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Jury deliberations in Frank Salemme trial to start Tuesday

BOSTON — The closing arguments in the murder trial of a former New England mob boss began on Monday, and jury deliberations will start on Tuesday.

Cadillac Frank Salemme and co-defendant Paul Weadick are charged with murdering Boston nightclub owner Steven DiSarro in 1993.

Prosecutors say it was to prevent DiSarro from talking to the feds about Salemme's secret ownership of the club.

DiSarro's body was found in a mob grave in Providence 23 years later.

Salemme's fate will be in the hands of a federal jury as soon as closing arguments are done.

Salemme and Weadick face up to life in prison if convicted. They insist they're innocent.

Assistant U.S. Attorney William Ferland told jurors in his closing arguments Monday that Francis "Cadillac Frank" Salemme had Steven DiSarro killed because Salemme believed DiSarro was ratting him out to authorities.

Ferland said Salemme "aspired to be a gangster his entire adult life." Ferland says DiSarro's potential cooperation with authorities put all of Salemme's efforts to rise in the ranks of the organized crime world at risk.

Steven Boozang is a lawyer for ex-mobster Francis "Cadillac Frank" Salemme. Boozang told jurors in his closing arguments on Monday that Salemme had no reason to want Steven DiSarro dead.
Boozang dismissed prosecutors' argument that Salemme was worried DiSarro was cooperating with authorities.

He also sought to discredit the government's star witness, Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi. Boozang called Flemmi a "sociopath" and "career opportunist."

Boozang says Flemmi is lying about Salemme for a chance to get out of prison before he dies. Flemmi is currently serving a life sentence for 10 killings.

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