Judge weighing detention of Boston mobster accused of plotting to kill federal officials

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Federal prosecutors on Thursday unveiled new details about what they described as a plot by a former mafia street boss to kill federal officials — including a judge and a prosecutor — as retaliation for his most recent criminal conviction.
But a lawyer for the man, Ralph DeLeo, now in his 80s, challenged the source of the government's information, painting the unnamed informant as 'desperate' to get out of prison and having a motive to lie.
The revelations came at a hearing for DeLeo in federal court in Boston that served a dual purpose: to determine whether there was probable cause to support the accusation that DeLeo violated the terms of his supervised release and whether he should be detained on the grounds that he is a danger and a flight risk.
The district judge overseeing his case, Stacy Neumann, did not immediately rule on either issue and court records don't indicate any other hearings have been scheduled.
During the hearing, Neumann heard testimony from Massachusetts State Police trooper Elvis Nguyen, a task force officer with the FBI. Nguyen works in the organized crime division at the state police and became involved in the investigation into DeLeo in May.
DeLeo's criminal history includes a federal conviction for racketeering, as well as convictions for aggravated murder, bank robbery and masked armed robbery. As a street boss in the Boston mafia, DeLeo served as the acting leader of the organization while its boss was incarcerated, Nguyen explained.
The street boss 'acts with authority,' he said.
On direct examination from Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Deitch, who works in the public corruption division, Nguyen read out several Google searches DeLeo made that prosecutors say are evidence of his intention to kill the officials: a prosecutor, a judge and a retired federal agent. None of the officials were named during the hearing, and they are not named in court papers.
In November 2024, DeLeo searched for the name of the prosecutor, followed by Little Rock, Arkansas. (DeLeo was convicted of several drug charges in federal court in Arkansas).
He also searched for the name of a federal judge, followed by a town in Massachusetts. An extraction of DeLeo's phone also included searches for a person with the same last name as the judge, but a different first name.
DeLeo looked up the judge on websites such as publicrecordsreviews.com and peoplefinders.com, ostensibly trying to find contact information for them.
He also made searches for locksmith tools, 'real hair silicone masks,' and where to buy nitric acid in Massachusetts. Nguyen testified that many of the searches were deleted.
Prosecutors contend DeLeo committed three violations of his supervised release: he is accused of possessing drugs, contacting other felons and lying to federal agents.
Nguyen's testimony laid out the evidence supporting all three contentions. He described what investigators found during a search of DeLeo's Watertown apartment, including hard paper copies of identifying information for federal officials, such as their home addresses and names of their family members.
Investigators also found two marijuana joints and what they believed to be steroids.
During an interview with police, including Nguyen, DeLeo said no one helped him look up the information about the federal officials, a statement prosecutors contend is a lie. Nguyen testified that investigators found evidence showing DeLeo enlisted the help of a third party to compile the personal identifying information.
DeLeo is also accused of speaking to two convicted felons: John Willis, who Nguyen said ran the Asian organized crime operations in Boston's Chinatown, and Frank Goldman, who was a fellow member of the Colombo crime family.
While in custody at the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility in Rhode Island, DeLeo claimed to have found a note containing incriminating information on the person who tipped agents off about his purported plan to kill the officials. But in reality, prosecutors say DeLeo wrote the note himself and had another inmate copy it before handing it to a corrections officer.
On cross-examination, Kevin Barron, a lawyer representing DeLeo, sought to undermine the credibility of the informant, getting Nguyen to confirm it was only that person who claimed DeLeo was planning to kill the officials.
The informant, Barron established, is 'charged with an offense tantamount with attempted murder with a firearm' in Florida after he shot someone through a door.
'He's in a lot of trouble, right?' Barron asked. 'He approached the FBI because he wants to get out of jail?'
Barron sought to downplay the importance of the Google searches, claiming DeLeo, who had previously challenged the legality of his plea agreement, was simply doing 'research' to see if there were grounds for him to challenge his sentence. If the prosecutor, judge or agent had been implicated in misconduct, it would strengthen DeLeo's claim, Barron contended.
He also suggested to Nguyen that it is a 'rule' in the Boston mafia that a person who kills a prosecutor, a judge or an agent would be killed themselves. Nguyen admitted he did not know the last time an Italian mafioso in America tried to kill an agent in Boston.
With Nguyen off the stand, Neumann heard argument from Barron and Assistant U.S. Attorney Lauren Maynard.
Barron again challenged the credibility of the informant, saying 'we have somebody here we know is inherently wrong. The mafia doesn't kill agents.' Still, he conceded that the credibility of the source was irrelevant to the issue of whether DeLeo violated the terms of his release.
But he noted that DeLeo's hearing issues, on full display during the court hearing, raised issues about whether he was able to accurately understand the questioning from police on the day he was taken into custody.
'Why would he lie if he thought the agent was asking about what was in the papers?' Barron said, arguing DeLeo thought the question was about the searches, not the packets of information he gathered about the officials.
He suggested the drug offense was not one that would require the revocation of DeLeo's bail, and again noted that it was not clear what DeLeo talked to the other convicts about.
'What makes this an allegedly serious case is the idea Mr. DeLeo is planning to kill judges and prosecutors and agents. The only source they seem to have that this is [his] purpose is this terrible witness,' Barron said. 'This is a person whose business is lying and cheating.'
In her argument, Maynard countered that the accusations about the informant were a 'complete sideshow.'
The information from that person is not needed to prove any of the accused violations of DeLeo's release, she said. Maynard noted it was DeLeo's burden to prove he was not a flight risk or a danger and should thus avoid detention, but she argued he could not support either prong.
She noted that DeLeo had twice attempted to escape from custody, including as recently as 2011, when he was detained for a 2009 conviction. The 'fact he's now in his 80s really provides no comfort that he's not going to try to pull the same tricks he's always pulled,' Maynard said.
'Every stage of this defendant's life has been devoted to crime,' she continued. 'That is simply his way of life.'
As a street boss, DeLeo was one of the highest-ranking members of one of the most powerful families in organized crime in the U.S., she argued. That connection is 'for life,' Maynard said.
The 'danger here is very serious,' she added.
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