Patriarca, vicious and brutal in his demands, once ordered an elderly mafioso to murder his own son because the younger man had cost Patriarca some money when a deal fell through. When the man wept that he could not do it, Patriarca threw him out of the family, and relented only when his underboss, Henry Tameleo, pleaded the case. Another time Patriarca put up $22,000 for his men on a cargo of stolen cigarettes; when the FBI nabbed the load, Patriarca insisted that the men get together $22,000 to repay him. When an Irish gangster in Boston, Bernard McLaughlin, attempted to take over the Mafia's loan shark rackets, Patriarca had the entire gang killed. The gangster even put a death contract out on his own brother because he did not notice an FBI bug installed in Patriarca's office.
Although he was labeled by the Providence Board of Public Safety as "Public Enemy No. 1," Patriarca went to jail only once in the 1930s. In that case, he was sentenced to five years on an armed robbery charge, but he served only a few months. An inquiry into the pardon pointed the finger at Executive Councilor Daniel Coakley, Governor Charles F. Hurley's right-hand man. Coakley had drawn up the petition to have Patriarca pardoned after listening to appeals from "Father Fagin," a non-existent priest. Coakley was impeached and disbarred from public office, while Patriarca's reputation was enhanced as a man with political connections. By the 1940s he was recognized as a Mafia leader and by the 1950s he reigned supreme as the top crime boss in Boston and throughout the New England area. See: Genovese, Vito; Syndicate, The.