Cogitator March 7, 2012

No Visiting Rotarians

Guests

Mykahla Gardiner, Laura Krohn's paralegal (and according to Laura, para-everything), joined us for lunch.  President Mike Gemma also invited young potential future Rotarians, Megan Krueger and Meredith McRory.  

Birthdays

Happy birthday wishes were passed on with a particularly Rotary serenade for Jane Boynton.  March 9th is Jane's official birthday, but we're told by friends that it will be more of a happy birthday weekend.  

Rotaract

Bill TenEyck planned to gather several volunteers and also bring for display a Rotary Shelter-Box (thanks to the South Dartmouth Club) at New England Tech, Friday, March 9th.  The new Rotaract Club gears up and begins its quest for new members, under Bill's capable and enthusiastic leadership. 

New Member Induction

Newest member Jim Lazarides was sworn in today by President Mike, with the assistance of Past Presidents Richard Waterman and Ed Neff.  Jim, the owner of Quaker Lane Marketing in North Kingstown, becomes our 55th member. 

Welcome to East Greenwich Rotary, Jim!  

Happy Bucks

John Wolcott gave a buck for an old Rotary friend who passed away in 2010, Gideon Bruce Hevenor.  John was at the RI Veterans Memorial Cemetery and came upon Bruce's headstone by chance.  Below is taken from Legacy.com. 

Mr. Hevenor was a graduate of Boston University. He served honorably in the active Army for more than 20 years, retiring as Lieutenant Colonel. He served during World War II, training as a gunner on B-17 and B-24 airplanes. He was a paratrooper who served in the US Army 503 rd Airborne Infantry Regiment, 11th Airborne Division, and 7 th and 6 th Special Forces Groups (Airborne). A decorated veteran, he served in Vietnam in 1967 and 1968, earning the Bronze Star with Valor.

Upon his return to the US, he served as Professor of Military Science and head of the ROTC Dept. at Providence College. Following his retirement from the military, Mr. Hevenor became a Realtor in the RI area. 

A great believer in community support, Mr. Hevenor was a long time member of the East Greenwich Rotary Club. He also received special recognition for his more than 135 blood donations totaling more than 18 gallons of blood.
 

Bob Miller remembered Bruce as a good man, and someone who always demanded 'G.I. issued' glasses when visiting his office.

Vin Meola welcomed Jim Lazarides to the club.  He also flashed back to his days at Providence College, when Colonel Hevenor very persuasively 'talked him into' staying in ROTC.  

Betsy DePrimo welcome our newest member to the club, while wishing Ken Colaluca well at the upcoming PETS (president-elect training seminar) conference.  Also, she was able to spend some time this past week with a good friend of our club, Alan Clarke, who each year does yeoman-like work in getting our phonebook published.  

Jane Boynton thanked everyone for a rousing Happy Birthday song. 

Bill TenEyck gave a thankful 'all clear' buck, after wife Daphne's workplace scare recently.  Daphne works at the West Warwick school which received a mysterious package, one which was later determined to be corn starch.  Until that determination, it was a harrowing day for the TenEycks and everyone involved.    

Ed Neff truly enjoyed putting together a slide show of pictures for his son, who is getting married in May.  

Mike Gemma welcomed Jimmy and gave a happy buck for his guests, Megan and Meredith.


Program/Speaker

Arlene Violet, Author of 'The Mob and Me; Wiseguys and the Witness Protection Program'

Arlene Violet is a Rhode Island icon.  A former nun and attorney general, Arlene hosted for 16 years a successful prime time radio show on WHJJ.  She is still considered an expert on the Rhode Island political scene.  In 2010 she wrote a musical, 'The Family-A Musical Drama about the Mob,' with composer Enrico Garzilli.  Arlene is also an author, who comes to us to discuss her most recent book, 'The Mob and Me, Wise Guys and the Witness Protection Program.'

John Partington is, in Arlene Violet's estimation, a Rhode Island hero.  She credits him with starting the Witness Protection Program in Rhode Island in 1967, thus helping the state methodically put mobsters behind bars.  Those were the days of the late Raymond Patriarca, crime boss of Rhode Island and the Eastern seaboard. 

Protecting 'wise guys' was very dangerous.  John Partington never knew whom to really trust, and he always feared for his wife and children.  Partington always had to think one step ahead of the guys trying to kill his witnesses.  

His job included securing completely new identifications for his witnesses and their families.  Partington worked with Doctor Farrelly from Cumberland (father of the movie-making Farrelly brothers) to actually create full medical records for each family member.  He succeeded in securing new names and social security numbers.  Sometimes, mobsters were hidden 'in plain sight,' including the time he had a family stay with the Sisters of Mercy in Cumberland. 

Partington often battled J. Edgar Hoover and his men when they broke a deal he and his men made.  Breaking deals with witnesses made his job that much more difficult, and dangerous. 

Patriarca's men often knew no other life than that of the mob.  They became 'wise guys' at a young age, and once in, what else could they do?  They were in the mob for life.  Many of them may not have been book smart, but they 'had PhD's in street smarts.'  

Arlene shared a couple of stories, including that of Joe Barboza, a hitman who got into a fight at a bar one night, ended up killing a man, and was jailed.  He figured he would quickly be bailed out by Patriarca, but 'the boss' was angered over the unsanctioned murder and decided to let him stew in jail for awhile.  Calculating that he was out of favor and that someone was going to snuff him out in jail, Barboza, a 24-time murderer, began cooperating with Partington.  

Another story centers on Vinnie Teresa, who while in jail began to feel the same way as Barboza.  Someone was about to 'clip' him, he was certain.  He got this feeling because...no one from Federal Hill sent his family a turkey or ham during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.  Partington thus had another witness protection family to take care of.  Here, Arlene noted that luck, as much as anything else, was part of her days as attorney general catching and prosecuting bad guys. 

Arlene still remains fascinated by the stories, and the people, in her newest book.  And she will always have great respect and affection for her 'Rhode Island hero,' John Partington.  

Arlene Violet signing a copy of her book for Ken Colaluca