Sponsored by Russo, Spagnolo was inducted into La Cosa Nostra by the Family’s namesake Raymond Patriarca in an early-1980s ceremony, Patriarca’s first after being released from prison on a murder conspiracy conviction, per sources in Boston law enforcement.
His arrest record dates back to the late 1950s, with charges ranging from public drunkenness and disturbing the peace to narcotics trafficking, armed robbery and racketeering.
FBI records allege that Spagnolo traveled to California with Russo to murder infamous New England mob strong-arm turned government witness Joseph (Joe the Animal) Barboza in 1976. Multiple informants told their FBI handlers that Spagnolo acted as the getaway driver and look-out on February 11, 1976 while Russo shot-gunned Barboza on a San Francisco street corner.
Throughout the 1980s, Spagnolo frequented “The Roma,” an East Boston Italian eatery owned by Biagio DiGiacomo, a Sicilian-born Patriarca Family captain. In 1985, DiGiacomo’s crew, which at that time was a sub-faction of J.R. Russo’s regime and included Spagnolo, was infiltrated by an undercover FBI agent named Vincent DelaMontaigne.