Raymond W. Ferritto was born Remo Ferretti on April 8, 1929, in Erie, Pennsylvania, to Italian-American parents Michael and Rose Ferritto. He was the fourth of five children and the second of three sons. The family changed its surname to "Ferritto" when Raymond was still an infant, and he adopted the name "Raymond" when he began attending school. Even as a child, Ferritto was a rebellious and defiant figure, prone to street fights and minor delinquency. His early criminal tendencies emerged when he and childhood friends began stealing and reselling groceries and clothing items, later evolving into more serious offenses.

At age 13, Ferritto was caught burglarizing a filling station in Ohio with a friend after running away from home. Despite the arrest, he avoided a harsh sentence thanks to the intervention of a local priest. By age 14, he was working at a foundry under false pretenses, lying about his age. A workplace injury involving a crushed foot ended that job abruptly and set him on a more determined path of crime. Along with a gang of friends, Ferritto formed a crew known as "The Wasps", specializing in smashing vending machines to steal coins from gas stations and movie theaters. A failed robbery at a cigar store owned by an associate of the Buffalo crime family exposed him to the world of organized crime.

Drafted into the U.S. Marine Corps in 1946, Ferritto’s military service was short-lived due to his foot injury. By the late 1950s, Ferritto was regularly involved in burglaries and robberies. His arrest in 1957 for attempting to rob a gas station led to his first prison sentence, lasting several years. It was during this period that he became familiar with members of the Cleveland and Youngstown Mafia networks, including notorious figures like Ronald “Ronnie the Crab” Carabbia and Anthony “Tony Dope” Delsanter.

In the 1960s, Ferritto drifted westward and became connected to organized crime elements in Los Angeles. He aligned himself with mobster Jimmy Fratianno of the Los Angeles crime family. Although Ferritto never became a formally inducted "made" member of the Mafia, he was widely regarded as a trusted associate and contract killer. One of his earliest known murders took place in 1969, when he assassinated Julius Petro at an airport parking garage. Petro was a fellow Cleveland gangster and rival whose death had long been a matter of internal dispute. Ferritto originally planned to plant a car bomb, but after suffering a minor injury while assembling the explosive, he opted for a silent shooting instead. The jet engine noise masked the gunshot, and Petro died instantly.

Over the years, Ferritto served multiple prison sentences for burglary, explosives possession, and conspiracy. He remained active in criminal enterprises upon release, managing gambling interests, committing robberies, and staying connected to both the Cleveland and Los Angeles underworld.

Raymond Ferritto’s most infamous act occurred on October 6, 1977, when he assassinated Cleveland Irish mob boss Danny Greene using a car bomb. Greene had been engaged in a violent war with the Cleveland Mafia, attempting to wrest control of labor rackets and local unions from the Italian crime family led by Jack Licavoli and Angelo Lonardo. The conflict resulted in a series of bombings and failed assassination attempts, making Cleveland one of the most dangerous cities in America at the time.

To end the escalating war, Cleveland Mafia leadership sought outside help. Ferritto, by then a trusted contract killer with ties to both the Cleveland and Los Angeles families, was hired alongside Ronald Carabbia to execute the hit. On the morning of the murder, Ferritto and Carabbia parked a car rigged with explosives near Greene’s vehicle outside his dentist’s office. As Greene approached his car, the bomb was detonated, killing him instantly in a fiery explosion.

What the assassins didn’t anticipate was the keen eye of a witness—Debbie Spoth, a young woman with a police officer father and a knack for sketch artistry. She drew an eerily accurate likeness of Ferritto, which led authorities to match the image to his record. Combined with a license plate tracing effort, investigators were able to secure a search warrant and found direct evidence tying Ferritto to the bombing, including registration papers for the getaway car and a Cleveland Magazine issue featuring Greene.

Upon his arrest, Ferritto learned that Cleveland bosses had put out a contract on his life, fearing he might turn state’s witness. Facing both legal prosecution and mob retaliation, Ferritto decided to cooperate. His testimony was instrumental in indicting 17 members of the Cleveland Mafia, including Licavoli, Lonardo, Carabbia, and others, in connection with the Greene assassination.

Ferritto also confessed to the 1969 murder of Julius Petro, finally solving a long-cold case. Due to his cooperation, Ferritto served less than four years in prison for two high-profile murders and was placed in the federal Witness Protection Program. However, he voluntarily left the program after one year and returned to Erie, Pennsylvania, living openly under his real name.

He remained loosely connected to organized crime activities into the 1990s. In 1992, Ferritto was convicted of criminal conspiracy and bookmaking and received a sentence of under two years, along with probation and fines.

Ferritto died of congestive heart failure on May 10, 2004, at the age of 75 in Sarasota, Florida. He remains a notorious figure in mob history for being the man who brought down Danny Greene—and who, by flipping, also helped destroy the Cleveland Mafia leadership from within.