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Speaker 1: Good people of Hollywood Land. I'd like to welcome you

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Speaker 1: to another dip into our archive of Hollywood and true

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Speaker 1: crime stories. This week, we're bringing you one of the

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Speaker 1: most compelling stories in which art imitates life, the story

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Speaker 1: of Alex Rocco, who fled a life of crime, the

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Speaker 1: life of a bookie who rubbed elbows with some of

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Speaker 1: the most notorious figures in Boston's underworld, and instead went

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Speaker 1: all the way to the other side of the country

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Speaker 1: in order to put his criminal life behind him and

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Speaker 1: start again. And when he did find work unexpectedly on

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Speaker 1: one of the biggest and most acclaimed movies of all time,

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Speaker 1: he brought a realness to the role because, unlike many

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Speaker 1: of his co stars, he'd actually lived it. Get ready

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Speaker 1: for a story of realness, of transformation, and of redemption,

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Speaker 1: and please enjoy this episode of Hollywood Land.

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Speaker 2: Hollywood Land is a production of Double Elvis. I've got

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Speaker 2: along the way down in My Gang. The stories about

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Speaker 2: Alex Rocco are insane. He stumbled into a second life

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Speaker 2: as a Hollywood character actor despite his criminal past, a

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Speaker 2: past in which he ran with the Winter Hill Gang,

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Speaker 2: one of Greater Boston's most notorious organized crime families. He

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Speaker 2: was a bookie. He went to jail for registering bets

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Speaker 2: and then again for his part in a brawl at

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Speaker 2: a diner. He was said to have been present when

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Speaker 2: a brutal assault on Salisbury Beach kicked off a violent

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Speaker 2: gang war. His wife was nearly killed when a car

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Speaker 2: bomb intended for someone else went off while she was

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Speaker 2: behind the wheel. He was the getaway driver for a

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Speaker 2: brazen gangland assassination committed in broad daylight, a murder which,

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Speaker 2: despite being seen by upwards of one hundred people, had

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Speaker 2: no witnesses. Alex Rocko's story is one of the most

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Speaker 2: improbable in Hollywood history. He ran from his past and

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Speaker 2: found an new future out West, where he made great films.

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Speaker 2: Unlike that clip I played for you at the top

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Speaker 2: of the show that wasn't from a great film. That

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Speaker 2: was a fair youth sample from the Library of Congress

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Speaker 2: of the Shanning four performing that Old Gang of Mine

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Speaker 2: in nineteen twenty three. I played you that clip because

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Speaker 2: I can't afford the rights to a clip from Francis

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Speaker 2: Ford Coppola's The Godfather, And why would I play you

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Speaker 2: that specific slice of I buy you out? You don't

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Speaker 2: buy me out cheese? Could I afford it? Because that

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Speaker 2: was the number one movie in America on March twenty fourth,

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Speaker 2: nineteen seventy two, and that was the first day that

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Speaker 2: audiences unknowingly watched a real gangster play a fictional gangster

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Speaker 2: on the big screen. On this episode, Registering Bets, a

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Speaker 2: violent gang war, car bombs, assassinations, an improbable Hollywood story

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Speaker 2: in Alex Rocco, I'm Jake Brennan and this is Hollywood Land.

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Speaker 2: Labor Day, nineteen sixty one, Boston, Massachusetts, Georgie McLoughlin was

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Speaker 2: in the ICU, sent there because he couldn't keep his

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Speaker 2: greedy hands to himself, hands that he put all over

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Speaker 2: a girl at a rented cottage on Salisbury Beach, a

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Speaker 2: girl who is dating one of the guys from the

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Speaker 2: Winter Hill Gang. And so in turn, those guys from

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Speaker 2: the Winter Hill Gang put their hands all over Georgie McLoughlin,

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Speaker 2: big fleshy, Irish and Italian hands, knuckles of cracked leather.

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Speaker 2: Those hands beat Georgie to within an inch of his life,

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Speaker 2: until his nose looked like a rotten peach and blood

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Speaker 2: oozed from between the cracks and his teeth Georgie's brother,

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Speaker 2: Bernie was beside himself, So what if Georgie get a

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Speaker 2: little touchy feely. It didn't warrant this to render a

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Speaker 2: man practically unrecognizable. It was dishonorable. It was wrong, and

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Speaker 2: Bernie McLoughlin wanted it made right, so he decided to

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Speaker 2: pay a visit to Buddy McLean. Now, you didn't approach

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Speaker 2: Buddy McLean with just any grievance, just like you didn't

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Speaker 2: sit on Buddy McLean's barstool to tap Royal over on Broadway.

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Speaker 2: If he walked in on a weeknight and just so

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Speaker 2: happened to find it empty, it was a matter of respect.

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Speaker 2: James J. Buddy McLean didn't call himself the Godfather, but

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Speaker 2: he was the Godfather all the same. He was a

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Speaker 2: longshoreman and a racketeer, but most importantly, he ran the

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Speaker 2: Winter Hill Gang in the working class Boston suburb of

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Speaker 2: and he ran it as he saw fit, which is

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Speaker 2: to say he ran it fairly. And running North Boston's

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Speaker 2: largest organized crime outfit fairly got you the respect of

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Speaker 2: just about everyone. So if he came to his bar,

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Speaker 2: or to his home, hat in hand, about to ask

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Speaker 2: a favor, it better be good and fair, because anything

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Speaker 2: else was just a waste of time. One month after

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Speaker 2: Georgie McLoughlin caught that beating, and just one day after

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Speaker 2: he was released from the hospital, Georgie's brother Bernie showed

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Speaker 2: up at Buddy maclean's place. He asked the godfather of

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Speaker 2: North Boston a favor. I want them dead, all those

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Speaker 2: fucks that beat up my brother. I can't give you

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Speaker 2: permission for that permission who said anything about permission? I

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Speaker 2: want you to help me set it up. Buddy shook

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Speaker 2: his head. He wasn't setting up anything, and he wasn't

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Speaker 2: about to give up his guys. Georgie McLoughlin got what

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Speaker 2: was coming to him, and that was that Bernie couldn't

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Speaker 2: believe it. The McLoughlin boys weren't Buddy McLean. Nobody was.

