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BOSTON (AP) — A reputed New England mob associate who lived as a cattle rancher in Idaho under an alias for more than a decade before he was caught and convicted of several crimes should spend 40 years in prison, federal prosecutors said in a sentencing recommendation.
Enrico Ponzo, 45, is scheduled to be sentenced Monday in U.S. District Court in Boston after his conviction in November on a string of federal charges, including the attempted murder of a man who became the boss of the New England Mafia.
Ponzo was an active participant in the violent Mafia power struggles during the 1980s and 1990s, prosecutors said.
"The reign of terror imposed on the city of Boston by Ponzo, his confederates, and their enemies during the shooting war impacted the lives of everyone who lived here," and was motivated by greed for status, power and money, prosecutors wrote, according to The Boston Globe (http://bit.ly/1l7leGY ).
They described Ponzo as a "vicious, violent, cold-blooded criminal."
Ponzo, representing himself, requested a sentence of 15 years or fewer. He said he lived a "hardworking, selfless life in Idaho from 2000 through 2011 as a stay-at-home dad, cattle rancher, and elected community volunteer."
A jury found Ponzo responsible for the attempted murder in June 1989 of Francis "Cadillac Frank" Salemme, who was shot by masked men outside a suburban Boston pancake house. Salemme survived and later became head of the New England mob. Ponzo was acquitted of some charges, including two killings and four other attempted murders.
Ponzo fled Boston to Arizona in 1994 and wasn't captured until 2011, when authorities found him in Marsing, Idaho, where he ran a small ranch and used an alias.
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Information from: The Boston Globe, http://www.bostonglobe.com
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