A third early-1990s New England mob murder is getting renewed interest as a result of former Patriarca crime family acting underboss and Providence, Rhode Island capo Robert (Bobby the Cigar) DeLuca’s renewed cooperation following his arrest this past summer in the Witness Protection Program, per sources in law enforcement. Whether all three gangland homicides will find their way into future indictments is unknown. At least two most likely will.
Besides shedding new light on the 1993 Stevie DiSarro slaying and the 1992 Kevin Hanrahan hit, DeLuca, 71, has provided fresh intelligence on the 1994 Barry Kourmpates murder which took place in the hours leading up to Mother’s Day and could finally birth homicide charges in the 22-year old cold case, sources say. The 24-year old Kourmpates was robbing people he shouldn’t have been and his charred remains were discovered on the side of a hiking trail in the picturesque Beavertail Park in Jamestown, Rhode Island. An indictment related to Hanrahan’s murder is reportedly in the works.
“Bobby DeLuca is giving us more than ever before,” said one source familiar with DeLuca’s second debriefing (he debriefed in 2011 too). “These guys are always going to hold something back. There’s more to squeeze out of him. He knows that era in the New England underworld as well as anyone, people weren’t getting banged out without him either knowing about it or being directly or indirectly involved.”
Former New England mob don Francis (Cadillac Frank) Salemme was charged and pled not guilty to ordering and being present at DiSarro’s execution in May 1993 earlier this fall. DeLuca acted as Salemme’s second-in-command and representative outside of Boston. Like his former right-hand man, Salemme, 83, was living in the Witness Protection Program when he was arrested.
DeLuca has admitted to taking possession of DiSarro’s body from Salemme and burying it behind a converted mill in Rhode Island. DiSarro and Salemme were partners in a South Boston nightclub and Salemme suspected DiSarro of stealing from the club and working with the federal government in building a case against him.
Kourmpates was a young wannabe wiseguy and thief who angered mafia powers in Providence with he and his crew’s robbing of mob-protected businesses and private residences and refusing to return proceeds from their scores when demanded to by a pair of particularly prickly Patriarca clan lieutenants. One of those lieutenants was recently-deceased ill-tempered Providence capo Anthony (The Saint) St. Laurent. Just 11 days removed from being released from a 10-year prison term for extortion, sports gambling and attempted murder (trying to kill DeLuca), the Saint died of natural causes last week at 75.
St. Laurent had his name surface in the Hanrahan investigation in 2010. Informants told the FBI that Hanrahan, a longtime Patriarca enforcer and reputed hit man, was attempting to shakedown a bookie that belonged to the Saint and the Saint had an intermediary contact Salemme at his home base in Boston to let him know of the situation in the week after Labor Day 1992. St. Laurent, per the informants, collected a $25,000 cash payment in a grocery bag in the 48 hours before Hanrahan was killed on September 18, 1992 leaving a dinner in Providence’s famously mobbed-up Federal Hill neighborhood hosted by a Bobby DeLuca confidant. DeLuca pled guilty to conspiracy charges in the Hanrahan case two weeks ago.
Kourmpates disappeared the night of May 7, 1994. His badly-burned body was found in Beavertail Park, located right outside Providence, late the next afternoon, Mother’s Day, after he didn’t show up at Mother’s Day brunch with his family and was reported missing by his mom. He had been shot in the back of the head and his corpse set ablaze. He was paroled from a year-long prison stint for breaking-and-entering two months prior.
Beavertail Park
According to Rhode Island State Police records, Kourmpates and his two partners in a burglary ring clearing in the high six figures pulling safe-cracking jobs, Mike Raposa and Ray Luca, were summoned to a meeting at the Golden Nugget Pawn Shop in the Olneyville section of Providence in the summer of 1992 and encountered St. Laurent and fellow knuckle-dragging New England mobster Vito (The Ox) DeLuca – no relation to Bobby the Cigar – who proceeded to read the too-gutsy trio of unconnected twentysomething thugs the riot act about robbing connected businesses and neglecting to pay any street tax on their scores. Then-underboss Luigi (Baby Shacks) Manocchio is alleged to have dispatched St. Laurent and DeLuca to handle the issue, per RISP records, after receiving complaints from some of his business associates hit by the robbery spree.
“Ox” DeLuca allegedly pounded a table and physically grabbed Kourmpates by the collar of his shirt for emphasis during the warning session. Kourmpates, Raposa and Luca gave St. Laurent and DeLuca $5,000 in cash on the spot, per a state police document, and promised to deliver more and return portions of the stolen goods and money, but failed to do either. Raposa told authorities he, Kourmpates and Luca would fence their looted merchandise through the Golden Nugget and used it as a de-facto headquarters.
Manocchio, 89, succeeded Salemme as boss of the Patriarca crime family in 1996. He ruled until 2009 and is currently retired living back in Federal Hill following almost five years behind bars via a federal extortion conviction.
At the time of Kourmpates’ slaying, the Ox was away in prison, doing three years for weapons violations. He’s since been deported to Italy. The 73-year old Vito DeLuca and St. Laurent were busted together in 2000 for bookmaking. DeLuca is considered a suspect in the 1982 murder of Providence Goodfella Anthony (Tony the Moron) Mirabella in Olneyville.
The post The Barry Kourmpates ‘Mother’s Day Murder’: Ex-N.E. Wiseguy DeLuca Also Giving Info On 1994 R.I. Gangland Hit appeared first on The Gangster Report.