FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES: Gangland murder victim Richard Castucci hobnobs with Sammy Davis Jr. and Rodney Dangerfield.
Castucci murdered by Winter Hill Mob hitman Martorano
The big sleep
On the great stage of life, Revere nightclub impresario Richard Castucci rubbed elbows of tailor-made suits with Frank Sinatra and joined Rodney Dangerfield in toasting Sammy Davis Jr. at the singer’s controversial 1960 interracial marriage to actress May Brit.
But it was the doting father of four’s arguably less glamorous role as a secret top echelon informant for the FBI that brought the curtain down Dec. 29, 1976, in a scene that could have been straight out of a Rat Pack film.
At age 48, Castucci, hogtied and wrapped in a sleeping bag, turned up in the trunk of his Cadillac, frozen stiff with a bullet hole in his head courtesy of celebrities of a different ilk: South Boston mob bosses James “Whitey” Bulger and Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi.
The man soft-hearted enough to indulge his daughter’s love of prancing ponies, but tough enough to see his oldest son through drug rehab, was executed by notorious hit man John Martorano after corrupt former FBI Agent John “Zip” Connolly tipped off Bulger and Flemmi that Castucci had given up the location of a mob hideout.
On June 1, Michael Laurano, attorney for Castucci’s widow Sandra, as well as his two sons and two daughters from two marriages, will stand before U.S. District Court Judge William G. Young and make his best case for the family’s financial amends.
The late U.S. District Court Judge Reginald C. Lindsay ruled in March 2008 that Connolly’s inept handling of Bulger and Flemmi clearly got Castucci killed, so no jury trial was necessary to belabor the facts
Similar summary judgment bench trials before Lindsay and Young have already resulted in ordered DOJ payouts of $3.1 million to the mother of murder victim John McIntyre, $2 million to the widow of Edward Brian Halloran and $6.3 million to the widow and three sons of Michael Donahue.
Castucci’s business empire had included the Squire Club, a Revere Beach arcade and thoroughbred race horses. However, with “no experience or acumen in the management or operation of the businesses,” Laurano said in court papers the family finances fell apart and Sandra, now 71, went to work as a switchboard operator at a hotel.
Regardless, DOJ attorneys apparently plan to fight Castucci’s loved ones every step of the way, arguing in counter court filings he “was heavily involved in the world of organized crime” – ironically, the very connection that once made him a star with the FBI.
Hollywood goodfella 
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