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Speaker 2: But they were powerful and respected enforcers in Boston's criminal underworld, nonetheless,

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Speaker 2: and to be dismissed like well, like they were less

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Speaker 2: than it was an insult to the highest order. Bernie

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Speaker 2: spat on Buddy maclean's floor and left. Later that night,

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Speaker 2: Buddy watched from inside his house as two men loitered

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Speaker 2: around his parked car. He picked up his thirty eight,

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Speaker 2: opened the front door and fired a warning shot. The

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Speaker 2: guy scattered like back Bay rats. But something wasn't right.

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Speaker 2: Something was up. Buddy walked to the car and gave

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Speaker 2: it a once over, the seats, the undercarriage. Then he

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Speaker 2: lifted up the hood. There in the car's guts a

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Speaker 2: makeshift bomb was wired to the ignition. He knew the

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Speaker 2: score then and there. Bernie and Georgie McLoughlin felt they

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Speaker 2: had been disrespected. They were out for vengeance, an eye

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Speaker 2: for an eye, and they wouldn't be satisfied until Buddy

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Speaker 2: McLean in his Winter Guys were all dead. Alessandro Federico

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Speaker 2: Petra Cone Junior aka Bobo, was one of those Winter

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Speaker 2: Hill guys. He may have helped to beat the piss

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Speaker 2: out of Georgie McLoughlin. He may have even been the

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Speaker 2: boyfriend of the girl that Georgie put his dirty mits

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Speaker 2: all over. But Bobo wasn't talking. He didn't need the

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Speaker 2: McLoughlin's knowing the intimate details of his day to day.

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Speaker 2: He was loyal to Buddy, loyal to the gang. They

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Speaker 2: were family, and he never took sides against the family.

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Speaker 2: What Bobo did take were bets, suffolk downs, the Celtics,

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Speaker 2: the socks, those degenerate bumps. Takes one to no one degenerate.

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Speaker 2: That is, Bobo knew it was a degenerate life, but

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Speaker 2: it was a good life. Sit down at the bar

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Speaker 2: the donut shop first thing, and lay out the spread.

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Speaker 2: Calculate the odds, take the bets. Keep booked by writing

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Speaker 2: the numbers down on six of gum. Never on paper

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Speaker 2: that way. Some cop with the Kennedy complex feels like

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Speaker 2: raiding the place he could chew the gum and the

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Speaker 2: numbers disappear. Keep the cash stuffed inside your two year

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Speaker 2: old socks. No one's ever going to suspect a toddler.

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Speaker 2: End of the week. Empty the sock. Put the cash

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Speaker 2: in a brown paper bag. Head over to Palp Joey's.

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Speaker 2: Walk past the bar into the back room where Buddy's

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Speaker 2: waiting for his cut. That's how Bobo earned his respect

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Speaker 2: from Buddy McLean. His work ethic, a skill taught to

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Speaker 2: him firsthand by his father, Alessandro Petra Con came to

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Speaker 2: this country under the cover of darkness, not because he

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Speaker 2: wanted to, but because he had to, because of what

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Speaker 2: he did back in the home country. Back in Gaeta,

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Speaker 2: south of Rome along the Italian coast, sliced a man's

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Speaker 2: throat from ear to ear, tayback for the unspeakable things

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Speaker 2: the man had done to a girl. Even as the

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Speaker 2: cops arrested him, they respected Alessandro for what he'd done,

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Speaker 2: so did the town there. He came to Alessandro one

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Speaker 2: night in his cell warned him that the family of

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Speaker 2: the man he killed was coming for him. He had

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Speaker 2: to leave, so Alessandro fled all the way to Ellis Island,

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Speaker 2: where they gave him a new name, Sam. From there

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Speaker 2: he made his way to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where nearly reborn

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Speaker 2: Sam Petrick Cohne started a family, launched a business selling oil,

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Speaker 2: and worked on grabbing a piece of the American dream.

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Speaker 2: If someone tried to interfere with that dream, like the

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Speaker 2: dirty cop who liked to stop by Sam's store and

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Speaker 2: take money from the till in the name of protection, well,

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Speaker 2: Sam had a solution for that. Five solutions, actually five

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Speaker 2: fingers that formed a fist. Sam found that smug prick

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Speaker 2: directing traffic in the middle of town walked right up

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Speaker 2: to him and, in broad daylight, in front of the

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Speaker 2: whole neighborhood. Sam punched the cop right in his smug,

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Speaker 2: prick face. Dirty cocksucker never stuck his hand in Sam's

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Speaker 2: money again, and Sam made sure his son saw the

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Speaker 2: whole thing, because this wasn't just about keeping all your

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Speaker 2: heart earned money. It was about keeping your heart earned respect.

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Speaker 2: A man does what he has to do, that was

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Speaker 2: the lesson. But in Bobo, doing what had to be

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Speaker 2: done didn't have to be this difficult. Just look at

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Speaker 2: his old man working his ass off to provide, working

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Speaker 2: with oil day in and day out, oil that stained

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Speaker 2: his hands, oil that stained his lungs, and for what

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Speaker 2: to fight and claw, just so he could keep what

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Speaker 2: was rightfully his, to protect his name, only to die

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Speaker 2: when the very thing he worked with poisoned his body.

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Speaker 2: Bowe knew there was an easier way. It wasn't oil,

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Speaker 2: It wasn't school. He dropped out in the ninth grade.

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Speaker 2: It went to where the action was loan sharking, bookmaking, drugs,

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Speaker 2: Winter Hill, Buddy McLean. It was a degenerate life, a

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Speaker 2: good life. A life is so good that other guys

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Speaker 2: wanted it. Guys like Bernie and Georgie McLoughlin. They wanted

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Speaker 2: your stature, your reputation, your girl, your money. The trick

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Speaker 2: was to do what you had to do, what a

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Speaker 2: man has to do, and do it before they do

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Speaker 2: it to you. You first, If like me, you're a

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Speaker 2: child of the nineteen seventies, then you know who Alex

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Speaker 2: Rocco is. Maybe you don't know him by name, and

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Speaker 2: maybe you've never even heard his name in your life

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Speaker 2: until this podcast, but his face is likely burned into

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Speaker 2: some recess corner of your memory because on TV in

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Speaker 2: the nineteen seventies and nineteen eighties, Alex Rocco was everywhere

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Speaker 2: The Facts of Life, Chips, The Mary Tyler Moore Show,

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Speaker 2: The Golden Girls, the eighteen He was a pop culture

