Joseph Barboza Jr. (; September 20, 1932 – February 11, 1976), nicknamed "the Animal", was an American
mobster
A gangster 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 of organization and ...
and notorious mob
hitman
Contract killing is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or persons. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of payment, monetary or otherwise. Either party may ...
for the
Patriarca crime 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 ...
of New England during the 1960s. A prominent enforcer and contract killer in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- m ...
's underworld, Barboza became a
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...
(FBI)
informant
An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a “snitch”) is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law-enforcement world, where informan ...
in 1967 and later entered the
Witness Protection Program
Witness protection is security provided to a threatened person providing testimonial evidence to the justice system, including defendants and other clients, before, during, and after a trial, usually by police. While a witness may only require p ...
. 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
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...
in 1976 after his whereabouts became known to Patriarca underboss
Gennaro Angiulo.
Early life
Barboza was born on September 20, 1932 in
New Bedford, Massachusetts
New Bedford ( Massachusett: ) is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts. It is located on the Acushnet River in what is known as the South Coast region. Up through the 17th century, the area was the territory of the Wampanoag Native American ...
, to
Portuguese emigrants from
Valpaços
Valpaços () is a municipality in northern Portugal. The population in 2011 was 16,882, in an area of 548.74 km2.
History
The first documents that cite Valpaços date back to the 12th century. Its toponymy evolved from pre-national settlem ...
, Joseph Barboza Sr. (born José Barbosa), a middle-weight boxer, and Palmeda Camille, who was a seamstress.
His father was a
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
-based prizefighter who competed in only two professional boxing matches; his debut bout was against Pete Frisco on January 27, 1933, and his second match was against Carlos Chipres on April 27, 1933. Barboza had two brothers; Donald and Anthony Barboza and a sister, Anne Houghton.
Barboza was fluent in Portuguese, Italian and Spanish. He was married to a Jewish woman and fathered a daughter in 1965 and also a son and lived in
Chelsea, Massachusetts
Chelsea is a city in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States, directly across the Mystic River from the city of Boston. As of the 2020 census, Chelsea had a population of 40,787. With a total area of just 2.46 square miles, Chelsea is the sm ...
while employed by the
Patriarca crime 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
Dark Brotherhood.
Professional boxing career
Barboza would pursue a career as a professional
light heavyweight
Light heavyweight, also referred to as junior cruiserweight or light cruiserweight, is a weight class in combat sports.
Boxing Professional
In professional boxing, the division is above and up to , falling between super middleweight and cruise ...
boxer and member of the
United States Boxing Association
The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...
, using the name of "the Baron".
His first boxing match on April 18, 1949 against Rocky Lucero in
El Paso, Texas
El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the county seat, seat of El Paso County, Texas, El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau w ...
and his last fight on September 23, 1961 against Don Bale in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- m ...
. He fought with an
orthodox stance
In combat sports such as boxing, an orthodox stance is one in which the boxer places their left foot farther in front of the right foot, thus having their weaker side closer to the opponent. Because it favors the stronger, dominant side (often ...
. His boxing record shows Joseph as winning eight out of the eleven matches, with five of them ending in
knock outs. He was classified as an out-fighter who was known for having very powerful punches. He was a sparring partner of Patriarca crime family associate,
Americo Sacramone, future
Massachusetts Auditor Joe DeNucci,
Edward G. Connors and
Anthony Veranis
Anthony Veranis, also known as "Mickey White" and "Tony" (June 15, 1938 – April 25, 1966) was an associate of the Winter Hill Gang and a professional welterweight boxer.
Biography
Early life
Veranis was born in Dorchester, Massachuse ...
. He later worked as a
longshoreman
A stevedore (), also called a longshoreman, a docker or a dockworker, is a waterfront manual laborer who is involved in loading and unloading ships, trucks, trains or airplanes.
After the shipping container revolution of the 1960s, the number ...
and as a clerk in a fruit store but always returned to crime.
