Howard Thomas Winter (March 17, 1929 – November 12, 2020) was an American

mobster A gangster (informally gangsta) is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from '' mob'' and the suffix '' -ster''. Gangs provide a level ...

who was a

boss Boss may refer to: Occupations * Supervisor, often referred to as boss * Air boss, more formally, air officer, the person in charge of aircraft operations on an aircraft carrier * Crime boss, the head of a criminal organization * Fire boss, ...

of the

Winter Hill Gang The Winter Hill Gang was a loose confederation of American organized crime figures in the Boston, Massachusetts area. It was generally considered an Irish mob organization, with most gang members and the leadership consisting predominantly of ...

, an Irish mob group in

Somerville, Massachusetts Somerville ( ) is a city located directly to the northwest of Boston, and north of Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge, in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the city had a total population of 81, ...

, a northwestern suburb of

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Early life

Winter was born in the

West Roxbury West Roxbury is a neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, bordered by Roslindale and Jamaica Plain to the northeast, the village of Chestnut Hill and the town of Brookline to the north, the city of Newton to the northwest, t ...

neighborhood of

on March 17, 1929, of

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

and Irish descent, and raised in the nearby suburb of

Somerville Somerville may refer to: Places Australia *Somerville, Victoria, a town **Somerville railway station * Somerville, Western Australia, a suburb of Kalgoorlie, Australia New Zealand * Somerville, New Zealand, a suburb of Manukau City, New Zea ...

. He enlisted in the

U.S. Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionary ...

in 1943, at the age of 14, and served in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

.Winter Hill mob boss Howie Winter learned fast no good deed goes unpunished

Howie Carr Howard Louis Carr Jr. (born January 17, 1952) is an American conservative radio talk-show host, political author, news reporter and award-winning writer. He hosts '' The Howie Carr Show'' originating from his studios in Wellesley, Massachuset ...

, ''

Boston Herald The ''Boston Herald'' is an American conservative daily newspaper whose primary market is Boston, Massachusetts, and its surrounding area. It was founded in 1846 and is one of the oldest daily newspapers in the United States. It has been awarde ...

'' (November 14, 2020)

Winter Hill Gang

Winter was the right-hand man to the originator of the gang,

James "Buddy" McLean James Joseph McLean (January 26, 1930 – October 31, 1965), known as "Buddy" McLean, was an American mobster, who was the original boss of the Somerville, Massachusetts-based Winter Hill Gang during the 1960s. McLean was well known throughout t ...

and took over the rackets, along with Joe McDonald, when McLean was killed during the Irish Mob Wars in 1965. In 1979 Winter, McDonald and other members of the

were arrested and indicted on federal "horse race fixing" charges. On August 21, 1979, Winter was sentenced to ten years in prison.Winter asks release to take a job
Joseph M. Harvey, ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...

'' (September 27, 1979)

James "Whitey" Bulger James Joseph "Whitey" Bulger Jr. (; September 3, 1929 – October 30, 2018) was an American organized crime boss who led the Winter Hill Gang, an Irish mob group based in the Winter Hill neighborhood of Somerville, Massachusetts, northwe ...

then replaced Winter as boss of the gang. Winter was released from prison in 1987 and relocated to St. Louis, where he was in contact with gang associate James "Gentleman Jim" Mulvey, who was a close friend of Raymond L. S. Patriarca. In 1993, he was caught dealing cocaine. When the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

informed him that Bulger had been an informant all those years and offered Winter a deal if he would inform on Bulger, Winter refused the deal telling the FBI that Mulvey has already informed him of that and he was no "rat", despite facing another decade behind bars, which he would serve, being released from prison in July 2002.

Later life and death

Following his release from prison, Winter worked out of his home in Millbury as a property manager. In 2012, Winter was arrested on charges of

extorting Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit (e.g., money or goods) through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, although making unfounded t ...

money from two people. He pled guilty and was placed on probation. Winter died in 2020, aged 91.

References

* English, T. J. ''Paddy Whacked: The Untold Story of the Irish American Gangster''. New York:

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

, 2005. ;Notes

External links

* United States of America v. Howard T. Winter et al., 1979–1995, U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Public trial archive held at the

United States National Archives The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an independent agency of the United States government within the executive branch, charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It is also taske ...

"Profile: Howie Winter"
, in Howie Carr's Encyclopedia of Boston Mobsters

by John William Tuohy at www.americanmafia.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Winter, Howie 1929 births 2020 deaths 20th-century American criminals 21st-century American criminals American crime bosses American gangsters of German descent American gangsters of Irish descent American male criminals American prisoners and detainees Child soldiers in World War II Gangsters from Boston Military personnel from Boston People from Millbury, Massachusetts People from Somerville, Massachusetts People from West Roxbury, Boston United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II Winter Hill Gang

Early life

Winter Hill Gang

Later life and death

Further reading

References

External links