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Raymond L. S. Patriarca
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Raymond L. S. Patriarca
Raymond Loreda Salvatore Patriarca (/ˌpætriˈɑːrkə/; March 17, 1908 – July 11, 1984) was an American mobster and crime boss from Providence, Rhode Island, who became the long-time boss of the Patriarca crime family, whose control extended throughout New England for more than three decades. Patriarca died on July 11, 1984.
Patriarca was born on March 17, 1908, in Worcester, Massachusetts, to Eleuterio Patriarca, an Italian immigrant from the village of Arce, Lazio, and Vincenza (Mary Jane) DeNubila, an Italian American. At the age of four, Patriarca moved with his family to Providence, Rhode Island, and left school when he was eight to shine shoes and work as a bellhop.
During his teenage years, Patriarca was charged with hijacking, armed robbery, assault, safecracking, and auto theft. He was indicted as an accessory to murder before Prohibition's end in 1933. During the 1930s, the Providence Board of Public Safety named him "public enemy No. 1". He was sentenced to five years in prison for robbery, but he was paroled in 1938 after serving four months in prison.
An inquiry revealed that Executive Councilor Daniel H. Coakley, a close associate of Governor Charles F. Hurley, had drawn up a parole petition based on the appeals of a "Father Fagin", whom Coakley had fabricated. Coakley was impeached and dismissed from the Governor's office. This scandal enhanced Patriarca's reputation in the underworld, as it demonstrated the power of his political connections.[citation needed]
In 1939, Patriarca married Helen G. Mandella and had a son, Raymond Patriarca Jr.
During the 1940s, Patriarca continued to rise in power. In 1950, mobster Philip Buccola fled the country to avoid prosecution for tax evasion, and Patriarca took control of his criminal operations.
In 1956, Patriarca made drastic changes in the crime family, the biggest being to move his base of operations to Providence, Rhode Island. He ran his crime family from the National Cigarette Service Company and Coin-O-Matic Distributors, a vending machine and pinball machine business on Atwells Avenue in the Federal Hill neighborhood of Providence. Every card game, prostitution ring, and illegal business in Providence had to pay a kickback to Patriarca.
In 1960, U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy ordered a crackdown against the Mafia. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director J. Edgar Hoover initially resisted Kennedy's orders to fight La Cosa Nostra, vehemently denying the existence of any national crime network, but he eventually relented when John F. Kennedy became President in 1961. Patriarca was pursued by the FBI with a particular zeal after he drew the ire of the Kennedy brothers by taunting them during congressional hearings by saying: "You two don't have the brains of your retarded sister". Robert Kennedy allegedly told a friend afterwards that he and John Kennedy would be "going after that pig on the Hill".
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Raymond L. S. Patriarca
Raymond Loreda Salvatore Patriarca (/ˌpætriˈɑːrkə/; March 17, 1908 – July 11, 1984) was an American mobster and crime boss from Providence, Rhode Island, who became the long-time boss of the Patriarca crime family, whose control extended throughout New England for more than three decades. Patriarca died on July 11, 1984.
Patriarca was born on March 17, 1908, in Worcester, Massachusetts, to Eleuterio Patriarca, an Italian immigrant from the village of Arce, Lazio, and Vincenza (Mary Jane) DeNubila, an Italian American. At the age of four, Patriarca moved with his family to Providence, Rhode Island, and left school when he was eight to shine shoes and work as a bellhop.
During his teenage years, Patriarca was charged with hijacking, armed robbery, assault, safecracking, and auto theft. He was indicted as an accessory to murder before Prohibition's end in 1933. During the 1930s, the Providence Board of Public Safety named him "public enemy No. 1". He was sentenced to five years in prison for robbery, but he was paroled in 1938 after serving four months in prison.
An inquiry revealed that Executive Councilor Daniel H. Coakley, a close associate of Governor Charles F. Hurley, had drawn up a parole petition based on the appeals of a "Father Fagin", whom Coakley had fabricated. Coakley was impeached and dismissed from the Governor's office. This scandal enhanced Patriarca's reputation in the underworld, as it demonstrated the power of his political connections.[citation needed]
In 1939, Patriarca married Helen G. Mandella and had a son, Raymond Patriarca Jr.
During the 1940s, Patriarca continued to rise in power. In 1950, mobster Philip Buccola fled the country to avoid prosecution for tax evasion, and Patriarca took control of his criminal operations.
In 1956, Patriarca made drastic changes in the crime family, the biggest being to move his base of operations to Providence, Rhode Island. He ran his crime family from the National Cigarette Service Company and Coin-O-Matic Distributors, a vending machine and pinball machine business on Atwells Avenue in the Federal Hill neighborhood of Providence. Every card game, prostitution ring, and illegal business in Providence had to pay a kickback to Patriarca.
In 1960, U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy ordered a crackdown against the Mafia. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director J. Edgar Hoover initially resisted Kennedy's orders to fight La Cosa Nostra, vehemently denying the existence of any national crime network, but he eventually relented when John F. Kennedy became President in 1961. Patriarca was pursued by the FBI with a particular zeal after he drew the ire of the Kennedy brothers by taunting them during congressional hearings by saying: "You two don't have the brains of your retarded sister". Robert Kennedy allegedly told a friend afterwards that he and John Kennedy would be "going after that pig on the Hill".