Obituary: Francesco “Frank” Angiulo of Boston’s North End

31 Replies to “Obituary: Francesco “Frank” Angiulo of Boston’s North End”

1. I READ THE REVIEWS REGARDING THE ANGUILO’S. I DON’T KNOW WHO WROTE THAT THE NO. END IS A SAFER
   PLACE SINCE THESE GUYS AREN’T AROUND ANYMORE, BUT THAT IS FAR FROM BEING THE TRUTH. WE
   HAVE HAD MORE BREAK INS THAN EVER. I AM NOT LOOKING FOR ANYONE TO AGREE WITH ME, I AM JUST
   STATING THE F A C T S. THESE GUYS PROTECTED THE NEIGHBORHOOD & MADE LIFE A LOT
   EASIER FOR THE POLICE DEPT. WHEN THESE GUYS WERE AROUND WE DID NOT HAVE OUR POLICE BEING
   SPIT AT, URINATED ON, CIGARETTE BUTTS & BOTTLES THROWN AT THEM FROM ROOF TOPS FROM
   HANOVER ST. OR ANOTHER STREET. I KNOW THERE ARE STILL PEOPLE IN THE NO. END WHO CAN ATTEST
   TO THIS.

   1. It sure is the end of an ERA!!!!!!!!!
      Feeling safe on the streets of the North End no matter what the time!!!!!
      I worked and grew up in the North End this generation will never know the meaning of feeling safe but I will always be glad I grew up in that atmosphere of safety and pride
      Rest in Peace FRANK
      thank you for keeping the North End a great place to grow up in!!!

      1. Diane…You are so right. I grew up in the North End and we lived on Margaret St around the corner from Anguilo’s. We could come home at night, I don’t care what hour, and alone, and no one would ever bother you. No one ever locked their doors inside or outside.In the summer we’d sit on the door steps for hours etc. Now the news we get from the North End is absolutely crazy, filthy, and more like a jungle of Idiots. This is the NEW generation. I really feel bad for the good people that are still there. When I read about the gassy, and all the dog problems with the mess they leave etc. It’s disgusting.We use to hang around there, play ball etc and now look at it. Imagine if the Anguilo’s came back now, they’d think they were in another world, and they are It’s a dirty, unsafe place, robberies ,sexual attacks and it goes on and on…Too bad …it’s the so called NEW GENERATION!!!

2. “DITTO”…. Marie You never had to look behind you when you came home late at night, and if you did it would be someone you knew. Everything comes to a end, but I wonder sometimes is it for the better? Frankie God Bless you and rest in peace.

3. For anyone that grew up living in the North End, this statement from Marie and Margaret could not be TRUER !!! We don’t expect any one to believe this~~~but it was simply a TRUE FACT !!

   It was time for Frank to join his brothers and be together again~~~may their families have peace in those thoughts !!!

4. I hate to burst anyone’s bubble here, but have we all lost sight of what organized crime has done to every Italian community? Some people you claim made the neighborhood safe on one hand, but on the other hand what was the cost?

   NE families were destroyed by illegal gambling, loan-sharking, and in the later years like the 70’s in the NE the narcotics being sold like they were selling espresso’s.

   Come on all you well meaning people, let’s not delude ourselves that what was once so infested in the NE was good for it because in doing so, we give an inaccurate account of what it’s really like to be an honest Italian who goes to work every day to make an honest living.

   It’s ok to grieve for someone, but to glorify what makes Italians as a whole group ridiculed by non-Italians is misguide devotion. Ask any non-Italian what they know of the Italian people and what is their answer….organized crime.

   As for the comment that “Frank” and his brothers are together again, I don’t think that’s a place I want to go to when it’s my time to depart the planet.

   1. James: I agree. Wholeheartedly.

   2. Hey James, these guy were never convicted of drug dealing. May God rest their souls. Don’t knock the dead, you should be ashamed of yourself. I came from a neighborhood like this. And it was great the way it was!

