17 Facts About Ilario Zannino

Ilario Zannino was an American mobster who was a member of the Patriarca crime family of New England.

Ilario Zannino was a paternal nephew or a paternal first cousin of Boston Patriarca family mobster Phillip Zannino.

Ilario Zannino was born in Roxbury, Boston to Joseph Zannino and Isabella LaGrada and raised in a house on Shawmut Avenue in South End, Boston.

Ilario Zannino moved to South Boston in the late 1930s, and graduated from Franklin High School in 1938.

Ilario Zannino's relatives owned a pig farm in Stoughton, Massachusetts where it was believed that the body of murdered Greek-American mob associate James Bratsos was buried in 1954, although no one has ever been charged in the disappearance of Bratsos.

Ilario Zannino's classmates called him "Zip" which later become ironically the same nickname of FBI Special Agent John Connolly who would later successfully prosecute him for his criminal activities.

Ilario Zannino allegedly stabbed a waiter to death in a South End restaurant for slow service.

Ilario Zannino was classmates with a future elementary school principal named Larry who were in the "Let's Go" youth gang together.

In 1949, Ilario Zannino married Isabel Tawa, who worked as a saleswoman at Gilchrist's department store and later owned and managed properties in South Boston.

Ilario Zannino agreed with Soroko that his appraiser, Lewis Strauss, would examine the jewelry.

Ilario Zannino was sentenced to ten to twenty years in prison.

Ilario Zannino was an extortionist, and his victims at one time included Gennaro "Jerry" Angiulo, who made a payment to New England Mafia boss Raymond "the Man" Patriarca to have Ilario Zannino's shakedown ceased.

Ilario Zannino then went on to work for Anguilo as an enforcer.

Ilario Zannino was a close associate of Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi, an FBI informant who was connected with Italian organized crime in Boston's North End as well as the Winter Hill Gang, an Irish mob group in Somerville.

The identity of Barboza's killers remained unknown until Ilario Zannino was secretly recorded by the FBI talking about the murder in 1981.

Ilario Zannino later claimed in court after being convicted that he was drunk on red wine at the time he was taped, stating in the recording: "I want to kill Harvey Cohen very shortly".

Ilario Zannino repeatedly asserted that he was unfit to stand trial due to heart problems, a claim that was overruled by federal judges.