Boston Waterfront Murders- John F. (Fats) Buccelli

JOHN F. (FATS) BUCCELLI, 44              June 19, 1958

Buccelli had a record going back over the years including convictions for burglary, larceny, bookmaking and breaking and entering. In 1940, he was convicted of armed robbery and sentenced to five to seven-years in State Prison. On June 6, 1956, four days before Cameron’s murder, FBI agents and detectives from the Suffolk DA’s office searched a location at 617 Tremont Street, Boston. They found $57,000 ($500,000 today) hidden behind a false wall that they connected to the Brink’s robbery.

They arrested John F. “Fats” Buccelli, 44, and Edward “Wimpy” Bennett, 36. These arrests happened within 18 hours after the arrest in Baltimore of Jordan Perry, Jr.  Perry was arrested “as a suspect in the fabulous Brink’s robbery in Boston more than six years ago. A package of cash, $4,635 in $5 and $10 bills was found in Perry’s room. Police said it was the first of the Brink’s loot ever recovered.”

Buccelli would be convicted of receiving the Brink’s loot and sentenced in December, 1956 to two years in the house of corrections. After his arrest, the Suffolk County District Attorney, Garrett H. Byrne, argued for high bail because he had in his possession a list of phone calls between Buccelli and “a man whose name you ordinarily hear whispered but nobody wants to hear out loud – Raymond Patriarca.”

While in jail on September 5, 1957, Buccelli was indicted in New York along with 61 others for conspiracy to distribute narcotics as part of $20 million-a-year narcotic ring run by Harry Stromberg, aka Nig Rosen. He was closely linked with Mafia boss Frank Costello, the one-time head of the Luciano family and Myer Lansky known as the “Mobs Accountant”. The group was said “to represent the ‘top echelon’ in narcotics smuggling and distribution in the country.”  In March 1958 while he was still doing time for the burglary, he was tried in New York and convicted in April. He was sentenced to five years which was the maximum sentence. He appealed and was out on bail.

The head of the narcotics ring, Nig Rosen, first got into the rackets in Philadelphia. When he was sentenced in the April 1958 trial with Buccelli, Judge Irving R. Kaufman claimed he was a strong-arm man for the executed racketeer Louis (Lepke) Buchalter who ran Murder, Inc.  He said “It is unfortunate that the statute does not permit me to impose a sentence beyond five years.” J. Edgar Hoover called Buchalter “the most dangerous criminal in the United States.”

Buccelli’s role in the group must have been significant. He received the same sentence as the ringleaders. Buccelli was well connected with the New York mob. It was believed he had connections to the Boston waterfront where they used the coal wharf as a drop off point for illegal narcotics.

As mentioned at his burglary sentencing, Buccelli was also connected with New England Mafia boss Raymond Patriarca. In one intercepted call, Patriarca complained that he had helped Buccelli and Wimpy Bennett out and they never reciprocated. FBI documents reported that Buccelli was running a part of the gambling operations along with Wimpy Bennett for Patriarca.

One report noted that Buccelli was “the Hub link” for the group. Another report noted, “Fats reportedly ‘lost’ $80,000 worth of opium” off a Boston wharf.  Other reports said that Buccelli’s indiscretions were blamed for the capture and conviction of all ring members. The last report was unlikely because the operation under Nig Rosen was a multi-year investigation mainly based in New York that had ended in 1955.

While Buccelli was out of business for 18 months while in jail after his arrest with the Brink’s money, Buccelli was unable to keep his fingers on top of things. During his jail time, operations continued and other men took Buccelli’s place. The need for Buccelli would have diminished substantially but the debts that he owed would still be in play.

On the Tuesday before his murder, Buccelli drove the 225 miles to New York City along with his ex-wife Elizabeth, a friend Jake Green, and a neighbor’s 6-year-old girl. This was before the Eisenhower highway system, so it was a long slow ride. They stayed overnight in New York City. They drove back on Wednesday, dropping Elizabeth off in Connecticut to visit relatives.

Buccelli’s history suggests he had a problem to straighten out. He most likely met with Johnny Earle and perhaps others. Earle was the connection between Boston and New York City.  Earle was described by the N.Y. Times “as a small-time waterfront hoodlum.” The police said Earle, age 38, was “a hanger-on among the big shots.” But Earle was more than that.

Whatever happened on that Tuesday night did not go well for some of the participants.  On Wednesday, while Earle stood at the entrance of a crowded West 57^th Street cafeteria near Eight Avenue at 3:05 p.m., he was shot three times in the face. He was armed with a .38-caliber revolver with a silencer but never had a chance to use it. Earle was rushed to the hospital.  He died quickly. After Earle was murdered, the police held two union members, the vice president, and the business manager of Exhibition Employees Union, Local 829, a Genovese family run union, as material witnesses. Nothing ever came of it.

