Joseph Barboza Jr.
Joseph Barboza (1932-1976) was born and raised in New Bedford. He was the son of Joseph Barboza Sr. (x-1981) and Palmeda Camille (1907-1973). Barboza had two brothers; Donald (1929-2015) and Anthony Barboza (1945-2022) and a sister, Anne (Barboza) Houghton.
His father, a middleweight boxer would later abandon the family, leaving his wife to care for their children. Joseph Jr. followed in his father’s footsteps, briefly pursuing a career as a professional boxer. Later, he worked as a longshoreman and a clerk at a local fruit stand. While he lacked a formal education, he spoke three languages and was a skilled chef.
Criminal History
Barboza had minor scrapes with the law, but quickly escalated. By 1949, at age of 17, he led a gang that broke into homes and small businesses, stealing money, watches, liquor and guns.
Sentenced to the Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Concord State Prison for five (5) years in 1950. In 1953 Barboza led a wild jail break, he and six (6) other inmates overpowered four (4) guards and raced away in two (2) cars. They were later captured at a subway station in Revere station less than 24 hours after the escape.
New England Mafia
The legendary encounter with a Patriarca crime family underboss at an East Boston bar in 1958, after Barboza was paroled from prison, that really got him noticed. It also earned him the nickname “The Animal.”
Barboza was reportedly drinking at a Boston-area bar patronized by organized crime figures when an elderly patron, upset by his obnoxious behavior, berated him for his rudeness. Barboza approached the older man and slapped him hard across the face. Sitting nearby, underboss Henry Tameleo angrily shouted to Barboza “I don’t want you to ever slap that man. I don’t want you to touch anybody with your hands again.” Suddenly, Barboza leaned over and bit the man’s ear. “I didn’t touch him with my hands,” snarled Barboza.
Barboza then connected with Vincent "The Bear" Flemmi and Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi who were directly tied the Whitey Bulger.
Barboza became known for his fearlessness. Within a few years, he had become one of the mob’s most prolific serial contract killers.
Barboza Becomes Liability to New England Mafia
In October 1966, his falling out with the organized crime element was clear after he and two others were arrested on weapons charges in Boston. His accomplices were released on bail, but Barboza had bail set at $100,000 which he couldn't afford. Nobody from the Patriarca crime family came to post his bail and he heard that it was the Mafia family who tipped off the police. The other two associates went to raise Barboza's bail. Five weeks later, after raising $59,000 the pair were murdered by hit-man Larry Zannino (1920-1996). Barboza became aware of the murders and vowed revenge. The $59,000 went missing.
FBI involvement
FBI agents Dennis Condon and H. Paul Rico were well aware of the events that occurred. They had been active in searching and recruiting informants, Barboza, stood out as the perfect candidate. In May 1967 Steve Flemmi met with Barboza and informed him that Gennaro Angiulo and his brothers had plans to murder him. In June 1967 Barboza became and FBI informant. He implicated Patriarca and Angiulo in separate murder conspiracies. In a third case, he covered for his friend, and Agent Rico’s snitch, James Flemmi implicating four innocent men (Peter Limone, Joe Salvati, Louis Greco and Emilio Tamileo) in the 1965 Edward Deegan murder. After providing all this information, Barboza became the first person to enter the Witness Protection Program.
Out of the six people convicted for the murder, only Ronald Cassesso and Wilfred Roy French were actually involved and present in the alley where the murder took place. FBI agent Paul Rico had offered French and Cassesso leniency if they would corroborate Barboza's false testimony. Both French and Cassesso refused the offer. Cassesso died in prison 30 years later. French was finally freed 34 years later.
Tameleo and Greco died in prison after serving almost 30 years, and Salvati and Limone were finally released in 1997 and 2001, respectively. The families of Greco, Tameleo, Salvati and Limone filed lawsuits totaling in excess of one billion dollars filed against the Federal government. In July 2007, U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner in Boston found the FBI helped convict the four men and the U.S. Government was ordered to pay $100 million in damages to the four defendants.
Witness Protection Program
While the trials were in session, later found out that Francis "Cadillac Frank" Salemme and Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi planted a bomb under the hood of Barboza’s black Oldsmobile, which he had given to his attorney, John Fitzgerald, as payment for legal fees. Miraculously, Fitzgerald survived the blast but lost his right leg.
The bombing prompted federal officials to begin moving their star witness Barboza, now known by the code name “Baron” to secret locations with a platoon of armed Federal Agents with machine guns, in a bid to protect him from assassination from the Mafia whom is was discovered that Barboza had a $500.000 hit on his head to anyone that could locate him and kill him. This created the Witness Protection Program.
