Ray Ferritto was born in Erie, Pennsylvania (via the Associated Press). A life of petty crime eventually led to his employment with a mob syndicate in Los Angeles (a city that had a history of Hollywood celebs and the mob). It was here that Ferritto met mobsters with ties to Cleveland. Ferritto was recruited by Cleveland mob leaders to eliminate Danny Greene, something they had failed to do themselves.
Greene was becoming a huge problem in Cleveland. He had organized other local Irish-Americans into a group he called the Celtic Club, and they began carrying out his orders (per All That’s Interesting). After Greene’s former partner Shondor Birns died via car bomb, organized crime in Cleveland went on full alert (via WKYC News). His bombings were becoming more frequent, and the Celtic Club gained power with each explosion that rattled the city. On October 6, 1977, Ray Ferrito planted a bomb in Greene’s car, which exploded and killed Greene instantly. The Irish bomber had fallen victim to a bomb.
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As luck would have it, the daughter of a local police officer caught sight of Ferritto and sketched his face. After showing it around to detectives, one of them was able to recognize the drawn face as Ferritto. Ferritto was arrested. When no one from the syndicate that hired him made contact, he opted for an unusual and potentially dangerous course of action — he decided to rat on his fellow mobsters.
