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| Judge OKs Release for Ex-Mob Boss |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 01/28/2003 |
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After promising not to return to a life of crime, former New England Mafia boss Francis 'Cadillac Frank' Salemme was ordered released from prison Friday by a judge who cited his cooperation in the case against a former FBI agent convicted of helping mobsters. U.S. District Judge Mark Wolf, who agreed to release Salemme more than two years early, said he hoped the aging mobster could live out the rest of his life in peace. Salemme, 69, promised the judge he would not go back to the ruthless mob he headed in the early 1990s. 'I looked down the barrel of a gun myself, and there's no justification - legally or morally - for murder, but it was a kill-or-be-killed situation,' Salemme said. 'You have my word now - that life is over.' Salemme will remain behind bars for two more months while officials arrange for him to enter the federal witness protection program. He had been scheduled to finish his nearly 11 1/2-year sentence for racketeering and extortion in June 2005. Wolf said Salemme's cooperation with the government was 'substantial and important' to its prosecution of former FBI agent John J. Connolly Jr. Salemme testified at Connolly's trial in May that the former agent warned him and rival gangsters James 'Whitey' Bulger and Stephen 'The Rifleman' Flemmi just before they were indicted on racketeering charges. Flemmi was arrested immediately, but Salemme evaded capture for seven months and Bulger is still a fugitive on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list. Connolly was convicted of racketeering and other counts and is serving a 10-year prison sentence. Salemme admitted during Connolly's trial that he participated in eight gangland slayings during the 1960s. Because he was granted immunity for his testimony, he will not be charged. Salemme's lawyer, Anthony Cardinale, said Salemme has been kept in solitary at an undisclosed prison to protect him from mob reprisals. |
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