Say Goodbye to the Saint

On November 7th one of the last vestiges of the old Patriarca crime family in New England, Anthony "The Saint" St. Laurent, a one time capo, cashed in his chips.  

He had not been well for a long time and he was released from Federal prison less than two weeks before his death.  I am sure they knew he was not going to make it.

He died in a Providence Rhode Island Hospital of natural causes.

The Saint was once a trusted member of Raymond Patriarca Mafia family that was run from the Coin-O-Matic business on Atwells Avenue on Federal Hill.  The Saint took care of a lot of the bookmakers in and around Providence Rhode Island.

The Patriarca family takes its name from the long time boss Raymond LS Patriarca who made the family into a powerhouse that encompassed Boston and surrounding cities.

He did not found the family, but he made it a more powerful organization.

The family that was once able to murder Joe Barboza, an informant then hiding in California, and controlled most of the Boston area bookmaking thanks to its underboss Jerry Angiulo and his brothers in the North End.

The Saint was a capo in 1993 when he was busted for running a bookmaking operation out of the Foxy Lady in Providence.  Law Enforcement called it the largest operation ever taken down in the state.  The Foxy lady itself was a huge money maker. It was a stripclub that was two stories of debauchery.  It had three stages and cream wrestling.  It also had the ever popular Legs and Eggs 6am breakfast buffet.

The Saint was also one of the rare few that were inducted into the Nevada gamings so called Black Book. He was placed in after his many convictions, but one has to wonder why because he was 2,600 miles away from Las Vegas.  I am sure he didn't lose any sleep from not being able to set foot in a casino.

He would go down again in 1999 for extortion because he was shaking down bookmakers.

Then he was accused by another family member of being an informant. The man who accused him was Bobby DeLuca, a capo in the family.

The irony in that is that Bobby DeLuca became an informant and then later lied to the FBI about a murder and a hidden body.

The Saint admitted in 2011 that he tried to hire a man to murder DeLuca for accusing him of being an informant.

He met the hitman in a parking lot and he drove him to a restaurant in Providence, where DeLuca was working.  He promised the hitman cash.  After Deluca was murdered he planned to get cash from a local bookmaker who was paying DeLuca protection money.

One thing he wanted the hitman to tell DeLuca is that  it was from the Saint before he died.

The problem was, the hitman was an informant for the FBI.

Old age, failing health and changing times caught up to the Saint.

Tommy McLaughlin and the Colombo Family

In the book The Mafia Hitman's Daughter there is one chapter that gets lost in all the fascinating details of the inner workings of Colombo Capo Greg Scarpa’s life. This was the chapter when Greg’s daughter Linda marries Thomas McLaughlin aka Tommy, who has been sent away for dealing drugs.  

Tommy was a kid that who was known as a tough street guy.  He was quick tempered and had a cousin who was on the rise in the Colombo family.  Tommy instead decided to go with Greg Scarpa’s crew.  He used to run messages and collect debts, but he was very much part of the crew.  He was always at the Scarpa home enjoying a meal or just watching TV.

When the Colombo war broke out and Vic and Wild Bill's men tried to murder Scarpa in front of his house, Tommy was the first one there with a 38 in his belt.  

Tommy was a man a living on borrowed time when the war started.  He had been dealing ounce quantities of cocaine all over Brooklyn.  The cops were after him and had a wiretap on his phone in which they had him talking about selling some ounces to and undercover buyer.

They were set to arrest him but he went underground during the war.  Tommy was shot while driving in his car in Bensonhurst.  He escaped with another guy but a 16 year old was wounded in the shooting.  Tommy was only grazed in the back by a bullet.

He was picked up one night in Dyker Heights and he ended up pleading out to one count of cocaine sales and tax evasion.  The cops tried everything to get him to flip but he was no rat.  

He ended up marrying Linda Scarpa while he was locked up.  He told her that he was worried about something he did a long time ago.  She told him to cooperate.  He told her no way would he become a rat.

