Michael Flemmi

Last updated

Michael Flemmi
Born (1937-07-09) July 9, 1937 (age 86)
OccupationFormer Boston Police Department officer (1957–1990)
Criminal statusReleased
Parent(s)Giovanni Flemmi
Mary Irene Misserville
Relatives Stephen Flemmi (brother)
Vincent Flemmi (brother)
Conviction(s) Obstruction of justice (18 U.S.C. § 1503) (2 counts)
Perjury (18 U.S.C. § 1621)
Possession of unregistered machine guns, silencers, and cut-down shotguns (26 U.S.C. §§ 5861 and 5871)
Transfer and possession of machine guns (18 U.S.C. § 922)
Criminal penalty10 years imprisonment

Michael S. Flemmi (born July 9, 1937) [1] is an American retired Boston Police Department officer who was convicted of obstruction of justice charge stemming from his relationship with his brother Stephen Flemmi and the Winter Hill Gang.

Contents

Early life

Flemmi was born in 1937, to Italian immigrant Giovanni Flemmi (1892–1991), and Mary Irene (née Misserville) Flemmi (1912–2000), who was of Irish descent. He was the last of his brothers Stephen and Vincent Flemmi. He was raised in the Orchard Park tenement located at 25 Ambrose Street in Roxbury, Massachusetts. His father Giovanni was a bricklayer who, according to fellow mobster Kevin Weeks, served in the Royal Italian Army during World War I.

In 2000, Flemmi was arrested for moving an arsenal of more than 70 weapons from their mother's shed after learning that it was to be the target of a search warrant. In September 2002 he was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison. A year later, he pleaded guilty to selling a load of Stephen's stolen jewelry for $40,000.

By 2003, his brother Stephen Flemmi knew he was at the end of his tether. In October, Flemmi pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Boston to 10 counts of murder and accepted a sentence of life in prison without parole. He made the decision as a part of a deal to reduce the sentence for his brother, Michael Flemmi.

U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns said it was difficult to sentence Flemmi, because he had done some good work during his 30 years as a Boston police officer. [2]

While incarcerated, Flemmi's register number was 23391-038. He was released from prison on September 2, 2011. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whitey Bulger</span> American gangster and crime boss (1929–2018)

James Joseph "Whitey" Bulger Jr. was an American organized crime boss who led the Winter Hill Gang in the Winter Hill neighborhood of Somerville, Massachusetts, a city directly northwest of Boston. On December 23, 1994, Bulger fled the Boston area and went into hiding after his former FBI handler, John Connolly, tipped him off about a pending RICO indictment against him. Bulger remained at large for sixteen years. After his 2011 arrest, federal prosecutors tried Bulger for nineteen murders based on grand jury testimony from Kevin Weeks and other former criminal associates.

The Winter Hill Gang was a loose confederation of organized crime figures in the Boston, Massachusetts, area. It is generally considered an Irish Mob organization, with most gang members and the leadership consisting predominantly of Irish-Americans, though some notable members, such as Johnny Martorano, are of Italian-American descent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen Flemmi</span> American convicted murderer (born 1934)

Stephen Joseph Flemmi is an American gangster and convicted murderer and was a close associate of Winter Hill Gang boss Whitey Bulger. Beginning in 1975, Flemmi was a top echelon informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Salemme</span> American criminal (1933–2022)

Francis Patrick Salemme, sometimes spelled Salemmi, also known as "Cadillac Frank" and "Julian Daniel Selig", was an American mobster from Boston, Massachusetts who became a hitman and eventually the boss of the Patriarca crime family of New England before turning government witness.

James "Spike" O'Toole was an Irish-American criminal from Dorchester, Massachusetts.

The Angiulo Brothers, were the leading Italian-American crime group from Boston's North End, from the 1960s until the mid 1980s. Also, the street crew extended into East Boston, Roxbury, Waltham, Newton, Watertown, parts of Revere, and all other predominantly Italian American neighborhoods in Eastern Massachusetts. Their criminal organization was dubbed "In-Town", because one had to go in to town to visit the Angiulo Brothers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Barboza</span> American hitman and boxer

Joseph Barboza Jr., nicknamed "the Animal", was an American mobster and notorious mob hitman for the Patriarca crime family of New England during the 1960s. A prominent enforcer and contract killer in Boston's underworld, Barboza became a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) informant in 1967 and later entered the Witness Protection Program. He was a star witness in the trial of six men convicted in the 1965 murder of Edward Deegan; four of the accused were sentenced to death and another two were sentenced to life imprisonment. It later emerged that Barboza had helped frame the six defendants in a case of wrongful conviction for the Deegan killing, which was allegedly actually committed by Barboza and Vincent Flemmi. He was shot dead in San Francisco in 1976 after his whereabouts became known to Patriarca underboss Gennaro Angiulo.

