ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 27, 1990                   TAG: 9003272478
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: BOSTON                                LENGTH: Short

FBI ARRESTS SUSPECTED CRIME BOSS

An FBI sweep through three states on Monday netted Raymond "Junior" Patriarca, whom it called New England's top organized crime boss, culminating a five-year probe in which investigators taped the Mafia's solemn blood initiation rite, authorities said.

The 113-count indictments naming 21 alleged mobsters were especially significant for their extensive description of the induction ceremony, said U.S. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh.

"It should lay to rest once and for all any doubts that the Cosa Nostra is a figment of law enforcement's imagination," Thornburgh told reporters. "It establishes beyond doubt the existence of a secret, clandestine operation that takes itself very seriously."

- Associated Press 


 by CNB