14 years is a long time to be off the street and things change.  Tommy Gioeli who was Tommy’s cousin became the Colombo street boss and he carried out some high profile hits.

The murder of Colombo underboss Wild Bill Cutolo and a policeman Ralph Dol’s where some of them. One of Geoli’s guy’s capo Dino Calabro flipped and implicated Tommy in the murder of Frank (Chestnut) Marasa.  So when Tommy finished his 14 year sentence had gotten remarried to another women and had a child he was looking at going back again.  

He did his time and he was looking forward to enjoying the perks of being connected to the administration.  The FBI had other plans so they convinced him to wear a wire.  

People can say what they want about Tommy.  The guy did his time and now was getting hung out to dry by a high ranking member.  Tommy did what was right for him and his family.

He took down Big Anthony Russo who in turn flipped.  He also testified about how his cousin ordered the Marasa murder.  Tommy drove the car that night and later met with his cousin and Dino at a diner.

That life is over with so many guys flipped and still free.  The Hitman’s Daughter is a great look back at how that life used to be.  Read it for an inside look into a Mafia family.

The Mafia Hit Man's Daughter

If you google the name Gregory Scarpa, up will pop words such as his nickname, “the Grim Reaper,” “Mafia capo,” and “FBI informant.”

Greg was also a husband and father.  

I recently read the new book, “The Mafia Hit Man's Daughter,” written by  Greg's daughter Linda.

I did not know Greg, who was a capo in the Colombo Family.  I did, however, know a lot of people in the book.  I knew some of his intended victims and those that tried to make him a victim.  

The book is a well written look inside a mafia leader’s family life.  Greg comes off as charming in beginning.  It sucks you into the life so you are almost living it with Linda and her mother, Big Linda.  This is a not a book that glamorizes the life, but a look at the truth.

As you read along, you begin to accept things as okay even when you know they are not - which is exactly how it happens in the life.  I'll give you a few examples.  

When someone goes into the armed forces they go away to bootcamp.  They go through physical stress as well as emotional stress.  Everyone around them is dressed the same and going through the same experience.  They use the same lingo for common things, which people outside that life don't use.  Everything about that life is becomes normal to them, but if you were to do the same things for a day you would find it grueling.  The same with going into law enforcement or the fire department. Life in service (that is not normal to anyone outside of service) becomes normal and accepted when you are a part of it.

Greg Scarpa’s wife Big Linda grew up in Brooklyn and the people she saw often were involved in the mafia.

Today it is easy to forget that the Italians and Jews were once the immigrants who lived in the ghetto.  They were blue collar and many worked hard to assimilate into American society.  They kept their heritage but became Americans.  They still lived in neighborhoods like Bensonhurst, Brooklyn but they worked their way up to become middle class.  I knew some old Italian mafia guys and they still talked about how they were spit on as kids.  A couple of them boxed and they took Irish names so they could get fights, since Italians were not seen as fighters.  

In 1962 at Flamingo Lounge at 72nd St. and 13th Ave in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, Big Linda met a 35 year old Greg Scarpa.  It was the glory days of the American mafia and these guys ruled the city with an iron fist.  She was already dazzled by these men in power, but Greg was a different story.  He was handsome and very self confident, but he was very nice. He did everything for her and she was willing to overlook the small things like gambling and robbery.  Why not - he was a good man to her.  When she found out he murdered people it was the same, because she did not see the devastation up close.

Big Linda was also a witness to Greg's double life as an FBI informant.  This is the part of the book that is fascinating. When you read it you will be shocked at how far the government is willing to go in order to put away certain people.  

I was an FBI informant, and guess what, so are many guys still on the street.  The founder of the modern mafia, Lucky Luciano, was an informant.  It gives you an edge to others on the street. You don't have to worry about the law, just those in the street.  

