One of the young followers of Ronnie Coppola was Bobby Buehne. The story of Buehne came to light in a series of articles, which appeared in the Providence Journal written by W. Zachary Malinowski in October 2001. A tough, muscular high school dropout, who was looking to make quick money by using his brawn, Buehne began cooperating with the local authorities when his criminal career didn�t go as planned.
Coppola introduced young Buehne to Kevin Hanrahan, a tough Irish hood from Federal Hill. Hanrahan�s legend began in 1975 when he was shot in the chest at a club on Atwells Avenue. Police arrived and found Hanrahan seated calmly in a chair refusing to say who had shot him. Hanrahan developed a reputation as the person to call when the mob wanted someone beaten, threatened or taken care of. Malinowski wrote, �Anytime there was a mob hit, Hanrahan topped the state police list of possible suspects.�
In 1990 Hanrahan was implicated in a plot to kidnap mob associate Blaise J. Marfeo, an important bookmaker for the Patriarca Family, outside an East Side restaurant. On September 18, 1992, after having dinner with Buehne, Paulie Calenda, a millionaire businessman and mob associate, and others, Hanrahan went to a North Providence bar called The Arch, where he told several people he was expecting a �big score.� After leaving the restaurant Hanrahan was walking down Atwells Avenue when two men confronted him. One pulled a .38 and fired three bullets into his face ending the life of the Irish tough guy.
In July 1993, Robert DeLuca and Anthony Michael �The Saint� St. Laurent Sr. along with 24 others were indicted for running a bookmaking operation out of the Foxy Lady strip club in Providence. DeLuca pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five years, while St. Laurent received 10 months for his role. On September 23, 1993, St. Laurent would gain notoriety by being entered into the infamous Nevada �Black Book,� a listing of people who are banned from setting foot in any casino in the state of Nevada.
On April 1, 1994, two more men Buehne had become associated with were murdered � one was his mob mentor, Ronnie Coppola. In these murders the killer was apprehended. Antonio �Nino� Cucinotta was a made member of the New England crime family. According to Malinowski, Cucinotta �became [Junior] Patriarca�s driver and gofer � chauffeuring him around town, picking up his coffee and morning newspapers, feeding and cleaning his dog. Patriarca paid him $100 a week. Nonetheless, there was an upside to the grunt work. Cucinotta was seen in the company of the head of organized crime in New England. He was with the boss at weddings, wakes and funerals.�
The mob prestige went down the drain when Patriarca was forced out as head of the crime family. Cucinotta soon found himself making a living as a flagman on a roadwork construction site. As times got worse and Cucinotta was short of cash he would go to Coppola for money. As the months passed Cucinotta�s demeanor turned ugly. He began to drink and get into arguments. The depression he suffered was treated with large does of Valium. Feeling suicidal, he would walk alone through cemeteries. His declining emotional state reached a peak on the night of March 31, 1994. Malinowski describes the evening�s events:
��Buehne stopped by the Hockey Fans Social Club. Cucinotta was there, at a table with Nicola Leonardo. Buehne noticed that they were chatting in Italian. Calenda was there, at another table with Coppola and [Peter] Scarpellino. Buehne stayed briefly at the club�
�Later, Calenda walked over to Cucinotta�s table and said that he understood Italian.
��What�s the big deal that you understand Italian?� Cucinotta responded.
�Cucinotta was offended that Calenda was trying to impress him. A few minutes later, Scarpellino approached Cucinotta.
��You know, Nino,� Scarpellino said in a low voice, �I was told to tell you that you�re not welcome in the club.�
�Cucinotta froze. He was infuriated that he � a made guy � would be subjected to such treatment from a nobody like Scarpellino. To make matters worse, the order was coming from his longtime friend Coppola.�
Cucinotta left, but not for long. He got a gun and returned. Walking into the social club, he headed directly toward the table where Coppola and Scarpellini were seated playing cards.
�Who the f--- is going to throw me out? You?� Cucinotta barked.
With that he fired two bullets into Ronnie Coppola�s head, killing him instantly. Scarpellini ran shoeless to the bathroom and locked himself in. Two shots fired through the door ripped through his neck and back killing him.
The following day Jack White, a news reporter for one of the local television stations, stopped at Paulie Calenda�s place of business. White had been told by his police sources that Calenda was actually the intended target of Cucinotta. When White relayed this info to Calenda, he responded by ordering him to leave. Later, after White did a live feed from the Hockey Fans Social Club, Calenda showed up and began to pummel him, splitting his lip in the process. White refused to press charges.
Cucinotta eventually pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder in May 1995, and agreed to become a government witness and testify against the Patriarca family.