The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) is investigating the death of fishing boat captain and reality TV star Gus Sanfilippo, who died last week when his boat capsized in Massachusetts (according to cbs news).
Sanfilippo is the senior captain of the Gloucester-operated Lilly Jean and a cast member of the reality TV show Northeasterners. He died along with five crew members and a NOAA Fisheries observer Friday night when the 72-foot vessel capsized as temperatures dropped to about 12 degrees Fahrenheit. The other victims were identified as father and son Paul Beal Sr. and Paul Beal Jr. John Russanidis; Freeman Short; Sean Thielen; and Jada Sammitt, a 22-year-old NOAA observer who recently graduated from the environmental biology program.
The Coast Guard will oversee the investigation from this point on. “The purpose of the Coast Guard investigation is to identify measures that can improve the safety of life and property at sea, not to pursue civil or criminal liability,” said Coast Guard Cmdr. Brett Igo, investigation oversight coordinator, U.S. Coast Guard Northeast District. The investigation is expected to last several months and information will be released to the public as it is obtained, Igo added.
Rescuers eventually called off the search
At around 7 a.m. local time on January 30, rescue officials received a distress call about 25 miles off the coast of Cape Ann. After officials were unable to contact the crew, the Coast Guard issued an emergency alert and dispatched a helicopter and crew to the location. Rescuers found the body of a person adrift in the wreckage of the Lilly Jean, although they have not confirmed whose body was found. The search was suspended the next day after crews searched a 1,000-square-mile radius and exhausted all efforts. Later that day, all seven passengers on board were officially pronounced dead.
“The decision to suspend the search was extremely difficult,” said Capt. Jamie Frederick, commander of Coast Guard Sector Boston. “Our thoughts and prayers are with all the family and friends of the missing crew member of the Lily Jean and the entire Gloucester community at this heartbreaking time.”
Sebastian Noto, a fisherman who works closely with Sanfilippo, tells us nbc boston He spoke to his friend hours before his death. “‘I quit. It’s too cold,'” Sanfilippo reportedly told Noto. “He was calm. He just couldn’t stand the cold because the blowholes were frozen.” “I was about 30 miles east of him,” Noto continued. “We usually work together all the time. We’re like glue. We feed a lot of information back and forth.”
This article was originally published by Men’s Journal on February 3, 2026, and first appeared in the Entertainment section. Click here to add Men’s Diary as your go-to source.