Criminal career
Escape from prison
He was first sent to prison in 1950 to the
Massachusetts Correctional Institution - Concord for five years. Barboza would later lead a wild prison break in the summer of 1953, which would become the largest in the prison's seventy-five-year history. Joe and six other fellow inmates had guzzled contraband whiskey and pilfered
amphetamine
Amphetamine (contracted from alpha- methylphenethylamine) is a strong central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is used in the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), narcolepsy, and obesity. It is also commonly used a ...
tablets, overpowered four prison guards and raced away in two separate cars. During their furlough of freedom they beat random people in the street, cruised the bars in Boston's
Scollay Square
300px, Scollay Square, Boston, 19th century (after September 1880)
350px, Scollay Square, Decoration Day, 19th century (after September 1880)
Scollay Square (c. 1838–1962) was a vibrant city square in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. It was na ...
, wandered to the neighborhoods of Lynn and Revere, and were finally apprehended at a subway station in East Boston. The escape party had barely lasted twenty-four hours. That November, while awaiting trial for his prison break, Barboza slugged a prison guard in the cafeteria for no reason. Three months later, he tossed a table at a guard's chest when he entered his cell.
Entry into organized crime
Barboza may have first been exposed to figures of Boston organized crime while incarcerated at
Walpole. Paroled in 1958, he became a recognized figure in
East Boston
East Boston, nicknamed Eastie, is a neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts annexed by the city of Boston in 1637. Neighboring communities include Winthrop, Revere, and Chelsea. It is separated from the Boston neighborhood of Charlestown and d ...
's organized crime circles and was a regular at a bar on the corner of
Bennington Street and Brook Street, which became known among local criminals as "Barboza's Corner". His crew of small-time burglars and +thieves consisted of Joseph W. Amico, Patrick Fabiano, James Kearns, Arthur Bratsos, Thomas DePrisco, father and son team Joseph and Ronald Dermody, Carlton Eaton, Edward Goss and Nicholas Femia. The crew was officially supervised for the
Patriarca crime 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 ...
by
Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi. He was never officially
inducted into the Patriarca crime family because of his non-Italian ancestry, but within eight years during the escalation of gangland warfare, he earned a reputation as one of Boston's most prolific
contract killers and sidewalk soldiers. Due to his dark complexion and Portuguese heritage, Barboza was referred to as "the nigger" by his Italian associates. According to Patriarca ''
capo''-turned-government witness
Vincent Teresa, Barboza "hated Negroes" and killed at least two victims solely due to their race. In 1964, Barboza legally changed his surname to "Baron".
It was widely believed in law official circles that Barboza had performed contract killings for
Raymond L. S. Patriarca. By January 1966, Barboza was considered a powerful crime figure in the Boston underworld. For disturbing the peace one night, he slugged a
Metropolitan District Commission Police Officer, Joe MacLean, and received a six-month sentence. After his release from prison and his graduation from an expensive cooking school he was shipped out on the
SS ''President Wilson'' to the Orient.
A few notorious victims on his murder roster included
Edward McLaughlin and both
Cornelius Hughes and
Stevie Hughes, killed between 1965 and 1966. Barboza aligned himself with the
Winter Hill Gang
The Winter Hill Gang is a loose confederation of organized crime figures in the Boston, Massachusetts, area. The gang members and leadership are predominantly Irish-American and Italian-American descent.
The organization itself derives its n ...
in part because
James "Buddy" McLean was an ally of
Vincent Flemmi, who Barboza trusted along with his brother Stephen Flemmi. As early as 1965,
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...
(FBI) agent
H. Paul Rico, was using that trust to drive Barboza into becoming an
informant
An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a “snitch”) is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law-enforcement world, where informan ...
. Barboza drove a 1965
Oldsmobile Cutlass
The Oldsmobile Cutlass was a series of automobiles produced by General Motors' Oldsmobile division between 1961 and 1999. At its introduction, the Cutlass was Oldsmobile's entry-level model; it began as a unibody compact car, but saw its greates ...
which was referred to by law enforcement as "the
James Bond
The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...
car" because it had a sophisticated alarm system and a device for making thick black smoke come out of the tailpipe.
