and fictional novel, Wiseguys, was written solely by Teresa. The story is of Johnny Forza, a thinly disguised doppelganger of Teresa. It chronicles Forza's life as a betrayed government witness, his battles with a former friend mob member "Butch" (again, a thinly disguised doppelganger for New Jersey mob member Frank "Butch" Miceli), his life on the lam with his girlfriend and his final confrontations with everyone who has done him wrong. Normally, to become a made member in an Italian mob, potential candidates have to first commit a murder at the direction of the mob. Teresa claimed that while he reached the position of lieutenant in the Patriarca crime family, this was mainly due to his prowess as a money maker for Raymond Patriarca, and that he never murdered anyone. The US government had no evidence to the contrary and as he was a very valuable witness, he was taken at his word. In 1982, Teresa was arrested in Washington where he was living under his new identity. He was charged with conspiracy to import cocaine. Death Although Teresa always lived in fear of being murdered by the Patriarca crime family, he died of natural causes. In February 1990, he died of kidney failure in Seattle. His biographer Thomas C. Renner died a month earlier in January 1990. References 1930 births 1990 deaths American gangsters of Sicilian descent Organized crime memoirists Patriarca crime family 20th-century American memoirists People who entered the United States Federal Witness Protection Program Deaths from kidney failure