In 1989, a violent internal conflict fractured the Patriarca family. A "renegade faction" led by Carrozza, his stepbrother and family consiglieri Joseph Russo, and mobster Vincent Ferrarra challenged the leadership of boss Raymond Patriarca and family associate Frank Salemme. By seizing family leadership, Carrozza and the other renegades sought to control illegal gambling and the extortion of bookmakers, drug dealers and restaurant owners in Massachusetts. This takeover attempt provoked a gang civil war that lasted until 1996 and claimed over a dozen lives.