Winter Hill Gang

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The Winter Hill Gang
In	Somerville, Massachusetts
Founded by	James "Buddy" McLean
Years active	1950's-1997
Territory	Massachusetts
Ethnicity	Irish-American
Membership	40-50
Criminal activities	Racketeering, bookmaking, extortion, loansharking, gambling, murder, conspiracy, narcotics
Allies	Mullen Gang,
Rivals	Charlestown Mob, Patriarca crime family

The Winter Hill Gang is a loose confederation of Boston-area organized crime figures, predominately Irish-American with a small Italian-American faction. It derives its name from the Winter Hill neighborhood of Somerville, Massachusetts north of Boston. Its members have included notorious Boston gangsters Howie Winter, James "Buddy" McLean, James J. "Whitey" Bulger, and hitman Stephen J. "The Rifleman" Flemmi.

While Winter Hill Gang members are alleged to have been involved with most typical organized-crime-related activities, they are perhaps most known for fixing horse races in the northeastern United States. Twenty-one members and associates, including Bulger's predecessor Howie Winter, were indicted by federal prosecutors in 1979.

1 Irish Gang War
2 Members of the Winter Hill gang
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Irish Gang War

The Boston Irish Gang War started in 1961 and lasted until 1966. It was fought between the McLaughlin Gang of Charlestown, led by Bernie McLaughlin and the Winter Hill Gang of Somerville, led by James "Buddy" McLean.^[1]

The two gangs had co-existed in relative peace for a number of years until an incident on Labor Day weekend 1961. While at a party, Georgie McLaughlin made an advance on the girlfriend of Winter Hill Gang member Alex Rocco^[2] He was subsequently beaten unconscious by members of the Winter Hill Gang and was dumped outside of the local hospital.^[1]

Bernie McLaughlin went to see James McLean and demanded that he hand over the members of the gang who beat his brother. McLean refused. The McLaughlins' took this refusal as an insult, and attempted to wire a bomb to McLean's wife's car. In retaliation, McLean shot and killed McLaughlin coming out of the "Morning Glory" bar in Charlestown. This was the start of Boston's Irish Gang War.^[1]

In 1965 McLean was shot and killed by one of the last survivors of the McLaughlin Gang, Stevie Hughes. Howie Winter then assumed control of the Winter Hill Gang. A year later, in 1966, the last two associates of the McLaughlin Gang, brothers Connie and Steve Hughes, were killed.

After the Irish Gang war, the Winter Hill Gang was reputed to be not only the top Irish Mob Syndicate in the New England area but along the east coast as well. In the book "Black Mass", by Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill, the authors claimed that the Winter Hill Gang were far more feared and powerful than their rivals in the New England Mafia, run by the Angiulo Family. The Angiulo Family of the North End was responsible for most of the Italian mafia operations in Boston and points north. They answered to the Patriarca crime family of Rhode Island who, like all mafia in the United States, reported to the branches of the Five Families of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, The Tri-State Mafia. When the five families, then headed by Paul Castellano, became disillusioned with the Boston activities, production, and effect on the bottom line in the mid 1970's, they cut a deal with the FBI to use Bulger's gang as the vector to infiltrate the Boston Family.

[edit] Members of the Winter Hill gang

James "Buddy" McLean - Boss 1950's-1966, killed 1966.
Howard "Howie" Winter - Boss from1965 until 1978. Jailed, released in 2002.
James "Whitey" Bulger - Boss from 1978 to 1997, one of the most infamous Irish Mob bosses. Fled Boston in 1994 due to being on the F.B.I. Ten Most Wanted list and has a $1 million reward for his capture.
Stephen Flemmi - "The Rifleman"- turned state's evidence when Whitey fled in 1997.
Vincent "Jimmy The Bear" Flemmi - Brother of Steve, feared enforcer and hitman, died of drug overdose in 1979.
Salvatore "Sal" Sperlinga - Howie Winter Lt. and bookkeeper, killed in 1980.
George O'Brien associate of Vincent Flemmi
John Martorano - Top hitman for James Bulger & Flemmi, indicted and arrested 1995, became an informant in 1999, sentenced to 14 years in 2004, with time served released 2007.
James "Jimmy" Martorano - Brother of John, now a Capo in the Boston Faction of the New England Patriarca crime family.
Patrick Nee - Associate of Bulger's with close ties to the Irish Republican Army, arrested in 1990 by the FBI, released after 8 years. Now works in South Boston.
Americo "Rico" Sacramone - Buddy McLean bodyguard, with McLean at the Pepermint Lounge in Somerville when he was killed 1965. Killed in 1976.
Kevin Weeks - Bulger Lt. and Operational Chief of Gang 1994 through 1999. He was arrested and jailed November 15, 1999 and later defected in January 2000. Released from prison on February 4, 2005, he wrote a book in 2006 entitled Brutal, The Untold Story Of My Life Inside Whitey Bulger's Irish Mob.
Anthony "Tony Blue" D'Agostino - Buddy McLean bodyguard, with Mclean at Pepermint Lounge in Somerville when he was killed 1965.
Thomas "Tommy" Ballou, Jr. - Buddy McLean driver and bodyguard. He was killed in 1970.
Joseph "Joe Mac" McDonald - An original member of the gang. McDonald was a hitman, World War II veteran and street fighter. At one point held a spot on the FBI's Top Ten Most Wanted List until he was arrested by the FBI before he could turn himself in. The FBI received information on his whereabouts from Whitey Bulger. He died in 1997 after being released from prison.
Alexander "Bobo" Petricone, aka Alex Rocco - It was Petricone's girlfriend on Labor Day weekend of 1961 that McLaughlin hit on. This started the war between The Winter Hill and McLaughlin Gangs. Petricone later lost weight and became actor Alex Rocco, who appeared in the film The Godfather.
Russell Nicholson - He was an original member of the gang as well as a police officer. He reportedly was the driver during the 1961 gangland slaying of Bernie McLaughlin and subsequently fired by the police force shortly thereafter. He was later kidnapped and killed in retaliation by the McLaughlin Gang in 1964.
James "Jimmy" Simms - Released from prison in 1986 - Whereabouts unknown
George Kaufman (mobster) - Small time hustler and mechanic, owned the garage where the gang frequently met. Died in 1996 of natural causes.
William "Billy" Emma
John Shea (mobster) - A former amateur boxer who found crime much more appealing. He wound up working in the Winter Hill Gang's drug operation and rose to the rank of Lieutenant within the gang at the young age of 20. At the age of 24 he was indicted under the RICO Act for running an on going criminal enterprise distributing and trafficking in narcotics, at the age of 27 he accepted a twelve year plea deal. He was released in August of 2005 at the age of 40 and wrote his life story in the book "Rat Bastards". He has retired from the South Boston Irish Mob.
Richard Castucci
Vincent Teresa, New England con man and mob associate who testified against the Patriarca crime family after he was arrested in 1967. He wrote the book "My Life in the Mafia", although he was never inducted into the La Cosa Nostra.

Currently the Massachusetts State Police suspect there are about fifty active members of the gang, along with many other associates who have not been made.

[edit] References

^ ^a ^b ^c Howie Carr, "The Brothers Bulger: How They Terrorized and Corrupted Boston for a Quarter Century"
^ Teresa, Vincent. "My Life in the Mafia."