Longtime Boston Area Mob Boss Dead At 84: Report

This figure had been a member of the local mafia since 1989.

By Benjamin Pierce, Patch Staff

Sep 30, 2026 2:37 PM EDT | Updated Sep 30, 2026 2:38 PM EDT

BOSTON, MA — A longtime New England mobster who once served as acting boss of the Patriarca crime family has died at 84, according to a report from WPRI 12.

Anthony "Spucky" Spagnolo, of Revere, spent decades as a major figure in the New England crime family and took over as acting boss in 2012. His last legal incident with federal authorities came in 2014, when he was charged in an extortion case involving protection payments from a company that supplied illegal digital poker machines. He pleaded guilty two years later and was sentenced to 20 months in federal prison.

Spagnolo was also among the mobsters present during a notorious Mafia induction ceremony held at a home on Guild Street in Medford on Oct. 29, 1989. Then-boss Raymond "Junior" Patriarca presided over the ceremony as four new members were inducted into the crime family. Unknown to the men inside, the FBI secretly recorded the gathering, creating what remains the only Mafia induction ceremony captured on tape in the United States.

The recording contributed to a federal case against Spagnolo, who was among 21 men indicted in 1990. He pleaded guilty the following year to racketeering and drug charges and served nine years in prison.