Speaker 1: Col Zone Media. Just after midnight on March fifteenth, nineteen
Speaker 1: sixty five, Frank Smith was dropping off his girlfriend after
Speaker 1: a night out in Boston. The pair were sitting in
Speaker 1: his car outside of her apartment when two men emerged
Speaker 1: from the shadows. They walked up to the driver's side window, and,
Speaker 1: without saying a word, fired eight times into the car.
Speaker 1: Marilyn Marx was miraculously unhurt, and she ran for help.
Speaker 1: Frank was not so lucky. He'd been hit five times
Speaker 1: in the neck, chest, and shoulder. His glasses were shattered
Speaker 1: in the attack, sending shards of glass into his one
Speaker 1: good eye. When the Monday morning edition of The Boston
Speaker 1: Globe came off the presses a few hours later, it
Speaker 1: was reported that he'd been rushed into emergency surgery overnight
Speaker 1: to save his life, and he was now headed back
Speaker 1: into the operating room where surgeons would attempt to save
Speaker 1: his eyesight. When he woke up in the hospital that afternoon,
Speaker 1: the chief of the Somerville Police Department was waiting outside
Speaker 1: his room with a warrant for his arrest. They'd found
Speaker 1: a loaded revolver with one bullet missing in the back
Speaker 1: seat of his car. Something he wasn't supposed to have.
Speaker 1: Just five months after his release from prison for blowing
Speaker 1: up a man's house, he told police he had no
Speaker 1: idea who would want to shoot him, saying only I've
Speaker 1: been a good boy since I got out, and then
Speaker 1: he hummed a tune as he ignored their follow up questions.
Speaker 1: His girl friend, the same woman who'd provided his alibi
Speaker 1: on the night of that bombing in nineteen fifty seven,
Speaker 1: refused to even look at photos of possible suspects in
Speaker 1: this shooting, telling police she hadn't seen a thing. The
Speaker 1: discovery of Nazi books in PAMs in his car raised
Speaker 1: the possibility that the shooting had something to do with
Speaker 1: Frank's membership in the American Nazi Party, and they even
Speaker 1: sent a detective down to Virginia to question George Lincoln
Speaker 1: Rockwell about their relationship. The more likely explanation, though, was
Speaker 1: that the shooting had been part of the ongoing gang
Speaker 1: wars in Boston, and one detective speculated to the press
Speaker 1: that perhaps it was retaliation from the intended target of
Speaker 1: Frank's bosched bombing in nineteen fifty seven. The FBI doesn't
Speaker 1: seem to have volunteered that they already had a pretty
Speaker 1: good idea why Frank Smith got shot. He just wasn't
Speaker 1: important enough to anyone for them to be willing to
Speaker 1: jeopardize their ongoing illegal wire tap on the head of
Speaker 1: the patriarchal crime family. I'm Molly Conger and this was
Speaker 1: more little guys. When we left off last week, Frank
Speaker 1: Smith was on his way to prison. He was, by
Speaker 1: his own account, a boxing promoter. That's what he always
Speaker 1: told the police when he was getting booked into some
Speaker 1: jail or another anyway, and he's spent much of the
Speaker 1: nineteen fifties doing just that. He was arrested for bank
Speaker 1: robbery at least twice, he was accused of murder for
Speaker 1: hire and the daylight shooting of an attorney in New
Speaker 1: York City, and by the time he was convicted for
Speaker 1: bombing a home in the Boston suburbs in nineteen fifty seven,
Speaker 1: police strongly suspected that he'd been behind a string of
Speaker 1: similar bombings. The common thread connecting all of the crimes
Speaker 1: Frank Smith was believed to have been involved in was
Speaker 1: organized crime. He managed to wiggle his way out of
Speaker 1: a surprising number of criminal charges, but at the end
Speaker 1: of nineteen fifty seven, he was sentenced to fifteen years
Speaker 1: in prison, and he'd serve seven of those before he
Speaker 1: was paroled in November of nineteen sixty four. After his release,
Speaker 1: Frank went to live with his sister in Tewkesbury, Massachusetts.
Speaker 1: He spent the holidays with family, but then it was
Speaker 1: time to get back to business. He wanted to meet
Speaker 1: the man whose Nazi newsletters he'd been reading in prison.
Speaker 1: In the first few days of the new year in
Speaker 1: nineteen sixty five, he drove down to Arlington, Virginia to
Speaker 1: meet George Lincoln Rockwell. He'd had a lot of time
Speaker 1: to think over the past couple of years, and he
Speaker 1: had a proposition for the commander of the American Nazi Party.
Speaker 1: He arrived in Arlington on January third, and he was
Speaker 1: invited to accompany Rockwell and his storm Troopers to Washington,
Speaker 1: d c. The following morning, where he would witness one
Speaker 1: of Rockwell's more outrageous publicity stunts. Most of the Stormtroopers
Speaker 1: who usually hung around the Nazi Party barracks had gone
Speaker 1: home to see their families for the holidays, so there
Speaker 1: wasn't much of an entourage for this trip. It looks
Speaker 1: like it was just Rockwell, John Patler, Robert Lloyd, and
Speaker 1: Frank Rockwell was no stranger to pulling some ugly little
Speaker 1: stunt for attention. He'd done it in Washington, d C.
