| Morelli Gang |
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Information AboutMorelli Gang |
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Formed by Frank "Butsy" Morelli and Joseph Morelli with three other brothers in the mid 1910s, the Morelli Gang began committing freight train and other robberies in New England, possibly including the April 15 , 1920 payroll robbery of the Slater and Morrill Shoe Company of $15,776 during which a guard and paymaster where killed. That crime became world-famous when Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were tried, convicted and sentenced to death for it. Vincent Teresa, author of ''My Life in the Mafia'', claimed Frank Morelli had personally admitted to the robbery, stating, "We whacked them out. We killed those guys in the robbery. These two greaseball's (referring to Sacco and Vanzetti) took it on the chin". This claim is also supported by the confession of Celestino F. Medeiros, a member of the Morelli Gang, who on November 18 , 1925 signed a note which said "I hear by confess to being in the South Braintree shoe company crime and Sacco and Vanzetti was not in said crime." A large amount of money, equal to one fifth of the proceeds of the robbery was found in his possession. If the Morelli gang did, in fact, commit the crime, it was these two who were responsible, since most of the gang was in jail on that date. The Morelli gang soon disbanded during Prohibition in the mid-1920s as Frank and Joseph became members of the National Crime Syndicate . FURTHER READING
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