Turning government witness
By 1966, he had a very turbulent position in the Boston underworld. He had been shot at while standing outside his home in
Chelsea
Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to:
Places Australia
* Chelsea, Victoria
Canada
* Chelsea, Nova Scotia
* Chelsea, Quebec
United Kingdom
* Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames
** Chelsea (UK Parliament con ...
. The local authorities believed there had been other unreported attempts. Brimming with reckless power, he was not abiding to the traditional rules of
La Cosa Nostra. One night he went into a nightclub that was paying
Gennaro Angiulo for protection and demanded that the owner make payments to him as well. By mid-1966, the unrelenting attention from the law Barboza received from the authorities only made his standing in organized crime more tenuous.
In October 1966, he came to terms with his falling-out with the organized crime element after he and three local hoodlums were arrested on weapons charges while cruising the
Combat Zone in Boston. His accomplices were released on bail, but Barboza had his bail set at $100,000 which he could not afford. Nobody from the Patriarca crime family came down to post his bail and he heard that it was the Mafia family who tipped off the cops.
Two of his associates, Bratsos and DePrisco, went to raise Barboza's bail. Five weeks later, after raising $59,000 the pair were murdered in the Nite Lite Cafe by
soldiers serving under Ralph "Ralphie Chong" Lamattina, who served in the crew of
Ilario Zannino. After relieving them of their bail money, they stuffed their bodies in the back seat of Bratsos' car and dumped it in
South Boston
South Boston is a densely populated neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, located south and east of the Fort Point Channel and abutting Dorchester Bay. South Boston, colloquially known as Southie, has undergone several demographic transformati ...
, hoping to throw blame onto the Irish gangs. However, a mob associate named Joseph Lanzi tipped the cops about the murder. On April 18, 1967 he was murdered by Jerry Angiulo's enforcers Carmen Gagliardi, Frank Otero and Ben DeChristoforo.
The FBI began diligent efforts to turn Barboza into an informant. In December, Joe Amico was murdered. The following month, after a ten-day trial, Barboza was sentenced to a five-year term at Walpole on the weapons charges. In the summer of 1967, Steve Flemmi met with Joseph and informed him that Gennaro Angiulo and his brothers had plans to murder him. In June 1967, Barboza turned
FBI informant while imprisoned for murder, and eventually testified against Raymond Patriarca before becoming one of the first informants to enter the
Witness Protection Program
Witness protection is security provided to a threatened person providing testimonial evidence to the justice system, including defendants and other clients, before, during, and after a trial, usually by police. While a witness may only require p ...
. The government told Barboza his wife and children would not be protected unless he agreed to testify. The government also promised to set him up in his own restaurant — and plastic surgery to change his appearance and further protect Barboza and his family — but it did not fulfill either of these promises.
Barboza went on to testify against Raymond Patriarca and many high-ranking members and associates of the New England family. On June 20, Patriarca and
Henry Tameleo were indicted for conspiracy to murder in the 1966 killing of
Providence bookmaker Willie Marfeo. On August 9, Gennaro Angiulo was accused of participating in the murder of
Rocco DiSeglio. Finally in October, six men were charged with the March 1965
murder of Edward "Teddy" Deegan, who had been marked for death for several burglaries which he had committed with Stephen Flemmi, in Chelsea. Shortly after the indictment of Raymond Patriarca, which drew front-page stories about Barboza as a turncoat, Barboza wrote to the ''
Boston Herald
The ''Boston Herald'' is an American 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 awarded eight Pulit ...
'': "All I want to be is left alone." The La Cosa Nostra was willing to pay Barboza $25,000 to quit talking. He showed some interest in the deal raising the price to $50,000 which was agreed upon but later turned down after consulting his lawyer.
