Richard Gomes dies; longtime Gotti associate
freddy
By W. Zachary Malinowski
Journal Staff Writer
>From left, Richard Gomes, Gerard Ouimette and Ronnie Sweet live it up
in the ACI in the late 1970s.
Special to The Journal
NORTH PROVIDENCE - Richard "Red Bird" Gomes, a violent mobster
who terrorized the state for decades, died quietly on Sunday in his
apartment near the Smithfield town line.
The North Providence police reported that two of Gomes' nieces -
who were not identified - found their uncle at 6:15 p.m. lying
fully-clothed on the living room couch in his apartment at 242 Waterman
Ave. He was unresponsive and the women called 911. The police said that
it appeared Gomes, 73, died of natural causes. Several bottles of
medication for respiratory problems were found on a kitchen counter.
On the wall of his apartment were photographs of two powerful old
friends: John Gotti and Raymond L.S. Patriarca.
"When it came to organized crime activity, the guy never took a day
off," said Brian Andrews, retired detective commander of the Rhode
Island State Police. "Prison never stopped him from doing what he did
every single day. He was a seasoned, cold-hearted killer. If there was
a New England Wiseguy Hall of Fame, he would be a shoo-in."
Gomes, who grew up in South Providence, turned to a life of a crime as
a kid. At age 12, he was arrested for breaking into a freight car in
Providence. Twice, he spent time in reform school as a teenager, and at
age 17, joined the Army.
The disciplined life of a soldier was not for Richie Gomes.
In 1951, 10 months after joining the service, Gomes deserted after his
unit was about to move into combat in Korea. He was sentenced to five
years for desertion with intent to avoid hazardous duty. While in
prison at Camp Gordon, Ga., Gomes took part in a mutiny in which
several guards were injured and the camp nearly destroyed. He was
court-martialed in January 1953 and sentenced to 45 years of hard labor
in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
Eventually, Gomes was released from prison and he returned to Rhode
Island.
As a young man, he joined a crew of non-Italian mobsters led by Gerard
T. Ouimette, a feared mob enforcer who had strong ties with crime
families in Providence, Boston and New York City. Gomes and Ouimette
could not be formally inducted into La Cosa Nostra because their
mothers were not of Italian descent. Still, they had close ties to
powerful Italian mobsters across the Northeast and they were
well-respected in the underworld.
Gomes held a special stature in the Rhode Island criminal world. He had
been a lifelong friend and the onetime driver for the late Gotti, also
known as the Dapper Don, the charismatic head of the New York-based
Gambino crime family. In the late '60s, Gomes and Gotti struck up a
friendship while they were both serving time in the federal
penitentiary in Lewisburg, Pa.
In Rhode Island, Gomes was constantly in trouble. In 1972, he stabbed
to death Robert Cullen, 46, of Providence, in the basement of a
Johnston bar. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was
sentenced to 25 years in prison.
In 1975, while serving that sentence at the Adult Correctional
Institutions, Gomes and three others ganged up on a fellow inmate and
nearly beat him to death with lead pipes.
Gomes spent more than 50 years in prison and he lived a charmed life
behind bars. Retired state police Cmdr. Andrews said that Gomes and
Ouimette ran the North State Wing of the prison, also known as "Steel
City." They regularly had food catered into the maximum security
prison and, through messengers, they continued to oversee their
criminal empire on the outside, he said.
Gomes was freed from the ACI in 1979.
The bond between Gomes and Gotti grew even stronger after the murder of
Gotti's neighbor.
On July 28, 1980, John Favara, Gotti's neighbor, disappeared shortly
after he killed Gotti's 12-year old son, Frankie, in a car accident.
The boy was riding a borrowed mini-bike on the street outside his home.
Shortly after Favara's disappearance, detectives visited Gotti at the
Bergin Hunt & Fish Club in the Ozone Park section of Queens.
"I'm not sorry the guy's missing," Gotti told the police. "I
wouldn't be sorry if the guy turned up dead."
According to several New York City newspapers and law enforcement
authorities, Gomes joined seven members of Gotti's crew, which
abducted Favara, stole his car and killed him. They dumped his body and
had his car crushed in Brooklyn, destroying all evidence of the crime.
Andrews, the retired state police commander, said he has "no doubt"
that Gomes participated in the murder.
In the 1980s, Gomes descended into a world of late nights, cocaine and
violence. In March 1985, he opened fire on two men who were sitting in
a car eating wieners outside the New York Systems diner in
Providence's Olneyville Square. He emptied four shots into the two
men, leaving them seriously wounded.
A few years later, Gomes went on trial for the shootings and was
convicted of assault with intent to commit murder. As the guilty
verdict was returned, Gomes turned to his lawyer, John F. Cicilline,
and kissed him on the cheek.
Gomes spent the next 16 years in prison. He was released from the ACI
on Aug. 1, 2005. Gomes, who was frail and in poor health, spent his
days at a Johnston social club where he hung out with young men who had
served time with him in prison. State police Maj. Steven G. O'Donnell
said that, on the street after his release last year, Gomes made
"every attempt to ingratiate himself" with made members of the
Patriarca crime family.
"He was not welcomed with open arms," O'Donnell said. "Some
would deal with him. Some would not."
Gomes had lost his power. Gotti was dead and Ouimette is serving a
sentence of life without parole in federal prison. The old mobster was
just another old guy looking for a few bucks and some respect. On
Sunday, he left this world and joined his old friends Gotti and
Patriarca.