5. Ever think that the supposed increase in break ins is a result of the drugs that these guys brought in? And somehow I don’t think they “made things easier for the police” – pretty sure even they would disagree with that…

6. JAMES , ANNE, MIKE M. I hate to burst your bubbles, I, along with others that were brought up in the No. End are not saying
   we are dealing with Saints. I witnessed the Boston Police going to these guys to see if they could find out who might
   have committed a crime in the area. The Police never showed up in the No. End the way they do now, and yes,
   we did have drugs & break ins, but not like this. The criminals feared the Anguilos more than the Boston Police,
   unfortunate, but very true. The Anguilos did not shake down hard working people, they respected these people.
   For those that lived by the Gun, unfortunately they Died by the Gun, you know that going in. It was by far safer
   and if Eddie Walsh is still alive, a Boston Detective, he can attest to that. The Anguilos would never have put up
   with our Police being abused by throwing BOTTLES, CIG. BUTTS & URINATING ON THEM. Any murders that might
   have taken place in the Neighborhood were people who caused serious problems to not only gangsters, there were
   pumks terrorizing & shaking down respectable, working people in the neighborhood. You always new what you
   were getting into if you caused a problem in the area. If you want to talk about corruption you can have your pick
   up City Hall & the State House, we don’t know where any of them are coming from. The so-called Gangsters had
   more TRANSPARENCY, SAD, BUT OH SO TRUE.

   1. Thanks Marie for telling it like it really was!!!!!

   2. Ms. Monte:

      Unfortunately, you did grasp the import of what I wrote. Although you state in part that ” I witnessed the Boston Police going to these guys to see if they could find out who might have committed a crime in the area” fails to take into account the symbiotic relationship the police had with residents of the NE at the relevant times you are generally referring to. Simply put, the police were lazy, most of them were in the last years of their careers and were just as happy to ask anyone in the NE “hey, who did what” than to do the hard police work themselves.

      As for your mistaken belief that hard working people were not shook down is simply wishful thinking. It happened many times to many people and I have first hand knowledge of it. You cannot argue with a first hand witness.

      No one was taking about criminal conduct amongst criminals themselves. How they wanted to deal with fellow thugs was their business. But alas Ms. Monte, it was not that cut and dry. The simple historical fact that not just in the NE, but every Italian community from the land of Italy to the shores of America that had a criminal element in it was worse off for them being there.

      Again, historically, organized crime has preyed on it’s own people because coming from the old country everyone spoke the same language and therefore a “wiseguy” could not threaten apple pie Americans, he could only threaten his own kind. That’s not my opinion, but empirical fact.

      As OC figures could only prey upon the weak of the neighborhoods, it was not always living by the gun, die by the gun as you suggest. We all know the saying “you reap what you sow.” Everyone, take off your blinders and have the moral decency to say NEVER AGAIN should any person be subjugated by threats of violence just because they were weak and liked to gamble and there was someone on the corner of Prince St. to lend them money at 10% vig a month. That is not living by the gun, or die by the gun. That’s someone in a superior position taking advantage of a weaker person who was sometimes facing the barrel of a gun or brass knuckles.

      I don’t know what this obit has to do with BOTTLES, GIG. BUTTS & URINATING on the police as you responded. This discourse is about the absolute negative effect that organized crime had on this community, not the betterment of it. There can NEVER be a responsible position that by your estimation was that a little crime in the neighborhood was good for the overall neighborhood. Call it like it is and don’t make excuses for what we all know in our hearts was the greatest tragedy we as Italians ever faced and that is organized crime.

      What you are seeing now is the evolution of life and how different generations get to live the way they want. It has been that way from the dawn of the universe. Nothing stays still, but rather things flow. I prefer to not look through rose colored glasses at the years of organized crime in the NE not as the best years it has seen, but some of the saddest years since the first Italians landed here as a community.

   3. Ms. Monte:

      There is a saying that goes “It’s best to remain silent and let other people think you are a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.”

      You have NO CASE TO REST because what you are indirectly saying in your logic is that if one NE person jumps off the Tobin Bridge every one else in the NE will.

      Don’t you get it? 1 and 1 will always equal 2. You continue to argue for the proposition that a little crime is ok. The times you speak of were times that the Angiulo’s HAD A REASON TO KEEP THE NEIGHBORHOOD SAFE. In keeping it “SAFE” as you protest, their motive was not altruistic, it was not because they were the Knights of the Round Table, IT WAS BECAUSE IN DOING SO IT DID NOT BRING THE POLICE INTO THE NEIGHBORHOOD where they would be under increased visibility by law enforcement so they could continue their criminal enterprise uninterrupted.

      I bet you dollars to donuts you never thought of that. It’s a very sad commentary on life when we as a people fail to recognize in the OVERALL big picture, these people did NOTHING for the NE that did not have a direct financial benefit FIRST to their criminal enterprise.