Speaker 1: So many times that most of the police officers at
Speaker 1: the Capitol knew him by sight, with or without a
Speaker 1: Nazi entourage. But this one in January of nineteen sixty
Speaker 1: five is particularly egregious. January fourth, nineteen sixty five, was
Speaker 1: the first day of the congressional session, the day new
Speaker 1: members of Congress are sworn in. The Mississippi Democratic Freedom
Speaker 1: Party had announced ahead of time that they intended to
Speaker 1: challenge the seating of the all white delegation from Mississippi
Speaker 1: because the state had unconstitutionally disenfranchised black voters. Just to
Speaker 1: sort of position us in history here. The Voting Rights
Speaker 1: Act wasn't signed until later in nineteen sixty five, so
Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty four, the year these white congressmen were
Speaker 1: elected in Mississippi, the state still levied a poll tax
Speaker 1: and used literacy tests to selectively deny people the right
Speaker 1: to vote. As I was writing this, I thought to
Speaker 1: actually try to find a copy of a literacy test
Speaker 1: One that was actually in use in Mississippi in the
Speaker 1: nineteen sixties. I mean, I understand the concept. I learned
Speaker 1: about it in school, and it doesn't really matter in
Speaker 1: the end what the questions were, because it's unfair and
Speaker 1: unconstitutional for it to exist at all. And even if
Speaker 1: you've got all the questions right, the klansmen at the
Speaker 1: registrar's office could just say you didn't. But I found one,
Speaker 1: and honestly, I was kind of surprised. I think most
Speaker 1: people would struggle with this. The test I found required
Speaker 1: the voter to copy down a section of the state constitution,
Speaker 1: followed by the instruction to quote, write in the space
Speaker 1: below a reasonable interpretation of the section of the Mississippi
Speaker 1: State Constitution which you have just copied. The next question
Speaker 1: asks the voter to write in the space below a
Speaker 1: statement setting forth your understanding of the duties and obligations
Speaker 1: of citizenship under a constitutional form of government. And there's
Speaker 1: not really very much room to write anything at all.
Speaker 1: And then, of course to even get to the polls
Speaker 1: on election day to then be subjected to an illegal
Speaker 1: tax and an unconstitutional written exam. You had to register
Speaker 1: to vote in the summer of nineteen sixty four. In
Speaker 1: the lead up to this contested election, James Cheney, Andrew Goodman,
Speaker 1: and Michael Schwerner were brutally murdered by a gang of
Speaker 1: klansmen that included the local sheriff and his deputies. The
Speaker 1: cops and the clan beat shot and mutilated those men
Speaker 1: to stop them from registering black voters in Mississippi. So
Speaker 1: the surface level narrative of what happened on January fourth,
Speaker 1: nineteen sixty five is a group of black women showed
Speaker 1: up at the capitol to say that these white men
Speaker 1: weren't elected legitimately, and I don't think that does it justice.
Speaker 1: There was no free and fair election in Mississippi in
Speaker 1: nineteen sixty four. In August of nineteen sixty four, not
Speaker 1: two months after those murders, members of the Mississippi Democratic
Speaker 1: Freedom Party held their own state convention to elect delegates
Speaker 1: to send to the Democratic National Convention, And when they
Speaker 1: got to the DNC, the Democratic Party challenged their credentials.
Speaker 1: They didn't refuse outright to seat the delegation, but a
Speaker 1: hearing was held before the credentials committee, and at this
Speaker 1: televised hearing, Fanny lou Hamer testified about her own struggle
Speaker 1: to register to vote in Mississippi and the violence she'd
Speaker 1: faced trying to register other black voters. She'd been forced
Speaker 1: to take literacy tests, she was retaliated against by the
Speaker 1: plantation owner whose land she worked as a sharecropper. She
Speaker 1: was threatened, asked, and shot at, and during this hearing,
Speaker 1: her voice is strong and clear as she testified about
Speaker 1: the four days she spent in a Mississippi jail where
Speaker 1: she was beaten almost to death. She did not falter
Speaker 1: as she described listening helplessly to the screams of a
Speaker 1: fifteen year old girl who'd been stripped naked and was
Speaker 1: being beaten in an adjacent cell. She sat in front
Speaker 1: of that committee, in front of this nation, and described
Speaker 1: the way those white police officers had groped her during
Speaker 1: those beatings, and her voice was still strong even as
Speaker 1: the tears ran down her face when she concluded her
Speaker 1: remarks with this question, I.
Speaker 2: Question, Americans, it's this American, the line of the free
Speaker 2: in the home of the brain.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 2: We have to sleep with our telephones out for the hook,
Speaker 2: because our lives we threatened daily, because we want to live.
