via the first comment to Herald article:
>>His godfather and namesake was Vincent “Jimmy The Bear” Flemmi, Steve Flemmi’s late psychotic big brother.
The lad’s godfather, who died of a drug overdose in prison in 1979
http://bostonhitman.com/Jimmy%20%28The%20Bear%29%20Flemmi.htm
>>In and out of prison after 1969, later released under Gov. Dukakis’ weekend-furlough program for vicious killers. Like Willie Horton, once they cut him loose the Bear never looked back. Escaped from Massachusetts after unsuccessfully trying to murder a woman (and settling from strangling her cat). Recaptured in Baltimore in 1978 after assaulting a woman, died a year later at MCI-Norfolk of a drug overdose...Mafia underboss Gerry Angiulo delivered a personal message to Jimmy the Bear from “the Man,” Raymond L.S. Patriarca: You can’t keep killing people just because they look at you the wrong way. Despite the warning, Jimmy the Bear continued killing people because they looked at him the wrong way.