The day after the robbery, Sam Levine petitions the superior court to put Bonded Vault in receivership, thereby relinquishing responsibility for any of the valuables the robbers left behind. The fate of what remains is put in the hands of Thomas R. DiLuglio of Johnston, a tough lawyer who two years hence will become the lieutenant governor of Rhode Island.
This amounts to the Levines saying, “You’ve got a problem with what you had in those boxes? You take it up with him.”
The list of box holders is leaked to the press. The effect is a lot like turning over a rock and watching all the little critters scurry in search of new darkness in which to prosper. At least one in every five names has a recognizable link to organized crime, and the likelihood is that a good many of the other names are merely fakes or shells on loan from friends or relatives.
The Internal Revenue Service quickly puts a lien on all the “unidentifiable and unclaimed” valuables the robbers left behind and asks the court to freeze all the company’s assets until it can be determined how they should be distributed.
The IRS is looking for assets belonging to a host of box holders in whom the government has a special interest:
William A. and Mildred A. Lamphere of Cranston, a coin dealer and his wife, who the agency asserts owes the government nearly $691,000 in back taxes.
Frank “Babe” Kowal, under indictment for possession of stolen goods, has access to four boxes under an assumed name.
Eugene Carlino, indicted for tax evasion after an investigation by the IRS and the Organized Crime Racketeering Strike Force, has four boxes in his own name and access to four others under an assumed name.
Matthew Levine, indicted by the same two government agencies, has access to at least two boxes under the name of a real estate company with which he was associated.
Raymond Lyons, a professional gambler under investigation by a special federal grand jury looking into organized gambling in Rhode Island, has access to three boxes in his wife’s maiden name.
One of the box holders is William Marrapese, whose life term in prison for murder was recently reduced after he testified for the government in a related case; he has access to four boxes in the names of two people who could not be reached for comment.
One of the box holders is Frederick Carrozza, whose address is listed as 168 Atwells Avenue, the location of Raymond L. S. Patriarca’s National Cigarette Service Co. and Coin-O-Matic Distributors. Patriarca was a partner with the late Philip Carrozza, Frederick Carozza’s father. Patriarca and the younger Carrozza deny having any mutual business interests.
Most everyone else on the list of box holders has “no comment” for reporters, which is of course a damning kind of comment in itself. It’s also one of Rhode Island’s most popular responses when the circumstances are untoward or embarrassing, right up there with “I don’t know nothing.”