Prosecutor: Mobster afraid nightclub owner would rat him out

June 18, 2018 at 2:07 p.m. | Updated June 18, 2018 at 2:07 p.m.

by Associated Press

In this 1993 FBI surveillance photo, Francis "Cadillac Frank" Salemme, left, Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi, second from left with back to camera, and Frank Salemme Jr., behind right, are seated at The Charles Hotel in Cambridge, Mass. The trial of Francis Salemme, a geriatric former New England Mafia boss accused of killing a nightclub owner in 1993, underscores the decline of the once-powerful mob. (FBI Surveillance Photo via AP)
In this 1993 FBI surveillance photo, Francis "Cadillac Frank" Salemme, left, Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi, second from left with back to camera, and Frank Salemme Jr., behind right, are seated at The Charles Hotel in Cambridge, Mass. The trial of Francis Salemme, a geriatric former New England Mafia boss accused of killing a nightclub owner in 1993, underscores the decline of the once-powerful mob. (FBI Surveillance Photo via AP)

BOSTON (AP) - A federal prosecutor is urging jurors to convict an elderly former New England Mafia boss in the killing of a nightclub owner in 1993.

Assistant U.S. Attorney William Ferland told jurors in his closing arguments Monday that Francis "Cadillac Frank" Salemme had Steven DiSarro killed because Salemme believed DiSarro was ratting him out to authorities.

Ferland said Salemme "aspired to be a gangster his entire adult life." Ferland says DiSarro's potential cooperation with authorities put all of Salemme's efforts to rise in the ranks of the organized crime world at risk.

Attornies for Salemme and his co-defendant, Paul Weadick, were expected to give their closing arguments later Monday. They have sought to discredit the government's star witness, former gangster Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi.

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