By Sharon Oliver
Contributing Writer
SOMERVILLE – Somerville native and gangster turned actor Alex Rocco had lived a life one could easily surmise that it could only come straight from a novel. The late actor is best known for his role as Moe Greene in the 1972 gangster film “The Godfather,” but prior to playing a villain in film, Rocco had a real-life affiliation with the notorious Winter Hill Gang.
Photo/courtesy of Paramount Pictures
Gang war
Rocco was born as Alessandro Federico Petricone Jr., in Cambridge in 1936 and raised in nearby Somerville. In the 1960s, there was a war between the McLaughlin Brothers Gang of Charlestown and the Winter Hill Gang. The McLaughlin gang had built a fearsome reputation and were responsible for carrying out contract killings on mobsters all over the region including the Patriarca crime family and the Winter Hill Gang.
Following an incident which occurred at a Salisbury Beach cottage during a 1961 Labor Day party, accounts get a little murky and vary. Either Rocco (then known as Bobo) or McLean gang associate Bill Hickey had allegedly beaten George McLaughlin senseless for supposedly groping either Rocco’s girlfriend or Hickey’s wife. The pair loaded McLaughlin, who was a member of The McLaughlin Brothers Gang, inside a car to dispose of his body.
After realizing McLaughlin was not dead, they dumped him on the Anna Jaques Hospital lawn. After Bernard “Bernie” McLaughin, leader of the gang, learned of the incident, he demanded James “Buddy” McLean (leader of the Winter Hill Gang turn) turn over Rocco and Nicholson. McLean refused.
An enraged McLaughlin had his men try to wire-bomb the McLean family car that same night. Awoken by the sound of dogs barking, McLean went outside and surprised them by firing shots. The men fled. Infuriated, McLean along with Rocco and off-duty cop Russell Nicholson immediately searched for Bernie. McLean allegedly shot and killed McLaughlin coming out of the Morning Glory Café on October 31, 1961. Although there were around 100 witnesses, no one stepped forth with information because of their agreement not to violate the neighborhood code of silence.
The three men were arrested but a witness who picked them out later recanted and they were released. In 1962, the McLaughlin gang bombed Rocco’s wife’s car. Fortunately, she was not in it but soon divorced him. Still bent on retaliation, George and his brother Edward “Punchy” McLaughlin eventually murdered Russell Nicholson in 1964.
Turning over a new leaf
Alex Rocco decided to turn over a new leaf and leave town. He supposedly flipped a coin—heads Miami, tails California. The Golden State won. He moved to Hollywood, changed his name and took acting lessons from fellow Bostonian Leonard Nimoy, who helped him get rid of his Boston accent.
Rocco auditioned for and won the iconic role of Moe Greene in “The Godfather,” a character and personality loosely based on mobster Bugsy Siegel. The phrase “Moe Greene special” was coined in reference to his execution by being shot through the eye and has subsequently been referenced in other gangster shows like “The Sopranos,” in the episode “Meadowlands.”
Rocco also starred in the 1973 neo-noir crime film “The Friends of Eddie Coyle,” as bank robber Jimmy Scalise. Filming took place throughout the Boston area, including Cambridge, Dedham, Malden, Milton, Quincy, Sharon, Somerville and Weymouth. He won a Prime Time Emmy in 1990 for his role in “The Famous Teddy Z” and did a significant amount of voice-over work later in his career which included “The Simpsons” as Roger Meyers, Jr, the head of Itchy and Scratchy Studios, and “Family Guy.”
Photo/Wikimedia Commons/Alan Light
Alex Rocco died in his Studio City, California home from pancreatic cancer on July 18, 2015, at the age of 79.
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