Speaker 2: It did some human beings in America thank you.
Speaker 1: President Johnson called an emergency press conference while she was speaking,
Speaker 1: not to announce that he was doing something about this
Speaker 1: absolute outrage in Mississippi, but because he feared the impact
Speaker 1: her words would have on the nation, and a presidential
Speaker 1: press conference would preempt anything else that was on TV.
Speaker 1: Most accounts of President Johnson's thought process here is that
Speaker 1: he was between a rock and a hard place. He
Speaker 1: had only just signed the Civil Rights Act. He knew
Speaker 1: damn well that Mississippi was flouting that law, but he
Speaker 1: couldn't afford to risk Southern states walking out of the
Speaker 1: convention and losing Southern support in the upcoming presidential election.
Speaker 1: So he proposed an ugly, half assed, insulting compromise two
Speaker 1: of the group's sixty four delegates could be seated. They
Speaker 1: responded by saying, all sixty four of them spent way
Speaker 1: too long on that bus from Mississippi for only two
Speaker 1: of them to get seats. If they couldn't run as
Speaker 1: Democrats in Mississippi, they would run as independents. But Mississippi
Speaker 1: Democratic Freedom Party candidates Fannie lou Hamer, Victoria Gray, and
Speaker 1: Annie Divine were all denied ballot access In the nineteen
Speaker 1: sixty four election. So when Congress convened in January of
Speaker 1: nineteen sixty five, they planned to be present in person
Speaker 1: to make their case to Congress that they were the
Speaker 1: rightful representatives of the people of Mississippi, and George Lincoln
Speaker 1: Rockwell planned to be there too. Those three black women
Speaker 1: from Mississippi were not even allowed to enter the Capitol Building,
Speaker 1: let alone the House chambers. They were stopped at the
Speaker 1: door by the chief of the Capitol Police. They left
Speaker 1: quietly and stood outside with their hundreds of supporters who
Speaker 1: were lining the sidewalks. But for some reason, this crack
Speaker 1: security team at the Capitol Building couldn't explain how somebody
Speaker 1: else did manage to get inside. During the roll call
Speaker 1: vote for the election of the Speaker of the House,
Speaker 1: a man in blackface, a rumpled top hat, a furry loincloth,
Speaker 1: and no pants came crashing onto the House floor, pushing
Speaker 1: Congressman out of his way as he sprinted to the
Speaker 1: center of the room. And he was shouting something that
Speaker 1: I don't care to repeat in the way that he
Speaker 1: said it. What he was saying was I'm the Mississippi
Speaker 1: delegation and I want to be seated, But he was
Speaker 1: using an extremely exaggerated affect that was meant to mock
Speaker 1: black Southern vernacular. As the police dragged him from the
Speaker 1: Congressional chambers, he yelled, long Live Rockwell. It should have
Speaker 1: been impossible for Robert Lloyd to gain entry into the
Speaker 1: Capitol Building on January fourth, nineteen sixty five, the President
Speaker 1: was about to arrive to address Congress. Security at that
Speaker 1: building was as tight as the United States Government can
Speaker 1: get it, but somehow a Nazi in blackface with no
Speaker 1: pay hands on managed to make it past multiple lock
Speaker 1: doors and entrances guarded by police officers. He was charged
Speaker 1: only with disorderly conduct, and he was released that same
Speaker 1: day on a twenty dollars bond. This was Frank Smith's
Speaker 1: introduction to the American Nazi Party, and he loved it.
Speaker 3: I got a kick out of this. Now this is
Speaker 3: becoming very interesting, his first meeting with the commander. I
Speaker 3: had met Aim the night before and talked briefly with him,
Speaker 3: But now this little escape very interesting, and I had
Speaker 3: the chuck away.
Speaker 1: The stunt had been fun and exciting, and Rockwell's cool
Speaker 1: demeanor throughout had really impressed him. But this wasn't why
Speaker 1: he drove all the way down to Virginia from Massachusetts.
Speaker 1: He was really only on this racist field trip to
Speaker 1: the capitol. By coincidence, he'd come down to Virginia to
Speaker 1: talk business.
Speaker 3: Well, we did have the night before this demonstration. We
Speaker 3: had a lengthy discussion. We talked with various topics. One
Speaker 3: of them was the need for a church. The Muslims
Speaker 3: were creating a successful movement on the black strictly the
Speaker 3: black separate from the white, and they had their church,
Speaker 3: and there was a need because of the integration of
Speaker 3: schools and something. There seemed to be a need for
Speaker 3: the whites for a church that could be farmed where
Speaker 3: the whites could Because of religious.
