Johnny Martorano
Encyclopedia
Hitman
A hitman is a person hired to kill another person.- Hitmen in organized crime :Hitmen are largely linked to the world of organized crime. Hitmen are hired people who kill people for money. Notable examples include Murder, Inc., Mafia hitmen and Richard Kuklinski.- Other cases involving hitmen...
for the Winter Hill Gang
Winter Hill Gang
The Winter Hill Gang is a structured confederation of Boston, Massachusetts-area organized crime figures, predominantly Irish-American with a small Italian-American faction. It derives its name from the Winter Hill neighborhood of Somerville, Massachusetts north of Boston. Its members have...
in Boston, Massachusetts who has admitted to 20 gang-related killings.
Early life
Johnny Martorano was born in Somerville, MassachusettsSomerville, Massachusetts
Somerville is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, located just north of Boston. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 75,754 and was the most densely populated municipality in New England. It is also the 17th most densely populated incorporated place in...
in 1940. He is the older brother of James Martorano
James Martorano
James "Jimmy" Martorano is an American organized crime figure with ties to the Winter Hill Gang of South Boston, Massachusetts and a member of the Patriarca crime family as of 1995. Martorano is the younger brother of notorious "hitman" and later government witness, John Martorano,James Martorano...
by eleven months. His father, Patriarca crime family
Patriarca crime family
The Patriarca crime family, also known as the New England crime family and the Providence crime family, is an Italian-American organized crime syndicate based in New England, specifically Providence, Rhode Island and Boston, Massachusetts, and is part of the Italian-American Mafia or "La Cosa Nostra"...
associate Luigi Martorano, was an immigrant from Lazio, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. As a young boy growing up he was a devout Catholic and was even an altar boy. His mother was a full time homemaker of English descent. In his 60 Minutes interview with Steve Kroft he stated that his father enstilled the value, "You're the oldest son and this is your heritage (referring to his father's connections to organized crime). You've got to take care of your family and be a man." The Martorano family soon moved to the Irish enclave of East Milton, Massachusetts
Milton, Massachusetts
Milton is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States and part of the Greater Boston area. The population was 27,003 at the 2010 census. Milton is the birthplace of former U.S. President George H. W. Bush and architect Buckminster Fuller. Milton also has the highest percentage of...
. As a young boy he attended Thayer Academy
Thayer Academy
Thayer Academy is a private, co-educational, college-preparatory day school located in Braintree, Massachusetts. The academy, conceived in 1871 at the bequest of General Sylvanus Thayer, the father of the United States Military Academy, was founded in 1877...
in Braintree, Massachusetts
Braintree, Massachusetts
The Town of Braintree is a suburban city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Although officially known as a town, Braintree adopted a municipal charter, effective 2008, with a mayor-council form of government and is considered a city under Massachusetts law. The population was 35,744...
with his brother Jimmie in grades 6 and 7. He later enrolled in Mount Saint Charles Academy
Mount Saint Charles Academy
Mount Saint Charles Academy is a private Catholic junior/senior high school located in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence. -History:...
in Woonsocket, Rhode Island
Woonsocket, Rhode Island
Woonsocket is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 41,186 at the 2010 census, making it the sixth largest city in the state. Woonsocket lies directly south of the Massachusetts border....
where he graduated. During high school, he played football with future CBS News
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...
television journalist Ed Bradley
Ed Bradley
Edward Rudolph "Ed" Bradley, Jr. was an American journalist, best known for twenty-six years of award-winning work on the CBS News television program 60 Minutes...
whom he affectionately referred to as "Big Ed". On the football field he earned the moniker "The Millkman" because as Ed Bradley
Ed Bradley
Edward Rudolph "Ed" Bradley, Jr. was an American journalist, best known for twenty-six years of award-winning work on the CBS News television program 60 Minutes...
would say, "... he always delivered." His high school yearbook quote states, "Courage can be a very difficult neurosis." It stated that he would "always be remembered for his great football potentials (as a running back
Running back
A running back is a gridiron football position, who is typically lined up in the offensive backfield. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback for a rushing play, to catch passes from out of the backfield, and to block.There are usually one or two running...
