Reputed Mob Leader, 7 Others Convicted : Mafia: Officials say racketeering verdicts signal death knell for Rhode Island crime family. Tapes recorded induction ceremony.

HARTFORD, Conn. —  The Patriarca crime family’s reputed boss and seven underlings were convicted Thursday of racketeering in a trial that provided a glimpse into the Mafia, including a secretly recorded mob induction ceremony.

“These defendants, out of their own mouths, convicted themselves,” Assistant U.S. Atty. John Durham said.

Authorities boasted that the convictions of reputed Patriarca boss Nicholas L. Bianco and seven associates signaled the death knell of the Providence, R. I.-based organization. It allegedly has controlled rackets in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut since the 1940s.

“Obviously, it’s very gratifying that the head of the organization was convicted,” Durham said.

A federal indictment charged various defendants with gambling, loan sharking, extortion, attempted murder and murder to support criminal enterprises that authorities say took in hundreds of millions of dollars over the last decade alone.

All eight defendants were found guilty of at least one count of racketeering, defined as committing crimes to support a continuing criminal enterprise.

Three were also convicted in the 1989 slaying of William Grasso, the family’s feared boss in Connecticut, and a fourth was found guilty of conspiracy in Grasso’s death.

The eight were among 21 alleged members and associates of the Patriarca crime family who were indicted in March, 1990.

Seven others will be tried in Boston this fall, including Raymond J. Patriarca, who prosecutors allege was the family boss until he was replaced by Bianco after his indictment last year. The others pleaded guilty earlier in return for reduced sentences.

Most of the defendants reacted stoically as the verdicts were read. But Gaetano Milano, convicted of murder in Grasso’s death, clasped his hands in front of his face and shook his head.

“Yes, we’re disappointed,” said Jeremiah Donovan, attorney for Louis Failla. “We got our hopes up and then they were dashed.”

Convicted in Grasso’s death were Milano, accused of being the triggerman, and Frank Colantoni Jr. and Louis Pugliano. Frank Pugliano was found guilty of conspiracy. Convicted on other charges were Bianco, Failla, Salvatore D’Aquila and Americo Petrillo.

U.S. District Judge Alan H. Nevas set sentencing for Nov. 25. Milano, Colantoni and Louis Pugliano face up to life in prison. The others face maximum sentences ranging from 40 to 80 years.

The government introduced more than 100 surveillance tapes during the three-month trial, including one described as the first-ever secretly taped recording of an induction ceremony.

According to the tape, the mobsters fussed over the seating arrangement and the buffet lunch before inductees had their trigger fingers cut for a blood oath of silence during the 1989 ceremony, which was attended by 17 people in Medford, Mass.

The prosecution’s case got a boost last summer when two defendants, John F. Castagna and his son, Jack Johns, decided to testify in return for reduced sentences.

Castagna and Johns said they participated in three failed attempts to kill Grasso before he was killed on June 13, 1989. Three days later, two fishermen found Grasso’s body on the banks of the Connecticut River. He had a bullet in the back of his neck.

Authorities believe Grasso was killed because leaders of the family’s Boston faction suspected that he and Patriarca were maneuvering to grab more control over the Boston rackets.