Speaker 1: Conviction back in the nineteen fifties, around the time he
Speaker 1: managed to escape conviction for those two separate bank robberies,
Speaker 1: Frank Smith bought some land. He bought a lot of land. Actually,
Speaker 1: he bought close to six hundred acres of mostly undeveloped
Speaker 1: land in a small town in coastal Maine. Now six
Speaker 1: hundred acres sounds big, and it is, but I don't
Speaker 1: actually know how big because I don't totally know what
Speaker 1: an acre is. So if you're in the same boat,
Speaker 1: you're not alone. A football field minus the end zones
Speaker 1: is just a little bit more than one acre, and
Speaker 1: one square mile is six hundred and forty acres, So
Speaker 1: he's got five hundred and fifty football fields, or about
Speaker 1: ninety four percent of a square mile, If that helps.
Speaker 1: I tried to find some examples that will be easier
Speaker 1: for me to visualize, but one of the top Google
Speaker 1: results for this is an article that had to have
Speaker 1: been written by AI. It helpfully offers examples like ten
Speaker 1: acres is fifteen eight hundred and forty potatoes, potatoes in
Speaker 1: what direction? I think this is a garbled regurgitation of
Speaker 1: an old meme claiming that one five hundred eighty four
Speaker 1: potatoes lined up end to end would span the width
Speaker 1: of one acre. But this claim requires you to believe
Speaker 1: that the average potato is five inches long, and according
Speaker 1: to doctor Potato, the cartoon scientist mascot on the Q
Speaker 1: and a section of the Idaho Potato Commission's website, there
Speaker 1: is no standard measurement for any potato. Anyway, if you're
Speaker 1: an American trying to imagine what six hundred acres looks like,
Speaker 1: just visualize a parking lot with room for ninety thousand cars.
Speaker 1: This one's not actually AI. I found a paper written
Speaker 1: by the director of the Center for Profitable Agriculture at
Speaker 1: the University of Tennessee's Institute of Agriculture, So this one's real.
Speaker 1: There's math either way. That's a lot of land for
Speaker 1: a guy who's never had a legitimate form of income.
Speaker 1: I guess robbing banks leaves you with a lot of
Speaker 1: cash and you have to offload it somewhere, and buying
Speaker 1: land isn't the worst idea. So he's been sitting on
Speaker 1: six hundred acres of undeveloped land up in Maine for
Speaker 1: a decade already, and in January of nineteen sixty five,
Speaker 1: Frank Smith proposed to George Lincoln Rockwell that they could
Speaker 1: use this property that he had up in Maine as
Speaker 1: the home base for a church, a new religion that
Speaker 1: he envisioned as a sort of whites only Nazi version
Speaker 1: I guess of the Nation of Islam. I think that's
Speaker 1: what he's describing. It would provide them with some kind
Speaker 1: of institutional legitimacy to do things like fight school integration.
Speaker 1: And it's easy to imagine that this is probably very cynical,
Speaker 1: but I'm always saying, you can't know what's in a
Speaker 1: man's heart. Maybe he does have some kind of hideous,
Speaker 1: warped religious conviction. He doesn't. He helpfully explained the whole
Speaker 1: idea in an interview he did with a reporter in
Speaker 1: nineteen sixty eight. He wasn't bothering with any kind of complicated,
Speaker 1: reverse engineered religious justification for racism. He just wanted to
Speaker 1: take advantage of the legal and social benefits of being
Speaker 1: a church by making racism itself his religion.
Speaker 3: And I want to say religion. We're not talking about
Speaker 3: DoD mare any particular creed, but it depends on your
Speaker 3: interpretation of the word religion. But a trech that one
Speaker 3: of the beliefs of the tresch would be that you
Speaker 3: would have to be of the right race. And then
Speaker 3: other than that, we were keeping it open.
Speaker 1: I couldn't find any primary source documentation that sheds light
Speaker 1: on how Rockwell responded to Frank's proposal specifically, but there
Speaker 1: is a lot of evidence that this is something Rockwell
Speaker 1: had been thinking about for years. Rockwell was not religious
Speaker 1: at all, but he'd been toying with the idea of
Speaker 1: using Christianity as a sort of front for the movement
Speaker 1: since the late fifties. In the early sixties, he met
Speaker 1: Richard Butler, the man whose passion for this warped Nazi
Speaker 1: religion of Christian identity led him to found the Aryan Nations,
Speaker 1: although that came later. And around that same time, in
Speaker 1: the early nineteen sixties, Rockwell was corresponding with a friend
Speaker 1: of his, a German Nazi named Bruno Ludke. Didke had
Speaker 1: recently translated Rockwell's memoir into German, and he suggested that
Speaker 1: Rockwell should rewrite some of the passages to tone down
Speaker 1: the anti Christian rhetoric a little bit. Not because he
Speaker 1: was offended by that, absolutely not. Both men shared the
Speaker 1: belief that Christianity was Jewish and communist. Jesus was, after
Speaker 1: all a Jewish man, and if your worldview centers around
Speaker 1: destroying your enemies and exterminating the weak, it's hard to
Speaker 1: get much out of the Gospels. In their private correspondence,
Speaker 1: they agreed that Christianity was merely a useful rapper. There
Speaker 1: would be no Christ in this Christian Church, just a
Speaker 1: man trying to, as Lutka put it, speak with the
Speaker 1: political authority of the feurior and the moral authority of
Speaker 1: the Pope. In their letters, Rockwell was very open about
Speaker 1: his intentions. His commitment to Hitler was his only religion.
