BOSTON (AP) – A member of the New England Mafia who helped the FBI bug a mob induction ceremony that led to the prosecutions of dozens of alleged mobsters has died, a family member said.

Angelo “Sonny” Mercurio, who was living in Little Rock, Ark., in the witness protection program, died in December of a pulmonary embolism, said his mother-in-law, Judith Gopoian. He was 70.

Mercurio, an FBI informant, tipped off federal agents about a Mafia induction ceremony at a Medford home in October 1989 attended by 17 reputed mobsters. Four members were “made” and pledged their lives to La Cosa Nostra at the ceremony.

It was the first time law enforcement had ever recorded the secret ceremony, which helped bring down the crime family led by Raymond “Junior” Patriarca.

Mercurio testified in court he was never comfortable as an informant but felt trapped by the FBI, which had gathered evidence against him by bugging his Italian food shop in the Prudential Center where he and other mobsters planned criminal activities, according to court records.

Mercurio’s FBI handler was John J. Connolly Jr., the now-disgraced former agent who also handled James “Whitey” Bulger and Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi. Connolly was convicted of federal racketeering charges in 2002 and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

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