Greg loved the life and he never intended to leave it.  He used the FBI for money and most importantly, intel on his enemies or other law enforcement agencies.  I've known a lot of informants over the years.  I knew many who did just what I did and got out.  I knew others that used the FBI to continue their crime spree and even commit murder.  One man I knew flooded Southern California with cocaine from the Medellin Cartel and murder whoever displeased him.  He was a long time FBI informant that never should have been.  The DEA warned the FBI not to use him because he was still a top cocaine supplier and a murderer.  They used him anyway, and he died of old age in his bed.

The book gives names and times Greg met with the FBI and intel agents gave him.  The agents broke the rules and became friends with Greg.  They vacationed with him and ate meals.  How they did not get put away is beyond me.  I guess this is why today the agents work in pairs and when important papers have to be signed a fresh agent must witness it.

The book is not a Mafia tell all that names names and specific crimes, but it is a great look into the world.  I know guys who were on the hit Linda describes in the book when the Wild Bill faction of the Colombo family tried to get him.  I've been told first hand by a shooter what went down and the version in the book is right on.  

Linda talks about going to Florida with guys from her father's crew when they were on vacation.  The guys from the crew were really going to carry out a murder.  The guy she named was Joe Peraino.  Joe Peraino and his brother Tony owned a porn company Arrow Film and Video.  They had many, but Arrow was the most famous.  Tony’s son Butch produced Deepthroat which became a moneymaker beyond anything the Mafia ever did in porn.  Tony, who I knew as Big Tony, was a made Colombo and so was his brother Joe.  They came from a line of mafia bosses.  They had interests in the garment center but after Deepthroat took off, the money became an issue.  

The Colombos sided with Big Tony.  A hit team that included Tommy Shots Gioeli chased down Joe and his son in Brooklyn.  They killed Joe’s son and a nun, but Joe lived out his life in a wheelchair in Florida.

The book is accurate and a great read, pick it up today if you’d like an inside peak into the life.

You can't teach a dumb old dog new tricks.

Today I am going way back to the 1990’s in the San Fernando Valley.  I was sitting in the back office of a business known as Mid Valley Trading.  What they really traded I have no idea, but they did have a lot of stuff go through that warehouse. Mid Valley Trading was the home base of Jerry Zimmerman circa 1990’s.  Jerry Zimmerman a larger than life Jewish con man who was around the Colombo family through his friendship with Sonny Franzese.

In mafia circles Sonny Franzese is very well respected, young guys call him “The Rock.”  He is much more respected than John Gotti to those involved in the life.

So here I am, sitting at Jerry's desk when the phone rings, and it's a collect call from a federal institution.  It is Sonny Franzese, and he is looking for Jerry, but Jerry has gone out and left me manning the phones.  Sonny asks me to write down a name and he tells me this guy will be calling Jerry tomorrow.  I wrote the name on a desk blotter calendar and when Jerry came back I told him.  He rolled his eyes because every guy Sonny sent turned out to be some loser.  While I was sitting there the guy called and Jerry made an appointment to see him the next day.

The next day came and the guy showed up, and when he did I left.  I didn't like this guy the first minute I set eyes on him.  One thing, and it may be nothing to some people, but to me it set off alarms.  He wore blue jeans that were pressed with a crease in the front.  Who does that?

I went with him on a collection once, and I pushed in the door when the guy answered it.  This guy just yelled with his tough voice after I went inside.  I didn't like him and I tried to keep my distance.  

He tried to con me out of a grand, but I got him back by reversing it on him.  He made threats but couldn't do a thing.  He called a friend in Florida in Sonny’s crew, and cried to him over it.  The guy in turn asked me not to bust his head open.

Later he was present when we received the counterfeit traveler's checks that helped the FBI put together Operation Thin Crust in Las Vegas.

A week later he suckered Jimmy Caci into taking a ride with him.  He went inside an office and threatened a guy who cracked him in the head with a tape dispenser.  The guy was getting a pistol when Jimmy stopped him.  This loser had to be carried out by a 70 year old man with his head gushing blood.  