The government program explained to Barboza that his wife and children wouldn't be protected unless he agreed to testify. The government also promised to set him up with his own restaurant and plastic surgery to change his appearance which would further protect him and and his family. Barboza went on the testify against Raymond Patriarca and many high-ranking members and associates of the New England family. His testimony resulted in indictments of several people in relation to murder cases. Patriarca and Henry Tameleo were indicted for conspiracy to murder in the 1966 killing of Providence bookmaker Willie Marfeo.
For his testimony, Barboza was given a one-year prison term, including time served. He was paroled in March 1969 under the name "Joseph Bentley" and was relocated to Santa Rosa California where he enrolled in a culinary arts school. Barboza was forever barred from living in Boston.
Murder While in Witness Protection Program
In 1970, Barboza (known as Bentley) murdered Clay Wilson (27), a bulldozer operator, but moonlighted as a criminal. Following a dispute with Wilson, Barboza shot him twice in the back of the head-around the 5th or 6th of July 1970, and buried him in a grave in a forest near Glen Ellen, fifteen (15) miles south-east of Santa Rosa. Two women, Dee Wilson and Paulette Ramos, witnessed the killing, but were too terrified of the killer to notify the authorities. He was also suspected in killing four others while he was on the federal witness protection program in California.
Not long after, Barboza for some reason, travelled back to Massachusetts. According to the FBI, this was the 26th murder by Barboza. In 1971, he pleaded guilty to a second-degree murder charge and was sentenced to five years at Folsom Prison. He was released on October 30 1975.
Barboza claimed to have murdered twenty-nine (29) people in New England and another 5 more people in California while on the Federal Witness Protection Program and suspected in numerous rapes of young women.
Barboza Murdered 1976
On February 11, 1976, Barboza, once assigned by the feds to live in Santa Rosa, California, under the name Joe Denati, went to visit his old friend and Mob associate James Chalmas in San Francisco. He had been set up — by Chalmas, who earlier tipped off Patriarca family underboss Gennaro “Jerry” Angiulo (1919-2009).
Angiulo sent Ilario M.A. Zannino (1920-1996 in prison) and Joseph Russo (1931-1998 in prison) to watch for when Barboza left Chalmas’ residence near the corner of 25th Avenue and Moraga Street. As Barboza approached his parked car and pulled out his key, a van rolled up fast and Zannino and Russo at almost point-blank range fired four (4) shotgun blasts at him through an open door.
Barboza's murder remained unsolved until 1981 when the FBI listened to secretly recorded conservations by Angiulo and Zannino in their social club near the Old North Church in Boston. Zannino spoke respectfully of Russo in orchestrating the murder. Zannino also implicated himself as a shooter in the murder.
The Miscarriage of Justice
Barboza had been a willing pawn in one of the most shocking miscarriages of justice ever perpetrated by the FBI, with the full knowledge of then-FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. In a separate murder case, he lied under oath, at the request of corrupt FBI agents Condon and Rico, on the stand in state court against six defendants — all Mob associates — accused of the 1965 murder of Edward Teddy Deegan. State prosecutors, based almost solely on Barboza’s uncorroborated and perjured testimony, and unaware of the FBI’s actions, won convictions of the six men in Deegan’s murder, when none of the defendants in fact took part in the killing. The FBI and Barboza framed them. Two defendants received life sentences, the other four got the death penalty, although no one was executed.
In exchange, the FBI protected Barboza’s close friend, the veteran hitman, Jimmy “The Bear” Flemmi, from state murder charges in Deegan’s homicide. The FBI used Flemmi’s brother, hitman Steve “The Rifleman” Flemmi, to convince Barboza to perjure himself. Barboza consented, saying he would not provide information.
It took decades to finally sort things out from the official cover-ups. In 2002, the House Committee on Government Reform looked into the FBI’s use of Barboza, Jimmy Flemmi and other murderers as federal informants. In a scathing 1,800-page report released in 2004, the committee stated that Barboza and Jimmy Flemmi actually killed Deegan, but Hoover and the FBI, seeking to preserve both men within the new informant program to gain intelligence on the Mob, allowed the innocent defendants to take the fall.
The Final Chapter
He was married and fathered a daughter (Jackie) in 1965 and also a son (Joseph). Perry Funeral handled the funeral for Joseph Barboza. His obituary at the time indicated the exact burial location in New Bedford would not be disclosed. At the time of his death, his murder was unsolved. There was a concern of retaliation in effort to protect his family, limited information was released. Barboza wasn't buried in New Bedford, but was buried in the South Dartmouth Cemetery.
