Ex-Mafia boss 'Cadillac Frank' Salemme dies in prison at 89
Francis “Cadillac Frank” Salemme, the head of the Patriarca crime family, has died at the age of 89.
At the time of his death, the former New England Mafia boss was serving a life sentence behind bars for the 1993 killing of a Boston nightclub owner.
He died Tuesday, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ online records.
Prisons spokesperson Donald Murphy told USA TODAY Salemme died at the United States Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri.
"For safety, security, and privacy reasons, this office does not share specifics regarding the cause of death for any inmate," Murphy said.
In the early 90s, Salemme led the Patriarca crime family in Boston before helping prosecutors convict a corrupt FBI agent after learning that other mobsters had been talking about him to authorities.
Mass shooting in Canada: 6 dead including suspect, 1 hospitalized in shooting at condo building near Toronto
Salemme was living in Atlanta under the name Richard Parker when remains of the nightclub owner were unearthed in 2016, making the elderly ex-Mafia don a government target once again.
Salemme’s 2018 trial became a flashback to the days when the mob was a feared and powerful force in New England. Salemme maintained he had nothing to do with Steven DiSarro’s death, but was convicted after his onetime best friend testified against him.
A car bombing and a lost leg
During Boston's 1960s gang wars, Salemme participated in scores of killings and spent 16 years behind bars for trying to kill a lawyer, who survived but lost a leg, when his car was blown up in 1968. After being released from prison, Salemme was seriously wounded in a shooting outside a suburban Boston pancake house.
His reign as Mafia boss ended when he, notorious Boston gangster James “Whitey” Bulger and others were charged in a sweeping racketeering case in 1995. Salemme and Bulger fled after they were tipped off to the impending indictment by Bulger’s FBI handler, John Connolly Jr.
Several months later he was arrested in Florida while Bulger spent 16 years on the lam before being captured at the age of 81 in Santa Monica, California. Bulger was killed by fellow inmates in prison in 2018 at the age of 89.
Rescue operation underway in Thailand: 31 sailors missing, rescue search underway after warship capsizes in Thailand
The racketeering case revealed Bulger and Salemme’s best friend, Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi, had secretly worked as FBI informants. Upset that his fellow mobsters had turned on him, Salemme agreed to plead guilty and cooperate with authorities.
Contributing: Associated Press
Natalie Neysa Alund covers trending news for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on Twitter @nataliealund.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Cadillac Frank': Ex-Mafia boss Francis Salemme dies in prison at 89