Speaker 1: But Americans, with their quote peanut brains, would be lured
Speaker 1: in by this set dressing of Christianity. In correspondence with
Speaker 1: British Nazi Colin Jordan, he argued that there is a
Speaker 1: clear tactical advantage deciding with Christians on political matters like
Speaker 1: prayer in school. You don't have to mean it for
Speaker 1: it to be an effective recruitment and propaganda tool. By
Speaker 1: nineteen sixty four, Rockwell had a close working relationship with
Speaker 1: Wesley Swift, the father of the Christian Identity movement. He
Speaker 1: wouldn't live to see it come to fruition, but the
Speaker 1: groundwork he laid in the years before his death paved
Speaker 1: the way for this complete fusion of Christian identity theology
Speaker 1: and militant neo Nazi activism. So forming a Nazi church
Speaker 1: is something he'd already been thinking about for a decade
Speaker 1: when Frank Smith approached him in nineteen sixty five. And
Speaker 1: I have to believe Frank knew that right. I don't
Speaker 1: know how he would have known it, but it's a
Speaker 1: strange thing to say to someone if you didn't know
Speaker 1: they were already consisted it. I couldn't track down anything
Speaker 1: concrete that would point to who would have made that introduction.
Speaker 1: Though after his meeting with Rockwell, Frank drove back to
Speaker 1: New England, news of his trip to Virginia got home
Speaker 1: before he did. On January fourth, the day after Frank
Speaker 1: arrived at the American Nazi Party barracks in Virginia, the
Speaker 1: head of the New England mafia already knew about it,
Speaker 1: and so did j Edgar Hoover. The illegal recording device
Speaker 1: the FBI had installed in Raymond Patriarca's office in nineteen
Speaker 1: sixty two recorded several conversations that day. There was some
Speaker 1: idle chat about some recent hits, some vague talk about
Speaker 1: a stolen diamond, and on the topic of Frank Smith.
Speaker 1: Patriarca was told that Frank had gone down to Virginia
Speaker 1: to visit George Lincoln Rockwell, having become an avowed follow
Speaker 1: while he was in prison. A few days later, on
Speaker 1: January seventh, Frank Smith arrived in Providence, Rhode Island, for
Speaker 1: a face to face meeting with Raymond Patriarca. Later that evening.
Speaker 1: A memo was sent directly to j Edgar Hoover summarizing
Speaker 1: the recordings of the conversation in Patriarca's office that day,
Speaker 1: and it says that Frank's primary reason for making contact
Speaker 1: with Patriarca that day was to get his blessing to
Speaker 1: do a little loan sharking. He's fresh out of prison
Speaker 1: and trying to get back to work. Patriarca gave him
Speaker 1: permission to put a few thousand dollars out on the
Speaker 1: street in Boston, as long as it didn't interfere with
Speaker 1: any existing business. But with that out of the way,
Speaker 1: Frank kept talking. He's the one who brought up George
Speaker 1: Lincoln Rockwell, telling the mob boss that they were close associates,
Speaker 1: and that does end up being true in the future.
Speaker 1: But when he's saying this on a Thursday, he just
Speaker 1: met Rockwell for the first time on Sunday. And then
Speaker 1: he rambles for a little bit about how the army
Speaker 1: has too many black people in it and if black
Speaker 1: people outnumber white people in the army, they'll take over
Speaker 1: the country. He doesn't say black people, he uses different words,
Speaker 1: and he told Patriarca that he just returned from a
Speaker 1: visit to the Nazi Party headquarters, and the memo is
Speaker 1: just a narrative. It's not actually a transcription of the recording,
Speaker 1: but it says he described the physical layout of the property,
Speaker 1: including how many stormtroopers were there and how they were dressed.
Speaker 1: He shares his upcoming travel plans, which includes trips to
Speaker 1: Dallas and Los Angeles to meet with more members of
Speaker 1: the American Nazi Party, and then he let Patriarca in
Speaker 1: on his big plan. He wanted to pour a bunch
Speaker 1: of money into Rockwell's operation, and the best way to
Speaker 1: do that without causing any legal or tax issues for
Speaker 1: anyone involved, would be to make a Nazi church on
Speaker 1: that land he has up in Maine. At some point
Speaker 1: during the meeting, he shows off his machine gun to
Speaker 1: one of the underbosses who's also there, and he says
Speaker 1: the church would be called the White Church of America
Speaker 1: of Maine. He also told Patriarca that Rockwell is planning
Speaker 1: to run for governor of Virginia in the election later
Speaker 1: that year. Later in this same memo, there's a brief
Speaker 1: mention that Frank told Patriarca that once the Nazis are
Speaker 1: established in New England. Presumably at this Nazi church in Maine,
Speaker 1: they'll be in a good position to infiltrate Massachusetts when
Speaker 1: Ed Brooke runs for governor. Edbrooke never ran for governor
Speaker 1: of Massage Chosets, but he did become the first black
Speaker 1: Senator since reconstruction when he was elected to the US
Speaker 1: Senate in nineteen sixty six. In nineteen sixty five, though
Speaker 1: he was the Massachusetts state Attorney General, and as Attorney General,
Speaker 1: he had opened an investigation into the Massachusetts State Racing Commission.
