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Press Release

Boston Mafia Associate Pleads Guilty to Idaho Gun Charge

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Idaho

BOISE- Enrico M. Ponzo, a/k/a Jay Shaw, a longtime fugitive from Boston, Massachusetts, who posed as a rancher while living on the run in Marsing, Idaho, pleaded guilty this afternoon in the U.S. District Court in Boise to unlawful possession of firearms, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced. 

According to the plea agreement, Ponzo admitted that on February 8, 2011, he knowingly possessed 33 firearms after having been convicted of felony assault and battery on a public employee.

Ponzo was arrested by the FBI and the U.S. Marshals in Marsing, Idaho, in February 2011, 16 years after he fled Boston.  After his arrest in Idaho, he was returned to Boston to face numerous charges.  In November 2013, following a seven-week-trial, Ponzo was found guilty of racketeering conspiracy, the 1989 attempted murder of Francis P. Salemme, Sr., and the 1994 attempted murder of Joseph Cirame, both of whom were shot and seriously injured.  The jury found Ponzo guilty of murder conspiracy in aid of racketeering, firearm possession in relation to murder conspiracy, conspiracy to distribute more than 500 grams of cocaine, conspiracy to distribute more than 1,000 kilograms of marijuana, conspiracy to use extortionate means to collect a debt, use of extortionate means to collect a debt, unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, money laundering conspiracy, money laundering, and attempted witness tampering.  U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton sentenced Ponzo to 28 years in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release.

Sentencing in the Idaho case is set for April 14, 2016, before Senior U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge.

The charge of unlawful possession of firearms is punishable by up to ten years in prison, a maximum fine of $250,000, and up to three years of supervised release.

The case was investigated by the Treasure Valley Metro Violent Crime Task.  The Treasure Valley Metro Violent Crime Task Force is comprised of federal, state and local agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; Boise Police Department; Ada County Sheriff’s Office; Caldwell Police Department; Nampa Police Department; Meridian Police Department; Canyon County Sheriff’s Office; and Idaho Department of Probation and Parole.  The Treasure Valley Metro Violent Crime Task Force assisted the Greater Idaho Fugitive Task Force in apprehending Ponzo.  The Greater Idaho Fugitive Task Force is comprised of the U.S. Marshals Service, the Ada and Canyon County Sheriff’s Offices, and the Boise and Nampa City Police Departments.

 

Updated February 4, 2016

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