The former head of the Youngstown faction of the Cleveland organized crime family — Ronald “Ronnie the Crab” Carabbia — has died.

The ex-gangster, who lived in Poland, was 92 and left behind a wife and two children. A spokeswoman for Becker Funeral Home confirmed his death; arrangements are pending.

A report from www.gangsterreport.com noted that Ronnie was the “true underworld politician of the three gangster siblings.”

His brothers were Charlie and Orlie (Orlando) Carabbia, who were part of the Cleveland mob faction that fought with the Pittsburgh faction for control of the Youngstown-Warren area during the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s.

“Ronnie the Crab,” however, is more noted for being imprisoned in the late 1970s — and serving about 25 years in prison– as an accomplice to the 1978 car bombing death of Cleveland gangster Danny Greene.

An Associated Press story in 2002 noted that the Cuyahoga County prosecutor who obtained the aggravated murder conviction against Ronald — Carmen Marino — had written a letter to the Ohio Parole Board on the day before he retired recommending Carabbia’s release from prison. Based on that letter, Carabbia was freed on Sept. 24, 2002. Marino was criticized heavily by the Cleveland area FBI who helped investigate the Greene slaying.

Carabbia also was put in prison during the 1980s when the FBI investigated his attempts to run an illegal sports-betting operation out of a Mahoning County sports bar.

Mahoning County Prosecutor Paul Gains on Thursday said “Ronnie the Crab’s” death represents an end of a dark era in the Mahoning Valley.

“Those were indeed dark times for the Valley, and thankfully they are over with,” Gains said. “But I would like to express my condolences to the Carabbia family.”

In the trial over Greene’s death, Carabbia was defended by attorney Carmen Policy, who gained more fame as an NFL front office mogul for the Cleveland Browns and the San Francisco 49ers. Policy had recently run a vineyard and winery in central California.

Policy called many of the witnesses for the prosecution “liars and perverts,” the AP story stated. The confessed bomber Raymond Ferritto, who was the prosecution’s star witness, switched his story to later blame Ronald Carabbia for ordering the hit on Greene.

news@vindy.com