Timothy "Timmy the Bat" Mello (born September 21, 1956 in Fall River, Massachusetts), is a mobster associated with the Patriarca crime family.
During the successful federal prosecutions of the Patriacra's in the early 1990s, remaining Patriarca members began fighting amongst each other for power as Frank Salemme began to consolidate his position in Boston. After a failed attempt on Salemme's life in Saugus, Massachusetts in August 1990, soon after newspapers reported he had become head of Boston's criminal operations, Mello and other criminals in the New England area were contacted.
On the night of August 14, 1990, Mello was observed with Gordon O'Brien, William Anthony, a recently paroled freelance hitman from West Warwick, as they sat in a parked car in on the East Side of Providence, Rhode Island. Although initially holding back on the assumption the three men may have been detectives, patrolman Frank Moody approached the car to investigate when Mello was seen taking a blackjack and throwing it onto the car's rear window sill.
Taking the men into custody at gunpoint, a later search of the car turned up police equipment including badges, handcuffs, "police" printed baseball caps, a portable police scanner, a police spotlight and siren. Anthony readily agreed to cooperate with authorities, however, refusing to submit to a lie detector test, Anthony was dropped from entering the Witness Protection Program. Although an altercation between Mello and officers attempting to fingerprint him would result in his being restrained by several detectives while in custody, the three would be released on bail (Hanrahan, who had been waiting in a van a block from the others, had fled the scene after witnessing their arrest).
State investigators later discovered through talks with Anthony that the three were planning to kidnap Patriarca bookmaker Blaise Marfeo. Waiting outside his Adesso Restaurant, the men would "arrest" Marfeo on the pretense of a routine traffic stop and drive him to a safehouse in Fall River where they would ransom him for between $250,000-$300,000 or simply murder him.
After the gangland slaying of Hanrahan, Mello retreated from Providence and began competing with rival criminals over bookmaking operations from the recently retired Donald Waterhouse. His rivals included Louie Alexander, and Joe Savitch, whose remains would be found in northern Maine three years following their disappearance in 1995, and Gerard Ouimette who would eventually be convicted of extortion charges that same year. Associate Peter "Thumbs" Costa was also questioned in the disappearance of other rivals, but refused to talk to authorities.
With Mello left as the dominant figure in the local underworld, he soon entered into "legitimate" businesses including the fishing industry building a multimillion-dollar empire over a nine-year period as the owner of Tempest Fisheries processing plant in 1994 and controlling over small fleet of fishing boats as well as the Fall River-based insurance company Cost Plus, the property management company TEK Properties and local King's Highway restaurant Fatso's (formerly the Rocking Horse Pub).
In recent years, he has made large donations to local organizations through Tempest Fisheries including Fall River youth sports, drug rehabilitation centers and, most notably, the donation of $25,000 to the newly built Atlantis Charter School in 2001.
Shortly after becoming married the previous July, Mello was arrested by federal agents at his home in Dartmouth on September 17, 2002. Indicted by authorities on 51 charges including extortion and waterfront racketeering charges, including the forced takeover of Tempest Fisheries, Mello was also accused of using five fishing vessels for the purposes of smuggling and distributing marijuana and cocaine in the Fall River and New Bedford area.
On November 17, 2003, Mello pleaded guilty to a racketeering charge. On May 24, 2004, Mello received his sentence: 13 years in jail, with three years of supervised release afterwards. [1]
The Genovese crime family, also sometimes referred to as the Westside, is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City and New Jersey as part of the American Mafia. They have generally maintained a varying degree of influence over many of the smaller mob families outside New York, including ties with the Philadelphia, Patriarca, and Buffalo crime families.
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.
The DeCavalcante crime family, also known as the North Jersey Mafia, is an Italian-American Mafia organized crime family that operates mainly in northern New Jersey, particularly in Elizabeth, Newark, West New York, and various other North Jersey cities and the surrounding areas in North Jersey. It is part of the nationwide criminal network known as the American Mafia. It operates on the opposite side of the Hudson River from the Five Families of New York. It maintains strong relations with many of them, as well as with the Philadelphia crime family and the Patriarca crime family of New England. The Decavalcantes are considered by some to be the "Sixth Family".
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.
Kevin T. Hanrahan was a mobster in Providence, Rhode Island, and freelance enforcer for the Patriarca crime family. A longtime career criminal in southern New England's underworld, Hanrahan was often used by the Patriarcas for collections and assault in Federal Hill as well as being suspected by authorities to have been involved in numerous gangland slayings throughout the 1970s and 1980s. He would be in and out of prison during the 1980s on charges including jury tampering, intimidating witnesses, drug trafficking and counterfeiting.