Joseph Barboza (1932-1976) was born and raised in New Bedford. He was the son of Joseph Barboza Sr. (x-1981) and Palmeda Camille (1907-1973). Barboza had two brothers; Donald (1929-2015) and Anthony Barboza (1945-2022) and a sister, Anne (Barboza) Houghton.
His father, a middleweight boxer would later abandon the family, leaving his wife to care for their children. Joseph Jr. followed in his father’s footsteps, briefly pursuing a career as a professional boxer. Later, he worked as a longshoreman and a clerk at a local fruit stand. While he lacked a formal education, he spoke three languages and was a skilled chef.
Criminal History
Barboza had minor scrapes with the law, but quickly escalated. By 1949, at age of 17, he led a gang that broke into homes and small businesses, stealing money, watches, liquor and guns.
Sentenced to the Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Concord State Prison for five (5) years in 1950. In 1953 Barboza led a wild jail break, he and six (6) other inmates overpowered four (4) guards and raced away in two (2) cars. They were later captured at a subway station in Revere station less than 24 hours after the escape.
New England Mafia
The legendary encounter with a Patriarca crime family underboss at an East Boston bar in 1958, after Barboza was paroled from prison, that really got him noticed. It also earned him the nickname “The Animal.”
Barboza was reportedly drinking at a Boston-area bar patronized by organized crime figures when an elderly patron, upset by his obnoxious behavior, berated him for his rudeness. Barboza approached the older man and slapped him hard across the face. Sitting nearby, underboss Henry Tameleo angrily shouted to Barboza “I don’t want you to ever slap that man. I don’t want you to touch anybody with your hands again.” Suddenly, Barboza leaned over and bit the man’s ear. “I didn’t touch him with my hands,” snarled Barboza.
Barboza then connected with Vincent "The Bear" Flemmi and Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi who were directly tied the Whitey Bulger.
Barboza became known for his fearlessness. Within a few years, he had become one of the mob’s most prolific serial contract killers.
Barboza Becomes Liability to New England Mafia
In October 1966, his falling out with the organized crime element was clear after he and two others were arrested on weapons charges in Boston. His accomplices were released on bail, but Barboza had bail set at $100,000 which he couldn't afford. Nobody from the Patriarca crime family came to post his bail and he heard that it was the Mafia family who tipped off the police. The other two associates went to raise Barboza's bail. Five weeks later, after raising $59,000 the pair were murdered by hit-man Larry Zannino (1920-1996). Barboza became aware of the murders and vowed revenge. The $59,000 went missing.
FBI involvement
FBI agents Dennis Condon and H. Paul Rico were well aware of the events that occurred. They had been active in searching and recruiting informants, Barboza, stood out as the perfect candidate. In May 1967 Steve Flemmi met with Barboza and informed him that Gennaro Angiulo and his brothers had plans to murder him. In June 1967 Barboza became and FBI informant. He implicated Patriarca and Angiulo in separate murder conspiracies. In a third case, he covered for his friend, and Agent Rico’s snitch, James Flemmi implicating four innocent men (Peter Limone, Joe Salvati, Louis Greco and Emilio Tamileo) in the 1965 Edward Deegan murder. After providing all this information, Barboza became the first person to enter the Witness Protection Program.
Out of the six people convicted for the murder, only Ronald Cassesso and Wilfred Roy French were actually involved and present in the alley where the murder took place. FBI agent Paul Rico had offered French and Cassesso leniency if they would corroborate Barboza's false testimony. Both French and Cassesso refused the offer. Cassesso died in prison 30 years later. French was finally freed 34 years later.
Tameleo and Greco died in prison after serving almost 30 years, and Salvati and Limone were finally released in 1997 and 2001, respectively. The families of Greco, Tameleo, Salvati and Limone filed lawsuits totaling in excess of one billion dollars filed against the Federal government. In July 2007, U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner in Boston found the FBI helped convict the four men and the U.S. Government was ordered to pay $100 million in damages to the four defendants.
Witness Protection Program
While the trials were in session, later found out that Francis "Cadillac Frank" Salemme and Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi planted a bomb under the hood of Barboza’s black Oldsmobile, which he had given to his attorney, John Fitzgerald, as payment for legal fees. Miraculously, Fitzgerald survived the blast but lost his right leg.
The bombing prompted federal officials to begin moving their star witness Barboza, now known by the code name “Baron” to secret locations with a platoon of armed Federal Agents with machine guns, in a bid to protect him from assassination from the Mafia whom is was discovered that Barboza had a $500.000 hit on his head to anyone that could locate him and kill him. This created the Witness Protection Program.
