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Billy Barnoski
| Billy Barnoski was an associate (read: enforcer) for Winter Hill race-fixer Fat Tony Ciulla. After being released from prison around 1987, Barnoski wanted back in the rackets. Whitey had no use for Barnoski – he was a Somerville guy – so he told him to go to Lowell and work with Jackie McDermott, a well-known jack-of-all-trades rogue, primarily a bookie, who been absorbed into the Winter Hill Gang after they wiped out his original bookmaking partner, Indian Joe Notarangeli. Barnoski and McDermott did not hit it off, and soon Barnoski decided to hit Jackie and take over the Merrimack Valley rackets completely. Late one night, after a feast at a Chinese restaurant, he drove to Jackie’s house and shot him in the head, killing him instantly. He then severely wounded McDermott's son, Peter, but neglected to finish him off. The next year, Barnoski was convicted of murder on Peter McDermott’s testimony. He is now serving a life sentence in a Massachusetts state prison. (In the photo, he is on the witness stand, claiming Peter actually shot Jackie. The jury didn’t buy it.) |
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