Frank Salemme. (FBI)
BOSTON (WBZ-AM) -- Murder after murder was detailed Thursday by the government's star witness in the Frank Salemme murder trial--though only one, the killing of Stephen DiSarro, was the subject of the case.
Steven 'The Rifleman' Flemmi, a close associate of James 'Whitey' Bulger, took the stand against his former friend for the second day in a row.
He told jurors in the Federal Courthouse in Boston how he stopped by Salemme's home in Sharon one day in 1993 to talk to the mob boss. He claims he walked in on Frank Salemmi, Jr. strangling DiSarro as Paul Weadick held his feet and Salemmi Sr. watched. It's the only eyewitness account of that killing that jurors will hear.
Flemmi said he had known DiSarro's days were numbered, because Salemme was becoming increasingly concerned that DiSarro would start talking to federal investigators. A grand jury was looking into the crime connections of the Channel Nightclub, which DiSarro ran and which Salemme had a hidden interest in.
Last week, former mafia capo Robert DeLuca also claimed DiSarro was skimming money from the club.
Salemme Trial: Defense Calls Mobster's Testimony Into Question
Robert DeLuca claims he helped plot Stephen DiSarro's murder with "Cadillac" Frank Salemme--but Salemme's attorneys say he's cooking up his testimony.
Flemmi said he even told his son not to hang around DiSarro because "something was going to happen" to him--but said he didn't expect to walk in on his murder.
He told jurors that, as soon as he saw DiSarro strangled, he took off--"I wanted to leave as soon as I could." He then testified that Salemme told him how DiSarro's body was disposed of by DeLuca in Rhode Island.
DiSarro's remains were discovered behind a Providence mill in 2016.
Flemmi was then led through several other killings that he was involved in as an enforcer for the Winter Hill Gang. Those killings eventually led to Flemmi's life sentence and his role as a witness for the prosecution.
In cross-examination, Salemme attorney Steven Boozang asked Flemmi why, if he was an informant for FBI agent John Connolly, he didn’t tell feds in 1993 about the DiSarro murder.
Flemmi first told the FBI about the murder in 2003, as part of the plea deal that ultimately spared him from the death penalty.
Boozang also had Flemmi walk jurors through the murder of his girlfriend at the hands of Whitey Bulger as he watched.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Kendall Buhl reports