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Speaker 2: zeleg And furthermore, if you're a fan of Francis Ford

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Speaker 2: Coppola's nineteen seventy two masterpiece The Godfather, you know, the

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Speaker 2: first truly great film, then you know Alex Rocco as

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Speaker 2: Moe Green, the mobster who partners with the Corleone family

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Speaker 2: in Las Vegas, slaps Fredo around a little and made

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Speaker 2: his bones while you were going out with cheerleaders. More

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Speaker 2: on that later. Long before Alex Rocco was Moe Green, however,

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Speaker 2: and long before he was a staple on TV sitcoms

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Speaker 2: and Copola films. Alex Rocco wasn't even Alex Rocco. He

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Speaker 2: was still Alessandro Petra Combe Junior aka Bobo Petrick Coone,

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Speaker 2: aka a bookmaker in the notorious Winter Hill Gang out

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Speaker 2: of Somerville, Massachusetts, the guy who may or may not

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Speaker 2: have been the reason that Bernie McLoughlin went to the

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Speaker 2: gang's leader, Buddy MacLean and asked for retribution for the

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Speaker 2: violent attack on his brother and now. On Halloween of

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Speaker 2: nineteen sixty one, nearly two months after that attack, and

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Speaker 2: one day after Buddy's refusal to do Bernie that favor,

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Speaker 2: a refusal that earned Buddy a bomb under the hood

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Speaker 2: of his car, Bobo Petrack Cone was sitting in the

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Speaker 2: driver's seat of a Black o'smobile, hands on the wheel,

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Speaker 2: at ten and two. It was twelve noon sharp. He

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Speaker 2: wasn't in Somerville. He was due east in Charlestown, parked

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Speaker 2: across the street from a bar called The Morning Glory.

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Speaker 2: Cars rattled across the Mystic River Bridge above. Somewhere nearby,

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Speaker 2: the Bunker Hill Monument defied gravity and pointed its granite

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Speaker 2: cock to the Heavens Bowl. Looked around. Charlestown was a

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Speaker 2: lot like Somerville, dirty, dangerous, just beyond the purview of

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Speaker 2: urban renewal. He listened to the oldsmobile idle. Buddy MacLean

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Speaker 2: sat next to him in the passenger seat. They both

215
00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:45,240
Speaker 2: knew that Bernie McLoughlin was inside The Morning Glory, holding

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Speaker 2: court like he always did, buying around for that tuned

217
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Speaker 2: up dumb ship brother office, disparaging the good name of

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Speaker 2: the Winter Hill Boys. Buddy had to take care of

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Speaker 2: the situation. He was lucky the first time a bomb

220
00:13:57,480 --> 00:13:59,680
Speaker 2: showed up in his car. He wouldn't be so lucky

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Speaker 2: the next time. Bernie McLoughlin was a scourge of testilence.

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Speaker 2: The front door of the Morning Glory opened and that

223
00:14:07,160 --> 00:14:10,480
Speaker 2: pestilence came walking out and stopped beneath the Schutzpier sign

224
00:14:10,559 --> 00:14:13,439
Speaker 2: attached to the building. Buddy had a rid Boston of

225
00:14:13,480 --> 00:14:15,920
Speaker 2: that pestilence before it spread and took them all out.

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00:14:16,720 --> 00:14:19,240
Speaker 2: He checked to make sure his pistol had bullets and

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00:14:19,320 --> 00:14:23,200
Speaker 2: told Bobo to keep watch keep the car running. Buddy

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00:14:23,200 --> 00:14:27,680
Speaker 2: opened the door and stepped outside. Bobo braced himself once

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Speaker 2: Buddy did what he had to do. It would be

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Speaker 2: Bobo's turn to act, and he would have to act fast.

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00:14:36,080 --> 00:14:39,240
Speaker 2: Bobo or Bo, as he was sometimes called, was fast

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Speaker 2: when he needed to be. You learned that early on.

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Speaker 2: If you weren't quick, you were dead. Sometimes he was

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00:14:45,680 --> 00:14:49,160
Speaker 2: too fast. He probably shouldn't have married that girl right away.

235
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Speaker 2: In the perfect world, he would have taken things slow,

236
00:14:52,040 --> 00:14:54,440
Speaker 2: gotten to know her better. But he knocked her up,

237
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Speaker 2: and getting hitched seemed like the honorable thing to do

238
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Speaker 2: when he came to honor. She didn't think Bo did

239
00:15:00,560 --> 00:15:03,440
Speaker 2: for a living, had any She tried to stop him

240
00:15:03,440 --> 00:15:05,760
Speaker 2: from going out with Buddy and the boys, but she

241
00:15:05,760 --> 00:15:09,880
Speaker 2: couldn't stop him, and she couldn't understand. This was who

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Speaker 2: he was, This was what he did. He was a

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00:15:13,200 --> 00:15:16,920
Speaker 2: high school dropout, zero prospects, but when it came to

244
00:15:17,000 --> 00:15:20,080
Speaker 2: the books, he was good, damn good. He had a

245
00:15:20,120 --> 00:15:23,480
Speaker 2: quick wit and quicker reflexes. He was even quick to

246
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Speaker 2: the punch when shit went down at a Somerville diner

247
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Speaker 2: in the Greasy Spoons sixty five year old proprietor and

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00:15:28,840 --> 00:15:33,920
Speaker 2: needed some roughing up. There were times, however, though, when

249
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Speaker 2: he was beaten to the punch, like two years prior,

250
00:15:37,760 --> 00:15:41,120
Speaker 2: in nineteen fifty nine, when Somerville PD did a sweep

251
00:15:41,160 --> 00:15:46,400
Speaker 2: of the local bars. Bo never saw them coming. Nobody did.

252
00:15:47,040 --> 00:15:49,440
Speaker 2: The front door of the joint swung wide open, and

253
00:15:49,520 --> 00:15:52,920
Speaker 2: the light from outside flooded the interior, exposing the things

254
00:15:52,920 --> 00:15:56,240
Speaker 2: that lived in the dark, gamblers, dead or sharks, great

255
00:15:56,280 --> 00:15:58,680
Speaker 2: a fuck ups looking for the next opportunity to get

256
00:15:58,720 --> 00:16:03,480
Speaker 2: unfucked than cheap wood paneling and around beer stained countertops.