Speaker 1: The Racing Commission allocates what are called racing days. There's
Speaker 1: only a certain number of days per year where horse
Speaker 1: racing can occur and bets can be placed, so the
Speaker 1: Racing Commission decides which tracks have horse races on which days.
Speaker 1: Shortly after he took office in nineteen sixty three, Brooke
Speaker 1: opened an investigation into this allocation process, the process generally,
Speaker 1: but specifically at this significant number of extra days that
Speaker 1: had been allocated to the Hancock Raceway. This this happened to
Speaker 1: be a racetrack that Raymond Patriarca had a significant financial
Speaker 1: interest in. George Lincoln Rockwell had a special hatred for
Speaker 1: Ed Brooke too. His name actually comes up more than
Speaker 1: a few times in issues of the Rockwell Report, and
Speaker 1: it's always very nasty. Not because Rockwell also had a
Speaker 1: financial interest in horse racing in Massachusetts. Not as far
Speaker 1: as I know, he just hated black people. So Frank's
Speaker 1: mention of Brooke in this memo is very brief, and
Speaker 1: it kind of feels out of place in the conversation.
Speaker 1: There's no explanation provided in the memo. You're just supposed
Speaker 1: to know what that means. But I think in this
Speaker 1: broader context, it feels like a heavy implication. Right, if
Speaker 1: we do business with the Nazis, we all win. If
Speaker 1: we invest in bringing Nazis to New England, if we
Speaker 1: pay to put them up in Maine, it'll be around.
Speaker 1: It'll be available to do something about the possibility of
Speaker 1: a black governor. The memo doesn't include any mention of
Speaker 1: Patriarchra's response to any of this if he had won.
Speaker 1: But Frank had his permission to get back to loan sharking,
Speaker 1: so he went back home to Boston happy in January
Speaker 1: of nineteen sixty five. A lot had changed while Frank
Speaker 1: was away. The world moved on without him, while he
Speaker 1: was sitting in prison in Walpole, Massachusetts from nineteen fifty
Speaker 1: seven until the end of nineteen sixty four. The Soviets
Speaker 1: launched a dog into outer space. Catholics got a new Pope,
Speaker 1: Alaska and Hawaii became states.
Speaker 3: John F.
Speaker 1: Kennedy was elected president. There was another new Pope. JFK
Speaker 1: was assassinated. The Beatles put out their first record, The
Speaker 1: Berlin Wall went up, the Civil Rights Act was signed
Speaker 1: to The war in Vietnam was really heating up. I mean,
Speaker 1: it was a busy couple of years for the world,
Speaker 1: and I don't know how much Frank cared about any
Speaker 1: of that. But when he got home to Boston in
Speaker 1: November of nineteen sixty four, he found himself in the
Speaker 1: middle of a different kind of war. He was released
Speaker 1: from prison during the bloodiest year of the First Boston
Speaker 1: Gang War. I don't know a lot about the mafia.
Speaker 1: Like I said last week, that's a totally different kind
Speaker 1: of horrible guy than the ones I'm usually looking at.
Speaker 1: But now that I've spent the better part of a
Speaker 1: week squinting at grainy photo copies of Raymond Patriarca's eight
Speaker 1: thousand page FBI file, I guess there are certain similarities
Speaker 1: between the mafia and a Nazi group. You know, it's
Speaker 1: a group of violent men who only barely get along
Speaker 1: in pursuit of their s goals. There's constant splintering and
Speaker 1: infighting and jockeying for power and shifting alliances. There's heavy
Speaker 1: infiltration by the FBI. Half the gang is snitching, whether
Speaker 1: for fun or for profit. I can see how a
Speaker 1: man who has long been at home in one of
Speaker 1: those worlds wouldn't have much trouble stepping into the other.
Speaker 1: The details of the stories are obviously quite different. When
Speaker 1: I'm reading old FBI memos about a guy whose life
Speaker 1: story I know half by heart, I can fill in
Speaker 1: a lot of the blanks based on context. When every
Speaker 1: other line is half redacted. That doesn't work as well.
Speaker 1: When I'm waiting into new territory. I don't know what's
Speaker 1: behind those reactions, so I'm working with more blanks than usual.
Speaker 1: So for this part of the story, I relied much
Speaker 1: more heavily than I normally would on secondary sources, rather
Speaker 1: than trying to become enough of an expert on something
Speaker 1: outside my wheelhouse that I can analyze and decipher These
Speaker 1: primary sources in the way that I'm comfortable with. To
Speaker 1: get my bearings on the Gang War. I read a
Speaker 1: summary written by the New England Historical Society, and some
Speaker 1: more detailed write ups on a blog written by Matthew Connolly,
Speaker 1: a retired attorney in Massachusetts who's been writing about the
Speaker 1: history of Boston organized crime for more than a decade.
