![]() On December 22, 1931, Frank Wallace and his lieutenant Bernard Walsh, were invited by Joe Lombardo, Buccola’s underboss, to a meeting to discuss the various mob activities and how they could ease rivalries. He was probably the preeminent gangster of Boston. In 1929, Solomon became one of the “Big Seven”, a precursor to the Murder, Inc. He was defended by the famous Grenville MacFarlane, who was a drug abuse crusader, and probably much richer than before the trial. Unfortunately, in 1922, Solomon was tried on narcotics charges, but acquitted. He had extensive contacts in Canada, New York and Chicago. They owned a number of speakeasies including the famous Cocoanut Grove, by 1927, in downtown Boston. An older brother, Samuel, had a bar which they kept supplied.Ī young Russian immigrant, Charles Solomon, was controlling the majority of illegal gambling and narcotics sales by the start of the Prohibition, when he expanded his holdings into bootlegging, himself, with partner Dan Carroll. They even impersonated government officials to confiscate alcohol from other rumrunners and sold that, too. The Wallace brothers bought boats so that they could go out into international waters to get the well-selling alcohol. ![]() Meanwhile, the Gustin Gang expanded their money-making schemes, adding larceny, trespassing, gaming, assault and battery to the bootlegging that the Prohibition had created. Filippo Buccola became the Mob boss and Messina became temporary capo in the first few years of the new decade. Messina stepped down as Mafia boss and worked with Frank Cucchiara and Paolo Pagnotta throughout New England. The 1920s and early 30s saw a power struggle in Boston, with rival gangs fighting for their piece of the businesses of loan sharking, illegal gambling, bootlegging. They were soon active in Providence, Maine and Connecticut. They specialized in bootlegging and gambling. ![]() Not too far away, in Providence, Frank Morelli got a group together the next year. Meanwhile, in the Italian North End, Gaspare Messina started a group of men bent on crime in 1916. As they grew, the brothers took on a younger brother, Jim, and a few friends. They renamed themselves the Gustin Gang, after a street in Dorchester, a predominantly Irish section. Apparently, that worked well enough that they added armed robbery to their collection of crimes soon enough. These kids started by looting and hijacking trucks that were stopped at street intersections. The first appearance of criminal mobs in Boston seems to be in the mid-1910s when brothers Frank and Steve Wallace formed a group calling themselves tailboard thieves. Here is the backstory of Boston mob action up until the late 1930s. The only surprise was that the two became involved. And the sisters were familiar with the newspaper reporting. Why? Because there had been mob crime since before they were born. Whatever way it is seen, the sisters were not surprised. Sometimes it has been subtle and sometimes it has been obvious. In the current Hadley Sisters Mystery series, which takes place in the late 1930s, the sisters have run into organized crime in every book.
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