Robert “Bobby” DeLuca a former captain in the New England mafia has been arrested and charged with lying to the feds about a 1993 mafia murder.
The newly released indictment confirms that DeLuca became a cooperating witness for the feds in 2011 and helped in a case which dismantled the Patriarca crime family. DeLuca was indicted on multiple charges and agreed to a plea deal with the feds and in exchange for his cooperation, he was sentenced to only one day in prison. But as part of the 2011 plea deal, he was supposed to provide prosecutors with complete and truthful information about any crimes he knew about or was involved in. According to the feds new evidence alleges that DeLuca lied when he falsely stated that he had no information about Steven DiSarro’s disappearance during questioning by the FBI in 2011.
According to the indictment, DiSarro was killed by former New England mob boss Francis “Cadillac Frank” Salemme in May of 1993. According to the report “Shortly after the murder of DiSarro, Salemme transported DiSarro’s body to Providence, R.I., where the defendant Deluca arranged to have the body buried in the vicinity of 715 Branch Ave.” Earlier this year an FBI investigation discovered DiSarro’s remains at the Branch Ave location. The body was positively identified as DiSarro earlier this month through the use of DNA. DiSarro disappeared after the nightclub he owned to which Salemme was believed to have a hidden interest in became the focus of a criminal probe into the mobster. No one has even been charged with the murder of DiSarro.
Salemme pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice charges back in 2008 as part of a plea deal with the feds for making false statements about the murder but never admitted to having any role in the hit. DeLuca is now facing a three-count indictment which includes obstruction of justice charges and making false statements to the feds. DeLuca made an appearance in federal court on Monday where the case was unsealed and is being held in custody until a detention hearing on Thursday. DeLuca became part of American mafia history when the 1989 mob ceremony in which be became a made member of the Patriarca family became the first ever to be captured on tape by the FBI.
