Silas Jayne

popular name: Gennaro Angiulo

date_of_death: August 29, 2009

age: 90

cause_of_death: Kidney failure

claim_to_fame: Crime and their Victims

best_know_for: Gennaro J. “Jay” Angiulo was an American mobster who rose to the position of underboss in the Patriarca crime family of New England under Raymond L. S. Patriarca. He and his brothers oversaw the Boston, Massachusetts faction of the Patriarca family from 1963 to 1986. Angiulo rose from humble beginnings to become a key player in the Mafia, overseeing racketeering, gambling, loansharking, murder and other illicit operations in the region. His influence peaked in the 1960s and '70s, but his criminal empire began to crumble in the 1980s when the FBI, aided by informants like Whitey Bulger, planted listening devices in his headquarters. These recordings led to his 1986 conviction on racketeering and other charges, resulting in a lengthy prison sentence. After serving 17 years, Angiulo was released in 2007 due to health issues. He died on August 29, 2009, at the age of 90, and is considered the last significant Mafia boss in Boston’s history. You can visit grave of mobster Gennaro Angiulo at Holy Cross Cemetery in Malden, Massachusetts.

popular name: Joe Arridy

date_of_death: January 6, 1939

age: 23

cause_of_death: Execution - gas chamber

claim_to_fame: Crime and their Victims

best_know_for: In August of 1936 Joe Arridy was arrested for vagrancy and shortly after confessed to the rape and brutal murder of Dorothy Drain, a 15-year-old girl in Pueblo, Colorado. Only problem was that Joe Arridy had an I.Q. of 46 and the understanding of a 6-year-old child. Unfortunately that did not matter to the arresting sheriff, the prosecutor or the judge who sentenced Arridy to death in the gas chamber. Despite the exhaustive work his attorney did along with a host of professionals to halt this travesty of "justice" Joe Arridy was murdered by the State of Colorado on January 6, 1939. So unaware of his surrounding or his situation, he enjoyed his last meal of ice cream and smiled and joked with the guards as they escorted him to the gas chamber.

popular name: Joseph Colombo

date_of_death: May 22, 1978

age: 54

cause_of_death: Cardiac arrest related to shooting

claim_to_fame: Crime and their Victims

best_know_for: Joseph Colombo Sr. became the boss of the Colombo crime family, one of five families associated with the American Mafia in New York City. Joseph Colombo’s father Anthony was an early member of the Profaci crime family, forerunner of the family that would eventually bear his name. After Anthony Colombo was found strangled to death in a car with his mistress, a young Joe dropped out to of high school to join the U.S. Coast Guard. He was diagnosed with neurosis and discharged from the service and resumed a normal lifestyle with jobs that included ten years as a longshoreman and six years as a meat salesman. Eventually Joe Columbo drifted back into the life of organized crime and Colombo followed his father into the Profaci family becoming an enforcer and quickly promoted to Caporegime. Separate from his crime family, Colombo went on to create the Italian-American Civil Rights League in 1970, hosting the first Italian Unity Day rally in Columbus Circle later that year. On June 28, 1971, Colombo was shot three times at the second annual rally by Jerome A. Johnson. The shooting left Colombo paralyzed and he died seven years later of cardiac arrest. Many members of the Colombo family claim Joe Gallo, mobster of the Profaci crime family, was to blame for the shooting due to his falling out with Colombo.