257
00:16:04,480 --> 00:16:08,320
Speaker 2: The cops swarmed inside and started knocking heads. Bo didn't

258
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Speaker 2: even have time to stick his gum in his mouth.

259
00:16:10,520 --> 00:16:13,520
Speaker 2: He was exactly who they were looking for. Any guy

260
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Speaker 2: associated with Buddy McLean was on their list. Didn't matter

261
00:16:17,120 --> 00:16:19,600
Speaker 2: that half the force was in the gang's pocket. This

262
00:16:19,760 --> 00:16:23,040
Speaker 2: was outward facing shit. It was all about how things looked,

263
00:16:23,480 --> 00:16:26,720
Speaker 2: and Bobo Petrick Cone no one associated the criminal underworld,

264
00:16:26,920 --> 00:16:28,480
Speaker 2: sitting at the end of the bar like he owned

265
00:16:28,520 --> 00:16:31,280
Speaker 2: the place, and that wasn't a good look. He was

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Speaker 2: sent to bill Rica for bookmaking. His father was long dead,

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00:16:37,680 --> 00:16:40,600
Speaker 2: so he called his mother from inside the pen. She

268
00:16:40,680 --> 00:16:43,640
Speaker 2: knew the judge she could help, and she did want

269
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Speaker 2: to help, but in her mind, the best way to

270
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Speaker 2: help her son was to stay out of it and

271
00:16:48,840 --> 00:16:51,360
Speaker 2: let the justice system do its thing. Let her boy

272
00:16:51,480 --> 00:16:54,760
Speaker 2: serve his entire one year sentence if she meddled and

273
00:16:54,800 --> 00:16:57,240
Speaker 2: got his time reduced, All that meant was that he'd

274
00:16:57,280 --> 00:17:00,680
Speaker 2: reunite with the Winterhill Gang sooner than later. And just

275
00:17:00,760 --> 00:17:04,040
Speaker 2: like Bo's wife, Bo's mother didn't want her son anywhere

276
00:17:04,040 --> 00:17:06,879
Speaker 2: near of those fulligans. God only knows the kind of

277
00:17:06,880 --> 00:17:09,920
Speaker 2: trouble they were getting into. She'd heard all the rumors,

278
00:17:10,359 --> 00:17:13,080
Speaker 2: not just that Buddy McLean's crew took bets and made

279
00:17:13,119 --> 00:17:15,760
Speaker 2: loans and cooked books, but that they were capable of

280
00:17:15,840 --> 00:17:24,000
Speaker 2: so much more, even murder. Buddy McLean fired four times

281
00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:27,199
Speaker 2: into the back of Bernie McLoughlin's head, right behind that

282
00:17:27,240 --> 00:17:29,840
Speaker 2: schlit sign hanging off the front of the Morning Glory,

283
00:17:30,040 --> 00:17:33,639
Speaker 2: in front of many witnesses both inside and outside the

284
00:17:33,640 --> 00:17:37,440
Speaker 2: bar Bernie's body dropped to the ground and his brain

285
00:17:37,560 --> 00:17:41,440
Speaker 2: spilled out into the cracks and the sidewalk. Sitting behind

286
00:17:41,440 --> 00:17:44,159
Speaker 2: the wheel the Black Holesmobile, Bobo put his foot on

287
00:17:44,160 --> 00:17:47,119
Speaker 2: the brake and shifted the car to drive. The engine

288
00:17:47,200 --> 00:17:50,720
Speaker 2: rumbled low, traffic was light. Kids wouldn't be trick or

289
00:17:50,760 --> 00:17:54,040
Speaker 2: treating for another five six hours. Easy getting back to

290
00:17:54,080 --> 00:17:56,960
Speaker 2: Somerville would be a cinch, just as long as Buddy

291
00:17:57,000 --> 00:17:59,800
Speaker 2: put his ass in motion. And Buddy was in motion.

292
00:18:00,560 --> 00:18:03,240
Speaker 2: He was running towards the car, running like a man

293
00:18:03,280 --> 00:18:06,480
Speaker 2: who just erased the pestilence from this world, running like

294
00:18:06,520 --> 00:18:10,120
Speaker 2: a man who just committed murder. One he jumped into

295
00:18:10,160 --> 00:18:14,480
Speaker 2: the passenger seat, bow floorting. He was fast, he was capable,

296
00:18:15,160 --> 00:18:22,320
Speaker 2: and for that he had Buddy Maclean's respect. We'll be

297
00:18:22,480 --> 00:18:34,640
Speaker 2: right back after this. We're were were. It's been said

298
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Speaker 2: that as many as one hundred people saw Buddy MacLean

299
00:18:37,480 --> 00:18:41,000
Speaker 2: murder Bernie McLoughlin outside of Barrow in Charlestown, and while

300
00:18:41,040 --> 00:18:44,040
Speaker 2: the actual number is probably much lower, the fact of

301
00:18:44,080 --> 00:18:46,800
Speaker 2: the matter is that the killing was witnessed by many,

302
00:18:47,040 --> 00:18:49,840
Speaker 2: the majority of whom wouldn't dare rat on the leader

303
00:18:49,880 --> 00:18:52,280
Speaker 2: of the Winter Hill Gang. They either liked him or

304
00:18:52,320 --> 00:18:55,040
Speaker 2: feared him too much, probably a little of both if

305
00:18:55,040 --> 00:18:58,720
Speaker 2: we're being honest. There was, however, one witness who dared

306
00:18:58,800 --> 00:19:02,440
Speaker 2: speak up, the waitress who I did. The shooter and

307
00:19:02,720 --> 00:19:07,000
Speaker 2: the getaway driver, Buddy and Bobo petra Cone were subsequently

308
00:19:07,080 --> 00:19:11,440
Speaker 2: arrested and formally charged with murder, but the waitress didn't

309
00:19:11,480 --> 00:19:15,080
Speaker 2: stick by her story very long, she quickly recanted, either

310
00:19:15,160 --> 00:19:17,000
Speaker 2: due to a change of heart or a visit by

311
00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:21,800
Speaker 2: an extremely persuasive Winter Hill sympathizer. With no testimony and

312
00:19:21,880 --> 00:19:26,240
Speaker 2: no probable cause, a grand jury wouldn't indict them. Buddy

313
00:19:26,240 --> 00:19:31,760
Speaker 2: and Bow were off the hook, but they weren't free.

