February 11, 1976
He was known as “The Animal”—Joe “The Animal” Barboza. But that name doesn’t come anywhere near describing the knot of contradictions that was Joe Barboza. A hit-man who was responsible for some twenty or thirty murders, he was also an intelligent self-taught individual who was a trained chef, wrote poetry and painted pictures (apparently very good ones, too).
Barboza became involved in organized crime after making some contacts in prison during the 1950s. He freelanced in the New England area, offering his services to the Winter Hill mob and Rhode Island’s La Cosa Nostra family, the Patriarcas. A hulking ex-heavyweight boxer, he made a very imposing impression with his barrel chest, huge forearms and massive head. Barboza both looked and behaved exactly like what he was—an ex-boxer and a mobster. He got his nickname “The Animal” after taking a bite out of some thug’s ear during an altercation in a bar. Yet paradoxically Barboza was also said to love animals and children, and would sometimes take the neighbourhood kids to the zoo.
In 1966 the Mafia decided to remove their support from the combustible Barboza. In October of that year, Joe was picked up on weapons charges, his bail set at a hefty one hundred thousand dollars. There was no way that Barboza’s crew had that kind of money, so they set up a collection fund, hitting local hoods for contributions. Shortly after they’d managed to put together fifty-nine thousand, Barboza’s men were hit and the bail money was scooped up by members of the Patriarca family. When he heard what had happened, Barboza understood exactly what that meant—the mob had turned its back on him.
While awaiting trial for the weapons charge, Barboza was approached by Federal Agent H. Paul Rico, who hoped to convince him to testify against the Mafia. After much soul-searching, Barboza came to the conclusion that he would co-operate—it was time to do to the mob exactly what they had done to him.
It was while he was in prison that Barboza penned his poems outlining Mafia treachery in such works as “Boston Gang War”, “The Mafia Double Crosses”, and “The Gang War Ends”. The Animal’s anguish found its voice.
Barboza found another voice as well when he implicated mobsters Raymond Patriarca, Henry Tameleo and other members of the Patriarca family in just about every crime that had occurred in the last few years. Barboza’s agenda was to cause as much damage to the mob as he possibly could and he wasn’t too choosy how he went about it. He even accused mob men of a murder that he himself had committed.
Agent Rico had promised all sorts of protection to Barboza for his testimony—he was one of the first to enter the Witness Protection Program—but after he got what he was after, Rico reneged and Barboza was left to fend for himself. There was no way he could have much time left after all that and the end came on February 11, 1976. As he was leaving the apartment of a friend, Joe Barboza was shot four times at close range and died instantly.