Angiulo was later found not guilty. Despite efforts by reporters to coax jurors to explain their deliberations, none did. Twenty years later, however, jury foreman Kenneth Matthews said none of the sixteen jurors had found Barboza believable, stating "He didn't help the state at all. He wasn't reliable. He was nothing as a witness".
On January 30, 1968, a bomb was planted in the car of Barboza's attorney, John E. Fitzgerald, future
Rapid City, South Dakota
Rapid City ( lkt, link=no, Mni Lúzahaŋ Otȟúŋwahe; "Swift Water City") is the second most populous city in South Dakota and the county seat of Pennington County. Named after Rapid Creek, where the settlement developed, it is in western So ...
Judge for the 7th Circuit, resulting in Fitzgerald losing his right leg below the knee.
After that Barboza was moved around frequently from
Thacher Island to
Fort Devens and even to the Junior Officers' quarters located in
Fort Knox, Kentucky
Fort Knox is a United States Army installation in Kentucky, south of Louisville and north of Elizabethtown. It is adjacent to the United States Bullion Depository, which is used to house a large portion of the United States' official gold rese ...
. Barboza owned a
German Shepherd dog
The German Shepherd or Alsatian is a German breed of working dog of medium to large size. The breed was developed by Max von Stephanitz using various traditional German herding dogs from 1899.
It was originally bred as a herding dog, for h ...
and while at Fort Knox he would walk his dog with future corrupt FBI agent John Morris who was a member of the
military police
Military police (MP) are law enforcement agencies connected with, or part of, the military of a state. In wartime operations, the military police may support the main fighting force with force protection, convoy security, screening, rear re ...
at the time. In May 1968, the Deegan trial began. After 50 days of testimony and deliberations, the jury returned a guilty verdict. Found guilty and sentenced to death were Peter Limone, Louis Greco, Henry Tameleo and Ronald Cassesso. Sentenced to
life in prison were
Joseph Salvati and Wilfred Roy French.
Barboza was given a one-year prison term, including time served. He was paroled in March 1969, under the name of "Joseph Bentley", and relocated to
Santa Rosa, California
Santa Rosa ( Spanish for " Saint Rose") is a city and the county seat of Sonoma County, in the North Bay region of the Bay Area in California. Its estimated 2019 population was 178,127. It is the largest city in California's Wine Country and ...
where he enrolled in a
culinary arts
Culinary arts are the cuisine arts of food preparation, cooking and presentation of food, usually in the form of meals. People working in this field – especially in establishments such as restaurants – are commonly called chefs or ...
school. In summer 1970, Barboza murdered Clay Wilson. According to the FBI, this was the 26th murder by Barboza.
In 1971, he pleaded guilty to a second-degree murder charge and was sentenced to five years at
Folsom Prison
Folsom State Prison (FSP) is a California State Prison in Folsom, California, U.S., approximately northeast of the state capital of Sacramento. It is one of 34 adult institutions operated by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabi ...
. At prison Barboza wrote poems about the
American Mafia
The American Mafia, commonly referred to in North America as the Italian American Mafia, the Mafia, or the Mob, is a highly organized Italian American criminal society and organized crime group. The organization is often referred to by its memb ...
, "Boston Gang War", "The Mafia Double Crosses", "A Cat's Lives" and "The Gang War Ends".
False testimony against rivals
While working for the FBI, Agent
H. Paul Rico helped to frame Joseph Salvati, Peter Limone, Louis Greco as well as his former mob superior, Henry Tameleo for the murder of Edward Deegan.
Out of the six people convicted for the murder, only Ronald "Ronnie the Pig" Cassesso and Wilfred Roy French were actually involved and present in the alley where the murder took place. FBI agent Paul Rico had offered French and Cassesso leniency if they would corroborate Barboza's false testimony. Both French and Cassesso refused the offer and when French was threatened with the death penalty he responded by telling Rico to "warm up the electric chair". Cassesso died in prison 30 years later. French was finally freed 34 years later.