) and innumerable touchdowns... admits his pet peeve is the subject, history. He was his Home Room Delegate from Grades 9 to 11 and played on the football team for Grades 9 and 10, later becoming the co-captain of the team in Grades 9, 10 and in grade 11 became the team captain. Along with football, John also competed on the school's track and field
Track and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
team in long distance running and the hardball
Hardball
Hardball or hard ball may refer to:in computers* Hardball, a computer game made for the Palm OS and similar to Breakout* Hardball! , a series of computer games about baseballin film...
baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
team in Grades 9 and 10. He graduated with his younger brother James from Milton High School in 1959. Some of his criminal associates mispronounced his last name as "Marterannos". He later attended Boston College Law School
Boston College Law School
Boston College Law School is one of the six professional graduate schools at Boston College. Located approximately 1.5 miles from the main Boston College campus in Chestnut Hill, Boston College Law School is situated on a wooded campus in Newton, Massachusetts.With approximately 800 students and...
and studied pre-law and played on the Boston College Eagles
Boston College Eagles
The Boston College Eagles are the athletic teams representing Boston College. They compete in NCAA Division I as members of the Atlantic Coast Conference. The men's and women's ice hockey teams compete in Hockey East. The women's crew team competes in the Eastern Association of Women's Rowing...
football team as a running back
Running back
A running back is a gridiron football position, who is typically lined up in the offensive backfield. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback for a rushing play, to catch passes from out of the backfield, and to block.There are usually one or two running...
for a short time. While at college he was trained under coach Ernie Hefferle
Ernie Hefferle
-External links:...
. John Martorano was enrolled attended one of his law classes with future FBI agent and criminal associate John Connolly
John Connolly (FBI)
John J. Connolly, Jr. is a former FBI agent, who was convicted of racketeering and obstruction of justice convictions stemming from his relationship with James J. "Whitey" Bulger, Steve Flemmi, and the Winter Hill Gang...
who would later go on to receive his criminal law degree from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
.
After becoming a mob turncoat, Martorano agreed to have his friend Bradley interview him on 60 Minutes, but Bradley died before this could occur. Steve Kroft
Steve Kroft
Steve Kroft is an American journalist and a longtime correspondent for 60 Minutes. His investigative reporting has garnered him much acclaim, including three Peabody Awards and nine Emmy awards, one of which was an Emmy for Lifetime Achievement.-Early life:Born on August 22, 1945 in Kokomo,...
interviewed Martorano in Ed Bradley's place shortly after Bradley's death. He is the ex-husband of Irish-American Carolyn Wood with whom he fathered a son he named after himself, John Martorano Jr. and a daughter Jeannie that bore him one grand daughter. Carolyn divorced him in 1975. In October 1999 after making his deal to turn state's evidence for the government his ex-wife Carolyn told a federal judge to force him to pay her more than $200,000 in alimony. Although by many criminologists and investigators his friends James Bulger and Stephen Flemmi are considered to be serial killer
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
s, John told Ed Bradley, "I might be a vigilante, but not a serial killer. Serial killers, you have to stop them. They'll never stop. And they enjoy it. I never enjoyed it. I don't enjoy risking my life but if the cause was right I would." Ralph DeMasi, convicted and incarcerated Boston mobster in White Deer, Pennsylvania would later write to the courts that when he was with fellow Irish mobster William (Billy) O'Brien in 1964, driving down Morrissey Boulevard that it was Martorano, who DeMasi who pulled up in a car alongside them and gunned down O'Brien, shooting him seventeen times with a machine gun and wounding DeMasi. In a letter he would write about the events that almost led to his death, "I thought someone was taking target practice at us. It was my good friend John Martorano."
Criminal career
After graduating from high school, John had turned down seven football scholarships and instead stayed in Boston. Hanging out in the Combat ZoneCombat Zone (Boston)
The "Combat Zone", in Boston, Massachusetts, was the name given to the adult entertainment district in downtown centered on Washington Street between Boylston Street and Kneeland Street. It extended up Stuart Street to Park Square...
