Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Former Mafia lieutenant charged with gambling


Vincent M. Ferrara, former lieutenant in the New England Mafia Family, has been charged with participating in a Boston area gambling ring, according to a story by Shelley Murphy of the Boston Globe.

Ferrara, 59, served almost 16 years in prison after a federal racketeering conviction. He was released from prison in May 2005. The gambling offense - a misdemeanor - generally carries a potential penalty of up to a year in jail and a $2,000 fine. However, the penalty for Ferrara could be much higher, as he remains on federal probation. If a federal judge decides that he violated conditions of his release, Ferrara could be sent back to federal prison for three years.

Ferrara was one of 13 people indicted April 29 by a Norfolk County grand jury. The grand jury charged Dominic Santoro, 62, of Quincy, of serving as leader of the gambling ring, according to the Boston Globe.

Ferrara' s federal prison sentence was shortened after U.S. District Judge Mark L. Wolf ruled that prosecutors were guilty of misconduct in his case. U.S. attorneys did not reveal to defense attorneys that a key witness had backed away from a statement linking Ferrara with the 1985 murder of Vincent "Jimmy" Limoli. Ferrara said he was uninvolved in the Limoli killing, but he pleaded guilty to racketeering and murder charges in a plea deal.

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Writer, editor, researcher, web publisher, specializing in organized crime history. (Available to assist with historical/genealogical research, writing, editing. Email at tphunt@gmail.com.)
Editor/publisher of crime history journal, Informer; publisher of American Mafia history website Mafiahistory.us; moderator of online forums; author of Wrongly Executed?; coauthor of Deep Water: Joseph P. Macheca and the Birth of the American Mafia and DiCarlo: Buffalo's First Family of Crime; contributor of U.S. Mafia history to Australian-published Mafia: The Necessary Reference to Organized Crime; writer/co-writer of crime history articles for several publications.
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