Buccelli, after dropping off his ex-wife in Connecticut, returned home to Brookline on Wednesday afternoon about the time Earle was murdered. He stayed there three hours. He then went for dinner over to a house of friends an hour away in Tewksbury. He left there about 12:30 a.m. telling his friends he was going straight home. He ended up back in Boston. His car was seen in the Boston theatre district bordering the Combat Zone at 2:15 a.m. on Tremont Street near Broadway. A half hour later, the police received a report of an accident near that location. A car had crashed into the back of a parked tractor-trailer truck. When they police arrived, they found Buccelli slumped over the steering wheel in his car. He had two bullets in the back of his head.

Johnny Earle was best friends with George Barone. Barone was a WWII hero who, while in the Navy, participated in five invasions and came home with a chest full of medals. After getting out of the Navy, Barone tried to go straight but an injury forced him to work on the waterfront and for a gang known the “Pistol Local.” Pistol Local got its name because of the manner in which they settled disputes. Barone stayed in the Pistol Local until he lost his waterfront job after beating up a guy.  Later Barone explained what he did after losing his job, “I became a gangster.”  He did this by hooking up with Johnny Earle. They formed a gang called the Jets.

The Jets were in a continuous war with the Irish and other Italian gangs over the control of the West Side of N.Y City rackets. The Jets’ reputation for brute force increased to the point where they attracted the attention of the Genovese Crime Family, considered the savviest of the city’s five Mafia groups. The Genovese Crime Family, was headed by Vito Genovese who took over after Frank Costello decided to retire after being ambushed and wounded in the forehead by a bullet outside his New York apartment. Costello was shot by Vincent “Chin” Gigante, one of Genovese’s lieutenants, who would later become the boss. Gigante would be known later on for parading through Greenwich Village in his torn bathrobe mumbling to himself in an attempt to look crazy so he would not have to go to trial on RICO charges.

Genovese reached out for Barone and Earle seeking to have them associate with his family. They gladly came under his wing. Earle and Barone met personally with Genovese and did him several favors. Barone said Vito was particularly fond of Earle who had done time with his lieutenant, Gigante.

Genovese’s fondness for Earle only could go so far. The Jets were having a problem among themselves that appeared to be over some money issues. It may have related to the Boston loss of $80,000 ($740,000 in 2021 dollars) of narcotics. The story that went around at the time was that other members of the Jets blamed Johnny Earle for the loss and were upset with him so they hired “a profligate killer named K.O. Konigsberg to take out Earle.”

Harold “K.O.” Konigsberg was called “the most dangerous uncaged killer on the East Coast.” He was described as an “animal on the leash” for the Mafia. “All they had to do was unsnap the leash and he’d kill for the fun of it.” After Earle was killed, Genovese angrily broke off all contact with the Jets and Barone.

Earle and Buccelli’s murders appear obviously connected. Konigsberg boldly shot Earle in broad daylight, something you would expect from him and something he admitted doing. Konigsberg would later say that Barone gave him the gun to do the job. Barone denied we have Konigsberg the gun, saying Johnny Earle was his best friend.

It seems logical to assume that Konigsberg would not stop the killing at Earle. If Earle were to die, so would the guy from Boston, Buccelli, need to die.  Barone was primarily responsible for the lost narcotics.

Buccelli would not have known about Earle’s murder on Wednesday night when he returned to Boston. Buccelli went into a joint, stayed for a bit, then left, and got into his car probably with Konigsberg holding a gun on him. Buccelli got in behind the wheel; Konigsberg got in the rear seat behind him. He slowly started to move the car down the street. As he did, he was shot by K.O. Konisberg. The car crashed into the rear of the tractor trailer. The site of the murder was close to the place Buccelli and Bennett were arrested with the Brink’s cash.

The days before his murder Buccelli was hustling around desperately trying to raise money. He must have known or believed the Jets were upset at the loss of money.  He went to Affanato with whom it is probable he left his money when he was going to jail. He probably went to others looking for money. Buccelli brought what he had to Earle. Probably it was not enough so their death warrant was signed.

William Cameron was involved with Johnny Earle. Cameron was shot in the same manner as Buccelli.  Cameron and Buccelli were shot by the same caliber weapon. Were the slugs ever compared by ballistics? I have no answer to that.

The waterfront, longshoreman and narcotics are the threads that connects these murders. Wimpy Bennett’s early involvement here takes us beyond this time as does the murder of Tommy Sullivan by the Hughes brothers. The waterfront would prove to have other shootings connected with it but those murders would come later. The other gangsters murders in Boston between 1956 and Labor Day 1961 involved the Mafia.