, Martorano fell under the guidance of Stephen Flemmi
Stephen Flemmi
Stephen Joseph "The Rifleman" Flemmi is an Italian-American mobster and close associate of Winter Hill Gang boss James J. Bulger. Beginning in 1965, Flemmi was a top echelon informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation...
, and by the age of twenty-five had become a professional mobster. He committed his first murder at 24 years old when he allegedly murdered Patriarca crime family made man
Made man
A made man, also known as a Mafioso , made guy, man of honor, or uomo d'onore , is someone who has been officially inducted into the Sicilian or American Mafia . They may also be referred to by some as a goodfella or wiseguy...
Robert S. Palladino who was going to testify a case involving the murder of prostitute Barbara Sylvester that had been murdered in his restaurant.
John rapidly became one of the Winter Hill Gang's most prolific enforcers. In January 1968, after an African-American beat up Flemmi in an after-hours saloon, Martorano tracked the man to a car on Normandy Street in Dorchester. As it happened, the man was accompanied by a nineteen-year-old girl and a seventeen-year-old boy. John walked up to the car and killed all three occupants with his .38-caliber snub nose revolver. As a result of this, Martorano was facetiously called "Sickle Cell Anemia" by his fellow gangsters.
John Martorano, despite being on the run for sixteen years, took a shot at bail, but he and his lawyer, Martin Weinberg, were pushing a weak hand. He gave his trial judge several letters from other parents in Boca Raton, Florida
Boca Raton, Florida
Boca Raton is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, USA, incorporated in May 1925. In the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 74,764; the 2006 population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau was 86,396. However, the majority of the people under the postal address of Boca Raton, about...
commending Martorano's apparent devotion to his son John Martorano Jr. and Martorano's daughter Jean, who was pregnant at the time pledged the $30,000 equity she had in her home in Plymouth, Massachusetts as security for his bail. During the last sixteen years as a fugitive he was living off his illicit bookmaking operation. His in-laws agreed to post $260,000, while a friend of his wife Patricia, meanwhile agreed to put up another $200,000. Arrested in 1995, Martorano agreed to a plea bargain
Plea bargain
A plea bargain is an agreement in a criminal case whereby the prosecutor offers the defendant the opportunity to plead guilty, usually to a lesser charge or to the original criminal charge with a recommendation of a lighter than the maximum sentence.A plea bargain allows criminal defendants to...
deal in 1999. In return for confessing his murders, Martorano received a reduced prison sentence of 14 years. In 2007, he was released from prison and given $20,000 to start a new life. On January 15, 2008, Martorano appeared on the CBS News television program 60 Minutes
60 Minutes
60 Minutes is an American television news magazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation....
. During the interview, Martorano expressed remorse
Remorse
Remorse is an emotional expression of personal regret felt by a person after he or she has committed an act which they deem to be shameful, hurtful, or violent. Remorse is closely allied to guilt and self-directed resentment...
for killing Elizabeth Dickson, the girl in the car in Dorchester.
Murder victims of John Martorano
- Alfred Angeli
- John Banno
- Douglas Barrett
- John CallahanJohn CallahanJohn Callahan is an American actor, best known for his work as Edmund Grey on the soap opera All My Children. He was born in Brooklyn, New York....
- Richard CastucciRichard CastucciRichard J. Castucci was an Italian-American member of the Boston Winter Hill Gang who owned several strip clubs and was involved in illegal gambling...
- Elizabeth Dickson
- Ronald Hicks
- John Jackson
- Tommy King
- Michael Milano
- Joseph J. "Indian Joe" Notarangelli
- William O'Brien
- James "Spike" O'Toole
- Robert Palladino
- Albert Plummer
- William O'Brien
- Herbert "Smitty" Smith
- James Sousa
- Anthony VeranisAnthony VeranisAnthony Veranis, also known as "Mickey White" and "Tony" was an associate of the Winter Hill Gang and a professional welterweight boxer.- Early life :...
- Roger Wheeler