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Ex-N.E. Mob Associate Ponzo Is Convicted In Attempted Hit

A former Mob associate who spent over a decade posing as a cattle rancher in Idaho has been convicted in a string of federal charges, including the attempted murder of a man who became the boss of the New England Mafia.

Enrico Ponzo was convicted Wednesday in a racketeering indictment after a monthlong trial.

Prosecutors said Ponzo teamed up with a faction of mobsters that wanted to stop Francis "Cadillac Frank" Salemme from becoming the boss of the Patriarca crime family. Ponzo was convicted of being one of the triggermen who shot at Salemme in 1989 as he walked into a pancake house in Saugus, north of Boston. He was acquitted of several other charges.

Ponzo fled in 1994 and wasn't captured until 2011, when authorities found him in Marsing, Idaho.

Sentencing was set for March 6.

This program aired on November 20, 2013. The audio for this program is not available.

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