Frank Salemme said Peter Poulos was a non-violent guy. He kept the books for the hoodlums. He did the books for Salemme’s football cards; he did the Bennett/Flemmi numbers books. He was, as we have seen, a witness to their murder of Billy Bennett.
When word came down that indictments were going to be issued for his involvement in the Bennett murder which he probably heard from either Frank Salemme or Steve Flemmi, Poulus decided to skip town
. Salemme and Flemmi would subsequently allege the tip came from FBI Agent Paul Rico but their stories about how he gave them the tip make their information suspect.
Salemme’s version of the story tells that Flemmi called him in the early morning, he said it was very important, he drove to Flemmi’s house, and they drove to Revere to meet Paul Rico. When they got there, they claim Rico told them indictments were coming down and they had to get out of town.
Flemmi’s version of the story relates that at 7:30 a.m. he was awakened by a call from a man who did not identify himself but he recognized the voice as that of FBI Agent Paul Rico. He told him indictments in the Bennett case were coming down and he and his friend should leave town. Flemmi called Salemme and they met in Dedham along with Peter Poulos and another. They then left the area.
Obviously Salemme made up his story. Flemmi was Rico’s informant. Neither man would want Salemme to know that. They never would have made arrangements to meet Rico which would have disclosed Flemmi’s status. The way Rico would get the news to Flemmi would be exactly as Flemmi described. This also shows another thing. Salemme is the guy telling all the evil things about Rico such as he wanting to murder George McLaughlin, looking for an untraceable gun, giving him Punchy McLaughlin’s girl friend’s address, and the like that much of what people came to believe about Rico were lies put out by Salemme.
What is true though is they then took off. Peter Poulos who was also named in the indictment with them went along. They drove to Chicago. From there they flew to Los Angeles. When they got to L.A., Salemme would leave them. He flew back to New York City. Poulos and Flemmi stayed in L.A. for a little while. They then decided to drive to Las Vegas.
At some point before they got to Las Vegas, Flemmi decided to murder Poulos. Who knows why? We would never learn the truth from Flemmi himself, but if I had to guess, Poulos did not like being on the run and wanted to go back to face the charges. He was not a hardened killer like Flemmi. He probably mentioned this while they were on the trip. Flemmi figured if Poulos surrendered, he might give him up. He could not take that chance.
When Flemmi came to his decision, he thought he could easily murder him and bury the body. He was, after all, in the desert. No one would ever find his body and with no body there was no case.
Flemmi soon learned that the desert around Las Vegas was not like the soft sand of the Sahara Desert he saw in the movies. The Las Vegas desert sand is more like concrete. It is extremely hard to dig in without time and the right tools. Unable to bury Poulos, Flemmi just left him lying out in the open on the sand.
Flemmi decided to go to New York to meet up with Salemme. He told Salemme he murdered Poulos. Salemme asked why he did it. Flemmi said he had to protect himself. He felt Poulos could become a witness against him in the other murders he had done.
It did not matter much to the Italians in the Roxbury gang whether you were one of them or one of their enemies. They were always thinking of themselves and ready to murder anyone, even their fellow criminals, if they felt they were in jeopardy. The hand of the Mafia was behind Flemmi and Salemme with orders coming from Raymond Patriarca or from Jerry Angiulo through Larry Baione. It was not that the Mafia guys could not do it on their own. The Mafia was quite adept at murder. Sometimes, it was more convenient if someone did it for them.
Interesting post. Did the roxbury gang {_ Salemme and the brothers Martorano and Flemmi} kill 50 people or more?
Working through these murders, I think it has to be at least around 50, if not more, especially when the guys that went missing are counted. Killing seemed easy for them.
I like the change in format with Matt’s picture.What attracted me to your website is that Matt has the the type of background that can not be replicated.He was of that era always writing of the facts and how life criminals always twist events their way.His background at BC and in Vietnam gives him weight and respect to what he has written in a way other writers do not have. It’s not entertainment it’s making sense of events long ago.