William "Wild Guy" Grasso was an Italian-American mobster from

East Haven, Connecticut East Haven is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 27,923. Located east of New Haven, it is part of the Greater New Haven area. East Haven is from Hartford, from New Yor ...

who rose to the position of underboss in 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 ...

, also known as the New England crime family, the Providence crime family or the Boston crime family. The Patriarca family is a

Mafia "Mafia" is an informal term that is used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the original “Mafia”, the Sicilian Mafia and Italian Mafia. The central activity of such an organization would be the arbitration of d ...

crime family A crime family is a unit of an organized crime syndicate, particularly in Italian organized crime and especially in the Sicilian Mafia and Italian American Mafia, often operating within a specific geographic territory or a specific set of activ ...

based in

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 (state), New York to the west and by the Can ...

. Succeeding his father Raymond L.S. Patriarca as boss after his father's death in 1984, Raymond junior was considered a weak leader. He managed to keep the peace in his crime family due to the support of the Gambino crime family of New York. In 1987 when Junior's original underboss Ilario "Larry Baione" Maria Antonio Zannino was sentenced to thirty years in prison thus weakening Junior's position, with Zannino incarcerated, Grasso became underboss. Law enforcement officials believed that Grasso who was known for his ruthlessness was actually in charge, but these rumors ended when Grasso was killed on June 13, 1989. With the death of Grasso, Raymond Patriarca, Jr.'s position as boss was further weakened and in 1990, was superseded by

Nicholas Bianco Nicholas "Nicky" Bianco (March 21, 1932 – November 14, 1994) was an American mobster who became an influential member of the Patriarca crime family of New England. Biography Bianco was born and raised in Providence, Rhode Island. In later y ...

, the acting underboss after Grasso's death. In 1991, Bianco was one of the defendants tried for the murder of Grasso. Restaurateur Gaetano Milano of

East Longmeadow, Massachusetts East Longmeadow is a town in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States situated in the Pioneer Valley region of Western Massachusetts. It had a population of 16,430 at the 2020 census. East Longmeadow is southeast of downtown Springfield, pa ...

, a suburb of Springfield, was charged with the murder of Grasso. "Wild Guy" reportedly was murdered as the two were traveling on

Interstate 91 Interstate 91 (I-91) is an Interstate Highway in the New England region of the United States. It provides the primary north–south thoroughfare in the western part of the region. The Interstate generally follows the course of the Conne ...

to what Grasso believed was a meeting with Carlo Mastrototaro, a

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 ...

gangster, to settle a dispute about

vending machine A vending machine is an automated machine that provides items such as snacks, beverages, cigarettes, and lottery tickets to consumers after cash, a credit card, or other forms of payment are inserted into the machine or otherwise made. The ...

territories in Springfield. Springfield was a fiefdom of the

Genovese crime family The Genovese crime family, () also sometimes referred to as the Westside, is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City and New Jersey as part of the American M ...

, operating with Patriarca family approval. Milano and his confederates Frank Colantoni Jr. and brothers Frank Pugliano and Louis Pugliano were convicted of conspiracy to commit racketeering. Milano was also convicted of murder. During his trial, it was found out he had recently been made a member of the Mafia. He admitted to the murder, claiming it was part of a power struggle between the various factions of the Patriarca family and that it was a case of "kill or be killed" – that if he didn't kill Grasso, "Wild Guy" would have killed him. He was sentenced to 33 years, which was reduced by seven years after appeals during which his attorney argued that

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, ...

informants An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a “snitch”) is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law-enforcement world, where informan ...

, including FBI "Top Echelon" informant

Angelo Mercurio Angelo "Sonny" Mercurio (1936 - December 11, 2006) was an Italian-American mobster and a member of the Patriarca crime family who became an FBI informant and recorded a Cosa Nostra induction ceremony. His act led to the incarceration of family bo ...

, and corrupt investigators had stirred up trouble among New England gangsters, including Milano and Grasso. In 2012, Milano entered a pre-release program as he had been rehabilitated. Louis Pugliano, who had received a

life sentence Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes fo ...

was released in 2006 after serving 15 years. His lawyers secured a resentencing agreement with prosecutors who admitted that Pugliano received ineffective counsel and was hurt by a flawed jury selection process.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grasso, William 1989 deaths American crime bosses American gangsters of Italian descent Patriarca crime family Year of birth missing People from East Haven, Connecticut People murdered in Massachusetts