Boston
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Boston is the site of one of the more prominent families in the American Cosa Nostra. The first boss of the Boston family was
Gaspare Messina. Messina started the family in 1916 and died in 1924. Phil Buccola succeeded him and started the move up
of the Boston family. Most of his money came from mob staples like loansharking, numbers, and bootlegging. Buccola retired
in 1954, and he was succeeded by Raymond Patriarca, Sr. He changed the way that the family was run. Patriarca moved the
base of the family to Providence, Rhode Island and appointed an underboss, Jerry Angiulo, to run the family's rackets in
Boston. Angiulo organized all of the gambling in the city. Pretty soon, he had a cut off of every game in Boston. He was
sending tributes up to Providence, so it was perfectly fine with Patriarca. Patriarca stayed in power until his death in 1985. He
was succeeded by his son, Raymond Patriarca, Jr. This was not a very smooth transition. Underboss William Grosso was
killed shortly after Jr. took over. The family took a real hit in 1989, when Patriarca and the entire hierarchy of the family was
recorded by an FBI bug in an induction ceremony of four new members. This was the first time the FBI had ever recorded an
LCN induction ceremony. The hierarchy was sent to jail as a result of the tapes. Francis P. "Cadillac Frank" Salemme took
over as boss. He was in control until two years ago, when he was arrested on RICO charges. His underboss, Nicholas
"Nicky" Bianco is said to be the acting boss of the family.
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