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From street gang member to distinguished attorney: Riley authors 'My Life as a Prosecutor'

Wicked Local Northwest - 3/18/2021

Mar. 18—In his autobiography "My Life as a Prosecutor," Fred Riley recounts his exploits as a youth in a Revere gang who when faced with the decision of whether to kill a connected adversary or risk being murdered himself, found a way out through higher education that set the groundwork for a career as a prominent attorney.

The first half of the 439-page autobiography provides rich details about Riley's life growing up in Beachmont, a working-class neighborhood in Revere with a well-earned reputation for its toughness.

At 10 years old, Riley joined a gang made up of hardened street guys operating out of Campbell's Corner. The group became friends for life and always had each other's backs.

"I'm still close with these guys after 71 years," Riley said. "We were a bunch of tough guys on the corner who didn't take [crap] from anyone."

As a corner guy with his crew, Riley details the various mischief and juvenile delinquent activities he experienced.

Riley, a Saugus resident since the late 1970s, pulls no punches in expressing disdain for the bullies he encountered on the streets. His crew had tussles with some of the most notorious gangs around — including Joe "The Animal" Barboza's East Boston outfit and the Gustin Street Gang led by Donald Killeen and later Whitey Bulger.

"In those years, I led a full street life progressing from a simple street life to confrontations with serious people including tough street people, killers who were well mobbed up," Riley writes.

Riley contrasted his street gang with the organized crime syndicates that operated in Revere. His group ran afoul of the law, yes, but wasn't in the business or organized crime, he said.

"My Life as a Prosecutor" shines with Riley's love of Revere and how the city's culture of entertainment and criminal activity influenced him and his friends.

Riley's gang was fiercely protective of Revere and Beachmont in particular. They wouldn't hesitate to even help the Revere Police Department in physical situations if outsiders drawn to the city got out of line at the many bars and nightclubs.

"We, by our nature, sought to protect our territory and people and each other from the outside, which meant any attack on the people of Revere, but more especially, from any attack on Beachmont," Riley writes.

Riley spends chapters relating the danger his gang faced through interactions with the Gustin Street Gang and Joe "The Animal" Barboza's crew. On one evening a few guys from East Boston connected with Barboza got into a fight with members of the Beachmont gang and one of Riley's friends was stabbed.

When a witness in the Beachmont gang was questioned by police about the stabbing, this individual then received a call from Barboza in which he threatened it would take a "sewing machine" to put him back together if he cooperated with authorities, Riley writes.

Barboza, a former boxer who authorities have tied to numerous murders, was a special kind of evil and extremely dangerous, Riley said.

"He not only liked the power that it gave him, but he also liked hurting and killing people," Riley writes.

As he outlines in his book, Riley believed life on the corner was lived for the present and he never gave serious thought about his future.

A life change needs a catalyst, Riley writes, and for Riley the epiphany came following an altercation with a man who turned out to be related to an East Boston mafia member.

Riley was out to grab a meal one day when he spotted a man choking someone in a car. He tried to pull the assailant off the victim and the attacker came out swinging.

During the skirmish, Riley landed several punches to the unknown man. He later learned that the man was connected to a wise guy and intended shoot him to exact revenge.

Not sure of his next move, Riley said he walked throughout Boston trying to figure out whether he should kill this connected adversary or risk being murdered himself. Lost in his indecision, he suddenly found himself on the campus of Suffolk University — the institution that years before had offered him a basketball scholarship.

Riley met with Suffolk University Athletic Director Charles Law, who offered him the scholarship if he met a host of conditions that included a semester of tutelage for no credit and showing progress on exams in order to join the school full time for the next semester. He gladly accepted.

In the years to come, Riley studied very hard and went on to earn a degree from Suffolk University. He cut off his corner life on Beachmont, though he kept his friendships.

Riley also sought counseling at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center to work on anger control and strategies to steer clear of the violence that he had been immersed in for so long.

