The unsolved 1994 New England mob murder of burglar Barry Kourmpates can be traced back to the stealing of a list of safe-installations job orders and accompanying combinations two years earlier, according to Rhode Island State Police records and the excellent reporting of the Providence Journal newspaper in the months after Kourmpates, 23, popped up dead at an ocean-side park in suburban Providence on Mother’s Day. Kourmpates’ slaying is getting a new looksee by the FBI in the wake of former Patriarca crime family acting underboss and one-time Providence caporegime Robert (Bobby the Cigar) DeLuca getting arrested back in the summer living in the Witness Protection Program and reconvening his cooperation, per sources in law enforcement.
As a result of DeLuca spilling more secrets, former New England mafia boss Francis (Cadillac Frank) Salemme has already been indicted for the 1993 murder of mob associate Steve DiSarro and, according to sources, a future indictment charging the 1992 gangland execution of mob enforcer Kevin Hanrahan will be dropping soon. Bobby the Cigar has pled guilty to playing a role in both killings, copping to a murder conspiracy count two weeks ago in the Hanrahan hit and admitting he was in charge of burying DiSarro’s body.
Per sources, he’s also talking about what he knows regarding the rubout of Kourmpates, who drew the ire of the Patriarca’s Providence wing when he and two of his thief buddies began ripping off mob-backed businesses and mob-tied personal residences in the early 1990s and rebuffed requests for the return of certain stolen property and the forking over of a monthly tribute to the New England mob.
Kourmpates grew up outside Providence in Cranston, Rhode Island, graduating from Cranston East High School in 1988. It didn’t take long for Kourmpates to gravitate to a life of crime. He was busted for breaking-and-entering before his 21st birthday and got probation instead of jail time.
By the end of 1991, Kourmpates was part of a crew of cat burglars with Mike Raposa and Ray Luca that hung around the Golden Nugget Pawn Shop in Providence’s downtrodden Olneyville neighborhood. Although they were all Portuguese, the three twentysomething gangsters idolized and emulated the area’s Italian mobsters who ran the local underworld, frequently shopping, dining and socializing at Providence mafia hotspots.
In January 1992, Raposa staged a break-in of a van, a smash-and-grab job, in the parking lot of the Golden Nugget, stealing a safe-installer’s work-order list which included addresses and combination codes for dozens of companies and homes in and around Providence out of his vehicle, per state police records. Over the next year, Raposa, Kourmpates and Luca pulled more than 50 robberies, grabbing loads of precious jewelry, furs, weapons and hundreds of thousands of dollars of cold cash. Despite their collective admiration for the mafia, they didn’t cut the boys in the Patriarca clan in for a piece of the action to insure their protection and didn’t have qualms targeting businesses and houses linked to the same mobsters they tried acting like.
Called on the carpet to account for their actions at an August 1992 sit down with ornery Providence mob lieutenants Anthony (The Saint) St. Laurent and Vito (The Ox) DeLuca held at the Golden Nugget, per state police records, they agreed to give back portions of the stolen merchandise and begin paying a street tax on their scores. However, they never returned a thing and after an initial $5,000 was handed over, they didn’t deliver any more tribute envelopes.
The whole operation came to a screeching halt on Dec 3, 1992 when Raposa was pulled over in his Mercedes in a routine traffic stop by police in Warwick, Rhode Island and a search of the car uncovered a set of burglary tools, a ski mask, and a list of victims and potential victims on a computer spread sheet that had been printed out. Raposa began cooperating immediately and gave up Kourmpates and Luca.
Kourmpates pled no contest to the charges in October 1993 and was sentenced to a year behind bars. He was paroled March 23, 1994. Less than two months later, he was dead. Kourmpates’ heavily-charred remains were found on the side of a hiking trail at Beavertail Park in Jamestown, Rhode Island on Mother’s Day, May 8, 1994.
St. Laurent died of natural causes last week at 75 after getting released from a decade stint in prison in late October. The Saint and Bobby DeLuca were arch enemies. Three FBI informants received offers from Bobby the Cigar to murder St. Laurent, also allegedly involved in the Kevin Hanrahan hit conspiracy. The 73-year old Vito DeLuca (no relation to Bobby DeLuca) was incarcerated at the time of the Kourmpates slaying on an illegal gun-possession charge and was deported to Italy in the 2000s following his conviction in a bookmaking case alongside St. Laurent.
The post List Of Safe Combos Led To Riches, Rep & Eventually Death For Rhode Island Thief Who Crossed The Mob appeared first on The Gangster Report.