Submitted by Tammy Eustis, Killingworth Library
(September 5, 2024) — Killingworth Library will present authors Joe Bradley and Anthony Arillotta on October 2, 2024 at 6:00 p.m., as they discuss their new tale of Arillotta’s time in the Mafia: South End Syndicate: How I Took Over the Genovese Springfield Crew.
The event will include a reading, a Q&A session with Bradley and Arillotta, and a signing. Books will be available for purchase.
Space is limited, so please register in advance by calling 860-663-2000 or visit the Calendar at the library’s website: killingworthlibrary.org.
More about South End Syndicate:
On a hot November day in 2003 in Springfield, Massachusetts, local Genovese family Captain “Big Al” Bruno was shot five times with a .45 caliber handgun as he walked out of the Our Lady of Mount Carmel social club—a lit cigar smoldering next to his lifeless body. Since Vito Genovese took his empire north from New York City, a string of mobsters dating back a hundred years has operated in the Greater Springfield area. With this migration came murders, mayhem, treachery, criminal trials, and constant corruption.
Not until 2010 did authorities charge new Springfield Genovese boss Anthony “Bingy” Arillotta with Bruno’s murder. At the time, Arillotta’s connections spanned the Northeast—from the Patriarca family in Rhode Island to the Angiulos in Boston to the Gambinos and Bonannos in New York, and from Billy Grasso and Whitey Tropiano in New Haven to Whitey Bulger’s Winter Hill Gang. During his seven-year reign, Arillotta had beautiful women, total power, and millions in cash. But it eventually came with a devastating price.
South End Syndicate tells the untold story of a young man who became infatuated with Springfield wise guys and rose from being a street criminal to becoming his city’s Mafia boss. How did a young Italian-American kid from Springfield work his way up the chain to become a “made” wise guy in charge of Western New England? Arillotta, now a free man, tells a timeless tale of power, money, and murder.
