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Francis Salemme, the head of a New England crime family known as “Cadillac Frank,” died in federal prison last week, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. He was 89. At the time of his death, he was in Missouri, serving a life sentence for the 1993 slaying of a Boston nightclub owner.
The bureau’s online records indicate that Salemme died last Tuesday, but the cause or circumstances surrounding his death were not immediately available. The 89-year-old’s death was first reported Sunday by WPRI-TV.
In 2018, a jury convicted Salemme and his co-defendant Paul Weadick of killing Steven DiSarro, the 43-year-old owner of The Channel club. Prosecutors argued at trial that DiSarro had been murdered because Salemme and his son, who had vested interests as “silent partners” in The Channel, suspected he might supply information to federal investigators.