314
00:19:32,040 --> 00:19:34,480
Speaker 2: Buddy caught a gun possession charge and was put away

315
00:19:34,520 --> 00:19:37,120
Speaker 2: for two years, and Bou was sent back to what

316
00:19:37,240 --> 00:19:40,800
Speaker 2: was then called the bill Riccahouse of Corrections punishment for

317
00:19:40,880 --> 00:19:43,320
Speaker 2: his role in the recent brawl a summer little diner,

318
00:19:43,640 --> 00:19:45,680
Speaker 2: the one where the sixty five year old owner was

319
00:19:45,760 --> 00:19:49,720
Speaker 2: roughed up. Prison time brought little relief for Bo, and

320
00:19:49,800 --> 00:19:52,240
Speaker 2: it did nothing to quell the gangland tension that was

321
00:19:52,280 --> 00:19:55,880
Speaker 2: reaching a boiling point out on Boston's streets. The winter

322
00:19:55,960 --> 00:19:59,719
Speaker 2: Hill crew slept with one eye open. The mcloughlins didn't forgive,

323
00:19:59,720 --> 00:20:03,760
Speaker 2: and they sure as shit didn't forget. Bodies dropped, heads

324
00:20:03,880 --> 00:20:07,240
Speaker 2: rolled literally. One body was found in the trunk of

325
00:20:07,240 --> 00:20:09,760
Speaker 2: a car, minus the head, which was buried somewhere in

326
00:20:09,800 --> 00:20:12,920
Speaker 2: the woods. Some other very unlucky guys had a blow

327
00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:15,720
Speaker 2: torch held to their genitals before they were choked out

328
00:20:15,720 --> 00:20:18,800
Speaker 2: and dumped into the harbor. Bad Blood ran through the

329
00:20:18,840 --> 00:20:23,040
Speaker 2: streets between Somerville and Charlestown. Once strong bombs were coming

330
00:20:23,080 --> 00:20:28,080
Speaker 2: apart and the seams. Everything was falling apart, including Bo's marriage.

331
00:20:28,560 --> 00:20:31,359
Speaker 2: He knew it was no good, so did she. They

332
00:20:31,400 --> 00:20:35,920
Speaker 2: were too young, too impulsive. His wife Grace always wanted

333
00:20:35,960 --> 00:20:38,520
Speaker 2: him home, and he always wanted to not be home,

334
00:20:38,920 --> 00:20:41,400
Speaker 2: to be out in the middle of the action at

335
00:20:41,400 --> 00:20:44,119
Speaker 2: the bar, in the back room, the room where it happened.

336
00:20:45,119 --> 00:20:49,280
Speaker 2: Now he was behind bars again, a room where nothing happened.

337
00:20:49,840 --> 00:20:55,119
Speaker 2: It made everything worse, his absence, his recidivism. Meanwhile, the

338
00:20:55,160 --> 00:20:58,040
Speaker 2: life he refused to walk away from brought that gangster

339
00:20:58,119 --> 00:21:01,840
Speaker 2: shit to their front door, got Grace involved, which was

340
00:21:01,880 --> 00:21:04,800
Speaker 2: never his intention. There was nothing he could do about it.

341
00:21:05,680 --> 00:21:09,040
Speaker 2: That was the worst thing. He was locked up, frightened,

342
00:21:09,160 --> 00:21:11,159
Speaker 2: in a state of panic when he heard the news

343
00:21:12,400 --> 00:21:15,399
Speaker 2: how Grace had taken the car out, not their car,

344
00:21:15,720 --> 00:21:20,080
Speaker 2: but Howie's car. Howie Winter, Buddy McLean's right hand man.

345
00:21:20,920 --> 00:21:23,000
Speaker 2: Howie had driven over to Bo's place to check in

346
00:21:23,080 --> 00:21:25,800
Speaker 2: on Grace, because even if Grace didn't agree with her

347
00:21:25,840 --> 00:21:28,960
Speaker 2: husband's involvement in the gang, she was Bo's wife, which

348
00:21:29,000 --> 00:21:31,440
Speaker 2: meant She was family, and you never turned your back

349
00:21:31,440 --> 00:21:34,719
Speaker 2: on family. She asked Howie if she could borrow his

350
00:21:34,760 --> 00:21:37,760
Speaker 2: car to run some errands. She made it four blocks

351
00:21:37,800 --> 00:21:40,520
Speaker 2: before the front of the car suddenly erupted in a fireball.

352
00:21:42,119 --> 00:21:46,159
Speaker 2: The explosion shook the entire vehicle. Shock and terror rippled

353
00:21:46,160 --> 00:21:49,000
Speaker 2: through her body. The fender was torn apart, the hood

354
00:21:49,040 --> 00:21:51,560
Speaker 2: of the car went flying, landed in a playground some

355
00:21:51,600 --> 00:21:56,280
Speaker 2: one hundred feet away, where children were playing. She wasn't hurt,

356
00:21:56,400 --> 00:22:00,439
Speaker 2: thank Christ, but she was rattled. So was Bea. He

357
00:22:00,560 --> 00:22:03,399
Speaker 2: knew that bomb was meant for Howie Winter, not Grace,

358
00:22:03,880 --> 00:22:05,879
Speaker 2: but it didn't change the fact that his wife was

359
00:22:05,960 --> 00:22:08,600
Speaker 2: nearly collateral damage in a gang war that seemed to

360
00:22:08,600 --> 00:22:13,720
Speaker 2: have no end. Leaving the pen only made things worse.

361
00:22:14,480 --> 00:22:17,600
Speaker 2: Bo was no longer protected by iron bars. He was

362
00:22:17,640 --> 00:22:22,040
Speaker 2: out there, vulnerable, paranoid. He feared for his life and

363
00:22:22,080 --> 00:22:25,439
Speaker 2: the lives of his wife and daughter. Simply declaring your

364
00:22:25,480 --> 00:22:28,159
Speaker 2: allegiance with Buddy McLean or the mcloughlins could earn you

365
00:22:28,240 --> 00:22:32,000
Speaker 2: a death sentence. Guys were getting popped for less. Beau

366
00:22:32,119 --> 00:22:33,919
Speaker 2: knew it was only a matter of time before he

367
00:22:33,960 --> 00:22:36,919
Speaker 2: caught one of those bullets. His days of playing Bookie,

368
00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:40,840
Speaker 2: of taking and placing bets. They were numbered living That

369
00:22:40,880 --> 00:22:44,440
Speaker 2: degenerate life was no longer paying dividends. It didn't pay

370
00:22:44,440 --> 00:22:47,440
Speaker 2: at all. It was now a game of diminishing returns,

371
00:22:47,920 --> 00:22:51,680
Speaker 2: a game he couldn't help. But loose Boston was no good.

