Blackfriars Massacre

Massacre and aftermath

Blackfriars was an Irish-themed pub and late-night disco club on Summer Street owned by Vincent Solmonte. On the evening of June 27, 1978, Winter Hill Gang member Stephen Flemmi visited with his girlfriend Marilyn DiSilva. After spotting Nick Femia at the club, Flemmi sensed trouble and convinced DiSilva to leave, likely saving her life. In the early hours of June 28, after closing, five men remained playing backgammon and using cocaine.

Four or five kilograms of cocaine and a large amount of cash were stored on the premises. Gunmen entered through the cellar and robbed the men of the drugs and money. According to Howie Carr, the robbers had not planned to kill anyone until club manager John Kelly recognized one of the perpetrators and asked, 'Is that you? The janitor discovered the five bullet-riddled corpses the next morning.

Investigators believed the men were surprised around 2:00 a.m. during a backgammon game and herded into the basement office, where they were shot with at least one shotgun and a .25 caliber semi-automatic pistol. At the scene, police found a small arsenal of firearms, small quantities of cocaine and marijuana, and $15,000 in loose cash in an open safe. The drugs and cash led police to conclude the motive was not robbery; the prevailing opinion was that it was a classic gangland-style slaying.

The massacre was allegedly over several kilos of cocaine. Solomonte was later discovered to be a close associate and friend of Stephen Flemmi.

Targets

The main intended targets of the murders were John A. Kelly and/or his business partner and friend Vincent E. Solomonte. Bar manager John A. Kelly should not be mistaken for DEA agent John Kelly, FBI Special Agent John Connolly's friend, or Patriarca crime family associate John 'Red' Kelley, all active in the Boston underworld at the same time. Maurice Lewis, a lifelong friend of Kelly, described him as suitable for the cast of The Wild Bunch, born too late for the adventure he craved.

Kelly was attracted to mobsters and cultivated mob contacts as a way into investigative reporting. Although fired over a political scandal with city hall, co-workers believed Kelly was on the verge of a comeback. According to Lewis, Kelly was scheduled to leave his manager job at Blackfriars in two to three weeks to begin work as a freelance producer at WLVI-TV, Channel 56, with his first pilot to be taped on 14 July of that year. He also spoke of buying a bar or restaurant.

While managing Blackfriars for Solomonte, he hired Stephen Flemmi's longtime mistress Marilyn DeSilva as a waitress. In a November 1976 interview as a Channel 7 investigative reporter, Kelly said his role with organized-crime figures was dual: he went into the relationship looking for stories, noting that if you want a story on a gangster you go to a cop, and if you want a story on a cop you go to a gangster.

Investigation

Retired FBI agent Michael J. Buckley, who was corrupt, stated in court that he had informed FBI agent John Connolly that Ierardi later confessed to making up the story that Bulger and Flemmi were involved in the unsolved massacre. Nicholas Femia, a suspect, was a large, overweight man addicted to cocaine who wore loud clothes and had a rocky connection with James J. Bulger. He became part of the Winter Hill Gang in 1976. Femia lived with a woman who was the girlfriend of Stephen Flemmi's mistress, Marilyn DeSilva, in an apartment across from Chandler's Restaurant, a South End place co-owned by Martorano.

He started his criminal life under Joseph Barboza and was brought into the gang to provide extra muscle for extortion and protection schemes. Bulger wanted to cut down on police surveillance and investigations. Shortly after Femia joined the gang, a note appeared in one of Connolly's FBI reports clearing Femia of any role in the Blackfriars massacre. As Bulger got older and became fixated on staying fit, he grew annoyed with Femia's big belly.

After they split, Connolly placed another report in Bulger's file hinting that Femia might have been one of the shooters in the Blackfriars killings. Femia stayed under police watch for various crimes until he was shot dead in 1983 during a failed shakedown at an autobody shop on Condor Street in East Boston. His part in the massacre has never been proven.

Murder trials and outcomes

Suspects Robert Italiano and William N. Ierardi, focused on during the initial homicide investigation, were tried and acquitted in court in 1978. The massacre remains unsolved, though it is documented as connected to organized crime and featured on Boston.com as a 'Mob Tour' attraction. James J. 'Whitey' Bulger became the 458th Ten Most Wanted fugitive on 19 August 1999, wanted for racketeering, 19 counts of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, extortion, conspiracy to commit extortion, money laundering, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and narcotics distribution.

After sixteen years on the run, he was arrested on 22 June 2011. Nicholas Femia's involvement in the Blackfriars massacre was never successfully proven. He was recognized as one of the few Winter Hill Gang associates able to part from the group without being murdered in retribution, unlike Richard Castucci and Louis Litif. Femia was shot to death during an alleged robbery of an auto body shop in East Boston on 16 December 1983 by the shop's owner.

The police report stated Femia was sitting next to a desk in the office when he was shot execution style; he was 43. Stephen Flemmi turned state's evidence starting in 1999, giving evidence that helped lead to arrests and convictions of Kevin Weeks, Frank Salemme, and FBI handlers John Connolly and H. Paul Rico. James Martorano later aligned with the Patriarca crime family and was promoted to caporegime; in 1995 he was convicted of racketeering, extortion, and conspiracy to commit murder.

William N. Ierardi was convicted of drug dealing in 1987 and turned state's evidence in the trial of Stephen Flemmi and others.