Ex-mob chief Angiulo seriously ill in Lynn hospital

LYNN – Once known as the godfather of organized crime in metropolitan Boston, 90-year-old Gennaro “Jerry” Angiulo is reportedly languishing from kidney failure in Union Hospital.Angiulo, released from federal prison in 2007, has undergone kidney dialysis two or three times weekly in his Vernon Street home in Nahant but his medical condition has since deteriorated, according to published reports.In 1986, Angiulo was convicted in U.S. District Court in Boston under the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), which lumped in loansharking, murder and illegal gaming charges. The underboss was sentenced to 45 years imprisonment but was paroled for good behavior in 2007.Based on information presented at Angiulo’s trial and subsequent events, the racketeering conviction hinged on the FBI’s electronic bugging of the mobster’s headquarters at 98 Prince St. in Boston’s North End. It was later unveiled that the FBI had help from two South Boston underworld figures ? James “Whitey” Bulger and Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi, rivals who supposedly were also key government informants.Bulger, whose whereabouts are unknown, is the brother of former state Senate President William Bulger. Flemmi is often credited with assassinating notorious Mafia hitman Joe Barboza, formerly of Swampscott.The hospital, citing privacy laws, could not confirm whether Angiulo is a patient in the intensive-care ward.Angiulo rose to prominence in La Cosa Nostra in the early 1960s with a sports betting operation. He eventually became the underboss of the mob’s Boston operations, answering to the big boss, Raymond Patriarca in Providence, R.I.Over the years, the underboss kept his brothers Donato, Franceso and Mikey by his side as advisors, along with Sammy Granito of Revere. The late Larry Zannino of Swampscott served as his consigliere or counsel.