BrocktonPost
BROCKTON--After nearly two decades on the run reputed Mafia member Enrico Ponzo, a fugitive wanted by the FBI in Boston for conspiracy to murder, racketeering and other violations was arrested this week in Idaho.
According to a prepared statement from the FBI, on Monday, February 7 the U.S. Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force arrested Ponzo without incident near his home in Marsing, Idaho.
The next day, FBI special agents and task force members served a federal search warrant at Ponzo’s home to recover evidence, including firearms, and more than $15,000 in cash and gold.
At the time of his arrest, Ponzo was living in Idaho under the assumed name of Jeffrey John Shaw. Ponzo was scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Idaho Wednesday.
According to the statement, Ponzo was arrested in 1994 on cocaine and drug charges. He failed to appear in court and many believed he disappeared after he and others allegedly tried to kill members of the Patriaca family in an attempt to control organized criminal activity in the greater Boston area.
In 1997, Ponzo was charged, along with 14 others, in a 40-count federal indictment with, among other things, racketeering, racketeering conspiracy, and plotting to murder and attempting to murder individuals who were loyal to the rival Patriarca Family headed at the time by Francis "Cadillac" Salemme.
The indictment alleged that members of this dissident faction committed three murders--Richard Devlin, Joseph Souza and Paul Strazzulla--and attempted to kill seven other individuals, including Salemme.
According to the indictment, the defendants “acted to usurp control of the Patriarca
Family,” “violated the rules of La Cosa Nostra by plotting and attempting to murder Salemme” and others, and “intended to replace Salemme as Boss of the family, and thereby, be able to 'make' new members of the Family from among their group.”
Ponzo is charged with the attempted murder of Salemme in Saugus on June 16,
1989 as part of a pattern of racketeering activity.
He is also charged with racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy to murder multiple individuals in aid of racketeering, three counts of using and carrying a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, assault with a dangerous weapon and the attempted murder of Joseph C. Cirame on September 16, 1994.
Ponzo is also charged with conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distributecocaine, as well as extortion and extortion conspiracy.
If convicted, Ponzo faces up to 20 years on the racketeering and conspiracy charges; up to 10 years for conspiracy to murder; up to life imprisonment on the use and carrying of a firearm, with mandatory minimum consecutive sentences of five to 30 years on those counts; up to 20 years for assault with a dangerous weapon and attempted murder; up to 20 years for conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine; and up to 20 years for the extortion and
extortion conspiracy charges.
(Photo courtesy FBI)
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