Winter Hill enforcer
John Martorano
John James Vincent Martorano (born December 13, 1940; also known as "Vincent Joseph Rancourt", "Richard Aucoin", "Nick", "The Cook", "The Executioner", "The Basin Street Butcher") is an American former gangster and former hitman for the Winter Hi ...
became a government witness in 1999 after learning that both Stephen Flemmi and
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 in the Winter Hill neighborhood of Somerville, Massachusetts, a city directly northwest of Bos ...
were FBI informants and had been delivering information about the Mafia and the Winter Hill Gang to them. In his plea agreement, he told the
Drug Enforcement Administration
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA; ) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Justice tasked with combating drug trafficking and distribution within the U.S. It is the lead agency for domestic enf ...
(DEA) agent that Barboza had admitted to lying about the men convicted of killing Teddy Deegan.
Martorano also revealed that Vincent Flemmi had admitted to murdering Deegan.
Tameleo and Greco died in prison after serving almost 30 years, and Salvati and Limone were finally released in 1997 and 2001, respectively. The families of Greco, Tameleo, Salvati and Limone filed lawsuits totaling in excess of one billion dollars filed against the Federal government. In July 2007, U.S. District Judge
Nancy Gertner
Nancy Gertner (born May 22, 1946) is a former United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. She assumed senior status on May 22, 2011, and retired outright from the federal bench on September ...
in Boston found the bureau helped convict the four men and the U.S. Government was ordered to pay $100 million in damages to the four defendants.
Death
Barboza was released on October 30, 1975
and moved into a $250-a-month apartment as "Joseph Donati". He took the last name from twin brothers Richard and
Robert Donati. After he was befriended by small-time
South Boston
South Boston is a densely populated neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, located south and east of the Fort Point Channel and abutting Dorchester Bay. South Boston, colloquially known as Southie, has undergone several demographic transformati ...
hoodlum James Chalmas, Gennaro Angiulo found out where Barboza was. On February 11, 1976, Barboza left Chalmas'
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...
apartment; as he was walking to his car, he was hit by four shotgun blasts at close range. Although he was armed with a
Colt .38
.38 caliber is a frequently used name for the caliber of firearm
A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions).
Th ...
, Barboza never had a chance to draw it.
Barboza's attorney
F. Lee Bailey said about his death "With all due respect to my former client, I don't think society has suffered a great loss".
Ilario Zannino, chief enforcer of Gennaro Angiulo, was later overheard on a hidden bug saying that it was
J. R. Russo who had assassinated Barboza. In the conversation, Zannino described Russo as "a genius with a carbine".
Barboza is buried in South Dartmouth Cemetery in
Dartmouth, Massachusetts
Dartmouth (Massachusett: ) is a coastal town in Bristol County, Massachusetts. Old Dartmouth was the first area of Southeastern Massachusetts to be settled by Europeans, primarily English. Dartmouth is part of New England's farm coast, which c ...
.
Victims
See also
*
List of prison escapes
*
List of unsolved murders
These lists of unsolved murders include notable cases where victims were murdered in unknown circumstances.
* List of unsolved murders (before 1900)
* List of unsolved murders (1900–1979)
* List of unsolved murders (1980–1999)
* List of u ...
References
Further reading
*
*
*
*
*
External links
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barboza, Joseph
1932 births
1976 deaths
1976 murders in the United States
20th-century American criminals
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American male boxers
American male criminals
American gangsters of Portuguese descent
American sportspeople convicted of crimes
Boxers from Massachusetts
Gangsters from Boston
Criminals from Massachusetts
Deaths by firearm in California
Escapees from Massachusetts detention
Federal Bureau of Investigation informants
Light-heavyweight boxers
Mafia hitmen
People convicted of murder by the United States federal government
Male murder victims
Murdered American gangsters
People murdered by the Patriarca crime family
People murdered in California
People who entered the United States Federal Witness Protection Program
Unsolved murders in the United States
American people of Portuguese descent