Nicholas "Nicky" Bianco (March 21, 1932 – November 14, 1994) was an American

mobster A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from ''mob'' and the suffix '' -ster''. Gangs provide a level of organization and ...

who became an influential member of the

Patriarca crime family The Patriarca crime family (, ), also known as the New England Mafia, the Boston Mafia, the Providence Mafia, or The Office is an Italian-American American Mafia, Mafia crime family, family in New England. It has two distinct factions, one based ...

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

Biography

Bianco was born and raised in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...

. In later years, he lived with his wife and children in

Barrington, Rhode Island Barrington is a suburban, residential town in Bristol County, Rhode Island located approximately southeast of Providence. It was founded by Congregationalist separatists from Swansea, Massachusetts and incorporated in 1717. Barrington was ceded ...

. He sent his children to private schools and one of his sons later became a lawyer. As a young man, Bianco moved to

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

to work for the

Colombo crime family The Colombo crime family (, ) is an Italian American Mafia crime family and is the youngest of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City within the criminal organization known as the American Mafia. It was du ...

. In the early 1960s, the Colombo family was being torn apart by an internal war between boss

Joseph Magliocco Joseph Magliocco (born Giuseppe Magliocco; ; June 29, 1898 – December 28, 1963), also known as "Joe Malayak" and "Joe Evil Eye", was an Italian-born New York mobster and the boss of the Profaci crime family (later to become the Colombo cri ...

and soldier

Joe Gallo Joseph Gallo (April 7, 1929 – April 7, 1972), also known as "Crazy Joe", was an Italian-American mobster and Caporegime of the Colombo crime family of New York City. In his youth, Gallo was diagnosed with schizophrenia after an arrest. He so ...

. In 1963, Bianco asked Patriarca boss Raymond L.S. Patriarca if Patriarca could serve as mediator between the two factions. Patriarca agreed and also inducted Bianco, then just a Colombo associate, as a

made man In the American and Sicilian Mafia, a made man is a fully initiated member of the Mafia. To become "made", an associate first must be Italian or of Italian descent and sponsored by another made man. An inductee will be required to take the oat ...

in the Patriarca family. Bianco continued to serve as a liaison to the Colombos. In 1982, Bianco allegedly participated in the murder of Anthony Mirabella. A Patriarca associate, Mirabella had incurred disfavor with the family because he was hard to control. Mirabella was shot to death in a Providence restaurant. In July 1984, the Patriarca family entered a period of instability with the death of boss Raymond L.S. Patriarca. After a period of jockeying, his son

Raymond Patriarca, Jr. Raymond Joseph Patriarca (; born February 24, 1945), known as Raymond Patriarca Jr., is an American former gangster from Providence, Rhode Island, son of mob boss Raymond L. S. Patriarca, after whom the Patriarca crime family was named. The crime ...

became the new official boss. However, the younger Patriarca was not a strong boss; the family would be controlled over the next few years by a succession of powerful underbosses, including William "Wild Guy" Grasso. It also signaled a growing rivalry between the Patriarca mobsters in Boston, Massachusetts, and the family leadership in Providence, as well as friction with mobsters in

Springfield Springfield may refer to: * Springfield (toponym), the place name in general Places and locations Australia * Springfield, New South Wales (Central Coast) * Springfield, New South Wales (Snowy Monaro Regional Council) * Springfield, Queenslan ...

and

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engla ...

. In 1985, Bianco was indicted on charges of conspiracy and aiding and abetting in the 1982 Mirabella murder. However, soon after the trial began, the judge dismissed all charges against Bianco due to lack of evidence.

Boss

On 16 June 1989, underboss "Wild Guy" Grasso was murdered by members of the Springfield faction during a power struggle between Providence and Boston, which wanted more control over the family. The death of Grasso undermined Raymond Patriarca, Junior and Bianco essentially took control of the Providence-based family operations. Junior would be tried in 1991 for the murderer of Grasso. By 1990, Bianco would be ''de facto'' boss of the family, superseding Junior. In 1989, Junior attended a Patriarca ceremony in a

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

house in which four mob associates were admitted to the family. Unknown to the participants, the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...

(FBI) had placed

electronic surveillance Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as c ...

devices in the room. Junior's presence at this ceremony served as evidence that he was a member of the family in an upcoming indictment. In March 1990, Bianco and other top Patriarca family members were indicted on charges of conspiracy to murder, loan sharking, illegal gambling, wire fraud and interstate travel in aid of racketeering.'FBI ''drives stake'' into heart of Patriarca crime family'
The Laborers UPI 1990 With the aid of government witness John Castagna, Bianco was convicted on August 8, 1991, of two counts of

racketeering Racketeering is a type of organized crime in which the perpetrators set up a coercive, fraudulent, extortionary, or otherwise illegal coordinated scheme or operation (a "racket") to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit. Originally and of ...

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...

. On November 25, 1991, Bianco was sentenced to 11 and half years in federal prison. On November 16, 1994, Nicholas Bianco died of

amyotrophic lateral sclerosis Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or Lou Gehrig's disease, is a neurodegenerative disease that results in the progressive loss of motor neurons that control voluntary muscles. ALS is the most comm ...

(ALS), otherwise known as Lou Gehrig's disease at the Federal Medical Center (FMC) in

Springfield, Missouri Springfield is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Greene County. The city's population was 169,176 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Springfield metropolitan area, which had an estimat ...

Biography

Boss

References

Further reading