Unknown to Jimmy or any of us, the loser had been busted for first stealing some pirate cable boxes from a police evidence warehouse and then agreeing to sell them to federal agents in New Jersey.  He had flipped and began giving information to the FBI.  He went to Frankie's on Melrose and wore a wire on Joe Dente Sr., a Capo in the Genovese family who was a huge shylock.  Joe wanted nothing to do with him and told Jimmy Caci. Jimmy told this guy to stay away from him.

One night we all went to Frankie's on Melrose for dinner and Jimmy decided to stay at this loser's place. This loser went downstairs so the LAPD could come up and arrest Jimmy for the incident where this loser got beat up by the tape dispenser for threatening the guy in his office.  The victim even told them it was not Jimmy, but the LAPD hated Jimmy so they arrested him on that crap charge.

This is how I got a tape he made when he was speaking to the FBI.  He claims that he was not an informant, that instead he was conning the FBI, just using them for money.  Come on!  You do not con the FBI.  They have multiple sources and they know when it's bad information.  He told them he would be made.  The tape of him talking to the FBI is public on YouTube for all who wish to hear it and decide for themselves.  

This was years ago.  Since then, this loser was arrested in a case where he had guys fly into LA and get a rental car for them, then go to a ladies home and beat her and tie her up because they thought it was a drug stash.  It was not.  They all went away but this guy did not get much punishment, and nothing at all happened to his son, who was part of the conspiracy. How do you rent a car in your name for guys who are flying in to rob a woman and the FBI knows it but you do not get in trouble?  This guy gets out of prison and runs around town claiming he is a made guy conning the FBI.

Fast forward to last week.  I get a call from a friend and he tells me a story.

There is a movie being made. Some producers have a falling out and one of them wants some money back from the other producer. The producers with the cash in hand say kick rocks to the LA Producer.

Now enter another person who I hold in very low regard.  An aging “talent agent” who represents stars from years gone by that have seen better days.  This guy likes to go around and brag about his “mafia connections.”  He is the worst kind of person, a big coward that sits behind a desk and scares other cowards in the business with his big talk.  I always disliked guys like this agent - he reminds me of every Italian restaurant owner in every small city in America. They all think they are connected.  They talk big but they have no guts to do a thing themselves.  You cannot buy loyalty, you have to earn it.  Unless you are in a crew doing dirt you are nothing.  You are a cash machine for whatever guy you think you are “with.”

He tells the LA producer that he can get the money back for him, because he knows who to call.  He has the same pressed-jeans loser from the Jimmy Caci days call the producer.  Keep in mind this loser is now 70 years old with diabetes and could not fight his way out of a paper bag, even when he was young. He was no match for a tape dispenser. He was never in the same league as Jimmy Caci.  The loser tells the producer that for a cash payment he will get some guys to fly in from Florida and "get the money back for him."

This LA producer wonders if this might be the answer to his problem. Its a Federal crime, first of all, because he is sending guys across state lines to collect a debt.  Then, if they hurt the people, or worse, and it’s connected to you in any way?  It’s conspiracy, or possibly, murder, if someone dies.   Let’s say, best case scenario, they do get money back, or the other producer has a change of heart and pays what he owes after they have a “talk.” Now, these clowns who got involved will own this LA producer forever, as they can blackmail him on top of what he already paid.

Legitimate people that think they can dabble in the life are a joke. You are either a citizen or you are a gangster. You cannot be both.   People never learn and others keep doing the same thing.   I cannot understand why a 70 year old man would want to leave this world still doing the same stupid stuff he did when he was young.  He never learned from his time away.  He cannot see that he is just wasting his life.

You can't teach an old dog new tricks.

The Springfield Crew

I've been writing about the Mafia in different places and how they operate.  This is a story much like that of the Lucchese Family's New Jersey Crew, except this is about the Genovese Springfield Massachusetts Crew.  

