Angelo Mercurio - FBI Informant

FBI Informant

Mercurio lured mobster Francis "Cadillac Frank" Salemme to a meeting in June 1989, outside a Saugus, Massachusetts International House of Pancakes restaurant, where gunmen ambushed the unarmed Salemme as restaurant patrons dining inside ducked for cover. Wounded in the chest, Salemme took cover in the restaurant's vestibule, but ran back outside to prevent bystanders from being hurt, suffering a wound to his leg.

In 1989 Mercurio informed the FBI about an upcoming family induction ceremony at a home in Medford, Massachusetts. Mercurio surreptitiously recorded the ceremony, the first time in U.S. history that a mob induction was taped. Attendees at the ceremony included Raymond Patriarca, Jr., underboss Nicholas Bianco; consigliere Joe Russo; and caporegimes Biaggio Digiacoma, Vincent Ferrara, Matthew Guglielmetti, Dennis Lepore, and Robert Carrozza. While the ceremony was taking place, Mercurio even turned down the television volume in the home to improve the recording. Mercurio's recordings led to the prosecution and conviction of dozens of criminals. In 1991, Patriarca pleaded guilty to racketeering and conspiracy charges and was sent to prison for seven years. After Patriarca's indictment, Mercurio disappeared from New England to avoid indictment himself.

Angelo said he innocently met FBI Special Agent John Connolly in the Prudential Center in the fall of 1987, after Vanessa's had been searched. He was still disgruntled from the humiliation of being successfully bugged, accused the FBI of trying to "plant" evidence during their secret forays into the store and bragged that the Mafia had outsmarted them. He was trying to best John Connolly in a battle of insider information. It was a mistake. Connolly calmly rattled off the name of the Patriarca crime family's inside source for law enforcement information. Angelo had stupidly confirmed that the Patriarca crime family had a law enforcement source, and he knew what it meant if the FBI exposed his Top Echelon Informant status. Angelo's conversation earned Stephen Flemmi restored Top Echelon Informant status in November 1987. In less than a year, Angelo had joined Stephen as a Top Echelon Informant, and was constantly feeding the FBI inside information on his associates in the Patriarca crime family. In some ways he even supplanted James J. Bulger and Stephen Flemmi in importance- the FBI and the Organized Crime Strike Force were targeting the Patriarca crime family, Robert Carrozza, J.R. Russo and Vincent Ferrara, and as a member of their inner circle, Mercurio was privy to information that even Stephen Flemmi could not obtain. He threw himself into his informant role enthusiastically- even though he had been the best man at Vincent Ferrara's first wedding did not stop him from thoroughly informing on the illicit activities of his old friend. Angelo's value as an informant made protecting him a priority.