Animal by Casey Sherman Read Free Book Online Page A

from the tight, crowded streets of Boston’s North End to Federal Hill in Providence.
    From the early 1930s through the late 1950s, the rackets in New England were controlled by two men, Felippo “Phil” Buccola and his second in command, Joe Lombardo. The pair had killed their way to the top on a brisk December day in 1931 when Lombardo lured the boss of the powerful Gustin Gang to the third floor office of his importing business on Hanover Street in Boston’s North End. The Gustin Gang, which took its name from a street just a block long in the heart of their own territory in South Boston, was led by the Wallace brothers—Steve, Jimmy, and Frank. The mob had formed just before World War I and, like any gang, its members started small, targeting delivery trucks at city intersections. By handing down a serious beating to the driver, or simply by the mere threat of one, the Wallace brothers had terrorized South Boston and then spread fear to other city neighborhoods. Known originally to police as theTailboard Thieves, the Gustin Gang grew and diversified during Prohibition to the point that they controlled much of the illegal booze coming into New England. What shipments they didn’t control became theirs through other means. Armed with fake badges of the kind used by government agents, the Gustin Gang confiscated cases of liquor from rival bootleggers and then sold them through their distribution network in Southie.
    The Wallace brothers had far-reaching political influence in the city, making the Gustin Gang the most powerful in all of Boston, which is why they were shocked and angry to learn that the Italian upstarts wanted in on their business. The Gustin Gang owned and operated more rum running boats than most of their rivals combined. Their vessels would steam out of Boston Harbor several times a week to rendezvous with liquor ships stationed three miles offshore in international waters. The bootleggers would stock up along “Rum Row” and head back to Boston, where eager patrons were happy to plunk down twenty-five cents for a watered-down beer that would have cost only a nickel before Prohibition.
    At first, Joe Lombardo offered a compromise. He sent word that the Mafia was willing to divide territories along Boston’s waterfront with the Gustin Gang. This was a bold request, since the Italians had no real power to leverage in the city. The Wallace brothers thought so, too. Negotiations got heated and threats were exchanged until, finally, Frankie Wallace was invited to a meeting in an effort to clear the air. Wallace quickly accepted the offer and planned to tell the Italians exactly where they could stick their deal. The first tactical error made by the Irish mob boss was to agree to a meeting at his enemy’s headquarters. Wallace arrogantly thought that his political power would protect him against assassination in his own backyard. Who would dare make a run at the Gustin Gang, knowing all the cops they had in their back pocket? To attempt such a move would be to write your own death warrant.
    Still, Wallace traveled to the meeting with two bodyguards, fellow Gustin members Barney Walsh and Timothy Coffey. The second tactical error was made when Wallace failed to position a lookout outside the meeting place. Had he done so, the lookout might have noticed seven rough looking Mafiosi entering the building in the hour or so leading up to the sit-down. Instead, Wallace and his bodyguards marched confidently intothe Testa Building on Hanover Street and quickly climbed three flights of stairs to the office of C and F Importing, which was owned by Lombardo. With Christmas just three days away, the mood inside the building had been festive up to that point. On the floor above C and F, a group of veterans of the Great War were busy stocking Christmas baskets for neighborhood children. The holiday cheer was interrupted by loud pounding on Lombardo’s office door. His men responded by unleashing a barrage of gunfire