Speaker 1: I also read some interesting congressional testimony about the FBI's
Speaker 1: role in all of this, and part of a hitman's memoir,
Speaker 1: but it wasn't very good. I did read as much
Speaker 1: as I physically could of that eight thousand page FBI
Speaker 1: file on New England mob boss Raymond Patriarcha. But I
Speaker 1: just want to say how grateful I am to an
Speaker 1: outlet called go Local in Providence, Rhode Island. They not
Speaker 1: only successfully secured the release of that file from the FBI,
Speaker 1: digitized the entire thing, and then spent more than a
Speaker 1: year writing about it. So many outlets hoard their primary
Speaker 1: source documents and force you to rely on their analysis
Speaker 1: without letting you look at them. So I just love
Speaker 1: to see a reporter making their documents available to the public.
Speaker 1: So with that out of the way, the Gang War
Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty the Irish gangs in the Boston area
Speaker 1: more or less coexisted pretty amicably. There was the winter
Speaker 1: Hill Gang in Somerville led by Buddy McLean, and the
Speaker 1: McLaughlin Gang in the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston, led by
Speaker 1: brothers Bernie Georgie and Punchy McLaughlin. They both had their
Speaker 1: own territories and their own operations. They did a little
Speaker 1: loan sharking, a little bookmaking the occasional druck high jacking
Speaker 1: the usual, and both of these Irish gangs paid tribute
Speaker 1: to the same Italian mafia family. Raymond Patriarca head of
Speaker 1: the Patriarcha crime family out of Rhode Island, had agreements
Speaker 1: with the New York families that everything east of the
Speaker 1: Connecticut River was Patriarcha territory. The Genevesees could keep Hartford,
Speaker 1: Connecticut and Springfield, Massachusetts, but he controlled Rhode Island, Maine,
Speaker 1: and most of Massachusetts and Connecticut. In Boston, these Irish
Speaker 1: gangs did a lot of the street level work. They
Speaker 1: stayed out of each other's way, and they paid the
Speaker 1: patriarchas for the privilege of doing crime in Boston. Until
Speaker 1: Labor Day of nineteen sixty one. There are a lot
Speaker 1: of vers of what happened here exactly, but they all
Speaker 1: boil down to the same basic idea. Georgie McLachlin, a
Speaker 1: member of the McLachlin Gang from Charlestown, disrespected somebody's girl.
Speaker 1: Who's girl exactly varies in the retellings, but it's always
Speaker 1: the girlfriend of a member of the Winter Hill Gang
Speaker 1: from Somerville. The nature of the offense is different depending
Speaker 1: on who you ask. Some versions just say he hit
Speaker 1: on her and this led to an argument between the men.
Speaker 1: A more elaborate version of the tale says Georgie McLaughlin
Speaker 1: slapped this woman across the face after she refused his advances.
Speaker 1: In one very weird version of this story, he bit
Speaker 1: the woman. But I can't find any information that makes
Speaker 1: that make any more sense. But in every version of
Speaker 1: the story, Georgie McLaughlin got the shit kicked out of
Speaker 1: him from making a pass at a woman who was
Speaker 1: spoken for by a member of the other gang. While
Speaker 1: Georgie was recovering in the hospital, his two brothers went
Speaker 1: to Buddy McLean, head of the Winter Hill Gang, and
Speaker 1: they asked him to turn over the names of the
Speaker 1: men who'd put Georgie in the hospital, but he refused,
Speaker 1: so they wired dynamite to the ignition switch on his
Speaker 1: wife's car. The bomb was faulty and no one got hurt,
Speaker 1: but now everybody's pretty upset. So Buddy mc lean responded
Speaker 1: to this attempted assassination by murdering Bernie McLaughlin, Georgie's older brother.
Speaker 1: And just as a strange little side note here, when
Speaker 1: Buddy mc lean shot Bernie McLaughlin, he had a getaway driver,
Speaker 1: a man named Alexander Petrocone. Both men were arrested for
Speaker 1: this murder. I mean it happened in broad daylight in
Speaker 1: front of a ton of witnesses, but when they got
Speaker 1: the case in front of a grand jury, he couldn't
Speaker 1: get an indictment. Nobody wants to testify in the middle
Speaker 1: of a gang war. Once he was out, Petrocone saw
Speaker 1: the writing on the wall. Things are getting too hot
Speaker 1: here and the smart move is to get out of
Speaker 1: town for good. So he did. He moved to California
Speaker 1: and changed his name to alex Rocco. He signed up
Speaker 1: for acting lessons with Leonard Nimoy and in nineteen seventy two,
Speaker 1: he was cast in The Godfather for the role of
Speaker 1: Moe Green, the Las Vegas casino owner. After the Winter
Speaker 1: Hill Boys murdered one of the McLoughlin brothers in the
Speaker 1: fall of nineteen sixty one, things spiraled out of control.
