He left his life as a Mafia don decades ago, disappeared into the federal witness protection program, and was living quietly in Atlanta as Richard Parker, an unassuming octogenarian who loved to read and exercise.
But Francis “Cadillac Frank” Salemme’s past caught up with him Wednesday, when he was arrested at a Connecticut hotel and escorted to a Boston courthouse in handcuffs to face a new charge for an old crime: the 1993 murder of a witness during a federal investigation.
It was deja vu for Salemme, a contemporary of James “Whitey” Bulger’s who will turn 83 this month. Arriving in court, he smiled slightly when he spotted Fred Wyshak, the veteran prosecutor who helped send him to prison twice before, seated at the prosecution table and quipped, “Hey, Fred, fancy seeing you here!”
To read the full story in the Boston Globe:
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/08/10/former-mob-boss-frank-salemme-arrested-charge-related-murder-witness/aEO5DGC1NbL4iL2H3nW36N/story.html
How ‘Cadillac Frank’ Salemme got his mob nickname
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – It’s one of those things I was pretty sure I knew.
When you cover something for a long time as a reporter, there can be a lot of information that just sort of bounces around the brain, but you can’t remember how it got there in the first place.
My memory of why former New England mob boss Francis Salemme – who was in court on murder charges Wednesday – had received the nickname “Cadillac Frank” was because at one time, he worked on Cadillac cars at a garage in Boston. But, as any good journalism professor will tell you, it’s best to check things out.
So I went to WBUR radio senior reporter David Boeri in Boston....
To read more of this story:
http://wpri.com/2016/08/11/how-cadillac-frank-salemme-got-his-mob-nickname/
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