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° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° The Hit Parade Less than a month after the fiery murder of Connie Hughes, another Boston gangster would also die in his car. The hit on Rocco DiSeglio was a classic case of what can happen when you bite the hand that feeds you. DiSeglio was yet another in a long line of boxers turned mobsters in the New England underworld. DiSeglio had first come to the Mafia’s attention during his brief prizefighting career when he proved all too willing to take a dive for the mob. But after his boxing career, DiSeglio felt that the Mafia owed him more than just a debt of gratitude. When Mafia money and opportunity didn’t flow Rocco’s way, he began to hold up mob-controlled dice games around Massachusetts. DiSeglio worked from the inside, making sure the doors to the joint where the high-stakes games were played were left unlocked. When Jerry Angiulo found out about the robberies, he pulled in one of the robbers and gave him an offer he couldn’t refuse. Kill DiSeglio, or be killed yourself. The robber quickly accepted the assignment and lured DiSeglio into a car ride of which he would not be coming back. The robber shot DiSeglio three times in the head, tearing apart half of his face. Another bullet traveled through the back of his head and exited out of his eye socket. The body of Rocco DiSeglio was dumped, along with his wife’s Ford Thunderbird, in the Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary in the idyllic town of Topsfield, Massachusetts. Although he had not taken part in the hit, Barboza knew all about it. In fact, Angiulo had originally blamed Barboza for the dice game stick-ups, claiming that one of the robbers bore a resemblance to Joe’s associate Chico Amico. Hours after the shooting, Barboza called an Irish cop he knew and told him where to find DiSeglio’s body.° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° When Joe was finally released from Deer Island in the summer of 1966, his crew had grown to include not only the Frizzi brothers (Connie and 13 There’s a killer on the road . . .° Jim morrison 126° casey sherman Guy) and Chico Amico but also Tommy DePrisco, Nicky Femia, and Arthur “Tashi” Bratsos. Femia was all brawn and no brains, but as loyal as a German shepherd. Tashi Bratsos was also brought aboard because of his loyalty to Barboza and because he had a brother who was a police officer. Like all mobsters, Barboza understood the benefit of having an informer from the other side of the law. One man whose loyalty had now come into question was Guy Frizzi, who had been with Barboza the longest . The other crew members hated him, and Guy had a habit of beating women, which did not sit well with Barboza. Frizzi felt the growing tension and decided to take a sabbatical to California. “You’ve had a five-month vacation,” he told Barboza. “Now it’s my turn.”68 While Guy Frizzi was vacationing out West, a girlfriend approached Barboza with a warning. She told Joe that Frizzi had been talking behind his back constantly and that Guy believed that he should be the leader of the crew, and that he should be the one traveling down to Providence to confer with Raymond Patriarca. This was all Joe needed to hear. Guy Frizzi would leave the gang quietly, or he would leave in a coffin. “I’m buying you out,” Barboza told Frizzi. Tashi Bratsos bought Frizzi’s end of the shylocking business for $15,000 with an agreement to pay an additional $10,000 in the future. At first, Frizzi refused to sell and went around to the gang’s customers begging them to come with him. But the customers were loyal, and, more important , fearful of Barboza. Guy Frizzi took the cash and left the gang with a chip on his shoulder and a score to settle with the Animal. While Guy Frizzi could be both conniving and vicious, he still knew how to run a bookmaking business and, equally important, he knew how to steer clear of the law. This could not be said of Barboza’s other crew members, who were too quick to decide a dispute with a knife, a gun, and even their mouths. This lack of discipline would continue to plague Barboza . Shortly after his release from jail, Joe was picked up on a phantom gun charge while at a club in the...

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