Vinnie the Animal and another of his associates Patsy Barone were both convicted of Limoli’s murder in 1991 and 1993 respectively, but released from their prison sentences early due to the main witness against them, a former gangster pal of theirs named Walter
Jordan, recanting his testimony and the federal prosecutor not informing counsel for Ferrara or Barone of the development during plea-bargain negotiations.
Barone was the alleged shooter in the Limoli hit (which took place in front of a local restaurant), Vinnie the Animal allegedly ordered it. The Boston College-educated Ferrara, 65, once viewed as a certain future Godfather in the Patriarca Family, is currently retired from his life in the mob and running a series of legitimate businesses in the North End since being released from behind bars in 2005.
In January 1987, with the Beantown crime syndicate on the verge of erupting into violence and splitting into an all-out civil war, Spagnolo was tape-recorded telling the wired-for-sound DelaMontaigne, “Things are tough these days in the mafia…I might have to go back to making money the old-fashioned way, pulling kids out of their sneakers and emptying their fucking pockets.”