Harold Paul Rico (April 29, 1925 – January 16, 2004) was an American

Federal Bureau of Investigation 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 ...

(FBI) Special Agent, indicted for murder in 2003. He was accused of the 1968 framing of four men for murder, but died before his trial would have taken place. The writer

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 ...

called Rico "perhaps the most corrupt FBI agent in history".Whitey World: H. Paul Rico, 1926-2004

, ''

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 ...

'' (May 15, 2011)

Early life

Rico was born in the

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 ...

suburb of

Belmont, Massachusetts Belmont is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a western suburb of Boston and is part of the Greater Boston metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. census, its population was 27,295, an increase of 10.4% from 2010. H ...

in 1925, the son of an Irish mother and

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

father who was an employee of New England Telephone.The FBI in Boston: Hoover, Lies and Murder
George Hassett, ''Crime Magazine'' (May 13, 2013) He graduated from

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private university, private Catholic Jesuits, Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, a Catholic Religious order (Catholic), religious order, t ...

in 1950 with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in history.FBI Dark Secrets: Ex-FBI Agent arrested in 1981 Mob-Hit Murder
Clarence Walker, ''American Mafia'' (December 2003)

FBI career

Rico joined the FBI in 1951 at the age of 26 and was initially posted in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

before being transferred to the Boston office after his father became terminally ill. While investigating his first major case, the

Great Brink's Robbery The Great Brink's Robbery was an armed robbery of the Brink's building in the North End of Boston, Massachusetts, on January 17, 1950. The $2.775 million ($ million today) theft consisted of $1,218,211.29 in cash and $1,557,183.83 in checks, ...

, Rico learned the value of recruiting

informant An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a "snitch", "rat", "canary", "stool pigeon", "stoolie", "tout" or "grass", among other terms) is a person who provides privileged information, or (usually damaging) information inten ...

s. In 1956, he recognized fugitive bank robber

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 ...

in a Revere bar and arrested him. At the urging of U.S. Attorney General

Robert F. Kennedy Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925 – June 6, 1968), also known as RFK, was an American politician and lawyer. He served as the 64th United States attorney general from January 1961 to September 1964, and as a U.S. senator from New Yo ...

, the previously reluctant FBI became committed to combatting the

Mafia "Mafia", as an informal or general term, is often used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the Sicilian Mafia, original Mafia in Sicily, to the Italian-American Mafia, or to other Organized crime in Italy, organiz ...

starting in the mid-1960s.United States of America v. Francis P. Salemme

Casetext Thomson Reuters Corporation ( ) is a Canadian multinational content-driven technology conglomerate. The company was founded in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and maintains its headquarters at 19 Duncan Street there. Thomson Reuters was creat ...

(December 23, 1999) Considered the Mafia a greater threat than all other organized crime groups in the United States combined, the Organized Crime Program of the FBI targeted ''La Cosa Nostra'' as its highest national priority.Emily McIntyre and Christopher McIntyre v. United States

(September 5, 2006) Rico and his partner, Dennis Condon, became the most senior FBI agents investigating

organized crime Organized crime is a category of transnational organized crime, transnational, national, or local group of centralized enterprises run to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally thought of as a f ...

in Boston. Rico's Spanish origins allowed him to pass for an Italian, which benefited him when working undercover to insulate himself with the Mafia. Rico recruited members 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 ...

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 ...

as informants. Although he was aware that the gangster Stephen "the Rifleman" Flemmi had committed several murders, Rico had Flemmi designated a Top Echelon informant, the highest status an FBI source can achieve, due to his ability to provide information on the leaders of the

Patriarca crime family The Patriarca crime family (, ), also known as the New England Mafia, the Boston Mafia, the Providence Mafia, the Boston–Providence Mafia,

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

Deegan murder

In 1965, Rico received information that gangster Edward "Teddy" Deegan had been murdered by

Italian-American Italian Americans () are Americans who have full or partial Italians, Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeastern United States, Northeast and industrial Midwestern United States, Midwestern ...

hitman Contract killing (also known as murder-for-hire) is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or people. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of compensation, moneta ...

Vincent Flemmi Vincent James Flemmi (September 5, 1935 – October 16, 1979), 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 ...

under orders from

boss

Howie Winter Howard Thomas Winter (March 17, 1929 – November 12, 2020) was an American mobster who was a Crime boss, boss of the Winter Hill Gang, an Irish mob group in Somerville, Massachusetts, a northwestern suburb of Boston. Early life Winter was born ...

