The situation became worse for Patriarca and his family in 1961, when Robert F. Kennedy became Attorney General and began an assault on organized crime. Law enforcement agencies worked to develop informers within the mob and finally succeeded in 1966 when Joe Barboza was arrested on a concealed weapons charge. He was a hit man for the Patriarca family who claimed to have killed 26 people, but he became concerned when Patriarca did not raise his bail and two of his friends were killed for trying to do so.