James McLean (mobster)

In early September 1961, two Winter Hill associates of McLean, and their friend, Charlestown mobster George McLaughlin rented a cottage on Salisbury Beach for a Labor Day party. Drinking with his friends throughout the day and into the late evening, McLaughlin attempted to grope one of the gangster’s girlfriends. Confronted by the two men, McLaughlin received a savage beating until losing consciousness. Unsure whether or not he was still alive, they dumped him at a nearby hospital and went to tell McLean what had happened.

When McLean learned that Bernie McLaughlin wanted to take revenge and sought McLean's help in doing it, McLean told him his brother had been out of line and had the beating coming. Bernie McLaughlin stormed out in a rage. Later that night, McLean awoke to the sound of his dogs barking, and saw two men under his car. He went outside firing a .38 revolver, and found plastique wired to the ignition of his car. Suspecting the McLaughlins, he began stalking Bernie McLaughlin throughout Charlestown until he found him. He killed Bernie McLaughlin walking out of the Morning Glory bar in Charlestown in broad daylight and in front of almost one hundred witnesses on October 31, 1961. He was originally arrested along with Alex Petricone but the witness who picked them out later recanted and they were released. Alex Petricone, who was not a killer, was sent out to California by McLean to stay out of the gang war. Petricone started taking acting lessons, changed his name to Alex Rocco and became an actor. One of his first roles was playing Moe Greene in The Godfather movie.

James Joseph McLean (January 26, 1930 – October 31, 1965) was an American mobster boss, who was the original boss of the Somerville, Massachusetts-based Winter Hill Gang during the 1960s. McLean was well known throughout the Greater Boston area as an unstoppable street fighter. He accumulated injuries including several scars on his neck and face as well as a damaged left eye. A friend of McLean once said, "He looks like a choir boy, but fights like the devil."