In the early morning hours of June 28, 1978, the city of Boston awoke to a brutal crime that would come to be known as the "Blackfriars Massacre." Among the five men found slain in the basement of the Blackfriars Pub on Summer Street was 34-year-old John A. "Jack" Kelly, a former investigative journalist who had taken on the role of the pub's night manager. A male, he, along with the pub's owner, Vincent E. Solmonte, and three other men, Peter Meroth, Freddy Delavega, and Charles Magarian, had been shot to death in a gangland-style execution.
The scene that greeted the janitor that morning was one of shocking violence. The victims had been shot at close range with what was believed to be a. 12 gauge shotgun and a. 25 caliber automatic pistol, leading investigators to suspect there were at least two shooters. The motive appeared to be a robbery, as a significant amount of cash and several kilograms of cocaine were reportedly on the premises. However, the sheer brutality of the killings suggested something more than a simple heist gone wrong, pointing towards the dark underbelly of Boston's organized crime.
Kelly's life leading up to that fateful night was a complex tapestry of legitimate journalism and a fascination with the criminal underworld. He had built a reputation as a hard-hitting reporter, even breaking the story of the Chappaquiddick incident involving Senator Ted Kennedy. Yet, he was also known to associate with members of organized crime, a dangerous dance that may have ultimately sealed his fate. Friends said he was drawn to the allure of mobsters, seeing it as a way to get stories that no one else could. This dual role, however, placed him in a precarious position, blurring the lines between observer and participant.
The investigation into the Blackfriars Massacre was fraught with rumors and dead ends. Less than a month after the murders, two men, Robert J. Italiano and William N. Ierardi, were arrested and charged with the killings. Their trial, however, lasted only 27 days and ended in their acquittal, leaving the case officially unsolved. Over the years, the names of other notorious figures from Boston's criminal landscape, such as Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi and Nicholas Femia, have been linked to the massacre, but no further charges have ever been filed. The brutal end of John A. Kelly and the four other men remains a chilling, unanswered chapter in the city's history.
