Fugitive mobster found in Idaho

Enrico M. Ponzo, 42, had been on the lam since 1994, following his failure to appear in court on state drug charges. In 1997, he was one of 15 men named in a 40-count federal indictment aimed at breaking up a power struggle in the Patriarca family of La Cosa Nostra.

Federal authorities found Ponzo late Monday night, living in Idaho under the assumed name of Jeffrey John Shaw, according to the FBI.

Ponzo was allegedly part of a rival faction of the Patriarca family that sought to prevent Francis P. “Cadillac Frank’’ Salemme from becoming boss in a power vacuum created by federal indictments against the family’s previous leadership.

On June 16, 1989, family underboss William P. Grasso was found shot dead along the Connecticut River. Hours later, Salemme was shot in the chest and left leg outside a Saugus pancake house. He survived and secured his position as boss by 1991. However, the attempt on his life launched a bloody five-year war that left about a dozen men dead.

The sweeping federal indictment against Ponzo and 14 other reputed mobsters was aimed at ending the violence.

According to the indictment, Ponzo and Vincent Michael Marino, also known as Gigi Portalla, were the alleged triggermen in the attempted murder of Salemme. Marino, now 49, was convicted and sentenced to 35 years. He is scheduled to be released from the US Penitentiary in Pollock, La., in 2027.

The 87-page indictment accused the faction of murdering three men and trying to kill seven others, including Salemme, and plotting to kill seven more men.

Ponzo, already a fugitive on the drug charges, was the only one of the 15 men still at large after the indictments came down. All but five had already been in prison on various other state and federal charges.

Ponzo is charged with the attempted murder of Salemme as part of a pattern of racketeering activity. He is also charged with racketeering, conspiracy to murder multiple individuals in aid of racketeering, three counts of using and carrying a firearm while committing a violent crime, extortion, extortion conspiracy, assault with a dangerous weapon, and the attempted murder of Everett cafe manager Joseph C. Cirame on Sept. 16, 1994. He also faces the original drug charges. If convicted, he would possibly be sentenced to life in prison.

Of the other defendants in the 1997 indictment, Robert F. “Bobby Russo’’ Carrozza, the reputed leader of the rival faction, pleaded guilty and received an additional two years on a different 19-year federal sentence he was already serving. He was released in 2008.

Two defendants, Christopher Puopolo, and Paul A. “Big Paul’’ Decologero, were acquitted. Decologero went on to run a North Shore gang. He was convicted and received a life sentence in 2006 for ordering the death of 19-year-old Aislin Silva, the girlfriend of one of his gangsters, who the gang feared would testify against them.

The others were either sentenced to various prison terms, became witnesses for the prosecution, or both. Defendant Sean Thomas Cote died in prison in 1998 after he agreed to become a witness for the government.

Today, Salemme is believed to be in witness protection. In January 1995, he was indicted for racketeering along with James J. “Whitey’’ Bulger and Stephen “The Rifleman’’ Flemmi and sentenced to 11 years in prison. Salemme later learned that both Bulger and Flemmi were FBI informants and agreed to testify against them.

Shelley Murphy of the Globe staff contributed to this report.