Through this treatment, Riley found himself in a better mindset and soon realized a love of reading and learning that continues to this day. He told the Advertiser that up until college, he had only read three books, now the library in his Saugus home is filled with hundreds of books that he voraciously devours.

To help pay for his schooling, Riley got a job with the Capital Motor Transportation trucking company — a position he held for 5 1/2 years. He graduated from Suffolk University with a bachelor of science degree and also took three graduate courses at Harvard University over the summer.

As a student at Harvard, Riley befriended a professor Dr. Donald Carlisle who served as a mentor, and he became a permanent substitute teacher at Revere High School. He later enrolled in a master's program at Boston College where he earned a degree in political science and got a law degree from Suffolk University.

After passing the bar, Riley was sworn in as a lawyer in December 1972. He took a job with noted trial lawyer Donald Conn's firm and stayed in that role for 3 1/2 years.

Conn helped arrange Riley an interview with Garrett Byrne for an opening in the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office. He was hired as an assistant district attorney assigned to the Superior Court misdemeanor sessions and later the felony division.

As an assistant district attorney, Riley prosecuted some major felony cases and was named to the Office of Special Investigations that specialized in cracking down on organized crime and political corruption.

Riley told the Advertiser he was privileged to work alongside some of the best trial lawyers in all of Massachusetts.

"I loved my position as assistant district attorney," he writes. "Not only the trial work, but prosecuting, convicting and recommending prison sentences for those who seriously hurt, in one form or another, people who were not from the streets in most cases and not capable of defending themselves."

After three years, Riley resigned from the Suffolk District Attorney's Office because he was fed up with the internal politics in the Office of Special Investigations. He then joined the Lynn criminal law practice of Tony Bongiorno, a friend who he sparred with in a boxing gym back in the day as teenagers.

Riley and Bongiorno practiced law together for 4 1/2 years, a collaboration that ended when Bongiorno was diagnosed with terminal cancer and given only six months to live. He wasn't a partner at the firm and Bongiorno didn't discuss how they would handle the future of the business.

Another opportunity opened when Steven Delinsky, the chief of the criminal bureau in the Attorney General's Office, reached out to Riley to see if he was interested in a job. Riley was sworn in as an assistant attorney general in Frank Bellotti's office.

Riley recalled how he was given two cases that set the tone for an adversarial relationship between the Attorney General's Office and the United States Attorney's Office and Boston branch of the FBI — one that dealt with an investigation of a legislative act pertaining to the Wonderland dog track and the other focused on the turning back of odometer readings at car dealerships.

Riley was appointed the chief of criminal investigations and set about cleaning up issues of too much State Police influence in the Attorney General's Office.

"It was so successful that the district attorneys in the state were jealous and asked us to help them do the same," Riley recalled.

As an assistant attorney general, Riley was proud to play a role in prosecuting many prominent cases — such as the money room case involving the MBTA that resulted in 34 arrests — that captured headlines and demonstrated the competence of the Attorney General's Office.

Part of the reason behind writing "My Life as a Prosecutor" was to highlight the incredible work of an Attorney General's Office that unfortunately was cast in a negative light by some, Riley said.

"We had a great group of prosecutors that worked their [butts] off on important cases," Riley said.

Riley was later promoted to chief of the criminal bureau in the Attorney General's Office and became a special assistant United States attorney. He also went on to chair the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission that enforces liquor regulations under several governors.

When a new attorney general replaced Bellotti, Riley was out of a job and was recruited as general counsel at New Medico, the largest head injury facility in the country.

Riley became a partner at the Boston law firm of DiCara, Selig, Sawyer and Holt before forming his own law partnership with Joe Dever that is now based in Lynnfield.

At 81 years old, Riley is still practicing law at his firm today.

Riley said it was a challenge to write "My Life as a Prosecutor," but he found the process enjoyable and is glad he published the book.

"I've had a lot of people say I should write a book about my life, and after a while I decided to give it a shot," Riley said. "It was a lot of work, I'm just happy to be able to tell these stories."

"My Life as a Prosecutor" is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

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