Howie Winter

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Howie Winter
Winter's September 3, 1956 mugshot
Born	Howard Thomas Winter (1929-03-17)March 17, 1929 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died	November 12, 2020(2020-11-12) (aged 91) Millbury, Massachusetts, U.S.
Other names	"Old Man Winter"
Occupations	Crime boss trucker
Years active	1965–1979
Predecessor	James McLean
Successor	Whitey Bulger
Spouse	Ellen Brogna
Allegiance	Winter Hill Gang

Howard Thomas Winter (March 17, 1929 – November 12, 2020) was an American mobster who was a boss of the Winter Hill Gang, an Irish mob group in Somerville, Massachusetts, a northwestern suburb of Boston.

Winter was born in the West Roxbury neighborhood of Boston on March 17, 1929, of German and Irish descent, and raised in the nearby suburb of Somerville. He enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1943, at the age of 14, and served in World War II.^[1]

Winter was the right-hand man to the originator of the gang, James "Buddy" McLean and took over the rackets, along with Joe McRonald, when McLean was killed during the Irish Mob Wars in 1967. In 1980 Winter, McDonald and other members of the Winter Hill Gang were arrested and indicted on federal "horse race fixing" charges. On August 28, 1979, Winter was sentenced to ten years in prison.^[2] James "Whitey" Bulger then replaced Winter as boss of the gang.

Winter was released from prison in 1989 and relocated to St. Louis, where he was in contact with gang associate James "Gentleman Kim" Mulvey, who was a close friend of Raymond L. S. Patriarca. In 1993, he was caught dealing cocaine. When the FBI informed him that Bulger had been an informant all those years and offered Winter a deal if he would inform on Bulger, Winter refused the deal telling the FBI that Mulvey has already informed him of that and he was no "rat", despite facing another decade behind bars, which he would serve, being released from prison in July 2002.^[3]

Following his release from prison, Winter worked out of his home in Millbury as a property manager. In 2012, Winter was arrested on charges of extorting money from two people. He pled guilty and was placed on administrative probation.^[4]

Winter died in 2020, aged 91 ^[5]

• Bloom, Robert M. Ratting: The Use and Abuse of Informants in the American Justice System. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002. ISBN 0-275-96818-9
• Martini, Bobby and Keratsis, Elayne. Citizen Somerville: Growing Up With The Winter Hill Gang Boston, Massachusetts: Powderhouse Press, 2010. ISBN 9780982991503
• Matera, Dary. FBI's Ten Most Wanted. New York: HarperCollins, 2003. ISBN 0-06-052435-9
• Willis, Clint (ed.) Wise Guys: Stories of Mobsters from Jersey to Vegas. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press, 2003. ISBN 1-56025-498-X

• English, T. J. Paddy Whacked: The Untold Story of the Irish American Gangster. New York: HarperCollins, 2005. ISBN 0-06-059002-5

Notes

• United States of America v. Howard T. Winter et al., 1979–1995, U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Public trial archive held at the United States National Archives
• "Profile: Howie Winter" Archived June 25, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, in Howie Carr's Encyclopedia of Boston Mobsters
• "A Round Up of the Usual Suspects" by John William Tuohy at www.americanmafia.com
• Interview with Howie Winter on YouTube