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‘protected’ bookies after leaving jail in 1959. It made us look bad—and that made him dead. DeMarco was also a fool. He knew he was playing with fire and he got burned.”
    It is not clear from Cresta’s tales who actually shot DeMarco, though Cresta certainly wouldn’t have had any problem putting bullets into DeMarco’s brain if he’d been given the contract. Cresta had no pity for the district attorney’s office, either, who never got their indictment for DeMarco’s murder. “They knew they’d never solve that DeMarco hit. The number of people who wanted to see DeMarco dead could fill Boston Garden.”
    Though Droney’s public indignation did not bring about an indictment, Phil Cresta did get in trouble because of the investigation. He had to show up at the courthouse daily, as did the other gangsters who had been subpoenaed with him. One day as he waited in the corridor Phil met one of his old friends from his younger days at the Concord reformatory, who was now a felon. The two went across the street to a deli and talked about their days at Concord and life since. Little did Phil know that his old nemesis, Sergeant Doherty, was sitting in a back booth.
    After Phil and his buddy left, Doherty went straight to Phil’s parole officer, turned him in for associating with a felon, and insisted on punishment. So, though Phil had recently been seen on television every night in the company of the known felons subpoenaed by Droney, Cresta was returned to prison for violation of parole. He did not stay there long.
    By this time, Phil had a small army on his payroll: informants, hoods, elected and appointed officials. To him, crime was a game, and whoever had enough money, connections, or influence usually won. One of Phil’s payees worked in Governor Foster Furcolo’s office, and he gave Phil a get-out-of-jail-free card after he’d served only three weeks.
    It just so happened that the day Phil left jail, it was raining. Hard. Phil decided to pay a debt. Instead of going to his favorite bar, he headed for Arlington. The next morning, after a night of steady rain, Sergeant Doherty discovered his car windows wideopen and about a foot of rainwater on the car floor. He complained bitterly about Cresta’s release to a guy in the governor’s office. The man listened to Doherty’s claims that Phil Cresta was responsible for everything except the bombing of Pearl Harbor, thanked Doherty for all the information, then called Phil to tell him what the sergeant had just said about him.

3
Massachusetts Tightens Its Pockets
    P HIL DIDN’T LIKE ANGIULO . In Phil’s words, “Jerry Angiulo was a greedy bastard who liked to have his ass kissed.” By the time January 1961 rolled around, Phil figured he’d made enough money for Angiulo and it was time to make some for himself. He was still doing some muscle work for Angiulo, but being a strong arm was never his forte. Phil had been working on an idea for quite some time. All he needed was the right day to set his plan in motion.
    â€œWhen I woke up on the morning of Kennedy’s inauguration, I knew that was the day. The weather had to be some kind of omen. Not only was there a couple of feet of snow on the ground, but this was the one day when everyone, at least everyone in Boston, would be home watching Kennedy. It was perfect.”
    Phil left the house wearing a large trench coat and a mask, which could be pulled down over his face to ward off both the weather and nosy witnesses. He also carried a large black suitcase. Inside was a hacksaw. Phil was the only person on downtown Boston’s Washington Street that day, which gave him an eerie feeling. “I knew there wouldn’t be a lot of people on thestreet, but it was like I was in the Twilight Zone or something. There was nobody around, nobody. All the time I’m walking down Washington Street, I can hear radios broadcasting