John Joseph Connolly Jr. is an American former FBI agent who was convicted of racketeering, obstruction of justice, and murder charges stemming from his relationship with James "Whitey" Bulger, Steve Flemmi, and the Winter Hill Gang.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roger Wheeler (businessman)</span> American businessman (1926–1981)

Roger Milton Wheeler Sr. was an American businessman from Tulsa, Oklahoma, the former chairman of Telex Corporation, and former owner of World Jai Alai. He was murdered by members of organized crime who discovered that Wheeler had uncovered their embezzlement scheme at World Jai Alai.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patriarca crime family</span> Italian-American organized crime group

The Patriarca crime family, also known as the New England Mafia, the Boston Mafia, the Providence Mafia, or The Office is an Italian-American Mafia family in New England. It has two distinct factions, one based in Providence, Rhode Island, and the other in Boston, Massachusetts. The family is currently led by Carmen "The Cheese Man" Dinunzio, who is part of the Boston faction. The family is primarily active in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut, with other territory throughout New England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kevin Weeks</span> American mobster (born 1956)

Kevin Weeks is an American former mobster and longtime friend and mob lieutenant to Whitey Bulger, the infamous boss of the Winter Hill Gang, a crime family based in the Winter Hill neighborhood of Somerville, Massachusetts.

Patrick Joseph Nee is an Irish-American former mobster and Irish republican sympathizer. A former member of the Mullen Gang and the Winter Hill Gang, he is a Vietnam War veteran, and author of A Criminal and an Irishman; The Inside Story of the Boston Mob-IRA Connection.

Donald Killeen was an American mob boss who controlled criminal activity, primarily bookmaking, loansharking, and numbers in South Boston, during the late 1940s to the early 1970s.

Paul McGonagle Sr. was an Irish-American mobster and leader of the Mullen Gang, a South Boston street crew involved in burglary and armed robbery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angelo Mercurio</span>

Angelo "Sonny" Mercurio was an Italian-American mobster and a member of the Patriarca crime family who became an FBI informant that recorded for the first time a mafia induction ceremony. This recording led to the incarceration of family boss Raymond Patriarca, Jr. and several other high ranking mafioso. It also became a source of embarrassment for the organization. Subsequently after incarceration Mercurio was entered into the Witness Protection Program.

John Vincent Martorano is an American former gangster and former hitman for the Winter Hill Gang in Boston, Massachusetts, who has admitted to 20 mob-related killings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vincent Flemmi</span>

Vincent James Flemmi, also known as "Jimmy The Bear", was an American mobster who freelanced for the Winter Hill Gang and the Patriarca crime family. He was also a longtime informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He was also the brother of government informant Stephen Flemmi.

Timothy A. Connolly III, aka "Timmy Connolly" and "TC", was an American former South Boston bar owner and mortgage broker, who wore a wire inside the infamous Winter Hill Gang and helped the federal government indict their two leaders, James "Whitey" Bulger and Stephen Flemmi. The public was led to believe that Tim Connolly was merely a businessman and an innocent victim of one of Jim Bulger's many extortions. But in truth, Tim Connolly was secretly a "made member" of the Winter Hill gang and a high ranking lieutenant in this Bulger crime family.

Richard Joseph Schneiderhan was a former Massachusetts State Police Lieutenant in the Attorney General's Organized Crime Unit. He was convicted of conspiracy and obstruction of justice stemming from his relationship with gangster Stephen Flemmi and the Winter Hill Gang. Schneiderhan had warned an associate of fugitive mob boss James "Whitey" Bulger that Bulger's brothers' phones were being monitored by the FBI.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gennaro Angiulo</span> American mobster

Gennaro Joseph "Jerry" Angiulo Sr. was an American mobster who rose to the position of underboss in the Patriarca crime family of New England under Raymond L. S. Patriarca. Angiulo was convicted of racketeering in 1986 and was imprisoned until being released in 2007. According to a member of the Angiulo Brothers, he was "probably the last very significant Mafia boss in Boston’s history".

References

  1. Greatest hits: 832 East Third Street, South Boston
  2. Rifleman's brother sentenced to 10 years, September 10, 2002
  3. "Inmate Locator". www.bop.gov. Retrieved August 2, 2021.