Ernesto Miranda

popular name: Raymond Patriarca

date_of_death: July 11, 1984

age: 76

cause_of_death: Heart attack

claim_to_fame: Crime and their Victims

best_know_for: Raymond Patriarca was an American mobster from Providence, Rhode Island, who became the long-time boss of the Patriarca crime family, whose control extended throughout New England for more than three decades. Even at an early age, Patriarca was charged with hijacking, armed robbery, assault, safecracking, and auto theft. He was indicted as an accessory to murder before Prohibition's end in 1933. During the 1940s, Patriarca continued to rise in power. In 1950, mobster Philip Buccola fled the country to avoid prosecution for tax evasion, and Patriarca took control of his criminal operations. Throughout the notoriety of the last half of his life, Mr. Patriarca insisted he was a legitimate businessman who operated the National Cigarette Service, a vending machine business, in the Federal Hill section of Providence. But law-enforcement officials contended that Mr. Patriarca controlled a web of illicit activities that spread across New England, including loan sharking, numbers lotteries, trafficking in marijuana and cocaine and, for a time, jukebox vending rackets and the smuggling of immigrants. Make no mistake, Patriarca 30-year reign was brutal and violent with the mob boss arrested more than 30 times on charges ranging from bootlegging to conspiracy to murder, and served several prison sentences. The last was a six-year term at the Federal penitentiary in Atlanta stemming from his 1968 conviction for conspiracy in the slayings of Rudy Marfeo and Anthony Melei at Pannone’s Market in Providence, Rhode Island on April 20, 1968.

popular name: James McLean

date_of_death: October 31, 1965

age: 35

cause_of_death: Gunshot wounds

claim_to_fame: Crime and their Victims

best_know_for: James "Buddy" McLean was a feared and respected Irish-American mobster from Somerville, Massachusetts, best known as the original leader of the Winter Hill Gang. Born in 1930, McLean rose through the ranks of Boston's underworld in the 1950s and early 1960s, earning a reputation as a tough street fighter and savvy criminal strategist. Under his leadership, the Winter Hill Gang became a dominant force in Boston’s organized crime scene, engaging in activities like bookmaking, loan sharking, and extortion. His criminal career reached a turning point when he became involved in a deadly turf war with the rival McLaughlin Brothers gang from Charlestown, igniting the Irish Gang War—a brutal series of killings that gripped Boston’s underworld. On October 30, 1965, McLean was gunned down outside a Somerville bar by a McLaughlin associate, Stevie Hughes, marking a pivotal moment in the gang war. His death further escalated the violence, but it also solidified his status as a legendary figure in Boston mob history. After his murder, Howie Winter took over the Winter Hill Gang, continuing the legacy McLean had started. His funeral attracted over 4,000 mourners and James McLean's final resting place can be found at Holy Cross Cemetery in Malden, Massachusetts.

popular name: Charles Stuart

date_of_death: January 4, 1990

age: 30

cause_of_death: Suicide by drowning

claim_to_fame: Crime and their Victims

best_know_for: “My wife’s been shot! I’ve been shot!” screamed Charles "Chuck" Stuart into his cell phone as he drove through the Mission Hill area of Boston. Paramedics responding to the call for help found that both Charles and his wife had been shot. Chuck initially pinned the blame on a robbery by a black male, however his story began to unravel and authorities soon realized that he shot his wife in the head and then shot himself in the stomach. Facing two counts of 1st degree murder, Charles Stuart drove to the Tobin Bridge over the Mystic River, and jumped to his death.