Joseph Barboza
Chief prosecution witness in the 1968 federal trial of Raymond Patriarca and others. Federal courts later found that his testimony in the Deegan murder case was perjured and that his FBI handlers knew it. He was murdered in 1976, a federal court states.
- Died
- 1976
- Aliases
- Joe (Barboza) Baron, The Animal
- Rights
- Biography on this page is limited to what the cited federal records state.
On the record
- 1967–1968 — Patriarca v. United States, 402 F.2d 314: "The chief witness for the prosecution, one Baron, was named as a co-conspirator but not a defendant." The opinion quotes Boston newspaper stories of May 1967 about "one Joe (Barboza) Baron."
- 1968 — Limone v. United States, 497 F. Supp. 2d 143 (2007): "The plaintiffs were convicted of Deegan's murder based on the perjured testimony of Joseph 'The Animal' Barboza." The court found the FBI agents handling him were Dennis Condon and H. Paul Rico.
- February 1976 — United States v. Salemme, 91 F. Supp. 2d 141 (1999): "Barboza was murdered in February 1976." The same opinion states that "Barboza's testimony led to the convictions of Patriarca and several of his associates."
- 27 August 2009 — Limone v. United States, 579 F.3d 79: "the FBI agents responsible for handling Barboza exhibited a callous disregard for the scapegoats' rights."
He is the subject of these records as a Government witness. The courts’ findings about his testimony and about the FBI’s handling of him are quoted above. “The Animal” is quoted from the 2007 opinion; “Joe (Barboza) Baron” is the newspaper form quoted in the 1968 opinion. This page gives no family or role because no opened federal record states one.
Records
itemPatriarca v. United States, 402 F.2d 314 (1st Cir. 1968)First Circuit opinion of October 14, 1968 affirming Raymond Patriarca's conviction for conspiring to travel and use the telephone in interstate commerce with intent to commit murder to further an unlawful gambling enterprise. It does not mention Las Vegas.itemLimone v. United States, 497 F. Supp. 2d 143 (D. Mass. 2007)Judge Gertner's findings of July 26, 2007, after a bench trial, that the 1968 convictions for the 1965 Deegan murder rested on Joseph Barboza's perjured testimony and that the FBI was liable under the Federal Tort Claims Act.itemLimone v. United States, 579 F.3d 79 (1st Cir. 2009)First Circuit opinion of August 27, 2009 affirming Federal Tort Claims Act liability and damages of over $100 million in the suits arising from the 1968 Deegan murder convictions.itemUnited States v. Salemme, 91 F. Supp. 2d 141 (D. Mass. 1999)Judge Wolf's memorandum of September 15, 1999 setting out, after long hearings, the FBI's relationship with informants Stephen Flemmi and James Bulger, the 1981 bugging of 98 Prince Street and the 1989 Medford recording. Reversed in part in 2000.itemEverything Secret Degenerates: The FBI's Use of Murderers as Informants, H. Rept. 108-414, vol. 1 (2004)Report of the House Committee on Government Reform on the FBI's use of Joseph Barboza, the Flemmi brothers and James Bulger as informants in Boston, with a long chronology. It quotes a 1967 Justice Department memorandum on the microphone at Raymond Patriarca's Providence office.