX in ’75 during his Mob apprenticeship , and another to see how racked up the soldier got . He is likable, always was. I think Devlin was the target and Richie Gillis got one in the cheek on general principle. It is tough leaning in a window on two unsuspecting people and not being able to shoot them each in the head . That person was caught and convicted btw .

    You may be right about Romano murder being a mistaken identity thing , but more likely is that he posed , in Ponzo’s drug addled mind, a threat . He had been busted in Copp’s Hill Cemetery with a bag of Ponzo’s coke and he had an Intent To Distribute charge on him. Ponzo was not a Salemme guy . Timmy Mello was in that mix of guys Senior did time with and trusted . The E. Boston crew had already stuffed Susan Taraskiewicz in a car trunk . They have always been quite a crew. A real NY headache .

  3. Sousa (can’t remember 1st name) later shot and killed and David Clarke killed Romano on Salemme’s orders. They flattened tire on his car. He was killed while changing same. The target was Romano’s father. He was a Salemme rival. A good kid was mistakenly killed by these 2 idiots.
    Mark Charbonnier ( a hardworking trooper) pulled Clarke over. Clarke was heading down the Cape, after being involved in a murder. When stopped, he thinks it’s because of the murder, and the shootout commenced. Sousa, Clarke,Devlin,Gillis all did time with Salemme. He recruited them to be part of his crew. Devlin later shot & killed. Gillis shot in mouth, but lived. All bad guys. The worst POS to ever come out of Boston is Stevie Flemmi, Wyshaks little buddy.

  4. John King McDonald

    In 1996 the murderer of Trooper Mark Charbonnier , David Clark , was convicted in Kingston. I knew Mark’s Father, Al , a Boston Police Officer. Back in the day I was with this rich girl from Brookline and a group of East Boston huli’gans had the , effrontery to my lights in this instance, to try to Jack us up at knifepoint . Well , Jack was as ever nimble and Jack was quick and they wuz’ routed . But Jack was mighty pissed off at this point , and ,espying the Robes of The Blessed Mother in the blue and white blazonry of a Boston Police car , gave a hail . Al Charbonnier was driving. Beacon Hil was his beat. Al was a bigger man than either, as those reading this who knew him , know. The point was he took it very personal and he had the trio in custody fifteen minutes later having cornered them on Mt.Vernon.

    My understanding is that the published facts presently are that Michael Romano was killed by Enrico Ponzo, the buffoon who botched the Senior Saugus Pancake House Hit . Enrico was discovered in Idaho or some such herding cows and has been incarcerated. The published story was that he murdered Michael Romano , a star hockey player and athlete gone a little off track , a good kid basically , because Romano was popped with some Ponzo powder . The ” Story” is that Ponzo staged a flat tire in Saugus, I think, while with Romano , pulled over in a lot … While Romano changed tire… Ponzo went to use payphone… Clark appears ten minutes later at car and murders Michael Romano.

    This is all of MOMENT now . Trooper Mark Charbonnier was never implicated in any OT scandals. Flemmi will now testify that Salemme co-defendant David Weadick shot and killed Michael Romano, not Clark .

    Trooper Mark Charbonnier’s murder and Stevie Flemmi in the same sentence .

    Do you see the problem ?

  5. John King McDonald

    Murder never gets old . Writing this guy off is too obvious . The question posed is the answer to the question .
    There are Cold Case squads formed expressly to keep the bloom of callow youth on any murder until it is solved .

    This is the way of a civilized society . To dismiss this trial is easy . Just as the extraordinary full court press on the John Connolly trial by Star Council has now been relegated to the care, apparently, of dilettantes and chest thumpers . But they all have a piece of the dream . My dream is that we can someday wake the Debs from the nightmare that is their molestor, murderer and mutilator , Stevie “The Rifleman ” Flemmi , being feted , rewarded, and conciliated for their agonies at his hands . Not at Jimmy Bulger’s hands , but those of the Federal Handmaiden , Stevie boy !!!

    Who do they think invented this game?

  6. The Grim Reaper should go to the Moakley Whorehouse and harvest Wyshak and his traveling troupe of liars.

  7. “Both were born in the Thirsty Thirties when after thirteen years the failed experiment of imposing morals through the Constitution by those who poo-pooed the habits of the Irish and German immigrants finally admitted failure.”

