July 1994

CHARLESTOWN "CODE OF SILENCE"

On a summer night in 1992, George Sargent, 43, was shot to death outside a pizza parlor in Charlestown, Massachusetts. A few days earlier, he had provided information to police concerning criminal dealings in the neighborhood. As he lay dead on the sidewalk, no one called the police, and no one admitted to seeing the shooting. This startling response to the murder had become typical in Charlestown, a small community in North Boston. Members of the community were unwilling to share information that would facilitate homicide investigations because of their reliance on vigilante justice, fear of retaliation by criminals, and anti-police sentiment.

This unspoken “code of silence” made homicide investigations extremely difficult. Between 1975 and 1992, Charlestown experienced 49 murders, 33 of which were not solved. The community was being overrun by the “Irish Mob,” a group of violent career criminals who ran a major PCP and cocaine distribution center. Because intimidated citizens upheld the code of silence, these drug traffickers were able to operate with virtual impunity.

When it became clear that drugs were a large part of Charlestown’s crime problem, the DEA got involved and joined forces with the Massachusetts State Police, Boston Police Department, and the Boston Housing Police Department. DEA agents and local officers worked together to gather intelligence and establish a comprehensive case against the criminals in the neighborhood. In order to find informants critical to solving both drug and murder cases, agents arranged to protect any witnesses who agreed to testify against the Charlestown criminals. As a result of three years of extensive investigations in Charlestown, by July 1994, 40 defendants were indicted on charges that included racketeering, murder, attempted murder, conspiracy to distribute cocaine, and armed robbery. One indictment charged that two of the defendants paid hired killers $5,000 to murder those they believed were encroaching on their turf. Once violent criminals such as these were removed from the Charlestown community, the threat of retaliation disappeared and the code of silence was broken. A hotline set up by the DEA yielded hundreds of calls from community residents that resulted in valuable leads and more significant arrests.

One reason for the success of the Charlestown investigation is that it was a collaborative effort that used the resources and talents of many law enforcement agencies. In addition to aligning with the state and local police, the DEA Boston Division also worked on the Charlestown investigation with the U.S. Attorney’s Office; the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office; the FBI; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; the Special Investigations Unit of the Massachusetts Department of Corrections; and the U.S. Marshals Service.