Notorious mobster Frank ‘Bobo’ Marrapese dies

December 22, 2017 6:24 pm

By: Rebecca Turco

Email: rturco@abc6.com

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Rhode Island mobster Frank “Bobo” Marrapese died Friday morning, while serving a sentence at the ACI.

A spokesperson for the RI Department of Corrections confirmed Marrapese died at Rhode Island Hospital, after he was transported to the hospital earlier in the week. The 74 year-old had been serving a nine-year sentence for his role in a sports betting ring.

The made member of the Patriarca family was notorious in the mafia underground. "He was gruff, that’s just the way he was," explained Brian Andrews, a retired captain of the Rhode Island State Police.

"He was big physically; he was built like a bulldog. He was wild, he was dangerous."

The law caught up to the capo in 1987, when he was convicted of murdering mob associate Richard “Dickie” Callei at a Federal Hill social club 12 years earlier. "They shot him, they stabbed him,” said Andrews. “It was kind of crazy the way they killed him, rather than just typical mob fashion where they put a bullet in the back of your head."

Marrapese served 25 years in the ACI and was released on parole in 2008. Two years later, he was arrested for violating conditions of his parole.

In 2011, Marrapese was among two dozen mobsters rounded up in a state police sweep of an illegal sports betting ring. He eventually pleaded guilty to seven charges, including RICO and conspiracy, in 2013.

Marrapese was denied parole on his nine-year sentence in September.