Free Last Rites by William J. Craig

covered in blood, was missing and had been cut from the floor. Another time, the Revere Police responded to a stabbing call at a club on the beach. After arriving at the scene, the police went to inspect the bathroom only to find that the walls and floor had been conveniently cleaned.
    The most famous hit man during this time was Joseph “the Animal” Barboza, who hailed from New Bedford. Barboza had been in and out of reformatories since the age of twelve. He started out as a boxer and quickly climbed the ranks of the New England mob, although he was of Portuguese decent. Barboza was with a crew out of East Boston and deferred to the Patriarca crime family and Stephen Flemmi, who was with the Winter Hill Gang. After the incident with Richard Castucci, which allowed the mob to take the Ebb Tide, Henry Tameleo spotted an opportunity. Barboza became a partner in the protection rackets. He would receive 25 percent of the profits of every club he was able to shake down for money. He and his crew were sent to over twenty clubs, including Alfonso’s Lonely Hearts Club in Revere and the Frolics, which Anthony Della Russo, aka Chickie Spar, owned and operated.
    Another murder that Barboza committed was the killing of Joseph Francione. Francione and Joe Puzzangara were working out a deal to purchase a load of hijacked furs from a kid named Johnny Bullets. Francione would take the furs, sell them to a guy in New York and rip off the kid Bullets. Once he discovered that he was being swindled, Bullets couldn’t kill the two of them himself; however, his close friend, Joe Barboza, could. So Barboza showed up at Francione’s house on South Avenue in Revere and shot him dead. The police found the body face-down in the kitchen with two shots through the back of the head.
    By 1966, Barboza had worn out his welcome; he was a cold-blooded, calculated killer who now had the mob worried due to his rogue ways. In fact, he had gone into the Mickey Mouse, a bar on Revere Beach, to kill a member of the McLaughlin mob on November 15, 1965. When Barboza entered the bar near closing time, it was empty. Barboza killed Ray Distasio, a bartender, and then killed a patron who had surprised him by coming into the bar to buy a pack of cigarettes at the wrong time. The man he killed was John O’Neill, a civilian with a bunch of kids and no attachment to any mob. This type of behavior angered the bosses since dead civilians and unauthorized killings bring unwanted heat.
    In October 1966, Barboza was arrested in Boston’s infamous Combat Zone on a concealed weapons charge. His bond was set at $100,000. Barboza realized that something was up as soon as his bail was not put up immediately by Angiulo or Patriarca. Five weeks later, he was still in jail and two friends were attempting to collect the money to furnish his bail. Arthur “Tash” Bratsos and Thomas J. Deprisco Jr. had collected $59,000 when they visited the Nite Lite Café, managed by Ralphie “Chang” Lamattina, to do a little fundraising. The next day, both men were found dead in South Boston from gunshot wounds to the head. The bodies were dumped in Southie to make it look like an Irish gang had killed them as part of the McLaughlin war. Not only were Barboza’s pals dead, but the money was missing as well. In December, Joe Amico, another Barboza friend, was found murdered gangland style. The FBI figured that this was their chance to possibly turn Barboza.

    Teddy Deegan, the man whose murder sent several innocent people to jail for over thirty years. AP worldwide .
    In January 1967, following a ten-day trial, Barboza was sentenced to five years in Walpole on the weapons charge. By June, Barboza had had enough of doing time, and the mobsters in jail were probably walking away from him, knowing full well that he was a dead man. Barboza knew that if Patriarca wanted him dead, it would be easier to kill him in prison than on the street. Barboza began