US Senators give themselves and other very wealthy a double tax break!
“I am personally relieved the unemployment extensions passed but I am disgusted by the Republican driven give-away of the farm! How do we re-build jobs when all our government money is being spent in ways that CBO and recent history has shown destroy our economy?” said Sharron Tetrault whose own unemployment extension and job future rests in the balance. Ms. Tetrault, an unemployed human services worker, led local efforts to reach Congressman Frank.
Local members of the Grace Team, many of them unemployed themselves, spearheaded efforts in Massachusetts over the last few weeks to ensure unemployment extensions while fighting for long-term job and economic growth. That growth will be stunted by tax break for the very wealthy Continue reading Local activists celebrate unemployment extensions – decry huge expenditures that will hurt economy →
From Frank Iaconi to Carlo Mastrototaro, organized gambling was the mainstay of the Worcester Mafia.
By Steven R. Maher
The January 1950 marriage of Worcester Mafia boss Frank Iaconi’s daughter was spectacular, a scene right out of the Godfather. “The wedding took place in true millionaire fashion in Miami,” the Providence Journal reported. “The reception that followed at the Roney-Plaza Hotel, one of the city’s finest, even made a few not easily excited Miamians stare.” Continue reading The Worcester Mafia and Gambling →
By Steven R. Maher
In these days of the Internet, purchasing pornography can be done with the click of a button in the privacy of one’s home. But thirty years ago, those wanting to indulge such weaknesses furtively sought out places like United Books on Main Street in Worcester, where hard core pornography was sold. And in what had the potential to become a shooting war, three Mafia “families” became embroiled in a bitter dispute over control of the lucrative Worcester smut trade in 1980. Continue reading Three Mafia families quarreled over Worcester porn racket →
By Steven Maher
It was the type of press Worcester Mafia boss Frank Iaconi abhorred.
Iaconi’s picture appeared on page one of the November 5, 1946 Worcester Telegram under a headline, “Three sued for $57,300 as a Result of Horse Bet Losses”. There was also a photograph of Ward 3 councilman Philip F. Sullivan.
Jules Vohlgemuth was a Belgian immigrant who had saved $19,000 from stock market investments and his wages as a diesinker. George Trudell had gotten Vohlgemuth to lend him the money under false pretenses, and then lost it betting on horses in an Iaconi Franklin Street gambling den. Vohlgemuth sued Iaconi, Sullivan, and Irving Zabarsky under a state law that allowed for the recovery of triple damages for gambling losses.
Continue reading Francis J. McGrath versus the Worcester mafia →
by Steven R. Maher
Nicholas D. Braniff of Webster Massachusetts had a dog named Rowdy. One night in February 1938 Rowdy began living up to his name, barking loudly, furiously and incessantly. It was the beginning of an incredible chain of events that would destroy the political career of Massachusetts Governor Charles F. Hurley, lead to the impeachment of Governors’ Councilor Daniel H. Coakley, and spark an internecine Mafia gang war.
Braniff was convinced that Rowdy’s nonstop barking was being provoked by burglars inside the next door United Optical plant, which manufactured gold eyeglass frames, and where $8,000 in gold was stored. Braniff summoned patrolman Armand Tourangeau, and headquarters was contacted for reinforcements.
Continue reading Worcester mafia boss Frank Iaconi’s war with the Providence mob →
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