Gordon O'Brien was a Taunton mobster and associate for the Patriarca crime family. Long a presence in southern New England's underworld, O'Brien had extensive contacts with the Patriarcas in Federal Hill and, with Kevin Hanrahan, helped Fall River mobster Timothy J. Mello make connections with the Patriarcas. As early as 1990, O'Brien was under surveillance by federal agents where he was observed with Mello at a 1990 meeting with "Cadillac" Frank Salemme regarding illegal gambling.
Angelo "Sonny" Mercurio was an Italian-American mobster and a member of the Patriarca crime family who became an FBI informant and recorded a Cosa Nostra induction ceremony. His act led to the incarceration of family boss Raymond Patriarca, Jr. and other top family members.
Robert F. Carrozza also known as "Bobby Russo", is an Italian-American mobster from East Boston, Massachusetts, who led a bloody internal rebellion against the leadership of the Providence-based Patriarca crime family.
Luigi Giovanni "Baby Shacks" Manocchio is an American mobster from Providence, Rhode Island. He is the former boss of the New England-based Patriarca crime family, which is part of the American Mafia.
Matthew Louis Guglielmetti Jr., also known as "Matty", is the underboss of the New England-based Patriarca crime family of La Cosa Nostra. Guglielmetti is closely aligned with former family boss Luigi Mannochio.
The Lucchese crime family's New Jersey faction, also known as the Jersey Crew, is a powerful crew within the Lucchese crime family. The members operate throughout the Northern New Jersey area. During the 1970s into the late 1980s, the crew was led by Anthony Accetturo and his protégé Michael Taccetta. In 1987, Victor Amuso took over the family and began demanding a higher percentage of tribute from the crew. Accetturo refused and a war erupted between the New Jersey members and the New York members. This left brothers Michael and Martin Taccetta in charge of the crew as they tried to have Accetturo and his family murdered. In 1993, Accetturo defected and became a government witness. He helped convict Michael and Martin Taccetta. The crew was most recently controlled by Ralph Perna.
George "Big Georgie" DeCicco was a New York mobster and longtime captain in the Gambino crime family. DeCicco is one of the last captains of the old John Gotti administration in the 1980s who have not been under any indictment until now. DeCicco is the brother of former Gambino underboss Frank DeCicco, who was killed in a car-bomb meant for his boss John Gotti, ordered by then boss of the Genovese crime family who is now deceased, Vincent "Chin" Gigante, and Lucchese crime family leaders Vittorio "Vic" Amuso and Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso as revenge for the murder of former Gambino crime family boss, Paul Castellano, a strong ally of both the Genovese and Lucchese crime families.
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.
The 1978 Blackfriars Massacre, also known as the Blackfriars murders, is an unsolved Irish Mob and/or Italian-American Mafia massacre that occurred on June 28, 1978, in the Blackfriars Pub in Downtown Boston, Massachusetts. Four criminals known to the police and a former Channel 7 Boston television investigative news anchorman, Jack Kelly, were killed, allegedly over the sale of cocaine.
Raymond Joseph Patriarca, known as Raymond Patriarca Jr., is an American former gangster from Providence, Rhode Island, son of mob boss Raymond L. S. Patriarca, after whom the Patriarca crime family was named. The crime family has a faction in Providence and another in Boston, Massachusetts, and he was boss of the family for six years after the death of his father in 1984.
The Nine Trey Gangster Bloods or Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods (NTG) are a violent set of the United Blood Nation street gang, which is itself a set of the Bloods gang. The gang operates on the East Coast of the United States.
Gerard Thomas Ouimette, commonly known as The Frenchman, was an American mobster and author from Providence, Rhode Island who was a prominent associate of the Patriarca crime family. He served for years as one of Raymond L. S. Patriarca's lieutenants, and also headed his own faction of the Patriarca mob.
Robert Donati – who went by the name of Bobby and was also known by the nickname Bobby D – was an American career criminal. Along with his twin brother Richard, he was associated with the New England-based Patriarca crime family. His criminal history dates to 1958, when he was 17. He and his brothers were long believed to be part of the Angiulo Brothers' crew, with whom they carried out burglaries.
quote: [...] a variety of crimes such as extortion, cocaine and marijuana distribution, money laundering, witness tampering, illegal gambling, obstruction of justice and mail fraud.