Big Al

The Springfield crew was driven by the same Mafia Code as the rest of the family: Greed, Power and Murder.  The long time Capo of the crew was Salvatore "Big Nose Sam" Cufari who ran the crew unchecked through the 1970's until 1983 when he passed away.  One of his crew members stepped up to the number one position in Springfield and that man was Francesco “Skyball” Scibelli.  Frankie Skyball was so well respected that during the 1980's when Pete Milano was rebuilding the Los Angeles Family they reached out to Skyball when they had an associate from Massachusetts that was proposed for membership.  Skyball became the second sponsor and the man was made into the family.   The Springfield Crew would continue to prosper despite Federal indictments.  Skyball’s brother Baba Scibelli would run the crew after Skyball went away in the 1990's until Baba was indicted for running a huge amount of poker machines.  Baba admitted to being a member of the Genovese family and running the crew.  He would would retire with his millions.  

The next man to step up to the leadership role was Adolfo Bruno, who was better known by the nickname Big Al.  Big Al was known for his Hawaiian shirts and the ever present cigar.   Big Al would inherit a crew in the changing demographics of the Mafia.  Gone were the dozens of young eager recruits from Italian families.  Instead, Big Al had to make do with what he had, and one of those was Anthony J. Arillotta.  Anthony is exactly what is happening in every Mafia family around the world.  He represents what America itself has become.  Nobody is willing to put in the time to work their way up in whatever field they choose.  Everyone today wants everything right now with no time to really get to know what they are doing.

 

Artie

Big Al would soon face increasing pressure from the powerful acting boss of the Genovese Family, Arthur “Artie” Nigro, to kick up more cash from the Springfield rackets.  Artie was not happy.  Arillotta, who at the time was an up and coming member of Big Al’s crew, took part in everything from extortions to drug dealing.  Arillotta used two brothers in his organization as enforcers:: Fotios aka Freddy and Ty Geas.   They would help him extort $12,000 a month from a local stripclub and other collections.  Arillotta saw the rift between Artie and Big Al and he stepped in to take advantage of the situation.  He began to communicate with Artie and kick up  cash, plus he did a favor for Artie. Artie had a beef with a Union shop steward for the Cement Workers Union Local 780 in the Bronx named Frank Dadabo, so Artie asked Arillotta to do a piece of work. Artie gave Arillotta two pistols with silencers for the work and the location of Dadabo. In May of 2003 Arillotta and Ty Geas sat on a Bronx City Bench until they saw Dadabo walking to his car.  They got up and started walking towards him as he got into his car and then they opened fire, shattering the window and striking Dadabo.  Dadabo survived the shooting and Artie’s words to Arillotta were, “you need to get better at head shots.” Artie must have still been happy because Arillotta was Badged into the Genovese Family in a Bronx apartment building in the summer of 2003.  He then was caught on FBI wiretaps telling people he was no longer with Big Al and that he now took orders from Artie.  This created a strange situation in the Springfield underworld, but greed will always win out.

Arillotta

An immigrant from Italy, Emilo Fusco, who became a Badged member of the Genovese family, came across an FBI memo in which an FBI Agent stated that Big Al told the FBI about a Made member of the Springfield crew. Armed with this, Arillotta sought permission to murder Big Al from Artie and the Genovese Family over a steak dinner in the Bronx.  This is where a man named John Bologna comes into play in the Springfield Crew.  John Bologna was a longtime Gambino associate who ran a large bookmaking operation and helped the Gambinos in the Carting business until he switched crews.  He soon became close to Artie and Artie put him in charge of making sure the guys in Springfield brought in the cash they were supposed to at the right time.  He was also feeding negative reports to Artie about Big Al.  Artie soon gave the order to another Genovese man in Springfield named Felix Tranghese who passed it on to Arillotta.  They tried a number of times when Big Al was going to dinners in New York or other places.  John Bologna told them to do what they were supposed to do.  So Arillotta hired a prison buddy of Freddy Geas named Frankie Roche who was nicknamed Crash Dummy because of his reckless ways.  Frankie agreed to do the hit for 10,000 dollars.  Since he already had a beef with Big Al over his trashing of a bar, it came easy.    

