Cadillac Frank Salemme, Former Mafia Don, Faces Life Sentence for 1993 Murder of Steven DiSarro

Twenty-five years after South Boston nightclub owner Steven DiSarro was strangled and buried in an unmarked grave, a former Mafia don and a local plumber are scheduled to be sentenced Thursday for the slaying.

Former New England Mafia boss Francis “Cadillac Frank” Salemme, 85, and Paul M. Weadick, 63, face mandatory life sentences for killing DiSarro in 1993 to prevent him from cooperating in a federal investigation targeting the mobster and his son.

After the pair were convicted in June, DiSarro’s son, Nick, said he was grateful to the jury for giving his family justice after so many years. “This is the end of such a long road,” he said. “To close this book is just a really important step for our family.”

The convictions followed a five-week trial in US District Court in Boston that was a flashback to a bygone era, when the Italian La Cosa Nostra and James “Whitey” Bulger’s Irish mob were the region’s most feared criminal groups.

DiSarro was a businessman who bought the Channel, a now defunct rock ‘n’ roll club on Necco Street, in the early 1990s. Salemme and his son had a hidden interest in the club and were being targeted by federal and state investigators at the time.

On May 10, 1993, DiSarro, a 43-year-old father of five, disappeared after his wife saw him climb into an SUV outside their Westwood home. His whereabouts were a mystery until the FBI found his remains two years ago, buried behind an old mill in Providence.

Salemme, who became a government witness himself six years after the killing of DiSarro, was in the federal witness protection program when DiSarro’s hidden grave was discovered in 2016, leading to his arrest.

The government’s star witness during the trial was Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi, who is serving a life sentence for 10 murders. He testified that he dropped by Salemme’s Sharon home on May 10, 1993, and saw Salemme’s son, Frank, strangling DiSarro while Weadick held his legs and Salemme looked on.

Salemme’s son died in 1995.

Flemmi said Salemme told him that he knew DiSarro had been approached by federal agents and feared he would cooperate in a federal investigation targeting him and his son.

Two former Rhode Island mobsters, brothers Robert DeLuca and Joseph DeLuca, testified that they helped bury DiSarro’s body after Salemme personally delivered it to Providence. Last month, Robert DeLuca was sentenced to 5½ years in prison for lying to investigators about DiSarro’s murder when he initially began cooperating with authorities in 2011. He only revealed details of the crime after a drug dealer led authorities to DiSarro’s remains.

Salemme is one of Boston’s last old-school mobsters, a criminal turned federal witness whose many former associates are now dead or in prison.

He survived the gang wars of the 1960s — a decade during which he admittedly killed eight people and was convicted of maiming an Everett lawyer by blowing up his car.

He spent nearly 16 years in prison for that attempted murder and became a “made man” after his release in 1988. The following year, he was shot in the chest and leg outside a Saugus pancake house by a renegade mob faction and survived to become boss of the New England Patriarca crime family.

In 1995, Salemme was indicted in a sweeping federal racketeering case, along with Bulger, Flemmi, and others. Four years later, after learning that Bulger and Flemmi were longtime FBI informants, Salemme began cooperating with the government and helped send retired FBI agent John J. Connolly Jr. to prison.

He was admitted to the federal witness protection program and was living in Atlanta as Richard Parker when his past came back to haunt him. The discovery of DiSarro’s hidden grave in 2016 led to Salemme’s arrest for murder.

Thanks to Shelley Murphy.

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Bobby DeLuca Pleads Guilty in Connection with Murder of Boston Club Owner #LaCosaNostra

A former New England La Cosa Nostra (NELCN) caporegime pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Boston to obstructing a federal investigation into the murder of a Boston nightclub owner in the 1990s.

The New England Mafia Illustrated: with testimoney from Frank Salemme and a US Government time line..

Robert P. DeLuca, 70, pleaded guilty to one count of obstruction of justice and two counts of making false statements. U.S. District Court Judge Denise J. Casper scheduled sentencing for Feb. 1, 2017. In June 2016, DeLuca was arrested in Florida and indicted.

DeLuca pleaded guilty to lying to federal prosecutors and investigators regarding the 1993 disappearance of Stephen DiSarro who operated The Channel, a South Boston nightclub. In March 2016, authorities discovered DiSarro’s remains behind a mill in Providence, R.I. According to court documents, DiSarro disappeared in May 1993 after then LCN boss Frank Salemme and Frank Salemme, Jr.’s involvement with The Channel became the focus of a federal grand jury investigation.

DeLuca also pleaded guilty to lying about his knowledge of other organized crime murders. He made false statements in connection with his cooperation deal with federal authorities in Rhode Island after his 2011 racketeering arrest and indictment. Despite a cooperation agreement with federal authorities, DeLuca lied about his knowledge of DiSarro’s disappearance and other LCN-perpetrated murders.

DeLuca has also agreed to plead guilty in Rhode Island Superior Court to conspiracy to commit the 1992 murder of Kevin Hanrahan.

The obstruction of justice statute provides for a sentence of no greater than 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. The false statements statute provides for a sentence of no greater than five years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

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