Curious Case of Patriarca Crime Family and American Nazi Party - Both Led By Providence Men

America is in the midst of a raging debate about the evils of Nazis in the United States, but Rhode Island has a special place in the history of the rise of the American Nazis.

In the mid-1960s, there was a growing partnership between the New England crime family led by Raymond Patriarca and George Lincoln Rockwell, the founder of the American Nazi Party.

Nothing brings strange bedfellows together more than the hate of a common enemy. The connection between the two arose from the common hatred of the black Attorney General of Massachusetts - Edward Brooke.

GoLocal, through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, secured the FBI file on crime boss Patriarca and excerpts from the nearly 10,000 pages unveil the tangled relationship between La Cosa Nostra and the Nazis.

View Larger +

While neither was born in Providence both Patriarca and Rockwell, functionally, grew up in Providence. Patriarca was born in Worcester and moved to Providence when he was toddler

He attended school until he dropped out at age 8 and started his career in crime in his teens. For nearly 50 years, Patriarca was one of America's most powerful forces in American organized crime.

According to the FBI dossier, Rockwell attended Central High School for his senior year after moving to Providence. He then attended Hebron Academy in Maine for a post graduate year.

In the fall of 1938, he was admitted to Brown University. “As Rockwell writes, it was the Director of Admission at Brown University who gave him the first clue that he ‘might be different from other people.’ Rockwell was told that he had the worst scholastic record of any one ever admitted to the university but also had attained the highest grade ever given on the college aptitude test,” reported the FBI.

“Rockwell attended Brown University until March 20, 1941, when he officially withdrew. In his last semester, he had begun to major in philosophy. He received no degrees,” according to the FBI.

View Larger +

Starting in 1965, the FBI surveillance of Patriarca unveiled the business relationship — which included the goal of killing Brooke — between Patriarca and Rockwell.

A January 12, 1965 memo from the Boston office of the FBI to Director J. Edgar Hoover unveiled a conversation between top level mafia and Patriarca.

The relationship between Patriarca was via a redacted name of a top level mafia boss to Rockwell. Patriarca met with few directly at the Coin-O-Matic on Atwells Avenue. He only met with those he trusted. The documents GoLocal secured from the FOIA includes the memos that synthesized illegal wiretaps as well as sourced materials.

“Concerning GEORGE LINCOLN ROCKWELL, [Jerry] ANGIULO mentioned that REDACTED has a machine gun, as he has shown JERRY this gun. PATRIARCA advised that the seminary that is to be opened by REDACTED in Maine will be called the White Church of America of Maine.” said the FBI memo.

“REDACTED also stated that as soon as EDWARD W. BROOKE Negro Attorney General of Massachusetts, runs for Governor for the State of Massachusetts, the ANP will infiltrate Massachusetts.”

The Patriarca crime family targeted Brooke because as Attorney General in 1963, Brooke started an “inquiry into additional racing dates by ‘phantom’ fairs, in particular, the 12 racing days awarded in the fashion to the Hancock Raceway.”

Patriarca had significant financial interest in the track at the time.

Party Politics

Brooke was the first Black Attorney General ever elected in the United States and later was the first Black United States Senator since Reconstruction. Brooke, a moderate Republican was considered a “good government” candidate, but his career ended when then-Middlesex County District Attorney John Kerry began an investigation into his finances.

As the New York Times reported in Brooke’s obituary, “He lost his bid for a third term to Representative Paul E. Tsongas, a Democrat, who received 55 percent of the vote. Mr. Brooke described the experience as “the lowest point in my life.”

Cleared by the Senate Ethics Committee four months later, he was nevertheless devastated. “Why did it happen?” he said in an interview with The Boston Globe in 2000. “I don’t know. I’ve asked my God that many times. ‘Why, why, why, dear God?’ ”

Brooke was never charged and the U.S. Senate Ethics Committee cleared him of any wrong doing.

Blacks, Jews, Mafia, and Nazis

Another FBI memo wrote,“REDACTED stated that he is closely associated with GEORGE LINCOLN ROCKWELL, the American Nazi Party Leader. He pointed out that the U.S. Army now has 30% Negroes, and that the draft boards are taking many more Negroes than whites. He estimated that in a few years the armed services will be comprised of over 50% Negroes, and warned PATRIARCA that at this time the Negroes having control of the armed forces, will take over the United States.”

According to the FBI documents, “He stated that ROCKWELL has intentions of running for Governor of Virginia. He is well received in Virginia and has high hopes of becoming Governor there. REDACTED had just returned from ROCKWELL’s headquarters in Virginia and described to PATRIARCA the physical layout. He stated that there are many individuals dressed as storm troopers upon entrance to the headquarters.

FBI documents reported:

"REDACTED ..told PATRIARCA that REDACTED desired to furnish funds to the ANP and in order to avoid any complications and tax problems ROCKWELL has requested REDACTED to find a location in Maine the ANP can open a seminary and thereby become known as a religious organization. In this way, REDACTED could furnish a substantial amount of money to the seminary which, in turn, would be used for the ANP.”

“REDACTED praised ROCKWELL and pointed out that ROCKWELL is going to beat the Jews at their own game, namely, the stock market. He stated that ROCKWELL is considering issuing ‘a declaration nationalizing the colored people.’ In this way he believes that the stock market will be virtually affected and the Jews will lose considerable money.”

Other documents in the Patriarca FBI file, reported, "PATRIARCA, JOE KIRK and LOUIS TAGLIANETTI discussed the racial situation. PATRIARCA feels that the Negroes should be given the right to vote, but they and white sympathizers should not be allowed to make a battleground out of a place like Selma. He believes the Negroes should be educated and that they are making many demands without trying to help themselves."

For Patriarca, he lived on Lancaster Street in Providence's Mount Hope section for decades -- a house that bordered both Black and Jewish neighborhoods. Another FBI documents reported, "RAYMOND stated that he has lived among the Jews for 36 years and never has encountered any prejudice. He believes that there is no prejudice on his part because of the fact that the Jewish people with whom he deals are educated."

In August of 1967, Rockwell was shot and killed while leaving a laundromat in Arlington, Virginia. He was killed by a member of the Nazi Party. Patriarca died in 1984.

Related Slideshow: 25 Interesting Americans Tied to Raymond Patriarca

Related Articles

Enjoy this post? Share it with others.