372
00:22:52,040 --> 00:22:55,280
Speaker 2: Ba's marriage was no good. He had to leave both

373
00:22:55,600 --> 00:22:59,280
Speaker 2: part as it may be. He flipped a coin heads

374
00:22:59,280 --> 00:23:03,520
Speaker 2: he went to Miami Tails, California. The coin fell in

375
00:23:03,600 --> 00:23:05,520
Speaker 2: his palm and he slapped it against the back of

376
00:23:05,560 --> 00:23:11,719
Speaker 2: his hand. Tails Alessandro Petra Cone Junior left behind Grace,

377
00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:20,240
Speaker 2: Buddy all the winter Hill Boys and headed west. Warren Oates,

378
00:23:20,440 --> 00:23:22,800
Speaker 2: an up and coming Western actor soon to be one

379
00:23:22,800 --> 00:23:26,520
Speaker 2: of director Sam Peckinpah's Grizzled leading men, walked into the

380
00:23:26,600 --> 00:23:29,760
Speaker 2: raincheck room on Santa Monica Boulevard and ordered a double.

381
00:23:30,480 --> 00:23:33,600
Speaker 2: He saw his friend Harry Dean Stanton, also an up

382
00:23:33,640 --> 00:23:36,200
Speaker 2: and coming actor with a few supporting roles under his belt,

383
00:23:36,320 --> 00:23:39,320
Speaker 2: belly up to the bar. I was at Warner Brothers

384
00:23:39,320 --> 00:23:43,040
Speaker 2: today and somebody asked about you, Oates said. Stanton knew

385
00:23:43,080 --> 00:23:47,400
Speaker 2: where this was going, but played along anyway. Who was it? Nobody?

386
00:23:48,200 --> 00:23:51,480
Speaker 2: Oates and Stanton both left, So did all the regulars

387
00:23:51,480 --> 00:23:56,280
Speaker 2: within earshot. This was their daily routine, struggling actors circle

388
00:23:56,280 --> 00:23:59,040
Speaker 2: of the early nineteen sixties, giving each other shit day

389
00:23:59,080 --> 00:24:02,480
Speaker 2: after day. It was what you did. The rain check

390
00:24:02,600 --> 00:24:06,080
Speaker 2: room was full of shit talkers, chainsmokers, and hard drinkers,

391
00:24:06,440 --> 00:24:11,040
Speaker 2: guys like Oates, Stan and Peckham Pod also Jack Nicholson,

392
00:24:11,200 --> 00:24:14,720
Speaker 2: Dennis Hopper, Sally Kellerman, and Bobby Boris Picket, the guy

393
00:24:14,760 --> 00:24:17,679
Speaker 2: behind the nineteen sixty two number one novelty hit The

394
00:24:17,760 --> 00:24:23,960
Speaker 2: Monster Mash. Pickett was from Somerville, Massachusetts. Pickett's roommate, Alex Rocco,

395
00:24:24,320 --> 00:24:26,520
Speaker 2: tended bar at the rain Check to pay the bills.

396
00:24:27,200 --> 00:24:29,320
Speaker 2: He was a new guy in town. No one really

397
00:24:29,400 --> 00:24:32,160
Speaker 2: knew his background. They could tell he was from Boston,

398
00:24:32,520 --> 00:24:35,199
Speaker 2: that much was obvious by his accent, but no one

399
00:24:35,280 --> 00:24:38,600
Speaker 2: knew his story. They didn't know his real name, Alessandro

400
00:24:38,720 --> 00:24:41,560
Speaker 2: Petricone Junior, or that he was called Bobo back East,

401
00:24:41,880 --> 00:24:44,600
Speaker 2: that he'd been a bookie, a getaway driver, that his

402
00:24:44,680 --> 00:24:47,800
Speaker 2: ex wife once survived a carbomb. They didn't know that

403
00:24:47,840 --> 00:24:50,920
Speaker 2: Alex was short for his actual first name, a name

404
00:24:50,960 --> 00:24:53,040
Speaker 2: that was handed down by one of the most respected

405
00:24:53,080 --> 00:24:55,760
Speaker 2: men of the Old country, or that he'd taken Rocco

406
00:24:55,880 --> 00:24:57,760
Speaker 2: from a name written on a bakery truck that he

407
00:24:57,840 --> 00:25:00,800
Speaker 2: passed by every day. They didn't know, oh, that Alex

408
00:25:00,920 --> 00:25:04,119
Speaker 2: Rocco was wiping the slate clean to become a new person.

409
00:25:04,960 --> 00:25:08,639
Speaker 2: They all just saw a character, a raconteur, a shit talker,

410
00:25:09,040 --> 00:25:11,960
Speaker 2: one of them. He was a natural, and they encouraged

411
00:25:12,040 --> 00:25:15,800
Speaker 2: him to take acting classes, go to auditions. He couldn't

412
00:25:15,800 --> 00:25:19,040
Speaker 2: tend bar forever, so fucking he thought the money could

413
00:25:19,080 --> 00:25:21,600
Speaker 2: be good. At the very least, it was an opportunity

414
00:25:21,640 --> 00:25:25,399
Speaker 2: to meet a girl. He found an acting coach, a

415
00:25:25,440 --> 00:25:28,840
Speaker 2: fellow Boston ex pat named Leonard Nimoy, still a few

416
00:25:28,920 --> 00:25:31,359
Speaker 2: years from his own break through as mister Spock on

417
00:25:31,480 --> 00:25:36,280
Speaker 2: Star Trek. Niemoy bristled at Rocco's thick Boston accent. That's

418
00:25:36,320 --> 00:25:39,200
Speaker 2: not how any self respecting actors spoke. No one could

419
00:25:39,280 --> 00:25:42,199
Speaker 2: understand him. Niemoy kicked him out in front of the

420
00:25:42,320 --> 00:25:45,399
Speaker 2: entire class, humiliated him right in front of thirty people.