      I guess when you are in the fire all you feel is the heat. People who have lived in the NE their entire lives have a narrow view of how wonderful other communities are throughout the USA. How nice to live in places where the weather is beautiful all year round, how beautiful not to have to place a cone to reserve a parking space, etc. The NE had it’s time and place in Italian immigrants lives, but that time has long past and as such people need to readjust their perspective of the NE. It’s like the Stockholm Syndrome where people are taken captive and after a while they start to form a bond with their captors. I fear their are still some minimally educated, street wise people left in the NE that continue to suffer from Stockholm Syndrome and have bonded with their captors and can’t see the forest for the trees. Very sad.

      1. Nah, you got it all wrong James. You seem to be angry at these people for some reason! Lol banks give out loans every day, charge interest. Walk in any store and you can play a number! And so on and so on! Yet they lock up Italians for it, then they monopolized it! Haha! Hypocrites! These guys had respect for people, and respect for where they lived. Don’t be so mad at them for allegedly earning money the same way the government does !

7. Reading these “testimonials” of how the Angiulo family kept the NE safe is as absurd as listening to the people of Southie claiming that Whitey Bulger kept the drugs out of south Boston.If you owed a gambling loss, or were late on a loanshark payment the :family” didn’t take you to small claims court.Do any of you remember the murders, shootings,stabbings & beatings that took place in our “safe ” neighborhood? The Angiulo family had the $$$,clout & connections to preserve the NE forever .Instead due to greed they tarnished and stained the reputation of the NE & all Italians by feeding into the stereotype that all Italians were gangsters and wiseguys.If you want to thank people who protected the woman walking the streets of the NE,who patrolled the neighborhood overnight to protect the residents from an arsonist who was burning buildings,the guys/kids who protected the NE when there was a fire by helping carry fire hoses on their shoulders to the fires because the fire trucks could not fit or navigate the tiny streets those are the people to thank.Personally I for one am glad that that”era” is over.

   1. Amen Former N. Ender. You are 100% correct!

      1. James Lisanti, Former N. Ender is NOT 100% correct. Former N.Ender does not have his or her facts right. If you grew up in the North End you should know that.

         1. North Ender:

            Rather than just say Former N. Ender is WRONG, why don’t actually refute what he said with facts? It’s easy to say someone is wrong, but saying so with facts is much more impressive and believable. Sorry your response does nothing to prove Former N. Ender wrong.

         2. North Ender,I lived on Prince St. Garden Court St and Hanover St [over Giro’s] for over 30 years so I obviously have the “street creds” to tell it like it is..I don’t know what era you lived thru or what fire your talking about.But in the sixties there was indeed a firebug{arsonist] who was pouring gasoline on the front steps of buildings and lighting it.In most bldgs. there was only one exit and it was thru the front door.Resident’s patrolled the streets o/n in fact there were more cares at 3 AM on the streets than 3 PM..The arsonist was never caught & brought to justice but the fires stopped.The Malvarosa family owned a florist shop at 56 Prince St. which later became a large beauty salon run by thier son Eddie. One day at 5 or 5:30 PM the smell of smoke filled the air, there was a huge fire in the salon and my neighbor pounded on my door[I was 15-16] we ran down to the corner of Salem & Prince where the fire trucks had to use the hydrant near “Etta’s dress shop” and because a truck was making a delivery to “Johnnie Gators”a small grocery store the trucks could not make the turn at Prince st.So we carried the hoses on our shoulders which I had seen carry out many times before.The streets were safe because of many hard working, law abiding Italians who were rich in tradition, culture morals.Many of these people are gone & will never get the respect or credit that they earned and desrve.Instead we still have people [who probably deny or ignore that slavery existed in the US] and want to portray a family of criminals who took and took from their own kind as the Cartwright’s..

   2. Former N. Ender I don’t know what your talking about and I don’t think you do either. I never remember people patrolling the streets who supposedly made the N.E. safer. Where were these people when they were burning down the buildings, my cousin would still have his building on Salem Street if your so called patrolling people were doing such a great job. Don’t forget about the little boy who died running back in the building to save his dog or me running up the stairs to get my dad out of our building while my mother was in the Mass General and pushing my way by the firemen. Gee these people you talk about really did a good job keeping us safe. The fire trucks ALWAYS got through the streets even if it meant destroying a car that was double parked that’s another story to tell.

8. Marie I remember Eddy Walsh (arrowhead) he was in the North End every day walking around.

   Mr. Lisanti can you back up that story that you have first hand knowledge about people being “shook down” or are you just surmising that this happened. About lending money at a 10% vig as you say, when was the last time you went to a bank and what is the “vig” that they charge? Don’t forget these people that went to the sharks had no collateral to take out bank loans. Growing up in the North End I do think that some of the the Politicians were crooks, but they did it legal. Don’t forget about the righteous Kennedy family that lived in the North End now that’s something to think about. You all talk about………. what?

