Plea agreement could free ex-mob boss by year-end

Salemme would get credit for jail time

FRANCIS SALEMME

After more than three years in jail awaiting trial on federal charges of lying and obstruction of justice, former New England Mafia boss Francis "Cadillac Frank" Salemme is poised to plead guilty under a deal that could make him a free man by the end of the year.

"I think there comes a time when it makes sense to move on," Steven C. Boozang, one of Salemme's three lawyers, said yesterday after details of the plea deal emerged during a hearing in US District Court in Boston. "We're hoping to have him home by Christmas."

Salemme, 74, has agreed to plead guilty to a two-count indictment that charges him with making false statements and obstruction of justice after he began cooperating with investigators in 1999 in a probe into the FBI's corrupt handling of longtime informants James "Whitey" Bulger and Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi.

However, Salemme will not admit to allegations in the indictment that he watched his son, Frank, strangle South Boston nightclub owner Steven DiSarro in 1993, then helped him dispose of the body. The younger Salemme died two years later of lymphoma. DiSarro's remains have never been found.

"He 100 percent denies any involvement in DiSarro's disappearance and presumed murder," Boozang said. He added that Salemme has yet to sign the agreement, but he is expected to do so within the next couple of days.

Assistant US Attorney Fred Wyshak said the government was confident it could have proved all of the allegations against Salemme if the case had gone to trial.

Under federal sentencing guidelines, Salemme faces a jail term ranging from 51 months to 63 months.

Prosecutors said that they will recommend a five-year prison term.

With credit for the time he's served, plus earned good time, Salemme could be released between December and next February.

US District Judge Richard G. Stearns, who is presiding over the case, set an April 14 sentencing date.

Salemme was indicted on racketeering charges in 1995, along with Bulger and Flemmi.

He then began cooperating with the government after learning that Bulger and Flemmi were longtime FBI informants who had provided information about local Mafia leaders, including him.

He pleaded guilty to racketeering and extortion charges and admitted participating in eight gangland murders in the 1960s.

Then in 2000, a judge reduced his sentence from 11 years to eight years because of his cooperation with the government.

Salemme helped convict former FBI agent John J. Connolly Jr. of racketeering in 2002 with his testimony that the former agent was corrupt and had warned him, Bulger, and Flemmi to flee on the eve of their indictment.

Bulger remains a fugitive.

Salemme was released into the federal witness protection program in 2003, but he was indicted on the current charges a year later when the case took a new twist. His old nemesis, Flemmi, who is serving a life sentence for 10 murders, started cooperating and implicated Salemme in DiSarro's slaying.

Under the plea agreement, Salemme will admit that he misled investigators when questioned about DiSarro's slaying but will not admit playing any role in it, said Boozang, one of Salemme's three lawyers.