421
00:25:46,080 --> 00:25:49,960
Speaker 2: Rocco was pissed. Who did Nimoy think he was fucking

422
00:25:50,040 --> 00:25:54,640
Speaker 2: uptight West End Boston, motherfucker? That'su. The humiliation galvanized him.

423
00:25:55,000 --> 00:25:57,840
Speaker 2: He took a speech class, learned to mask his accent

424
00:25:57,880 --> 00:26:00,760
Speaker 2: when needed, and then returned to Neimoy's class to prove

425
00:26:00,840 --> 00:26:04,920
Speaker 2: himself and get that respect. Pretty soon the offers trickled in.

426
00:26:05,600 --> 00:26:09,200
Speaker 2: At first it was small potatoes exploitation films in low

427
00:26:09,200 --> 00:26:13,680
Speaker 2: budget fare, but soon the offers got better, including one

428
00:26:13,720 --> 00:26:35,040
Speaker 2: offer that he couldn't refuse. On Halloween Day of nineteen

429
00:26:35,160 --> 00:26:38,560
Speaker 2: sixty five, the same year that Alex Rocco landed his

430
00:26:38,600 --> 00:26:43,600
Speaker 2: first starring role in a Hollywood movie, back east in Somerville, Massachusetts,

431
00:26:43,960 --> 00:26:49,760
Speaker 2: shots rang out near the Tap Royal Bar. Inside Buddy

432
00:26:49,800 --> 00:26:54,800
Speaker 2: Maclean's famed barstool was empty. Buddy McLean, recently freed from prison,

433
00:26:55,160 --> 00:26:58,040
Speaker 2: was bleeding out on the sidewalk, gunned down by his

434
00:26:58,160 --> 00:27:02,919
Speaker 2: Charlestown rivals. To the day since he'd shot Bernie McLoughlin

435
00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:06,960
Speaker 2: dead in the same manner. The murder of Buddy MacLean

436
00:27:07,119 --> 00:27:10,760
Speaker 2: meant that his number two, Howie Winter, ascended to the

437
00:27:10,800 --> 00:27:13,840
Speaker 2: head of the winter Hill gang, a position he held

438
00:27:13,920 --> 00:27:17,240
Speaker 2: until the late seventies when he went to prison, paving

439
00:27:17,280 --> 00:27:19,679
Speaker 2: the way for the reign of a gangster by the

440
00:27:19,760 --> 00:27:27,720
Speaker 2: name of James Whitey Bulger. But that's another story in Hollywood.

441
00:27:27,960 --> 00:27:31,320
Speaker 2: Alex Roco mourned for his old friend, but he didn't

442
00:27:31,320 --> 00:27:34,560
Speaker 2: mourn for his old life. If he had stayed behind,

443
00:27:34,880 --> 00:27:37,440
Speaker 2: the chances were very high that he would have suffered

444
00:27:37,440 --> 00:27:40,240
Speaker 2: a similar fate. Coming out of a bar, or coming

445
00:27:40,240 --> 00:27:43,000
Speaker 2: out of his house, the mcloughlins would have caught up

446
00:27:43,040 --> 00:27:45,520
Speaker 2: to him and put a bullet in his brain. But

447
00:27:45,600 --> 00:27:48,480
Speaker 2: little did Roco know. In just a few years time,

448
00:27:48,600 --> 00:27:51,680
Speaker 2: as his name gained traction around La and he picked

449
00:27:51,720 --> 00:27:54,960
Speaker 2: up more on screen work, he would get what Buddy

450
00:27:55,040 --> 00:28:00,040
Speaker 2: got back in Boston. In his newly adopted town, and

451
00:28:00,119 --> 00:28:03,640
Speaker 2: in his newly adopted line of work, Alex Rocco would

452
00:28:03,680 --> 00:28:07,760
Speaker 2: get whacked. Francis Ford Coppola. As a landmark mafia epic,

453
00:28:07,840 --> 00:28:12,280
Speaker 2: The Godfather was a critical and commercial smash. Six months

454
00:28:12,320 --> 00:28:15,440
Speaker 2: after its initial release in March of nineteen seventy two,

455
00:28:15,560 --> 00:28:19,000
Speaker 2: it became the biggest grossing film of all time, bigger

456
00:28:19,040 --> 00:28:21,879
Speaker 2: than Gone with the Wind, which took thirty three years

457
00:28:21,880 --> 00:28:25,920
Speaker 2: to set the previous record. The film single handedly revived

458
00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:30,120
Speaker 2: not just paramount pictures but the movie industry at large.

459
00:28:30,280 --> 00:28:33,080
Speaker 2: A major part of the film's success were the incredible

460
00:28:33,080 --> 00:28:37,600
Speaker 2: performances by both seasons and green actors alike. It had

461
00:28:37,680 --> 00:28:41,360
Speaker 2: Marlon Brando, James Kahn, Diane Keaton, Robert Duval and a

462
00:28:41,360 --> 00:28:45,160
Speaker 2: young al Pacino in a star making turn. But Coppola

463
00:28:45,200 --> 00:28:48,040
Speaker 2: wanted the film to feel authentic, from the spectacle of

464
00:28:48,080 --> 00:28:51,320
Speaker 2: a traditional Italian wedding right down to the ingredients and

465
00:28:51,400 --> 00:28:57,480
Speaker 2: Clementzo's spaghetti sauce. That meant casting authentic personalities, not just actors.

466
00:28:58,320 --> 00:29:00,440
Speaker 2: He sought out people with past lives. It could have

467
00:29:00,480 --> 00:29:02,959
Speaker 2: been ripped from the pages of The Godfather's shooting script,

468
00:29:03,480 --> 00:29:05,560
Speaker 2: and when the film opened in the spring of nineteen

469
00:29:05,680 --> 00:29:10,120
Speaker 2: seventy two, moviegoers were transported to another world, a world

470
00:29:10,200 --> 00:29:14,320
Speaker 2: that felt real, and it felt real because it was real.

