Francis Patrick "Cadillac Frank" Salemme (August 18, 1933–December 13, 2022) was an Italian-Irish-American mobster who was the boss of the Patriarca crime family from 1991 to 1996, succeeding Nicholas "Nicky" Bianco and preceding Luigi "Baby Shacks" Manocchio, and the underboss of the Patriarca crime family from 1990 to 1991, succeeding Nicholas "Nicky" Bianco and preceding Robert "Bobby" DeLuca. He turned state's evidence in 2001, going into the Witness Protection Program before being sentenced to life in prison in 2018 after he lied to the FBI about ordering the murder of Steven DiSarro in 1993.
Biography[]
Criminal career[]
Born in Weymouth, Massachusetts in 1933 to an Italian father and an Irish mother, Salemme's family soon moved to Boston, where Frank would later develop a criminal career. During the 1960s, he fell under the guise of Raymond Patriarca, the boss of the Patriarca crime family, being introduced to him by Providence mobster Anthony Morelli, who he met while serving a prison sentence in 1957, and he quickly became one of Patriarca's most trusted enforcers. Though his relationship with Patriarca was tight, he would never officially accept him for induction into the family due to his mixed Irish heritage. Around this time, Salemme also formed an alliance with Winter Hill Gang member Whitey Bulger, and he paired up with his associate Stephen Flemmi. Salemme was an active participant in the Boston Irish Mob War of 1961–1968, either killing or being involved in murdering a total of eight mobsters of the rival Charlestown Mob.

Salemme following his arrest in 1972
In 1967, Patriarca hitman-turned-government witness Joseph "Joe the Animal" Barboza testified against Raymond Patriarca and many of his associates. As retribution, Salemme and Flemmi planted a bomb in Barboza's attorney, John E. Fitzgerald's car on January 31, 1968. Fitzgerald survived the bombing but lost his left leg. Following the attack, Salemme left Boston alongside Flemmi, first driving to Chicago, then taking a flight to Los Angeles before flying back to New York City, where they would spend the next four years in hiding. Salemme was located and apprehended in Manhattan by FBI agent John Connolly on December 4, 1972. In Boston, Salemme was found guilty of attempted murder and sentenced to 16 years in prison in June 1973.
Rise to power[]

Salemme during the late 1980s or early 1990s
Salemme was released from prison in February 1986 after serving 13 years out of his 16-year sentence, and he was finally inducted into the Patriarca family. At the time Salemme was released, Gennaro "Jerry" Angiulo, the Patriarca underboss and head of mob operations in Boston, was convicted of racketeering and various other charges and sentenced to 45 years in prison. Salemme, like many of Angiulo's underlings, attempted to fill the power vacuum, and conflicting interests resulted in a war among factions. Salemme found himself confronted against capo Joseph "J.R." Russo, and his second-in-command Vincent "Vinnie the Animal" Ferrara. The Russo faction nearly took Salemme's life on June 16, 1989 when he was the target of an assassination attempt. As Salemme was walking out of an IHOP in Saugus, a four-man car pulled over in front of him, and one of the gunmen performed a drive-by with an assault rifle, hitting Salemme in the stomach and knee. Despite being injured, Salemme managed to stagger back to the IHOP and recover before receiving proper medical attention.
After the attempt on his life, Salemme hid out in California until it was safe to return home. The war ended after John Gotti, the boss of the Gambino crime family, was called to mediate the situation and broker a peace between Russo and Raymond Patriarca Jr., the official boss of the family who Russo had been battling for control; the treaty consisted of Patriarca making Russo consigliere and inducting a new wave of members, but Salemme was left out of the picture, being forced to remain exiled on the West Coast. However, the new family hierarchy was decimated in March 1990 when Patriarca, Russo and 18 of their associates were indicted on a variety of charges. Patriarca stepped down as boss awaiting trial and was succeded for a brief period of time by Nicholas "Nicky" Bianco, who named Salemme his underboss and allowed him to come out of hiding; Bianco, who was also accused in the Patriarca indictment, was sentenced to 11 years in prison in November 1991, leaving Salemme as his successor and the new boss of the New England Mob.
Leadership and cooperation[]

Salemme at the height of his power during his reign as mob boss, 1991
One of Salemme's first policies as boss was promoting his brother John, known as "Action Jack", up to capo. He also took his son, Frank Jr., under his wing, and made him a soldier. He restructured the family but his reign saw tremendous instability among the ranks, which would translate in a multitude of killings coming from a faction of soldiers dissatisfied with Salemme's leadership. In response to the bloodshed, Salemme would fight back, and kill a number of dissident mobsters. In total, 16 murders took place between 1991 and 1996. One of these murders, though unrelated to the war amongst factions, was that of associate Steven DiSarro. DiSarro, a Boston nightclub owner and business partner to Salemme, was suspected of being a cooperator. DiSarro was lured to Salemme's Sharon residence by him, Frank Jr., and associate Paul Weadick, and was subsequently strangled to death in the kitchen by Frank Jr. with a garrote wire as Weadick held his legs, all while Salemme watched. Patriarca mobsters Robert and Joseph DeLuca drove DiSarro's body all the way to Providence, and buried it behind a mill.
In late 1994, Salemme received information that a racketeering indictment charging him along with his old allies Whitey Bulger and Stephen Flemmi was to be served in a short time. Knowing this, Salemme and his common-law wife Donna Wolf fled to Boca Raton, Florida, where they stayed for seven months. He was arrested by Miami FBI agents on August 11, 1995, and extradited to Boston shortly thereafter, where a four-year long trial began. Reading through court documents, Salemme discovered both Bulger and Flemmi had been longtime FBI informants in exchange for immunity for their crimes and with the condition of reporting about the doings of the Patriarca family. After pleading guilty to racketeering in December 1999 and being sentenced to 11 years imprisonment in February 2000, Salemme decided to become a government witness in early 2001 as retribution against his former friends. During his debriefings, he lied to the FBI and told them Nicholas Bianco ordered Steven DiSarro killed. He testified against Flemmi that same year, and he received a life sentence, but was unable to testify against Bulger as he went on the run, not being captured until 2011. In exchange for his cooperation, Salemme served only two years in prison, being released in 2003, and would later go into the Witness Protection Program.

Salemme in 2003
Life imprisonment[]
In August 2015, William Ricci, an old Providence mob associate and owner of the mill in the vicinity of Steven DiSarro's burial ground, was arrested on gun and drug charges, and he told the FBI about Salemme's and Weadick's previously unknown connection to the DiSarro hit. DiSarro's remains were unearthed on March 31, 2016. Salemme and Weadick were brought to trial in Boston, and after two years of fighting the charges, they were found guilty on September 13, 2018 and sentenced to life in prison. Salemme died in prison on December 13, 2022 at age 89.