Skyball

Frankie retrieved a 45 cal auto pistol from under a dumpster and began stalking Big Al.  Frankie missed him a couple of times at The Our Lady of Mount Carmel Society, until on November 23 2003 he got a call from Fusco letting him know where Big Als was that night.  So Frankie waited outside while Big Al played cards.  He hid next to a vending machine until Big Al and another man walked to his car.  Frankie then yelled “Hey Al” and he answered, “Whats’ up buddy?”  Frankie then said “Are you looking for me?” and shot Big Al as he fell against the car he shot him four more times and then a final time.  Frankie then got into an unregistered car and drove away.  That was the beginning of the end for Arillotta crew.  John Bologna soon disappeared from Springfield and the State Police stepped up their investigation.  They would all be arrested and Arillotta would be one of the first to flip.  Felix Tanghese flipped, Frankie Roche flipped and they all testified against Artie, The Geas Brothers andFusco.   They were all convicted of the murder except Fusco, who was still given 25 years. It would come out that John Bologna had been an FBI informant for 20 years.  

To Blow Up an Irishman (Ray Ferrito: Part II)

The more I think about it, the more I am convinced that gangsters from the past were a different breed. Gangsters today are just not cut from the same cloth. Young guys coming up no are no longer willing to put the time into being a gangster.  If we were talking about success in any other field I would defer to the book Outliers which promotes the thesis that in order to become successful in any field one has to put in 10,000 hours doing what they want to succeed. It is not just the 10,000 hours, it is practising the craft.

Ray and his friends had put in the time and they had become a traveling crew of top rate burglars that hit places all over the country. They were able to hit businesses and crack their safes as if they owned the places.  Ray and his friends soon bought an apartment building in the San Fernando Valley just over the hill from Los Angeles.

Jimmy Frattiano wrote about staying at Rays apartment and the guys there like Julius Petro using it as a base of operations.

A large bookie in Santa Monica named Sparky Monica asked Ray to murder Juli Petro because he kept shaking him down.  Sparky offered Ray 20k and half his book to handle the murder.  Ray agreed and after failing to blow him up with a bomb, he drove him to the airport and when a plane was taking off shot him in the head.

Buffalino

Sparky, being like a lot of bookies, decided that he didn't have to pay Ray for the hit or give him anything from the book.  When Ray called, he invoked the name Tony Plate, a made member of the Gambino family living in Florida.  This is the way of Organized Crime, bookies like to try and play both sides, Sparky thought by partnering up with Tony Plate he could get out of paying Ray.  He would pay.

Ray was not only a burglar and a hitman, he was also a gambling genius who had clubs in Erie including The City Squier Club and The Calabrese Club.

The early 1970's is when Ray went to Russel Buffalino with the idea of putting together a massive sports betting empire that would use tips right from the locker rooms of professional sports teams.  This made it possible to play with the odds and lay off what they needed to.  Russel Buffalino and his friends each put in 200k and they were off and running.  They settled on a code name for the business "Ameche13" and it would soon span 12 states.

Things started to change in Cleveland when the longtime boss Jack Scalish died during an operation on his heart.  Scalish had been at war with a rogue band of criminals including the self proclaimed Celtic Warrior Danny Geene.  Scalish had been content with his family and had not made any new guys in the family, so they didn't have the same manpower as those families in Chicago or New York.  The new Boss James "Jack White" Licavoli would send numerous hit teams after Danny Greene, but he truly had the luck of the Irish.  Danny had dodged 8 attempted hits by the Cleveland Combination when Jack White took over.  Danny Greene had orchestrated the disappearance of Leo "Lips" Moceri the Underboss of the Combination. Leo was a close associate of the Los Angeles Family and Jimmy Frattiano.  The war in the streets of Cleveland raged on and they finally were able to murder Danny's partner Union Boss John Nardi.  They found out that Nardi parked his car in the same spot day after day, so they parked a car rigged with a directional bomb and when he walked to his car they detonated the bomb killing Nardi instantly.

