Accused Boston mobster was living as Idaho rancher
SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) - An accused Boston mobster posing as a rancher and living under an assumed name in a small Idaho farm town pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to attempted murder, racketeering and a raft of other federal charges, authorities said.
Enrico M. Ponzo, 42, was a member of La Cosa Nostra in New England when he fled Boston in 1994 after being accused of drug crimes, according to the FBI.
Ponzo on Wednesday waived his right to a federal hearing in Idaho over his identity, admitting he was the fugitive from Boston and not Jeffrey John Shaw, the alias he adopted while living in Idaho, said Christian Nafzger, assistant U.S. attorney in Boise.
Ponzo asked a federal judge to allow him to travel to Boston to face charges, Nafzger said. The government will argue in U.S. District Court Friday that Ponzo should remain in custody and be transported by federal marshals to Massachusetts.
"We believe him to be a flight risk and a danger to the community," Nafzger told Reuters in an interview.
The suspected member of La Cosa Nostra had been living quietly as a stay-at-home dad and hobby rancher in rural southwest Idaho for the past nine years, neighbors said.
Bodie Clapier of Marsing, Idaho said the farming community of 800 about 45 miles southwest of Boise is still reeling from the shock of learning Ponzo's true identity.
Clapier said Ponzo, whom he referred to as "Jay," built a house and tended cattle near Clapier's ranch along the banks of the Snake River.
Describing his reaction to Ponzo's arrest Monday and the alleged checkered past of his friend, Clapier said, "I feel like I've been kicked."
He added, "It's neighbors helping neighbors, that's the way it is around here; it always has been and always will be. That's why we feel misused."
Clapier said Ponzo tended to two children he had with a girlfriend and to the cows, now being fed by other stockmen.
The accused mobster-turned-rancher was good with guns but out of his league when it came to the 10 cows he raised on 12 acres. Clapier said Ponzo relied on neighbors for bovine advice.
When Ponzo's girlfriend left him several months ago, Clapier and his family invited him over for Christmas dinner.
"We felt sorry for him," Clapier said.
The fugitive Ponzo was indicted by a federal grand jury in 1997, along with 14 other men, for multiple violent crimes stemming from what authorities said was a bid for control of organized crime activity in the greater Boston area.
The power grab by the breakaway mobsters led to the killing of three men, the attempted murder of seven and the plot to kill another eight, with victims and targets members of a rival faction of the Patriarca Family of La Cosa Nostra headed by Francis P. "Cadillac Frank" Salemme, authorities said in a written release.
Ponzo faces a string of attempted murder charges, including trying to kill Salemme in Saugus, Massachusetts in 1989. He is accused of dozens of felonies, including multiple counts of conspiracy to murder, gun crimes and extortion.
If convicted, Ponzo could face life in prison.
(Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Jerry Norton)
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