His reign as Mafia boss ended when he, notorious Boston gangster James “Whitey” Bulger and others were charged in a sweeping racketeering case in 1995. Salemme and Bulger fled after they were tipped off to the impending indictment by Bulger’s FBI handler, John Connolly Jr.

Salemme was arrested in Florida several months later while Bulger spent 16 years on the lam before being captured at the age of 81 in Santa Monica, California. Bulger was killed by fellow inmates in prison in 2018 at the age of 89.

The racketeering case revealed that Bulger and Salemme’s best friend, Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi, had secretly worked as FBI informants. Upset that his fellow mobsters had turned on him, Salemme agreed to plead guilty and cooperate with authorities.