Speaker 1: What started out is a moment of drunken rudeness at
Speaker 1: a Labor Day beach party had escalated into a full
Speaker 1: blown war that lasted years and killed dozens of people,
Speaker 1: some of them in horrific ways. I don't think Raymond
Speaker 1: Patriarca particularly cared if a bunch of irishmen in Boston
Speaker 1: killed each other, but it was bad for business. Both
Speaker 1: of these gangs had been working for and paying him,
Speaker 1: but now they're too busy fighting each other to do
Speaker 1: either of those things. It was hurting revenue, and it
Speaker 1: was attracting a lot of unwonted attention from law enforcement.
Speaker 1: The killing started in the fall of nineteen sixty one
Speaker 1: and between March of sixty four in January of sixty
Speaker 1: five alone. In that nine month period, there were at
Speaker 1: least eighteen successful hits in Boston. An FBI memo dated
Speaker 1: January twenty sixth, nineteen sixty five describes a conversation that
Speaker 1: took place in Patriarca's office about the escalation of violence
Speaker 1: in recent months. People were scared, they were staying off
Speaker 1: the streets, and guys who aren't out on the streets
Speaker 1: aren't collecting payments. This conversation was recorded just a day
Speaker 1: after someone shot Joe Francone in the head inside of
Speaker 1: his own apartment. Patriarcha said, if the killings don't stop,
Speaker 1: I'll declare martial law. Six weeks later, on March tenth,
Speaker 1: nineteen sixty five, Frank Smith was back in Providence to
Speaker 1: meet with Patriarca again. This time he was looking for
Speaker 1: permission to run a gambling operation out of the back
Speaker 1: of a restaurant in East Boston. Patriarcha and give him
Speaker 1: a final answer on the matter, but he said he'd
Speaker 1: make a decision after he'd talked to one of his
Speaker 1: guys in Boston. But again, you know, while he's here,
Speaker 1: while he's got the boss's ear, Frank starts talking and
Speaker 1: he's going on about Rockwell again. He's ranting about the
Speaker 1: Jews and about black people, and he says that this
Speaker 1: plan to open a Nazi church in Maine is starting
Speaker 1: to move forward, and it'll be a good, clean way
Speaker 1: to fund the American Nazi Party. He's optimistic about Rockwell's
Speaker 1: chances of winning the upcoming election for governor in Virginia,
Speaker 1: and he tells Patriarca that if Rockwell does win, he's
Speaker 1: already promised Frank that he can run all the illegal
Speaker 1: activity down in the Norfolk, Virginia area, and of course
Speaker 1: Frank's willing to cut Patriarca in on that in exchange
Speaker 1: for a little assistance. Maybe Raymond Patriarca really did intend
Speaker 1: to talk to the guy who ran the gambling in
Speaker 1: East Boston before he gave Frank a yes or no answer,
Speaker 1: Or maybe he didn't think Frank's craps games in the
Speaker 1: back of a restaurant was going to be anybody's problem anymore.
Speaker 1: In memos dated just days before Frank shows up in
Speaker 1: Providence in March, Patriarca tells close associates that he's frustrated
Speaker 1: with Frank. Frank talks too much, Frank moves too fast,
Speaker 1: and he's out of line. The week before Frank Smith
Speaker 1: got shot, an FBI memo describes Raymond Patriarcha as enraged
Speaker 1: when he found out that hit in January had been
Speaker 1: done on Frank's orders. The wiretap then recorded him making
Speaker 1: arrangements to meet with Jimmy Flemy and Joe Barboza later
Speaker 1: in the garage. Whatever it was that he had to
Speaker 1: say to two of the most prolific murderers on his payroll,
Speaker 1: he didn't say it near that FBI microphone. Next week,
Speaker 1: we'll talk about the two years Frank Smith spent as
Speaker 1: George Lincoln Rockwell's best friend, the woman half his age
Speaker 1: he married after meeting her in a Nazi campaign office,
Speaker 1: the brief tragic life of Rockwell's Secret Baby, and more
Speaker 1: than a decade after Rockwell's death, Frank finally gets around
Speaker 1: to starting that fake church. Weird Little Guys as a
Speaker 1: production of Cool Zone Media and iHeartRadio. It's researched, written
Speaker 1: and recorded by me Wiley Conger. Our executive producers are
Speaker 1: Sophie Lichtermann and Robert Evans. The show is edited by
Speaker 1: I Think Wildly Talented where he Ga. The theme music
Speaker 1: was composed by Brad Dickert. You can email me at
Speaker 1: Weird Little Guys Podcast at gmail dot com. I will
Speaker 1: definitely read it, but I probably won't answer it. It's
Speaker 1: nothing personal. You can exchange conspiracy theories about the show
Speaker 1: with other listeners only Weird Little Guys sub reddit. Just
Speaker 1: don't post anything you wouldn't say into the FBI wiretap