9. JAMES, I just want to say 1 last thing, if you took a survey & asked all the original No End Residents when they felt the
   safest, it was when these guys were around. I REST MY CASE.

10. Margaret:

    Sad for you to even question that people were shook down when EVERYONE knows that it was a daily occurrence and unfortunately I was a first hand witness to some of these shake downs.

    Let me set your mind straight, don’t compare banks with loansharks. Banks are legal and regulated by the state. Banks don’t threaten you with physical harm when you can’t pay on time like the Angiulo’s did. What is this idolatry of people who caused some much harm to others?

    You talk of banks needing collateral and the loansharks didn’t. They loansharks didn’t because they had their hooks in your physical body by way of threatening physical harm upon you. That was all the collateral they needed.

    Let me remind you that the founder of the Bank of America was an Italian who was born in San Jose named Amadeo Giannini. Do you know how Mr. Giannini made the B of A what it is today? Right after the earthquake in San Francisco in 1906, Mr. Giannini went to San Francisco two days later and set up a makeshift table in the street where fires were all around him. The table was made up of grape boxes and he started making loans to Italians and others WITH NO COLLATERAL, NO PAPERWORK, JUST A HANDSHAKE. So don’t equate what banks do with what the Angiulo’s did.

    People should not speak when they don’t know what they are talking about.

    1. James, the only way organized crime can flourish is with the aid of corruption,fear & intimidation [including beatings and even murder} and people who look the other way.Cops in the NE were not lazy they were on the take.Growing up I witnessed many times a detective/cop walking out of bookie joints and the Prince St. office [ known at one time as the “dog house” ]with an envelope in their hands and a smile on their face.While most NE nders were eating macaroni & pasta 7 days a week the “boys” were enjoying tripe & porkchops in Francesca’s & Gerry was sailing on his yacht.They did nothing but bring disgrazia to the NE and most people know that but to this day are afraid to speak out of fear of retribution.

11. James as you said you were a first hand witness to these shake downs you must have worked for them. If you did why didn’t you say something about it to the cops, maybe because you were just like them and that isn’t a bad thing. James I will compare Banks with loansharks. Your right Banks are legal, what do Banks do when you can’t pay your loan on your mortgage they take your house and you and your family are living on the streets. They don’t care what your situation is they want their money. You talk about having hooks in your physical body that’s what every Bank has on a person whoever has taken a loan out with them. I know who the founder was of the Bank of America I also know what he did but your leaving out an important part people back then were trustworthy and they worked very hard. Let him try and do that today do you think only a handshake would work today. The Banks give you a handshake and a smile and they are ruthless.. We can go around and around with our opinions and I will never back down how I feel about the Angiulo’s.

    1. iF YOUR LATE N A BANK LOAN PAYMENT THE BANK DOESN’T SEND A FEW GOONS TO GIVE YOU A BEATING.

12. Margaret, once again you are misinformed and misstating fact. First you ASSumed I worked for “them.” You are incorrect on that count. There are many ways to be a first-hand witness. How about being there when you friend was being threatened? Does that qualify as being a first hand witness versus working for “them?”

    Once again you make comparison that stretches credulity. A bank has a process wherein if you don’t pay on your loan they then employ what the law allows them to do. You don’t expect them to let you keep their money they lent you do you?

    How does what a bank does compare with what a loanshark will do to you if you don’t pay? Hmmm….let’s see, if I can’t pay, do I want my home taken away in which case I can rent an apartment somewhere or do I want to get my legs and arms broken or worse if I don’t pay a loanshark? Gee, Margaret, it seems like it’s a pretty easy choice for me. Oh, by the way, your seeming disdain for banks means you probably don’t use them and have all your money under the mattress.

    And again Margaret, your observations are misguided. With regard to Mr. Giannini, who ever said that his business model from 109 years ago fits today’s society? NOBODY said that. We are NOT discussing 2015. What was said was that during the relevant times of organized crimes grip on the good people of the North End, the Italian loansharks had you shaking in your boots with fears of physical harm and Mr. Giannini did not. Surely Margaret, if the Anguilo’s were true benefactors to the community, they could have OPENED UP A BANK AND MADE LEGIT LOANS AND USED THE LEGAL SYSTEM for people who defaulted on their loans. Right Margaret?