. Rico then watched as

Portuguese-American Portuguese Americans (), also known as Luso-Americans (''luso-americanos''), are citizens and residents of the United States who are connected to the country of Portugal by birth, ancestry, or citizenship. Americans and others who are not nativ ...

hitman Joe Barboza committed

perjury Perjury (also known as forswearing) is the intentional act of swearing a false oath or falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to an official proceeding."Perjury The act or an insta ...

and claimed that ''he'' had committed Deegan's murder under orders from four

made men In the Sicilian and American Mafia, a made man is a fully initiated member of the Mafia. In order to become eligible to be "made", an associate must fulfill several requirements, such as being Italian or of Italian descent and sponsored by a ...

in the

Patriarca crime family The Patriarca crime family (, ), also known as the New England Mafia, the Boston Mafia, the Providence Mafia, the Boston–Providence Mafia,

: Peter Limone,

underboss Underboss () is a position within the leadership structure of certain organized crime groups, particularly in Sicilian Mafia, Sicilian and Italian-American Mafia crime families. The underboss is second in command to the Crime boss, boss. The un ...

Henry Tameleo Enrico "Henry" Tameleo (July 12, 1901 – August 18,1985), also known as "The Referee", was an American mobster from Boston, Massachusetts and underboss in the New England–based Patriarca crime family and was also a member of the New York–based ...

, Joe Salvati and Louis Greco. Tameleo died in 1985 in prison and Greco died in 1995 in prison, too; Salvati was released in 1997, and Limone in 2001. When interrogated during

U.S. House Judiciary Committee The U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary, also called the House Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. It is charged with overseeing the administration of justice within the federal courts, f ...

hearings in October 2003 about the four wrongful convictions, an enraged Rico responded, "What do you want, tears?" The two survivors and the estates of the deceased were awarded $101.7 million in damages by U.S. District Judge

Nancy Gertner Nancy Gertner (born May 22, 1946) is an American lawyer and jurist who was a United States district judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts from 1994 until retiring in 2011.Harvard Law School"http://www.law.harvard.edu/ ...

in Boston on July 26, 2007.

Patriarca family murder trial

Rico was in charge of cooperative witness John "Red" Kelley, an Irish American mobster and sometime associate of the

Patriarca crime family The Patriarca crime family (, ), also known as the New England Mafia, the Boston Mafia, the Providence Mafia, the Boston–Providence Mafia,

, during a murder trial of family boss Raymond Patriarca and four members of the family, Maurice Lerner, Robert Fairbrothers, John Rossi, and Rudolph Sciarra. The five were tried in 1970 for murder and

conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, ploy, or scheme, is a secret plan or agreement between people (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder, treason, or corruption, especially with a political motivat ...

to commit murder in the 1968 shotgun murders of Rudolph "Rudy" Marfeo and Anthony Melei. Kelley testified he had been contracted by Lerner to kill Marfeo and Melei, whom Kelley and Lerner allegedly murdered. After the trial, Kelley went into the federal

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 trials, usually by police. While witnesses may only require p ...

. Patriarca and his associates were convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and were sentenced to 10 years in prison. Lerner also was convicted of two counts of murder for which he was sentenced to two

life term Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life imprisonment are co ...

s in addition to the ten years for conspiracy, all of the sentences to be served consecutively. The jury was unable to reach a verdict for the other four defendants. Lerner's conviction subsequently was quashed by the

Rhode Island Supreme Court The Rhode Island Supreme Court is the Supreme court, court of last resort in the U.S. State of Rhode Island. The Court consists of a Chief Justice and four Associate Justices, all selected by the Governor of Rhode Island from candidates vetted by ...

in 1988. It had been established that Kelley had perjured himself at the trial, as had Rico, who had corroborated Kelley's testimony. The Court vacated his conviction and ordered a

new trial A new trial or retrial is a recurrence of a court case. A new trial may potentially be ordered for some or all of the matters at issue in the original trial. Depending upon the rules of the jurisdiction and the decision of the court that ordered ...

Murder indictment and death

On October 9, 2003, Rico was

indicted An indictment ( ) is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that use the concept of felonies, the most serious criminal offense is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use that concept often use that of an indi ...

for murder in

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

and

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

for persuading Bulger and

Stephen Flemmi Stephen Joseph Flemmi (born June 9, 1934) 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 Investiga ...

to sanction the murder of

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...

millionaire Roger Wheeler on May 27, 1981. Rico died on January 16, 2004, in a Tulsa hospital (to which he was moved from prison) still under indictment for the 1981 murder. He was 78. The Oklahoma state medical examiner said internal bleeding led to Rico's death. He also had hardening of the kidneys and disease of the heart and blood vessels.https://www.news9.com/story/5e367e3e2f69d76f62091a1e/paul-ricos-cause-of-death-announced

References

External links

FBI Dark Secrets, by Clarence Walker

RICO How Politicians, Prosecutors and the Mob Destroyed One of the FBI's Finest Special Agents, by Joe Wolfinger and Chris Kerr with Jerry Seper
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rico, H. Paul 1925 births 2004 deaths 20th-century American criminals American male criminals American people of Irish descent American people of Spanish descent American people who died in prison custody Federal Bureau of Investigation agents Federal Bureau of Investigation misconduct Law enforcement officials from Boston Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences alumni People from Belmont, Massachusetts Prisoners who died in Oklahoma detention Winter Hill Gang

Early life

FBI career

Deegan murder

Patriarca family murder trial

Murder indictment and death

See also

References

External links