BOSTON (WHDH) - Ex-Mafia member Joe DeLuca completed his testimony Thursday in the murder trial for former New England Mafia boss Francis “Cadillac Frank” Salemme. Defense attorneys tried to whittle away at DeLuca’s credibility following shocking testimony Wednesday.
RELATED: Ex-mobster testifies about dumping body of Boston murder victim
DeLuca described the night he supervised the Providence burial of real estate developer and nightclub manager Steven Disarro, who prosecutors say was strangled to death at Salemme’s Sharon home in 1993.
Salemme is charged with murdering a federal witness.
A retired FBI agent told jurors in late 1991 that he followed Salemme to the Logan Airport Hilton and agents secretly recorded his conversation with a mobster from Las Vegas.
The jury will hear the tape Friday morning. On the tape, the agent says Salemme brags about buying a rock-and-roll nightclub called The Channel.
Disarro – a father of five from Westwood – was the club’s manager and was eventually eliminated because the mob feared he was a rat.
In a transcript of another FBI wiretap from 1990, Salemme declared:
“We already paid the money and everything. We own 66 and a third percent of the business – of the corporation. I’m the one who gets all of the money.”
Salemme adds: “It’s famous. A rock-and-roll joint. Like really heavy. You know, it’s sickening but I mean, it’s a money maker.”
Roland Wheeler, Disarro’s half-brother, is listed on paper as one of the owners of the club. He is expected to testify in the trial.
Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi, Whitey Bulger’s partner in crime, is also expected to testify.
(Copyright (c) 2024 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)