    What do you think the Angiulo family, JL, Nick Gizo, Paulie Antiso, Ralphie Chong, Joe Black, Larry Baione, Slim Kazonis, the Limones, the Gambales, Floppy, et al did? Were they serving as altar boys at St. Anthony’s, Sacred Heart, St. Mary’s or St. Stevens church?

    Remember, a mistake is only a mistake if you fail to correct it. So in light of the OVERWHELMING and common sense evidence arguing that organized crime has done nothing but bring a neighborhood down, you want to fall at the altar of sin and give praise to the criminals. Good for you, we need more role models thinking like that.

13. James this is my last email on this subject. I find it so exhausting not getting anywhere with you we will never agree on anything that pertains to this subject. I am sorry about your friend, but he had to know what he was getting to. Lets just let the dead rest in peace, because they are all dead now.

14. Margaret, you can certainly get somewhere with me. It’s called making sense. Yes it must be frustrating and exhausting when every argument you make is responded to with cold hard facts that you know in your heart you cannot refute. As they say, the “Truth shall set you free, and lies will enslave you.”

    With regard to my friend and your comment that he had to know what he was getting into. Margaret, you make my point. How does a wild animal feed itself? It seeks the weak, the sick, the old to pounce on. You know this is what the Angiulo’s did? You cannot defend the indefensible. If someone takes drugs and is hooked, then by your argument it’s ok for the dealer to supply him/her because these users must have known what t they were getting into. Don’t you see the failed logic of your defense of these criminals?

    I will just summarize one last point to prove what I have commented on was correct. Put everything else that was said by me aside and look at what I specifically said that, if the Angiulo’s REALLY CARED about the neighborhood and NOT THEIR CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE, did they have legitimate avenues they could have employed in place of their bookmaking and loansharking activities?

    We all know the answers was YES. Did they do that? We all know the answer was NO. That’s the proof positive that their absolute corruption of the legal system was first and foremost their goal, not the betterment of the NE. The fact that the NE was safer during their rule was an afterthought as calm and safety was in their benefit to carry on their illegal activities. You know, don’t make waves, out of sight, out of mind. There was no thought whatsoever that the NE was put above their interests before anything else. The NE as a whole was used by this family for 50+ years and I for one say AMEN that this stain is gone.

    Margaret you and anyone else has the God given right to be friends with, care for and grieve over their passing. What we don’t have the right to say unless we are six cookies to the wind is that white is black and black is white, we need to call it like it was/is. At the end of the day all we have left is our conscience.

15. Food for thought. In horse racing there are some horses that need to have a device placed over their head that blocks their peripheral vision. They are called blinders and the horse can only see straight ahead.

    It’s 2015, do we still have that going on in the NE with some people? I will always be grateful to have been born in the NE and in doing so it has given me an advantage in street smarts which in certain situations is more valuable than an education from Harvard or MIT. But in all honesty, leaving was the best thing I could have ever done. It was like taking off the blinders and being able to see the real world.

    I think when you’ve been in a place for so long, your views of how the outside world revolves is stuck and you lack a reference point for comparison. I can tell you that there is another world out there where the overall quality of life is much nicer. Yes, the NE had/has it’s good points, but if you are truthful to yourself, you know that the NE of today is not what it was when our grandparents arrived, when our parents got married and when we went to grade school.

    There are so many places in the US where the weather is warm and comfortable all year round, greenery all around, all the free parking you want, wide open spaces, brand new homes with backyards and pools for under $200K, a 10 minute drive from the center of towns, etc. You have none of the stressors of living with biting cold in the winter, the piles of snow, the humidity in summer, fighting over parking spaces, gossiping, etc.

    In a way, organized crime is gone for the most part from the NE, only to be replaced with pseudo government boards/associations requiring permission for the smallest things. You have a handful of people that own a majority of the restaurants, you have the same two attorneys representing anyone needing to get an approval to change a light bulb. So what’s changed? In a way, it’s the same old wine only placed in a new bottle, albeit being done legally, and although not organized crime, it’s an organized “big brother” syndrome. Can you imagine 30 years or so ago having to go in front of a board to get permission to put in a bathroom in your building? Now, a few people decided that the NE/Waterfront needed all these rules and regulations which really was just another way for some people/organizations make money from the NE.

    The more things change, the more they stay the same.

    1. Mr. Lisanti, have you ever written a book? I am quite impressed with your ability to inform and present your argument with regards to this matter. Well done!

Comments are closed.