471
00:29:15,360 --> 00:29:17,920
Speaker 2: They had no idea that the guy who played Luca Brassi,

472
00:29:18,040 --> 00:29:22,240
Speaker 2: Don Corleone's feared hitman was Lenny Montana, a former wrestler

473
00:29:22,280 --> 00:29:25,880
Speaker 2: and bodyguard for the Colombo family fresh out of Rikers Island,

474
00:29:26,360 --> 00:29:30,200
Speaker 2: or that Connie's abusive husband, Carlo was played by Gianni Russo,

475
00:29:30,480 --> 00:29:33,680
Speaker 2: one time Aaron boy f Luciano family crime boss Frank

476
00:29:33,720 --> 00:29:38,320
Speaker 2: Costello al Martino, a real life pooner on Capitol Records

477
00:29:38,360 --> 00:29:41,400
Speaker 2: who was once actually extorted by the Mafia when they

478
00:29:41,400 --> 00:29:44,360
Speaker 2: bought out his management contract. Played the part of singer

479
00:29:44,440 --> 00:29:49,440
Speaker 2: Johnny Fontaine. Tony Giorgio, a former circus performer and stage magician,

480
00:29:49,640 --> 00:29:52,720
Speaker 2: played the part of Bruno the Italian and Alex Rocca

481
00:29:53,080 --> 00:29:57,720
Speaker 2: aka Alessandro Bobo. Petracone, junior, former member of the Winter

482
00:29:57,800 --> 00:30:01,640
Speaker 2: Hill Gang in Boston, played Mowgreen, a hot headed mobster

483
00:30:01,760 --> 00:30:04,920
Speaker 2: modeled after Bugsy Siegel who makes a fatal mistake when

484
00:30:04,920 --> 00:30:10,120
Speaker 2: he challenges Michael Corleon. That mistake catches up to him

485
00:30:10,120 --> 00:30:13,480
Speaker 2: in the movie's third act, much like the McLoughlin's caught

486
00:30:13,560 --> 00:30:18,560
Speaker 2: up to Buddy McLean. Michael Corleone stands in a church

487
00:30:18,600 --> 00:30:21,960
Speaker 2: as his God's son is baptized, his suit pressed and

488
00:30:22,080 --> 00:30:25,600
Speaker 2: his hair slick. The priest ass if he believes that

489
00:30:25,760 --> 00:30:30,280
Speaker 2: Jesus Christ his only son, our Lord, and Michael does

490
00:30:30,920 --> 00:30:33,200
Speaker 2: the priest ass if he believes in the Holy Ghost

491
00:30:33,520 --> 00:30:37,760
Speaker 2: the Holy Catholic Church. Michael does. The priest ass Michael

492
00:30:37,800 --> 00:30:42,720
Speaker 2: if he renounces Satan, I do renounce him. Cut to you.

493
00:30:43,200 --> 00:30:47,120
Speaker 2: Mow Green lying on his stomach, undressed, a towel over

494
00:30:47,160 --> 00:30:51,520
Speaker 2: his backside. He's getting a massage. He's not wearing his glasses.

495
00:30:52,120 --> 00:30:54,280
Speaker 2: A man in a suit and hat pushes open the

496
00:30:54,320 --> 00:30:57,800
Speaker 2: door to the massage room and stands there. Cut to

497
00:30:57,960 --> 00:31:01,120
Speaker 2: medium shot, modis I know who this guy is? Because

498
00:31:01,120 --> 00:31:04,080
Speaker 2: he can't see anything. He grabs his glasses and puts

499
00:31:04,120 --> 00:31:08,040
Speaker 2: them on. Cut close up of Moe's face. We hear

500
00:31:08,080 --> 00:31:12,000
Speaker 2: a single gunshot. Moe's glasses crack like a spider's while

501
00:31:12,280 --> 00:31:15,400
Speaker 2: in the blood gushes down Moe's nose and chin dark

502
00:31:15,480 --> 00:31:19,800
Speaker 2: as Michael Corleone's heart. Moe Green's head swumps forward on

503
00:31:19,840 --> 00:31:26,920
Speaker 2: the pillow, dead. Alex Rocco's performance and his on screen

504
00:31:27,000 --> 00:31:32,160
Speaker 2: death earned him newfound respect, respect from his peers, from audiences,

505
00:31:32,440 --> 00:31:34,680
Speaker 2: and from an industry that he was still learning how

506
00:31:34,720 --> 00:31:38,560
Speaker 2: to navigate. The next year, when he made The Friends

507
00:31:38,560 --> 00:31:41,280
Speaker 2: of Eddie Coyle, about a gun runner for the Boston

508
00:31:41,320 --> 00:31:44,720
Speaker 2: Mob who's also a police informant, Rocco gave the film

509
00:31:44,840 --> 00:31:48,200
Speaker 2: star Robert Mitcham a crash course in his native city

510
00:31:48,960 --> 00:31:51,880
Speaker 2: that included an introduction to in a hang session with

511
00:31:51,960 --> 00:31:54,720
Speaker 2: Howie Winter in the winter Hill Gang, where Mitcham could

512
00:31:54,800 --> 00:31:58,239
Speaker 2: learn more about how Rocco's art was an imitation of

513
00:31:58,280 --> 00:32:02,360
Speaker 2: his life. From there, Mitcham could see how Rocko's former

514
00:32:02,440 --> 00:32:06,720
Speaker 2: life had its own afterlife on the big screen, exactly

515
00:32:07,280 --> 00:32:11,520
Speaker 2: where it ought to be in pictures. I'm Jake Brennan

516
00:32:12,240 --> 00:32:14,280
Speaker 2: and this is hollywood Land.

517
00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:31,080
Speaker 3: Hollywood Land was created by Years Truly and is produced

518
00:32:31,080 --> 00:32:34,960
Speaker 3: in partnership with Double Elvis. Follow like, rate, and review

519
00:32:34,960 --> 00:32:37,240
Speaker 3: hollywood Land wherever you get your podcasts, and get in

520
00:32:37,280 --> 00:32:40,600
Speaker 3: touch with us on social media at double Elvis. If

521
00:32:40,600 --> 00:32:42,480
Speaker 3: you like hollywood Land, check out my other show, the

522
00:32:42,480 --> 00:32:45,560
Speaker 3: award winning Disgraceland, which looks at the world of music

523
00:32:45,560 --> 00:32:46,760
Speaker 3: through the lens of true crime.

524
00:32:46,840 --> 00:32:49,720
Speaker 2: Just search for Disgraceland or wherever you get your podcasts.

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00:32:55,400 --> 00:32:56,840
Speaker 3: Good, Here's a lot