Timothy O'Bryan

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: 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.

popular name: Clyde Barrow

date_of_death: May 23, 1934

age: 25

cause_of_death: Gunshot wounds

claim_to_fame: Crime and their Victims

best_know_for: Clyde Barrow was part of the infamous criminal couple 'Bonnie and Clyde'. Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker were known for their bank robberies that captured the attention of the American press and public during the "public enemy era" between 1931 and 1934. Although Bonnie and Clyde are often glamorized, they are believed to have murdered at least nine police officers and four civilians. They were killed in May 1934 during an ambush by police near Gibsland, Louisiana.