Greene Dead

The bosses from Murray Hill finally called in Ray at the urging of Jimmy Frattiano and they made Ray an offer.  Ray rejected their offer and asked for 25% of the rackets in Warren and Youngstown.  At first they balked and then they came around.  They bugged Danny Greene's phone and they soon learned that Danny, like many gangsters, was playing both sides.  Danny was an FBI Informant and this would explain all his bravado.  Ray and his team planted a remote controlled bomb outside an apartment building where Danny frequented, but on the day of the hit there were a number of elderly people sitting nearby so Ray called it off. The wiretap soon picked up Danny making a dental appointment and they knew that was where they could get him.  The Cleveland guys supplied Ray with two cars. One was tne was the bomb car and the other was the getaway car.  Ray had them registered to a fictitious person in Pennsylvania to take some of the heat away from Cleveland.  Ray and his confederates soon wielded a steel "Bomb Box" that would direct the blast right at Danny from the door of the bomb car.  It would be like a huge Claymore mine spewing death in one direction.   Ray waited nearby and as soon as they spotted Danny about to get into his car he detonated the bomb, right when he touched the door handle.  This time Danny was blown to bits.

A short time later in Cleveland, Ray was summoned to a secret location where Jack White and the Administration of the Combination held a ceremony to induct Ray into the family.  They had the pistol and the knife, the saint card and Jack White rattled off the words to Ray.  Jimmy Frattiano was also present during the Ceremony and in his book he would claim that it had been so long since the family had inducted anyone they forgot how!  

Ray was happy and with good reason.  Every street hood knows that being a made guy is the highest honor.  They used to be held in high regard and they were highly respected.  

Ray had no idea at the time that these men of honor actually met hours before the ceremony and had voted to kill him as soon as the heat died down.  The ceremony was just to pacify him until they could kill him.  It was pure greed, because Ray had been a loyal soldier for years. Jimmy Frattiano, who was an informant at the time, also agreed that Ray should be killed. He had been locked up with many of them and he put in the work, yet they decided to kill him.

If you look at the things that happened next it also looks like they tried to hedge their bets by setting Ray up at the same time.

The first clue came from a young couple who just happened to be driving by after the explosion.  They claimed that they saw the fleeing bombers and the woman just happened to be a police sketch artist.  All they saw was a car leaving the area, they did not see Ray holding the remote.  Lets look at this statement, a bomb explodes if you are in the area what do you do?  Stay there or flee.  All you have to do is watch video from any explosion or shooting and watch people run in every direction.  So the women showed the sketch to her father who just happened to be a Detective and he had investigated Ray.  The Feds were soon after Ray and he found out at the same time that Cleveland had put out a contract on him.  

Jack White

Ray walked into the Pittsburgh FBI office and gave himself up. He spent a few hours there under heavy guard until the agents let Ray listen to wiretaps they had on the Combination.  Ray heard with his own ears the bosses and Jimmy Frattiano casually talking about his fate.  That was all Ray had to hear and then he decided to cooperate with the FBI.  He would take down the whole Family in Cleveland and Jimmy Frattiano.  Ray’s cooperation would destroy the Cleveland Combination and decimate the LA Family and even topple a boss in New York. All because of these greedy old men.

Ray would leave WITSEC and continue to work the Ameche 13 gambling organization until 1993!  This would be the first that I heard of a guy getting out of WITSEC and picking up where he left off.  Sammy The Bull tried it and failed, but look at him.  I know that many people still talk to me so I know Ray did it.

The best part of this story?  Ray retired to Florida where he lived out his last days a free man with his loving wife.  On May 9th, 2004 Ray was too weak to get up but he whispered to his wife " I beat'em, didn’t I honey?"  Ray had beat them all, and died a free man in his home.

If you would like to read Ray's whole story in detail please pick up a copy of Ferritto: An assassin scorned.

Ferrito: An Assassin scorned