Officials ponder how mob roundup will affect New England organization

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The time is ripe for would-be mobsters to think about succeeding New England’s reputed crime boss, the jailed Raymond J. “Junior” Patriarca, law enforcement officials say.

A humiliating roundup began Monday with the arrests of Patriarca and 14 other mob figures in Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts. By Thursday, 21 organized crime figures were in custody in connection with the case.

Law enforcement officials said any and all organized crime is evil, but most agree that mob activity in New England is penny-ante compared to families elsewhere on the East Coast.

“At the risk of being labeled a New Yorker, New York is the center of the Cosa Nostra. There are five (families) here,” said Ron Goldstock, director of the New York State Organized Crime Commission.

“The Boston family tends to be way behind the New York families as far as the size, scope of criminal activities and sophistication,” he said.

“My understanding is that it’s a much smaller scale operation but it’s still lucrative,” said Michael Davitt of the Organized Crime Strike Force assigned to the U.S. Attorney’s office in Providence.

FBI agents held the roundup with 113-count indictments, with charges that included murder, racketeering, kidnapping, gambling, drug trafficking, obstruction of justice and witness intimidation.

“If those convictions (hold up), they will have decimated the Cosa Nostra family in the New England area,” said Goldstock, who also teaches law at Cornell Law School.

The Providence-based crime family used to wield power under Raymond L.S. Patriarca, Junior’s father, and that power diminished after the elder Patriarca’s death in 1984, authorities said.

“I think Ray Senior acted as sort of a mob diplomat and resolved disputes in Connecticut,” Davitt said. “In doing so (New England organized crime) gained more of a national reputation.”

Even if someone from New York City moved in — reputed Gambino crime family boss John Gotti has been mentioned — gaining a foothold in New England still wouldn’t carry the same weight as having a resident family, Goldstock said.

“It will certainly reduce … the capability of the family to inflict harm on society,” he said.

The contenders in Patriarca’s family include Edward “Mulligan” Romano, William “Billy Blackjack” Delsanto, and Luigi “Baby Shanks” Manocchio, authorities said. All have been with the family since the elder Patriarca’s regime.