In 1965 a crew of young Italian hoods began sticking up high-stakes Mafia poker games. The Mafia quickly figured out who was in the crew that was sticking up their games, and in 1966 underboss Gerry Angiulo allegedly called all of them (except Rocco DiSeglio) into the Doghouse. He told them there was only one way out for them – they would have to kill DiSeglio, a Newton native. The other robbers, among them Benny Zinna, quickly agreed. Read Mafia canary Joe Barboza’s account of what happened next.



 

Barboza's account from his autobiography, “Barboza,” written with Hank Messick.

Benny Zinna, center, was arrested after Barboza began blabbing. He brought his mom to his arraignment, and she gave an interview to a very young TV reporter named John Henning. In the end, the jury didn’t believe Barboza, and Benny et al. were acquitted of Rocco’s murder. Alas, tragedy was just around the corner for Ma Zinna and her boy. Benny soon thereafter got two in the hat himself, in the back of his own car.