One surefire way to determine if a person is a part of Rhode Island folklore is if they are recognizable by a single name. Say "Buddy" and everyone knows it's Vincent Cianci, former mayor of Providence. "Salty" was WPRO radio personality Walter "Salty" Brine. For at least 5 decades, if you said "Raymond", it could only be one person: Raymond Loreda Salvatore Patriarca. He became a made man in 1929 as a soldier in the New York mafia. Raymond took over the New England syndicate after Phil Buccola retired to Sicily in the early 1950s. His office was a small vending machine company - Coin-O-Matic - on Federal Hill in Providence. From there he ran operations throughout New England and had ties to casinos in Las Vegas as well as the Berkshire Downs Race Track, a track that also had ties to Frank Sinatra. Raymond's reputation in the mob was of a fair but ruthless leader. As harsh as he was to those who crossed him, his mantle of protection automatically extended to children and the elderly. In his later years he was a very popular figure in the Charles Street section of North Providence. The Don died of cardiac arrest in 1984 at the age of 76 and is buried in the family mausoleum you see here in the Gates of Heaven Cemetery in East Providence.
Post processing today started with a brilliant cold filter in Topaz Adjust. I then adjusted adaptive exposure, regions, and contrast. A levels adjustment was added in PSE.
