The prison is run by Sheriff Chester S. Martin, a heavy drinker who sees to it that rules and regulations are properly applied to most, but not all, of the prison’s population. A select few answer instead to two prison veterans: Francesco “Frank” G. Campiti and his assistant, Joseph C. “Curley” Pioggia.
Campiti’s longtime vocation is robbing banks and fixing local horse races. He is much better at the latter than the former, which is why he is in jail. He regularly tips Sheriff Martin to winners. In return, he enjoys a wide array of privileges.
Pioggia is doing time because he tried to make a living burning stuff. His downfall is trying to take out an entire automobile dealership, Candi Chevrolet in Wilbraham, Massachusetts.
Shortly before midnight on May 5, 1974, he climbed through a rear window of the building and splashed gasoline all over the dealership showroom and adjoining offices. He was about to set it off with what authorities are fond of calling “an infernal device”—in this case, a cardboard box packed with gunpowder and trailing a fuse—when a Wilbraham police patrolman spotted the open window while making his nightly rounds.
He walked in an instant before Pioggia could light the fuse, which is felicitous, because some of the gasoline had pooled around the guy; he probably would have gone up before the building did.
Pioggia also was blessed with political connections, so he spent a little time at Walpole and then was sent directly to Greenfield.There, he is often found seated at the prison’s front desk, where a loaded pistol is kept in the top drawer.
Campiti and Pioggia come and go pretty much as they please. A county-owned pickup truck is available whenever they need it. They walk a few blocks down to Frank’s Market or drive to the race track, take inmates to medical appointments and job training sessions, visit the state unemployment office, and make runs for ice cream or pizza.
Campiti regularly drives home to be with his wife in West Springfield. Prison sources quoted in the local newspaper, the Springfield Union, say that on some days the convicts put a hundred miles on the truck.
If a guy doing time in Greenfield needs a little distraction, it can be arranged for a woman to visit behind closed doors for a couple of hours. The girls run on the younger side, but few of the men complain.