The mob hitman who framed four innocent men with the FBI's active help
In short: Joseph Barboza, a notorious Boston mob enforcer known as The Animal, became a star government witness in 1967. He successfully sent four men to prison for a murder he and his associates committed. It took decades for the truth to emerge, exposing a corrupt alliance between the FBI and the mob.
Joseph Barboza Jr., born in 1932, was a brutal enforcer for the Patriarca crime family. Despite his lack of formal education, he became one of Boston's most feared contract killers during the 1960s. His criminal career was marked by extreme violence, including a 1953 prison break and numerous murders. By 1966, his standing in the underworld had become precarious due to his disregard for traditional Mafia rules and his penchant for reckless behavior, which eventually led him to cooperate with the FBI.
In 1967, Barboza turned informant, providing testimony that led to the conviction of six men for the 1965 murder of Edward Deegan. However, Barboza had actually helped frame four of these men—Joseph Salvati, Peter Limone, Louis Greco, and Henry Tameleo—with the direct assistance of FBI agent H. Paul Rico. While the government promised Barboza protection and a new life, they failed to deliver on most of their commitments. Barboza was eventually released from prison in 1975, only to be assassinated in San Francisco in February 1976 by mob enforcers.
The fallout from this corruption was immense. It was later revealed that the actual murder was committed by Barboza and Vincent Flemmi. The four wrongfully convicted men spent decades in prison, with some dying behind bars. In 2007, a U.S. District Judge ordered the government to pay $100 million in damages to the survivors and the families of the deceased. The case remains a stark example of how law enforcement, in its pursuit of high-profile convictions, can become complicit in the very criminal underworld it seeks to dismantle.
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- Summary by Intellect · source: Joseph Barboza
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