Johnny Martorano John James Vincent Martorano also known as " Vincent Joseph Rancourt , " " Richard Aucoin " , " Nick , " " The Cook " , " The Executioner " , " The Basin Street Butcher " ( born December 13 , 1940 ) , is a former hitman for the Winter Hill Gang in Boston , Massachusetts who has admitted to 20 mob - related killings . Early life . John Martorano was born in Somerville , Massachusetts in 1940 . He is the older brother of James Martorano by eleven months . His father , Patriarca crime family associate Luigi Martorano , was an immigrant from Lazio , Italy . As a young boy growing up he was a devout Catholic and was even an altar boy . His mother was a full - time housewife of Irish descent . In his 60 Minutes interview with Steve Kroft he stated that his father instilled the value , " You ' re the oldest son and this is your heritage ( referring to his father ' s connections to organized crime ) . You ' ve got to take care of your family and be a man . " The Martorano family soon moved to the Irish enclave of East Milton , Massachusetts . As a young boy he attended Thayer Academy in Braintree , Massachusetts with his brother Jimmie in grades 6 and 7 . He later enrolled in Mount Saint Charles Academy in Woonsocket , Rhode Island where he graduated . During high school , he played football with future CBS News television journalist Ed Bradley whom he affectionately referred to as " Big Ed " . On the football field he earned the moniker " The Millkman " because as Ed Bradley would say , " . . . he always delivered . " His high school yearbook quote states , " Courage can be a very difficult neurosis . " It stated that he would " always be remembered for his great football potentials ( as a running back ) innumerable touchdowns . . . admits his pet peeve is the subject , history . He was his Home Room Delegate from Grades 9 to 11 and played on the football team for Grades 9 and 10 , later becoming the co - captain of the team in Grades 9 , 10 and in grade 11 became the team captain . Along with football , John also competed on the school ' s track and field team in long distance running and the hardball baseball team in Grades 9 and 10 . He graduated with his younger brother James from Milton High School in 1959 . Some of his criminal associates mispronounced his last name as " Marterannos " . After becoming a mob turncoat , Martorano agreed to have his friend Bradley interview him on " 60 Minutes " , but Bradley died before this could occur . Steve Kroft interviewed Martorano in Ed Bradley ' s place shortly after Bradley ' s death . He is the ex - husband of Irish - American Carolyn Wood with whom he fathered a son he named after himself , John Martorano Jr . , a daughter Jeannie that bore him one grand daughter . Carolyn divorced him in 1975 . In October 1999 he made a deal to turn state ' s evidence for the government . Although by many criminologists and investigators his friends James Bulger and Stephen Flemmi are considered to be serial killer s , John told Ed Bradley , " " I might be a vigilante , but not a serial killer . Serial killers , you have to stop them . They ' ll never stop , they enjoy it . I never enjoyed it . I don ' t enjoy risking my life but if the cause was right , I would . " " Ralph DeMasi , convicted and incarcerated Boston mobster in White Deer , Pennsylvania would later write to the courts that when he was with fellow Irish mobster William ( Billy ) O ' Brien in 1964 , driving down Morrissey Boulevard that it was Martorano who pulled up in a car alongside them and gunned down O ' Brien , shooting him seventeen times with a machine gun and wounding DeMasi . In a letter he would write about the events that almost led to his death , " I thought someone was taking target practice at us . It was my good friend John Martorano . " Criminal career . After graduating from high school , John had turned down seven football scholarships and instead stayed in Boston . Hanging out in the Combat Zone , Martorano fell under the guidance of Stephen Flemmi , by the age of twenty - five had become a professional mobster . He committed his first murder at 24 years old when he allegedly murdered Patriarca crime family made man Robert S . Palladino who was going to testify in a case involving the murder of prostitute Barbara Sylvester in his father ' s restaurant . John rapidly became one of the Winter Hill Gang ' s most prolific enforcers . In January 1968 , after an African - American beat up Flemmi in an after - hours saloon , Martorano tracked the man to a car on Normandy Street in Dorchester . As it happened , the man was accompanied by a nineteen - year - old girl and a seventeen - year - old boy . John walked up to the car and killed all three occupants with his . 38 - caliber snub nose revolver . As a result of this , Martorano was facetiously called " Sickle Cell Anemia " by his fellow gangsters . John Martorano , despite being on the run for sixteen years , took a shot at bail , but he and his lawyer , Martin Weinberg , were pushing a weak hand . He gave his trial judge several letters from other parents in Boca Raton , Florida commending Martorano ' s apparent devotion to his son John Martorano Jr . with Martorano ' s daughter Jean , who was pregnant at the time pledged the $ 30 , 000 equity she had in her home in Plymouth , Massachusetts as security for his bail . During the last sixteen years as a fugitive he was living off his illicit bookmaking operation . His in - laws agreed to post $ 260 , 000 while a friend of his wife Patricia , agreed to put up another $ 200 , 000 . Arrested in 1995 , Martorano agreed to a plea bargain deal in 1999 . In return for confessing his murders , Martorano received a reduced prison sentence of 14 years . In 2007 , he was released from prison and given $ 20 , 000 to start a new life . On January 15 , 2008 , Martorano appeared on the CBS News television program " 60 Minutes " . During the interview , Martorano expressed remorse for killing Elizabeth Dickson , the girl in the car in Dorchester .