The government program explained to Barboza that his wife and children wouldn't be protected unless he agreed to testify. The government also promised to set him up with his own restaurant and plastic surgery to change his appearance which would further protect him and and his family. Barboza went on the testify against Raymond Patriarca and many high-ranking members and associates of the New England family. His testimony resulted in indictments of several people in relation to murder cases. Patriarca and Henry Tameleo were indicted for conspiracy to murder in the 1966 killing of Providence bookmaker Willie Marfeo.
For his testimony, Barboza was given a one-year prison term, including time served. He was paroled in March 1969 under the name "Joseph Bentley" and was relocated to Santa Rosa California where he enrolled in a culinary arts school. Barboza was forever barred from living in Boston.
Murder While in Witness Protection Program
In 1970, Barboza (known as Bentley) murdered Clay Wilson (27), a bulldozer operator, but moonlighted as a criminal. Following a dispute with Wilson, Barboza shot him twice in the back of the head-around the 5th or 6th of July 1970, and buried him in a grave in a forest near Glen Ellen, fifteen (15) miles south-east of Santa Rosa. Two women, Dee Wilson and Paulette Ramos, witnessed the killing, but were too terrified of the killer to notify the authorities. He was also suspected in killing four others while he was on the federal witness protection program in California.
Not long after, Barboza for some reason, travelled back to Massachusetts. According to the FBI, this was the 26th murder by Barboza. In 1971, he pleaded guilty to a second-degree murder charge and was sentenced to five years at Folsom Prison. He was released on October 30 1975.
Barboza claimed to have murdered twenty-nine (29) people in New England and another 5 more people in California while on the Federal Witness Protection Program and suspected in numerous rapes of young women.
Barboza Murdered 1976
On February 11, 1976, Barboza, once assigned by the feds to live in Santa Rosa, California, under the name Joe Denati, went to visit his old friend and Mob associate James Chalmas in San Francisco. He had been set up — by Chalmas, who earlier tipped off Patriarca family underboss Gennaro “Jerry” Angiulo (1919-2009).
Angiulo sent Ilario M.A. Zannino (1920-1996 in prison) and Joseph Russo (1931-1998 in prison) to watch for when Barboza left Chalmas’ residence near the corner of 25th Avenue and Moraga Street. As Barboza approached his parked car and pulled out his key, a van rolled up fast and Zannino and Russo at almost point-blank range fired four (4) shotgun blasts at him through an open door.
Barboza's murder remained unsolved until 1981 when the FBI listened to secretly recorded conservations by Angiulo and Zannino in their social club near the Old North Church in Boston. Zannino spoke respectfully of Russo in orchestrating the murder. Zannino also implicated himself as a shooter in the murder.
The Miscarriage of Justice
Barboza had been a willing pawn in one of the most shocking miscarriages of justice ever perpetrated by the FBI, with the full knowledge of then-FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. In a separate murder case, he lied under oath, at the request of corrupt FBI agents Condon and Rico, on the stand in state court against six defendants — all Mob associates — accused of the 1965 murder of Edward Teddy Deegan. State prosecutors, based almost solely on Barboza’s uncorroborated and perjured testimony, and unaware of the FBI’s actions, won convictions of the six men in Deegan’s murder, when none of the defendants in fact took part in the killing. The FBI and Barboza framed them. Two defendants received life sentences, the other four got the death penalty, although no one was executed.
In exchange, the FBI protected Barboza’s close friend, the veteran hitman, Jimmy “The Bear” Flemmi, from state murder charges in Deegan’s homicide. The FBI used Flemmi’s brother, hitman Steve “The Rifleman” Flemmi, to convince Barboza to perjure himself. Barboza consented, saying he would not provide information.
It took decades to finally sort things out from the official cover-ups. In 2002, the House Committee on Government Reform looked into the FBI’s use of Barboza, Jimmy Flemmi and other murderers as federal informants. In a scathing 1,800-page report released in 2004, the committee stated that Barboza and Jimmy Flemmi actually killed Deegan, but Hoover and the FBI, seeking to preserve both men within the new informant program to gain intelligence on the Mob, allowed the innocent defendants to take the fall.
The Final Chapter
He was married and fathered a daughter (Jackie) in 1965 and also a son (Joseph). Perry Funeral handled the funeral for Joseph Barboza. His obituary at the time indicated the exact burial location in New Bedford would not be disclosed. At the time of his death, his murder was unsolved. There was a concern of retaliation in effort to protect his family, limited information was released. Barboza wasn't buried in New Bedford, but was buried in the South Dartmouth Cemetery.