    And here I was under the mistaken impression that women of all heritages had a major role in the implementation of Prohibition and its repeal:

    https://www.quora.com/What-was-the-relationship-between-Prohibition-and-Womens-Suffrage-in-US-history

    http://www.independent.org/publications/tir/article.asp?id=347

    Think of it as a tyranny of the majority thing – “for the children”.

  8. It’s bizarre that this costly trial involving elderly, out-of-power gangsters is being held at all. It really irritates me to think that Steve Flemmi, arguably the worst of the lot, is the star witness. It must be obvious to all by now that Flemmi has been quietly freed from custody. Now, the feds may have have stashed Flemmi in some out-of-the-way place — like a trailer park in Casper, Wyoming — but that’s still a hell of a lot better than sitting in a federal prison.

  9. John King McDonald

    * women taking up the cudgels …

  10. John King McDonald

    Perhaps Milton’s ” affable archangel ” can finally explain some things , Raphael, Right?

    Raphael… Why does Stevie Flemmi always seem in somebody’s kitchen or sitting room or gazebo or wherever with his thumb up his ass while … bad mens ( As my Sicilian landlady called them ) are doing the beating, strangling, and shooting ?

    Raphael …. Why does Stevie Flemmi always get stuck with the post-mortem mutilations and burial details ?

    Raphael … If Flemmi is allowed in this # MeToo post Boston Connolly and Bulger trials to wheel out his toothy smile as he lets his gaze lightly flicker over that young babe juror … you know …the blond who looks like Deb …and recounts his usual rubbish … won’t that give the lie to the idea that anything has shifted meaningfully when it comes to woman really taking up the cudgels for his two young female ” Kills ?”

    Raphael … Is the trial of Senior really the right way to say Thank-you, Frank … We pushed the action, Jack… You know it and we know it ?

    As does Raphael .

    We move for a directed verdict of not guilty, Raphael .

  11. Connolly received a long sentence in Federal prison for writing a letter to a judge. This was falsely deemed to be obstruction of justice. Flemmi and Salemme put a bomb in the car of a lawyer who represents a cooperating witness for the Federal government. The lawyer is severely injured. Yet neither of the Mafia hitmen are ever charged in Federal Court for obstructing justice let alone get a sentence. What distorted, perverted minds are at work in the DOJ, FBI and DEA in Boston. The horror. The multi decade horror at the Moakley Courthouse. 2. If Trump wants to drain the swamp the next AG will have to focus on Boston the biggest cesspool in the American Judicial system. Janet is correct. Happy Mothers Day.

  12. John King McDonald

    WHAT SHE SAID !!!

  13. Fred Wyshak is in a pickle! He needs to convince the entire jury that Flemmi had no part in this murder. Hopefully, Boozang’s cross of Flemmi will convince at least one juror that Wyshak seemingly has no problem making deals with demons to obtain the outcome he craves. Hopefully at least one juror understands the dark history of the Boston US Attorney’s Office when it comes to protecting informants (i.e. the four men that went to prison to protect Barboza, and the immoral deals given to Martorano, Morris, Flemmi, Nee, etc — with no thought or concern for the many, many victims.)

    No doubt, this is another orchestrated Wyshak trial. Flemmi has the script memorized — Wyshak, no doubt, has seen to that. It’s up to Boozang to reach at least one juror, and, if he can accomplish that, will at least one journalist question, research, and expose Wyshak’s abuse of power and manipulation of the federal court?

  14. John King McDonald

    Any insights as to how such a high profile actor was ” Spirited Away. ” ???

    Do you think there were not about twenty people keeping tabs on him and his … ancillary .. business associates at that point ?

    Are you so impressed with Flemmi’s material assets , of which he was not deprived, and the dirt he has on hand to shovel into the graves of confederates that you cannot see he is the agent of all things … Housekeeping ???

    Mother Flemmi’s Good Housekeeping Seal Of Proper Tooth Removal And Outlandish And Completely Invented And Unvetted Scenarios .

    Now … THAT … is a mouthful.

    That’s right . When it comes to this demented Muppet of Mayhem ( I wrote that ! ) just keep saying ….. Ahhhhhhhhhh .

    And keep the slightly vacant look STEVIE said to the PUBLIC and THE JURORS !!!

    HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY .

  15. HI Matt and thanks for an interesting article and will you be following the recent murder trial involving Salemme and Flemmi?

    Was Salemme close to Raymond Patriarca, Jr?

    In your opinion if Flemmi killed the guy then how does Salemme, Jr and senior fit in?

  16. John King McDonald

    Tepid .