ITEM FILE PHOTO
Pictured is the Caruana home at 3 Jayne Circle in Peabody. Note the surveillance camera mounted over the garage.
By LEAH DEARBORN
PEABODY — It’s been three decades since a massive raid on notorious drug smuggler Salvatore M. “Sonny” Caruana’s West Peabody compound took place.
On Feb. 6, a team of law enforcement officers seized three houses and a tennis court that made up Caruana’s compound on Jayne Circle, leading to the discovery of dozens of weapons and a labyrinth of secret passageways.
Caruana, who wasn’t home at the time of the raid, had been previously indicted for smuggling over 77 tons of marijuana valued at $173 million, according to The Item’s coverage in 1987.
Each of the homes were equipped with remote-controlled video cameras on their roofs that connected to a central monitoring station in Caruana’s private residence at 3 Jayne Circle, said The Item.
The raid on the main residence unearthed oddities like a trick bookcase that led to a walk-in compartment. A hidden vault in the basement was protected by tear gas bombs and concealed yet another smaller vault inside its walls.
“You don’t forget those things,” said retired state trooper Arthur Bourque, who gave Caruana a short ride on the hood of his car decades ago, before the February raid took place.
Bourque, a Lynnfield resident, said it was a quiet Sunday afternoon when he and fellow trooper Richard Fraelich were confronted by a hostile Caruana and his dog while making their rounds in the neighborhood.
When the troopers tried to leave the scene, the dog jumped onto Fraelich’s lap. Bourque said Caruana himself got up on the hood of the vehicle and remained there for a short time as the two officers drove slowly down Winona Street.
Caruana would later file a complaint regarding the incident that was dismissed in Peabody District Court. The episode wasn’t the first of its kind; Caruana was convicted for sicking two dogs on FBI agents attempting to serve a subpoena in 1979.
“Everyone who lived on the street were his goons, his followers,” said Bourque, who had moved to a different unit by the time the raid took place. “He had a pretty substantial criminal operation.”
Remarks made by former mob underboss William “The Wild Guy” Grasso suggested that Caruana may have been one of the victims later found under the floor of a Connecticut garage, according to a Hartford Courant article from 1991.
Bourque said he’s unsure whether to subscribe to that theory, since no identifiable body was found and Caruana may have wanted law enforcement to believe that he died.
“I think there’s possibility he’s still alive,” said Bourque.
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Leah Dearborn can be reached [email protected].
