But law enforcement officials from the 1980s and 1990s knew Doe as one of Charlestown’s most notorious criminals, with a record that included convictions for bank robbery, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and being a felon in possession of a gun.

“Bad things would happen when he was around,” said Joe Desmond, a retired US Drug Enforcement Administration special agent who helped convict Doe and his brother, Ronnie, of selling heroin in Charlestown in 1997. “He or someone else would get shot.”

Most of the violence Doe was suspected of causing — including three homicides — never resulted in criminal charges. Officials said the investigations, along with many others at the time, were stymied by residents who obeyed an unwritten rule that forbade cooperation with police.
Law enforcement officials said they were constantly frustrated in their attempts to bring more serious charges against Doe, who was linked to shootings and murder plots. As one investigator told the Globe in 1989, “No one will testify against Butchie. The guy is genuinely feared.”

A product of Charlestown’s tough housing projects, Doe started robbing banks when he was a teenager, police said. By the time he was 30, he had survived four attempts on his life, including a stabbing when he was 14 and gunshots to his chest, arm, and head.